Haunts & History

Southern Arizona, the real old west in the year 1907. Wyatt Earp and Geronimo were still battling with blazing glory throughout this part of the country, Arizona had yet to become a state and the Gadsden Hotel first opened her doors, providing gracious hospitality to all who passed through. Named for the famous Gadsden Purchase, the hotel became home-away-from-home for cattlemen, ranchers, miners, and businessmen in the newly settling territory. Nearly every Arizona Governor has stayed in the Governor's Suite, so did Eleanor Roosevelt.. .

The Hotel was leveled by fire and rebuilt in 1929. Purists question the tale of Pancho Villa's impromptu ride up the stairs, noting the Mexican revolutionary was assassinated in 1923, six years before the new hotel opened. Management will be quick to point to newspaper accounts that indicate that the marble stairs survived the fire, and be just as quick to show you the chipped surface on the seventh stair that people talk about to this day. The Hotel nearly died again a decade ago, this time a victim of neglect. The Gadsden was rescued in 1988 by its current owners, North Dakota wheat farmers Doris & Hartman Brekhus.

Daughter-in-law and Hotel Manager Robin Brekhus will be one of the first to tell you more of the Gadsden's interesting past as she recalls her first encounter with the Gadsden Ghost. It was 4:10 pm Friday March 13,1991. The power had failed and she was in the basement, searching for candles. In the beam of her flashlight, she saw a faceless figure shaped like a man. "He just kind of floated down the hallway. It just looked like fog to me, but it was the shape of a person." For years, hotel workers and guests have confessed to seeing an apparition often around Lent or Christmas, and often in the hotel's cavernous basement. Sometimes it's described as headless, caped and wearing army-style khaki clothing. In her 26th year of operating one of the oldest manual elevators west of the Mississippi, Carmen Diaz saw the ghost in the basement as well. "Tall man. Black pants suit. No head." Brenda Maley, restaurant Supervisor said she saw the shadow of a body hunched over her one night as she lay on her stomach in her bed in her hotel room. She said she witnessed this immediately after a strange sensation where "all of a sudden I couldn't move." A movie crew member told Brekhus that his light turned off and on in the middle of the night, and then his golf clubs went crashing down on the floor.

Over the years, dignitaries and celebrities have been added to the Gadsden's Roster; among them the stars of "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," "Terminal Velocity," and "Ruby Jean and Joe" actually filmed in the lobby, rooms, restaurant and tavern. Lee Marvin was said to have almost been involved in a barroom brawl and it was also said that Shelly Winters, at one time in her young career, would answer the door to her room (for room service) in the buff.

Today a 1929 manual telephone switchboard still sits behind the front desk, though it isn't used any more. It was the first of its kind in the state, according to the Arizona Historical Society. So much history was made within the walls of this stately 5 story, 160-room structure that in 1976, The Gadsden Hotel was proclaimed a National Historic Monument by the National Register of Historic Places.

Back to Home | About The Gadsden | Things to Do | Tavern & Dining | Lodging & Reservations
Email The Gadsden