The Haunted Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas

This is a short report on ghostly activity witnessed over four days in 2011 at the legendary Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The hotel is reportedly haunted. I can attest to that.


• Scene: I arrived at the Arlington Hotel with Leah, her big family and Sally. Leah was getting married. Sally, Leah and I have been friends since first grade. The three of us were staying in the “Smarty Jones Suite,” a two bedroom suite with a long hallway at the front, a kitchen, two large living areas and a deck outside on the roof of the hotel. We immediately started unpacking and geeking out about being in the Smarty Jones Suite of the Arlington, which I have to assume has hosted its fair share of parties since the city’s heyday. Al Capone was a long time resident of the hotel. His room was shut off to guests and the Arlington management is instructed to disregard questions about the paranormal. We did find a few staff members willing to share stories. I could go on here but I won’t. The following incidents happened during my stay:
• In the early evening, Leah’s dad, Eric, was unpacking in her parents’ room, located one floor beneath our suite, to the right and down a hallway. Leah’s mom and her aunt were in our suite at the time, checking it out. Eric clearly heard Linda, Leah’s mom, say, “Eric, Eric.” But she wasn’t there. Eric is a cancer survivor and had a tumor removed from his brain years ago, causing him to become deaf in one ear. He’s a doctor and doesn’t make things up.
• Shortly after the above incident, Leah, Sally and I were alone in the suite. We were sitting around a table outside on the roof deck talking. Leah says she’s going to get her sweater because she’s freezing. Sally and I continue talking as Leah goes inside, walks down the creepy hallway to her room. With all her might she manages to get her suitcase onto the bed and opens it to get her sweater out. Then she hears the stained-glass, noisy-ass wooden door to our suite swing open and slam shut. She hears someone run up the flight of four stairs (very rickety and loud stairs, mind you) to the hallway and stop. Then she hears them run down the stairs and back out the door, slamming it shut. She’s like, “Hello?” Nothing, so she runs to the door to see who it was and finds it locked. This door in particular had no keyless entry and was bolted shut from the inside. Leah darted down the hall and burst out the back door and onto the roof deck. “Did y’all just come inside?” Definitely not.
• Unlike the days of Al Capone, smoking is not permitted inside the ballrooms and lobby of the hotel, and I found myself sitting alone on a bench near the grand entrance of the hotel, about 40 feet to the right of the main front door, smoking a cigarette during my friend’s wedding reception inside the hotel’s ballroom. Nobody was in my sight except for a few people on a sidewalk in the distance. It was quiet and the air was still. Suddenly I hear someone next to me repeatedly sniffling their stopped up nose. I have no other way to describe it except that it was as if an invisible man was sitting right next to me on the bench and sniffling to keep his nose from running. This is the only such experience with the unknown that has ever made me smile and laugh to myself. I actually sniffled back. Not sure why but in a way I think I wanted it to know I heard it.
• Fast forward about an hour and half after the sniffling, I go to the ladies room right outside the ballroom, where the reception is in full swing. The restroom is empty and all four doors to the four stalls are wide open. The doors to each stall were made of wood, painted white and resembled window shutters. If you’re inside the stall with the door shut, you can see people walk past the stall through the cracks of the shutters. The door to the bathroom is very heavy and its swing makes a squeaking sound opening and shutting. When you walk in, you first pass a row of sinks on the left, then three stalls on the left, ending with the handicapped stall in the back, forming an L formation of stalls. No one is in there. I am trying to pee in the middle of the three stalls on the left when I hear the toilet flush from what seemed to be the handicap stall. I sort of froze for a second because I thought no one was in there. I then heard the door to the handicap stall open with that prevalent squeak that everything makes in the Arlington Hotel. But I did not hear anyone walk out of that stall and did not see anyone walk past my stall to leave. No one opened the heavy, squeaky door to leave the ladies room; the sound of the party didn’t creep through an open doorway at any point. When I left the ladies room, I didn’t wash my hands …
• It sort of creeps me out that I accidentally kept the key to the Smarty Jones Suite. I thought I had returned it to Leah’s mom and was weirded out to discover the key upon my return at the bottom of a prominent, well used pocket of my purse. They probably changed the locks, right? I wonder.
• The energy inside the Smarty Jones Suite was undeniably freaky. Leah and I slept hip to hip for two nights. On her wedding night, I found someone to sleep with me because Sally was staying in her boyfriend’s room at that point and I definitely didn't want to sleep alone in this freaky suite. I could be found on the roof deck whenever possible.
• Sally said she heard a woman screaming while she was alone in the suite taking a shower, but she did not want to talk about it whatsoever, as she scares VERY easily.
• Leaving this hotel the morning of my departure was, for whatever reason, very difficult for me. I woke up crying almost immediately and was emotionally overwhelmed and hysterical. I’m not saying the suite’s energy caused this, but I’m also not saying it didn’t.

I would love to hear stories from others who have stayed in this hotel. Thanks for reading. Good day.

reply to post by TruthLover557


That's where I had my honeymoon!

I got nothing... but I liked your story!

reply to post by TruthLover557


That's a cool story thanks for sharing.

I actually think I stayed at that hotel when I was in Hot Springs like almost 20 years ago.
Thanks for refreshing some really distant memories for me.

I don't remember anything strange though but I was only there for one night if I recall.

Did you go to the Wax Museum across the way? I remember as a kid I thought it was pretty cool, always liked those types of places.

Originally posted by bonsaihorn
reply to post by TruthLover557

 

That's where I had my honeymoon!

I got nothing... but I liked your story!

That's nuts how famous that hotel is, all three of us so far in the thread have been there!

It is a small world after all.

reply to post by bonsaihorn

That's where I had my honeymoon!
I got nothing...

....I'm sorry............ I couldn't stop myself.

Really enjoyable read

Did you get a chance to look up any of the reported hauntings on the hotel to see if anything matched your experience?

Interesting! I have never been to the Arlington Hotel but it is definitely on my to-do list, right after I stay at the Crescent Hotel. I will say finding reports on the Arlington Hotel is a little difficult, if there are any more reports that anyone has to offer I would be very interested.

I have stayed in this hotel way back when I was a younger, excellent-looking gay guy . Getting to Hot Springs from the west was a bitch and it wasn't all that HOT when you get there either.

The water coming out of the springs from the public faucets was hotty-hot all righty so I guess maybe that counts. Anyway, I didn't find the hotel haunted only myself.

My father was a overt gay bashing assclown.

Daryl Forests
Unhappy childhood

reply to post by TruthLover557


Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

I think I saw this place being investigated by one of the Ghost Hunter shows on t.v. Sounds like there is a lot of activity there.

Just a note for you to consider: Next time you make a thread, use spaces between your paragraphs. It makes it much easier to read. Most people will simply not read read a "wall of text". I think this is why you haven't had more responses here, because this is a very good story. I gave you a S&F.