The Haunted Hotels of Eureka Springs are Perfect for a Halloween Getaway

Eureka Springs is known for its haunted hotels and ghost tours, which makes it a perfect place to visit during Halloween.

The Crescent Hotel & Spa is regarded as one of the most haunted hotels in America. There are numerous stories accounting for its haunting, including a stone worker who fell to his death during construction from what was to become room 218. His presence is supposedly very active in room 218, where doors open and slam shut, hands appear on the bathroom mirror and cries can sometimes be heard.

More hauntings came after Dr. Norman Baker leased the hotel and turned it into a makeshift hospital. The truth of the matter was that Dr. Baker had no medical training and his cures, according to legend, made many of his patients go mad. There was a mental ward located on the fourth floor and a morgue located in the basement, which are now haunted by Dr. Baker’s patients, and even Dr. Baker himself. Ghost sightings on the fourth floor are abundant: a nurse with a gurney appears regularly near room 434 and a ghost known as “Theodora” materialized often near room 419. Dr. Baker sightings usually occur in the lobby.

A Spirit of the Crescent tour is available to guests who want to explore the ghosts and spirits that haunt the hotel. The tours are $18.75 per person and start nightly at 8pm.

The Basin Park Hotel, located in downtown Eureka Springs, also has a long history of spirits, ghosts and unusual happenings. The Basin Park Hotel has long been the social center of Eureka Springs, from the Wild West era during which cowboys and bars reigned supreme, to an era marked by gambling and illegal excess. These characters are the object of many sightings at the Basin Hotel. The Basin offers the Haunting Tales of Downtown Eureka Springs & Ghosts of The Basin Park Hotel seven nights a week. Tickets for adults are $15 and tickets for children (under 9) are $7.

Eureka Springs Celebrates Christmas with Holiday Events

The Christmas season in Eureka Springs will offer locals and visitors alike a wide array of festive opportunities, including the following:

Eureka Springs Christmas Parade
The Eureka Springs Christmas Parade, sponsored and organized by the Greater Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce, will be held on Friday, Dec, 5 starting at 6 p.m.
The theme for this year's traditional Holiday of Lights Parade is "The Music and Magic of Santa's Workshop."

A parade "play-by-play" will be broadcast on local radio station KTHS 107.1 by Chamber President and CEO Jeff Feldman and on-air personality Linda Boyer. For details, e-mail debbie@eurekaspringschamber.com or call 253-8737 or (800) 6EUREKA.

Peace on Earth concert
The 6th annual John Two-Hawks Peace on Earth Christmas Concert will take place at the Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Proceeds from the event will benefit Heifer International. For details, go to www.johntwohawks.com or call (888) 790-9091 or 253-5826.

Museum ball & auction
Usher in the holiday season at the Basin Park Hotel Barefoot Ballroom on Saturday, Dec. 6 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the annual Eureka Springs Historical Museum fundraiser ball and silent auction.
A diverse selection of heavy hors d'oeuvres, desserts and wine are included in the ticket price of $20 in advance or $25 at the door. Music will be provided by the JM Combo.

This year's silent auction will offer an array of more than 100 items, including art works and gift certificates for area restaurants, services and lodging facilities.

Proceeds from the event will provide funding to support the needs and operations of the Museum, a 501c(3) non-profit corporation. For details, e-mail eshm999@sbcglobal.net or call 253-9417.

Passion play lights
The New Great Passion Play will continue its Christmas lights display each evening at 5 p.m. through Dec. 31. More than 100 lighted figures will be illuminated on the mile-long drive through the grounds.

Pine Mountain Theater
On Nov. 10, the Pine Mountain Theater began inserting A Season of Celebration into its music and comedy shows. The special performances are nightly, except Sunday, and will continue through Dec. 13.

Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down
The Ozark Mountain Hoe-Down Christmas show will perform nightly through Dec. 14.

Home for the Holidays Concert
Local musicians will perform at the Auditorium in the spirit of the season for a free night of holiday entertainment on Friday, Dec. 12. This year's musicians will include The Ariels and Friends, Catherine Reed, Santa Jones and his Reindeer, Jimmy Wells, Bill Ott and the Fabulous Hogscalders. For details, call 253-2586.

