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Status: Former Battleground; Former Medical Building; Double Tree Hotel
History
Long before a building was ever built here Mexican and Texas forces fought here in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Part of the battle took place on the very ground the hotel now stands. It is, of course, impossible to tell exactly what happened on this one patch of land but 600 men lost their lives in the battle.
The building was completed in 1924 and called the Medical Arts Building. It housed over 100 medical professionals as well as a 50 bed hospital, a morgue and even a crematorium. There’s even stories that people with mental illnesses stayed here which, while certainly possible, isn’t a proven fact.
In 1976 the medical staff left and the building was completely converted into offices.
In 1984 it was renovated and turned into a hotel.
In 2012 the building underwent a massive renovation when it was bought by Hilton Hotels and converted into a Doubletree Hotel which it remains today.
Paranormal Activity
This hotel is considered the third most haunted hotel in America.
The hotel is open about it’s reported paranormal activity. They do not go so far as admitting a haunting – their website says the hotel is probably not haunted – but they do not deny the strange and unexplainable things people have reported. They simply think there’s a logical explanation; which there certainly could be.
Their website also states visitors are welcome to ask the staff about the history of the hotel and the unexplained things that have been reported.
The most active floors are 7, 9,14 and the basement with the 7th being by far the most haunted of all.
A “woman in white” has been seen walking through the halls of the hotel. People have also reported shadows on the walls when there was nothing visible to cast the shadow.
The elevators will move on their own and stop at random floors when no button was pushed.
On certain floors people have felt a presence when they were completely alone. A powerful feeling that they are not truly alone as if something unseen is watching them. Most disturbing is that the elevators will occasionally ignore all the pushed buttons and take guests down the basement; where the morgue used to be.
The elevators have also sealed their own doors and trapped people within them.
Numerous guests have reported hearing something that sounds like hospital carts in the hallways but when they open their room door the hallway is empty and silent.
Other people have reported seeing nurses pushing gurneys down the hall. The apparitions will first appear as solid as reality then slowly fade away to nothing.
The phones at the front desk will occasionally ring but when answered there is no one on the line. Sometimes it will show as an unknown number but sometimes it will show as a call from a completely empty elevator.
Doors will sometimes open and close on their own.
Staff have cleaned entire rooms only to return and find the bed all rumpled again.
One staff member went into a bathroom in an unoccupied room only to find the tub suddenly filled with blue water.
Not only is there no 13th floor labeled – a common occurrence in buildings with 13+ stories but the room numbers on the 14th (13th) floor end at 1407. There is no room 1408 because you add 1+4+0+8 you get 13.
The 14th floor is where the crematorium was housed when it was the Medical Arts Building. It was also used for surgeries and some guests have opened their room doors to see the hallway replaced by an obviously busy hospital scene preparing and doing surgeries in an apparent time slip event. The natural reaction would be to close the door – denial is our reaction to seeing something we can’t believe – and when the door is opened again its just the normal hallway as it should be.
The 14th floor is said to have an antiseptic smell as if one was in a hospital.
Guests on the 12th floor have seen their bathroom doors open and close on their own. They’ve also been awakened in the dead of night to hear water dripping from the bathroom faucets which turns to a torrent when they get up to investigate and then stops completely the second they enter the bathroom itself.
Apparitions of nurses are reported on the 12th floor as well.
On the 7th and most haunted floor there seems to be a ghost bride as well as other ghosts who move freely about the floor including the rooms and the hallways.
The bride is known wailing unearthly loud screams in the middle of the night waking up guests.
All the ghosts of the 7th floor seem to enjoy playing with the living. They will suddenly appear in your room – or just come right through the wall – which, rightfully so, can terrify guests. These experiences have led to guests leaving the hotel or asking for another room in the middle of the night.
Also, on the 7th floor guests have reported their phone ringing in the middle of the night with no one on the line, lights and television turning on and off on their own. There are also reports of being touched by something unseen which would be another level of creepiness if it happened while you were sleeping.
Despite a few unscheduled trips by the elevators guests are not permitted in the basement. Only staff go down there and they’ve had enough experiences that no one really wants to go down.
The morgue and embalming room were once in the basement.
Sometimes the room with filled with the smell of decaying flesh. Other staff have reported disembodied voices and bright orbs of light that flash around the basement.