Route 66, the Mother Road, runs more than 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, and the Arizona stretch carries more than its share of strange stories. The road turns 100 in 2026, and Flagstaff is the only city in Arizona where Route 66 is still a working main street, which means the ghosts here never had to relocate. Below: the haunted hotels, ghost towns, and unexplained phenomena within a day's drive of Flagstaff.
Is the Hotel Monte Vista haunted?
Ask anyone downtown and the answer is yes, several times over. Built in 1927, the Monte Vista hosted John Wayne, Bing Crosby, and Harry Truman in its heyday. It is better known now for the phantom bellboy of Room 210, who knocks on doors for guests who never answer, a crying baby heard in the basement, and the bank robber who, shot during a getaway, stopped in the cocktail lounge for one last drink and bled out at the bar. Guests still report cold spots, strange noises, and the occasional figure that should not be there. We tell the fuller versions on the nightly Flagstaff Haunted History Tour.
La Posada, Winslow
Built in 1929 by Fred Harvey to serve well-heeled travelers on the Santa Fe Railway, La Posada drew celebrities like Clark Gable before closing in 1957 and sliding into disrepair. Restoration in the 1990s brought the hotel back, and with it the reports: a woman in white said to walk the gardens and hallways. Both hotels earn their spots on our list of the most haunted hotels in Arizona.
Ghost towns: Two Guns and Oatman
Two Guns, 30 miles east of Flagstaff, was a thriving 1920s tourist stop with a zoo, souvenir shops, and a gas station, and a track record of violence to match, with murders and shootouts reported over the years. Today it is ruins and graffiti, and visitors describe an unease that arrives about the time the car door shuts behind them.
Oatman, 28 miles southwest of Kingman, boomed past 10,000 residents in the early 1900s before the gold gave out. It survives now on wild burros, historic buildings, and staged gunfights, though some visitors swear not everything walking the boardwalks is on the payroll.
The lights nobody has explained
On March 13, 1997, thousands of people watched a triangular formation of lights hover over Phoenix for hours. The Phoenix Lights remain unexplained, with theories running from military exercises to something stranger. Off the road to the southeast, the Mogollon Rim has its Mogollon Monster, a Bigfoot-like creature blamed for strange howls and oversized footprints in the wilderness. Believe what you like; we collect this sort of thing in our roundup of aliens, UFOs, and haunted towns.
Walk the Mother Road in Flagstaff
The easiest place to feel the old road is downtown Flagstaff, where Route 66 still runs past the neon. Our Route 66 Centennial Walking Tour, partially funded by the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, covers 90 minutes of the road's rise, reroute, and neon wars: $29 for adults, $25 for students and $22 for children, daily at 6 PM. For the celebration itself, the dated 2026 centennial events guide keeps every date in one place. The centennial is a fine excuse. The stories are the reason.