'Old-Fashioned Christmas' at AUD
The Ozarks Chorale will present its annual "Old-Fashioned Christmas" concert at the Auditorium on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 each for adults and free for persons 18 and younger. For details, go to www.theozarkschorale.org, or call 253- 7744.

Information courtesy of Lovely County Citizen

Nightly Ghost Tours Available at Basin Park Hotel

Downtown Eureka Springs and its iconic landmark The 1905 Basin Park Hotel have long carried the lore of spirits, hauntings and unusual happenings. Much is understood when one learns of the Wild West nature of the area: old bathouses, gunfights, Jesse James, the Dalton Gang, etc. Did you know that there is an "underground" Eureka?

There is also another era: An era marked by gambling and illegal drinks...An era starring such notables as Al Capone's sister and Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd...An era in which The Basin Park Hotel served as the social center. Did you know that in addition to the Lucky 7 that the Basin Park Hotel had a cave that served as a speakeasy as well?

Many guests of these historic times still remain as sighted visions: the translucent young woman with "cotton candy blonde hair and steel blue eyes", the little girl of age three or four in pigtails and a yellow dress. There is documented phenomena of those guests who cheked out but never left, floating orbs, pool cues flying off the walls. Each still remains a fascinating mystery...but mysteries that can now be revealed.

The "Haunting Tales of Downtown Eureka Springs & Ghosts of The Basin Park Hotel" tour is both a chance to learn more about the many tales and fascinating stories of the history of Downtown Eureka Springs as well as possibly witnessing and/or capturing on film our next ghost story.

Tickets are available at the Front Desk of The 1905 Basin Park Hotel located in the hub of downtown Eureka Springs at 12 Spring Street. There are no reservations so come early since space is limited. Still and video cameras are encouraged. Tickets are just $15.00 per person. For more information call 479-253-7837. In the month of October- tours are available 7 days a week.

This is one tour that is a must see when visiting Eureka Springs this fall!

The Crescent Hotel Offers Haunted Packages for Halloween

The lucky couple fluffs their pillows, slips under the comfortable covers and turns off the light there on the nightstand. They smile guardedly knowing this will probably not be like any other night they ever spent in a hotel. Why? They are sleeping in a morgue!

As part of a special “Paranormal Pair Package,” guests can enter to win the opportunity to sleep in the area once used as a morgue when The 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa was operated here as a cancer curing hospital in the late 1930s. The owner of the hotel at that time was Norman Baker, a charlatan and self-degreed “doctor.” The autopsy table he used for experimentation on patients –both living and dead- remains as the focal point of this macabre room.

And the night the winning couple gets to slumber in this eerie, some would say spooky, setting? Halloween 2008. The place? A quaint Arkansas Ozarks community that has become somewhat famous for its reports of ghostly close encounters, Eureka Springs.

Two sites that have probably added more “evidence” to that compendium of spooky speculation are Eureka Springs' landmark historic hotels, The Crescent and its sister hotel, The 1905 Basin Park Hotel. These two properties have now joined together to offer guests the “Paranormal Pair,” a three-day / two night package of ghostly proportions. The package will be available beginning August 1 and will run thru October 20, the day of the morgue drawing.

“Probably when people hear the hotel name Crescent or Basin Park they have questions about two things. They usually ask us about weddings and if we are really haunted,” said Jack Moyer, vice president of operations and development for both properties, “and we have great answers for both. Our weddings are dreams come true and our ghost sightings are sometimes explained away as ‘It must have been a dream.' But when personal report after personal report, eerie photo after eerie photo somewhat substantiate that something mysterious is goin' on you have a tendency to swing toward the side of believability.”

