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Haunted Hotels in Texas

Eighteen historic Texas hotels grouped by city so you can see how San Antonio, Austin, Galveston and Fort Worth tell their ghost stories differently.

18 places in 5 destinations · Sources checked October 28, 2026

Texas hotel history is really four city histories. San Antonio's hotels sit in the shadow of the Alamo and of a 1909 building boom; Austin's include a cattle baron's hotel and two family mansions; Galveston's were shaped by the island's storms and rebuilding; Fort Worth's grew out of the Stockyards. The ghost stories follow the same lines, from Alamo defenders and Rough Riders to a sea-watching bride and a cowboy named Jake.

This page is a Texas-only view of our national collection of haunted hotels. It covers every Texas hotel we have written about, chosen by our team. It is not a statewide survey or a ranking, and the order within each city carries no judgment about which hotel is more haunted.

Use it to decide which city fits your trip and which hotel's history and stories interest you most. Each entry separates what we have checked against cited sources from the ghost stories, which are presented as reported accounts and local lore.

This collection covers every historic Texas hotel we have written about: in San Antonio, Austin, Galveston and Fort Worth, plus former hotels in Houston and Galveston, each clearly labeled.

18 places

At a glance

Comparison of the places in this collection
PlaceLocationEraThe storyToday
The Crockett HotelSan Antonio, TX1909Alamo battlefield spiritsOperating hotel
Drury Plaza Hotel San Antonio RiverwalkSan Antonio, TX1929Depression-era bankOperating hotel
The Emily Morgan San Antonio - a DoubleTree by Hilton HotelSan Antonio, TX1924Medical building hauntingsOperating hotel
Holiday Inn Express San Antonio N-Riverwalk Area120 Camaron St, downtown San Antonio, TX 782051878Former county jailOperating hotel
Hotel Gibbs105 N Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78205 (Alamo Plaza, downtown)1909Phantom elevator ridersOperating hotel
The Menger HotelSan Antonio, TX1859Rough Riders recruiterOperating hotel
The Gunter HotelSan Antonio, TX1909Jazz Age and bluesOperating hotel
The St. Anthony, a Luxury Collection HotelSan Antonio, TX1909Society hotel romanceOperating hotel
The DriskillAustin, TX1886Cattle baron's hotelOperating hotel
Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts CollectionAustin, TX1928Mansion presencesOperating hotel
Hotel EllaAustin, TX1898–1900Physician's family homeOperating hotel
The Stephen F. Austin Royal Sonesta HotelAustin, TX1924Capitol-district high-riseOperating hotel
Grand GalvezGalveston, TX1911Sea-watching brideOperating hotel
The Tremont HouseGalveston, TX1839Civil War soldierOperating hotel
Miss Molly's HotelFort Worth, TX1910Cowboys and bordelloOperating hotel
Stockyards HotelFort Worth, TX1907Outlaws and spursTemporarily closed
The RiceHouston, TX1913Grand hotel lady in whiteFormer hotel
Former Oleander HotelGalveston, TX1913Green Book hotel, Lady in RedFormer hotel

San Antonio

San Antonio has the deepest bench of historic hotels in this collection, from the Menger of 1859 to a 1929 bank tower; three of them, the Crockett, the Gunter and the St. Anthony, opened in the same year, 1909. Several others are converted buildings, including a former county jail and a 1924 medical building.

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

The Crockett Hotel

1909Alamo battlefield spirits

One of three San Antonio hotels on this page that opened in 1909, the Crockett stands apart because it was built by a fraternal lodge rather than by hoteliers or cattlemen. Its stories also lean harder on the Alamo battle itself than those of its Texas neighbors: they are about soldiers and sounds, not a single named guest.

The story people tell

The story most often told here is that the hotel's ground still belongs to the Alamo's defenders. Guests and staff have long reported chanting and footsteps in the halls, the clip-clop of horses' hooves, and the front entrance's sensor doors sliding open with no one there. Some employees describe a man in a dark blue jacket walking toward the patio, where a tavern is said to have stood more than a century ago.