Whether a believer or not guests can now hear the stories, see the sights, and take their own photographs as part of the Paranormal Pair Package. Guests stay one night in the Basin Park, taking their ghost tour; and stay one night at the Crescent, taking that hotel's ghost tour. When not on the tour, guests can stealthfully meander through the halls and public areas of both hotels to do their own “spirited” investigating or do some shopping, dining or gallery hopping in one of America's Dozen Distinctive Destination communities according the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“One of the fun twists we've added is that those who take advantage of our Paranormal Pair Package can also, if they so desire, register in the drawing we are having for overnighting this Halloween night in The Crescent's ‘morgue,'” explained Moyer. “The morgue is where The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) caught a full-bodied apparition on videotape when they were performing an investigation for their Sci-Fi Channel ‘Ghost Hunters' program several years ago.”

“The morgue, a great place to dream on Halloween night, don't ya think?” Moyer concluded.

Information & Image courtesy of The Crescent Hotel

Travel to Eureka Springs for Victorian Charm

You'll find a treasure trove of Victorian charm in the Arkansas Ozarks. Ask natives about the Northwest Arkansas mountaintop retreat they call home and, repeatedly, any number of "M" words creep into the conversation. "Mystical." "Magical." "Monumental." "Magnanimous." "Meaningful." "Magnificent," even. For a town with a population of under 2,000, such meaty adjectives seem like the basis for tall tales meted out by the overly enthusiastic ... until you do a doubletake. At that point, you--like the proud citizens who lay claim to this small, carved-out-of-limestonecliffs community--might find yourself rubbing the sleep from your eyes and searching for yet another "M" word to add to residents' mellifluous list of brags.

Eureka Springs seems to have a history of making boasters out of even the most soft-spoken people. Long before white settlers "discovered" the town in 1856, Native Americans revered the place for both its natural beauty and the restorative powers of the healing waters that gave rise to its modern name. By the mid-19th century, Eureka (residents often abbreviate their town's moniker) had gained a reputation as "America's Medicine Teepee." Soon, visitors were flocking to the diminutive site in pursuit of cures for a wide range of ailments. Today, seasonal migrations still swell Eureka's narrow, winding streets as tourists continue to discover the pleasures of this picturesque Victorian-era village.

Take, for example, the many gingerbread-laden structures sprinkled atop Eureka's hillsides. Among ornately embellished cottages and tour homes are many delightful bed and breakfasts. Or opt to stay in a turn-of-the-20th-century hotel like the Eureka's grande dame--the Crescent Hotel. A massive 1886 hostelry set at the top of Eureka's historic loop, the Crescent--in addition to providing guests with sweeping panoramas--is said to be haunted (by benevolent, if not overly friendly, spirits). And the hotel's New Moon Spa is just one of numerous, around-town establishments keeping Eureka's bathhouse tradition alive.

The Basin Park Hotel is another statuesque beauty. Set next door to downtown's pint-sized, bandstand-surrounded park, this Ripley's Believe It or Not hotel has seven hillside stories--all with "groundfloor" entries. Outside, Spring Street blossoms with galleries, boutiques, and bistros.

Street fare--from funnel cakes to fudge--is tempting, but save room for dining at one of Eureka's fine restaurants. Some favorites: Ermillio's for northern and southern Italian dishes; Jim & Brent's for an eclectic selection of new cuisine; Sonny's for New York-style pizza, as well as a weekend chalkboard menu and piano bar; Center Street for authentic Mexican mole and margaritas; and the Plaza, with its canopied second-story dining overlooking pedestrian-filled streets.

Attractions outside of the compact, though hilly, downtown area include such memorable Highway 62 West sites as the architecturally inspiring Thorncrown Chapel, an interdenominational church that rises dramatically out of the surrounding woods, and Eureka Springs Gardens.

In the opposite direction, country music shows dot Highway 62 East. On Highway 23 North, just off the downtown district, there are the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway's steam-operated excursion and dining trains. Nearby, you'll find the Great Passion Play, a religious spectacle that has played to generations of visitors each May-October. And just above Passion Play Road, on a 1,500-foot overlook, towers the seven-story Christ of the Ozarks--a marble sculpture completed in 1968 by one of Mt. Rushmore's sculptors.

Information courtesy of Travel America