History we checked · 1 source
  • The hotel was built by San Antonio's Odd Fellows, who laid its cornerstone in 1909; the fraternal order kept the top two floors for its own use, with the floors below for hotel guests. (KSAT 12 (Aug 21, 2024))

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San Antonio

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

Drury Plaza Hotel San Antonio Riverwalk

Also known as: Alamo National Bank Building; article also covers Drury Inn & Suites San Antonio Riverwalk (201 N St. Mary's St)

1929Depression-era bank

This is San Antonio's 1920s skyscraper entry: a 24-story bank tower that became a hotel only in 2007, making it one of the more recent conversions in this group. Choose it if the banking era interests you more than the Alamo era; just know that its ghost lore is a reputation rather than a set of detailed, named accounts.

The story people tell

The reputation attached to this building comes from its years as a bank. According to local lore, the spirits of Depression-era bankers and clients who met hard ends are said to linger in the former Alamo National Bank Building. Our article spends more time on the preserved 1920s interiors than on specific sightings, so this is a story told about the building rather than a collection of first-hand reports.

History we checked · 2 sources
  • The hotel occupies the former Alamo National Bank Building, a 24-story structure completed in 1929. (Drury Hotels)
  • The Drury Plaza Hotel opened in the building in 2007. (Drury Hotels)

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Disclosure: Ghost City Tours has a package partnership with Drury Plaza Hotel & Drury Inn & Suites San Antonio Riverwalk (Drury Hotels) (confirmed on the property's own site October 28, 2026). It did not affect this listing.

Read the full storyHaunted San Antonio

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

The Emily Morgan San Antonio - a DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel

1924Medical building hauntings

Where most San Antonio hotels here trace their stories to the Alamo or to frontier commerce, the Emily Morgan's lore comes from medicine. It began as a 1924 Gothic Revival medical building and became a hotel only in the 1980s, so its accounts are about hospital floors, surgery and a bride, which makes it unlike anything else in the Texas group.

The story people tell

The stories here are tied to the building's decades as a medical center. Guests on the twelfth floor have reported sounds like surgical instruments and an electric saw in the early hours, and a housekeeper described cries and moans from an empty room. On the fourteenth floor people describe a woman in white passing through doors, and on the seventh a translucent figure in a wedding dress who, in one worker's account, stepped into an elevator that was empty a moment later.

History we checked · 2 sources
  • The building was erected in 1924 as the 13-story Gothic Revival Medical Arts Building by builder J.M. Nix and architect Ralph Cameron, and was used as a medical center. (The Emily Morgan Hotel)
  • The hotel's own timeline dates its opening as the Emily Morgan Hotel to 1984. (The Emily Morgan Hotel)

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San AntonioFeatured on The San Antonio Haunted Pub Crawl

120 Camaron St, downtown San Antonio, TX 78205Operating hotel

Holiday Inn Express San Antonio N-Riverwalk Area

Also known as: 82 rooms; in the 1878 Old Bexar County Jail; opened Nov 26, 2004 as Comfort Inn Alamo/Riverwalk

1878Former county jail

No other Texas hotel on this page was a jail. Its neighbors began as hotels, family homes, offices, a bank or a medical building; this building held prisoners and was fitted with a trapdoor gallows. Pick it if you want a story rooted in the county's justice system rather than in grand hospitality, told largely through one guest's account.

The story people tell

Staff have told the story of a general manager who tucked a bed's sheets tight, turned away, and looked back to find them undone. A couple who later wrote to us described a sleepless night on the third floor: overbearing heat, a shape like curtains high on the wall, and around 5 a.m. a loud noise followed by what sounded like chains dragged across the floor.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San AntonioFeatured on The Madames and Mayhem Ghost Tour

105 N Alamo St, San Antonio, TX 78205 (Alamo Plaza, downtown)Operating hotel

Hotel Gibbs

Also known as: 1909 Gibbs Building; opened as Hotel Indigo San Antonio at the Alamo, April 2010

1909Phantom elevator riders

Hotel Gibbs belongs to San Antonio's 1909 building wave alongside the Crockett, Gunter and St. Anthony, but unlike those three it was an office building, not a hotel, and became one much later. Its signature story is about elevators, which suits a building that may have been the last downtown to keep elevator operators.

The story people tell

The account told most often here involves the old elevators, which guests are told are out of service. People have reported seeing the doors close, sometimes on the edge of a dress skirt, and then asked staff why they cannot ride. Other guests describe people in clothing from another era walking the halls or already standing in a room when they open the door, then vanishing as soon as anyone speaks.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San Antonio

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

The Menger Hotel

1859Rough Riders recruiter

The Menger opened in 1859, half a century before San Antonio's 1909 hotels and decades before the Driskill in Austin. Its history runs from a German brewer's family to Roosevelt's 1898 Rough Riders, and its central ghost is Theodore Roosevelt, a national name rather than a local legend.

The story people tell

The figure most often described here is Theodore Roosevelt, said to appear in the Menger Bar. Staff closing up at night have reported a nearly translucent man by the bar who never moves, and in some tellings the apparition calls out to workers and tries to recruit them, as if still raising the Rough Riders. Guests elsewhere in the hotel describe cigar smoke in non-smoking rooms and heavy doors swinging open on their own.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San AntonioFeatured on The Ghosts of San Antonio TourFeatured on The San Antonio Haunted Pub Crawl

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

The Gunter Hotel

Also known as: Sheraton Gunter; Marriott Tribute Portfolio

1909Jazz Age and blues

The Gunter's lore is about music and nightlife, which sets it apart from the Alamo-centered stories of its San Antonio neighbors. Its site has a longer lodging history than its 1909 opening suggests, and it is the only hotel here tied to a recording session: Robert Johnson's in 1936.

The story people tell

Two flappers nicknamed Ingrid and Peggy are said to haunt opposite parts of the hotel, and guests have reported hearing them argue; Ingrid is described in a long white dress, walking the upper floors and, in one employee's account, crossing straight through a wall. The hotel is also associated with blues musician Robert Johnson, and local lore holds that his spirit lingers in Room 414, where his first recording session is said to have taken place.

History we checked · 3 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San Antonio

San Antonio, TXOperating hotel

The St. Anthony, a Luxury Collection Hotel

1909Society hotel romance

Like Austin's Driskill, the St. Anthony was a cattlemen's luxury hotel, but it opened in 1909 rather than 1886, and its stories belong to high society rather than to the frontier. If you want a ballroom-and-evening-gown kind of story instead of a battlefield one, this is the San Antonio entry that fits.

The story people tell

The legend most told here is of the Lady in Red: a well-dressed woman who came to meet a married lover, waited in the lobby, and went up to her third-floor room alone when he never arrived. Guests and staff have since reported a woman in a red dress walking the third floor, or a flash of red fabric disappearing around a corner. Night staff also describe big-band music from an empty ballroom and couples in formal wear who fade as anyone approaches.

History we checked · 1 source

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted San AntonioFeatured on The San Antonio Haunted Pub Crawl

Austin

Austin's entries include two hotels built as hotels, the Driskill of 1886 and the 1924 Stephen F. Austin, the city's first high-rise hotel, plus two private family homes that later became hotels. That mix gives the city both a crowded, named-ghost tradition and quieter mansion stories.

Austin, TXOperating hotel

The Driskill

1886Cattle baron's hotel

The Driskill is Austin's nineteenth-century hotel, like the Menger in San Antonio, but it was built by a cattle baron, and it is the oldest of the four Austin entries. Its stories are about named figures, a child and the founder himself, which makes it more storied in detail than the quieter mansion accounts at Perry Estate and Hotel Ella.

The story people tell

The story most often told here is of a young girl, called Samantha by paranormal enthusiasts and said in local lore to be a senator's daughter, who fell on the Grand Staircase while chasing a ball. Guests report a girl darting along the mezzanine staircase and disturbances near a fifth-floor portrait of a girl holding flowers. The founder is said to linger too: a security guard who smelled cigar smoke reported a man's voice behind him asking, "Got a match?" with no one there.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted AustinFeatured on The Ghosts of Austin TourFeatured on Austin Haunted Pub CrawlFeatured on Madame's Curse Ghost Tour

Austin, TXOperating hotel

Commodore Perry Estate, Auberge Resorts Collection

Also known as: Perry Estate

1928Mansion presences

The newest building among the Austin hotels here, and an Italian Renaissance house rather than a purpose-built hotel. It was a 1928 family mansion before it was a hotel, so its stories are the quiet kind told about private houses, which makes a useful contrast with the Driskill's crowded, named-ghost lore.

The story people tell

The accounts here are understated rather than dramatic. Guests in the historic part of the property have described footsteps in hallways when no one is visible and the murmur of conversation from rooms that turn out to be empty, usually late at night or early in the morning. Staff working in what were the mansion's private rooms describe a steady sense of being watched, and shadowy shapes are said to cross doorways before dissolving.

History we checked · 3 sources
  • The mansion was built for Edgar and Lutie Perry in the late 1920s; CBS Austin gives 1928, while the Cultural Landscape Foundation says it was completed in 1926. (source)
  • Edgar "Commodore" Perry was an Austin cotton trader and real estate developer. (source)
  • The house was designed as an Italian Renaissance Revival mansion. (The Cultural Landscape Foundation)

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Austin

Austin, TXOperating hotel

Hotel Ella

Also known as: Goodall Wooten House

1898–1900Physician's family home

Hotel Ella pairs naturally with the Commodore Perry Estate: both are Austin family homes that later took in guests. Ella is the older of the two, built for a physician at the turn of the twentieth century, and its reported sense of being watched centers on what were the family's private rooms rather than on any single famous room.

The story people tell

Guests and staff describe the kind of activity often told about old family homes. People in the historic part of the house report footsteps and indistinct voices from rooms that prove to be empty, and staff describe a focused sense of being watched in the old family quarters. Others mention brief, moving cold spots and figures glimpsed in a doorway or corridor that vanish when looked at directly.

History we checked · 3 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Austin

Austin, TXOperating hotel

The Stephen F. Austin Royal Sonesta Hotel

Also known as: Stephen F. Austin Hotel; planned as 'The Texas'; renamed Royal Sonesta Dec 2020

1924Capitol-district high-rise

The Stephen F. Austin is the Texas capital's political hotel: a 1924 Beaux Arts building on Congress Avenue that opened as the tallest building in downtown Austin, and where Lyndon B. Johnson ran his first congressional campaign. It suits readers who want a full-service downtown stay a few blocks from the Capitol, with a century of Austin history in the walls.

The story people tell

The hotel's best-known ghost story is one guest's account of Room 408. In an online review, the guest described a light that switched on by itself and flashed several times, and a closed bathroom door that slowly swung open before the light went off again.

History we checked · 4 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted AustinFeatured on Austin Haunted Pub Crawl

Galveston

Galveston's two hotels frame the island's history on either side of the 1900 storm: the Tremont name dates to 1839, while the Galvez opened in 1911 as part of the recovery. The present Tremont is the third hotel to carry that name.

Galveston, TXOperating hotel

Grand Galvez

Also known as: historic Hotel Galvez

1911Sea-watching bride

The Galvez is the one Texas hotel here built as part of the recovery from the 1900 storm, while the Tremont's name runs back to 1839. Its lore is coastal and maritime, centered on a bride waiting for a ship, a theme you will not find at the inland hotels in San Antonio, Austin or Fort Worth.

The story people tell

The story most often told here is of Audra, a bride-to-be in the 1950s whose fiancé was a mariner. According to the legend she took Room 501 while he was at sea and watched for his ship from the hotel's west turret, and she died in grief after hearing it was lost, only days before he returned alive. Staff and guests have reported doors slamming, lights and televisions switching on and off, and key cards for Room 501 that refuse to work; a small girl in nineteenth-century clothing, bouncing a ball, is also said to appear near the lobby and staircase.

History we checked · 3 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Galveston

Galveston, TXOperating hotel

The Tremont House

1839Civil War soldier

The Tremont carries the oldest hotel name in this Texas group, first used in 1839, though the present hotel is the third Tremont and occupies a former merchant firm's building. Compared with the Galvez, its best-known story looks back to the Civil War rather than a lost bride, and its lore centers on a lobby and front desk rather than a guest room.

The story people tell

The account told most often here is of a Civil War soldier who is said to march through the front lobby, past the elevator shaft, toward the front desk and back; when he is not seen, staff report hearing his boots. New employees also describe a young boy, nicknamed Jimmy, glimpsed at the front desk out of the corner of the eye and blamed for overturning cups on tables.

History we checked · 3 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted GalvestonFeatured on The Ghosts of Galveston TourFeatured on The Shadows of Revelry Ghost Tour

Fort Worth

Fort Worth's operating entry is a small 1910 Stockyards building that passed through Prohibition and the 1940s under other names, including years as a bordello. Its stories reflect the cattle-trade district around it.

Fort Worth, TXOperating hotel

Miss Molly's Hotel

1910Cowboys and bordello

Miss Molly's is a former bordello in the Stockyards, a 1910 building that changed identities through Prohibition and the 1940s. Where San Antonio's and Austin's hotels tell stories of soldiers, senators and society, this one tells stories of cowboys and working women, matching the cattle-town history of Fort Worth itself.

The story people tell

The ghost most often named here is Jake the Cowboy, whom a former manager described seeing in full: he walked into a room and shut the door, and when she opened it no one was inside. The same manager told of a madam figure reported many times around 3 a.m. at the foot of the bed, and staff tell of the "Tipping Ghost," said to leave spare change in rooms that have just been cleaned. The Cattlemen and Cowboy rooms are where reports cluster most.

History we checked · 3 sources

Today: Operating as a hotel or inn — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Fort Worth

Temporarily closed

These hotels are closed for now. We include them for their history and stories — check reopening plans before you make travel plans.

This Fort Worth hotel, opened in 1907 and restored in 1982, is closed for renovation; the hotel says it will return in 2027.

Fort Worth, TXTemporarily closed

Stockyards Hotel

1907Outlaws and spurs

The Stockyards Hotel is the older of the two Fort Worth properties here, opened in 1907, three years before Miss Molly's building went up, and restored in 1982. Its lore draws on outlaws and rodeo life, from a suite tied by local tradition to Bonnie and Clyde to the cowboys who stayed during the Stockyards' heyday, giving it a cattle-town flavor it shares with Miss Molly's down the street.

The story people tell

The story most often told here centers on the suite named for Bonnie and Clyde, who by local tradition stayed there in 1933; according to the guidebook Strange State, its bathroom faucet turns on and off by itself. A regional ghost book describes the jingle of cowboy spurs and footsteps in quiet hallways late at night, and staff tell of front-desk phone calls traced to the empty lobby, blamed on a figure called Jake.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: Temporarily closed (closed for renovation; the hotel says it returns in 2027) — not currently taking guests; verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Fort Worth

Former hotels

These buildings are no longer hotels, or no longer stand. You cannot stay in them; we include them because their stories are part of the history of their cities.

Two buildings that no longer take guests: Houston's Rice, a 1913 hotel building now apartments, and Galveston's Oleander, a Green Book-listed Black-owned hotel whose 1913 building is now an antiques store.

Houston, TXFormer hotel

The Rice

Also known as: Rice Hotel; Post Rice Lofts

1913Grand hotel lady in white

Houston appears on this page only through the Rice, which no longer operates as a hotel and is now apartments. It belongs to the same 1907–1913 building wave as the Galvez and San Antonio's 1909 hotels, and it is here because its stories, told now by residents rather than guests, are part of the same Texas grand-hotel tradition.

The story people tell

The apparition most often described is a Lady in White in a flowing gown on the upper floors; hotel legend makes her a young bride from the 1920s whose wedding ended in despair. Residents have reported her reflection in mirrors, the rustle of fabric in empty corridors, and elevators that halt at floors where no one waits, sometimes with a faceless bellhop in an old uniform. Others describe jazz and clinking glasses drifting up from the basement where a Prohibition-era speakeasy is said to have operated.

History we checked · 1 source

Today: No longer a hotel — now apartments (The Rice); you cannot stay here — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted Houston

Galveston, TXFormer hotel

Former Oleander Hotel

Also known as: Green Book-era Black-owned hotel; 1913 commercial building now Antique Warehouse

1913Green Book hotel, Lady in Red

The Oleander is the collection's Green Book hotel: a Black-owned hotel listed in the travel guide that helped African American motorists find safe lodging, in a 1913 building on 25th Street. It no longer takes guests, but the building stands, now an antiques store, and its story sits at the edge of Galveston's old red-light district.

The story people tell

The building's best-known ghost is the Lady in Red, a woman in an elegant red dress said to appear on the upper floors, gazing out of the windows. Staff and shoppers also describe footsteps upstairs after closing and the scent of old perfume.

History we checked · 2 sources

Today: No longer a hotel — now an antiques store (Antique Warehouse), open to customers during store hours; you cannot stay here — verified October 28, 2026 (source)

Read the full storyHaunted GalvestonFeatured on The Galveston Haunted Pub CrawlFeatured on The Shadows of Revelry Ghost Tour

Comparing the four cities

San Antonio offers the most choice in one place: eight hotels whose stories range from the Alamo battle to a 1920s medical building, a county jail and a bank tower. If you want to compare several historic hotels on one trip, it is the city that allows it, and its 1909 hotels make a natural set to read side by side.

Austin suits travelers who want contrast. The Driskill's stories are detailed and full of named figures, while the Commodore Perry Estate and Hotel Ella offer the quieter kind of account that grows up around old family houses.

Galveston is the coastal choice, with two hotels whose histories are bound up with storms, fire and rebuilding, and lore with a maritime and Civil War flavor. Fort Worth is the cattle-town choice: its stories come from the Stockyards, cowboys and the people who worked there.

Reading the eras across Texas

Only three entries here date from the nineteenth century as hotels: the Tremont name (1839), the Menger (1859) and the Driskill (1886). A striking number of the others come from a short span between 1907 and 1913, when the Stockyards Hotel, San Antonio's Crockett, Gunter, St. Anthony and Gibbs buildings, Miss Molly's, the Galvez and Houston's Rice were all built or opened.

Cattle money runs through several of these histories: the Driskill was built by a cattle baron and the St. Anthony by two cattlemen, and Fort Worth's entries stand in the Stockyards. If you are drawn to that thread, those hotels make a good comparison across three cities. We are still checking other historic hotels in Texas, including in Houston, so this picture will grow.

More Texas haunts

For tours across the state, see Texas Ghost Tours, and for a driving itinerary that strings these cities together, our Haunted Texas Road Trip.

Go deeper by city

Some of our destinations have their own collection with every place of this kind we cover there.

Where we run ghost tours

Ghost City Tours runs tours in these destinations. Being listed in this collection does not mean a tour visits a place: a tour includes a place only where its entry says “Featured on”.

Ghost tours in San Antonio
Ghost tours in Austin
Ghost tours in Galveston
Ghost tours in Fort Worth
Ghost tours in Houston

By The Ghost City Tours editorial team. Historical details were checked against the sources cited with each place on October 28, 2026. Ghost stories are presented as the accounts people tell, not as established fact.

Hotel operations, access rules and hours change — confirm with each place before you travel.

Reviewed by Tim Nealon on October 28, 2026.