Flagstaff is a city defined by its altitude and its appetite for the strange. At 7,000 feet, the air is thin and the history is thick with pioneers, railroad workers and outlaws, the people who built this mountain town after the railroad arrived in 1882. You do not need to step inside anything to feel it. The oldest bricks downtown seem to hold the echoes of everyone who came before, and three landmarks in particular can be read straight from the sidewalk.
The Weatherford Hotel: A Pillar of the Past
At the corner of Leroux Street and Aspen Avenue stands the Weatherford Hotel, red sandstone and balconies, the heart of Flagstaff's social scene since it opened in 1900. John Weatherford came to Flagstaff to build his fortune, and this building is what his ambition left behind. Its most famous resident is the White Lady of the Zane Grey Ballroom, though the story most guests ask about involves a pair of honeymooners in Room 54. The story goes that their 1930s tragedy never quite checked out. Our guides tell it from the sidewalk, where the cold mountain wind can sound uncomfortably like a distant, weeping bride.
The Monte Vista: Echoes on the Sidewalk
The Hotel Monte Vista is probably Flagstaff's most famous haunted landmark, and even from the street its 1920s grandeur is unmistakable. This is where the phantom bellboy of Room 210 keeps knocking, where guests report a baby crying in the basement, and where a wounded bank robber once bled out in the cocktail lounge, mid-drink. Passersby have reported a figure in a vintage uniform through the upper windows when no staff were anywhere near those floors. Then there is the story of the "Meat Man." What happened behind those closed doors stays behind them until the tour, but the sidewalk out front does feel a few degrees colder once the sun drops behind the Peaks.
The Santa Fe Train Depot
The railroad is the reason Flagstaff exists, and the 1926 Santa Fe depot remains a hotspot for activity. While passengers wait for the modern Amtrak, our guests hear about Leo Bart, the brakeman whose flickering lantern is said to still haunt the rails. Standing on the platform, looking down the iron line, you can almost hear a steam whistle cutting through the pine-scented air. Almost.
What is the most haunted place in Flagstaff?
Ask ten locals and you will get at least three answers: the Monte Vista, the Weatherford, or the balcony of the 1917 Orpheum Theater, where staff describe a lingering presence. The honest answer is that downtown Flagstaff is haunted as a district, not as a single address. We ranked the contenders in our guide to Flagstaff's most haunted places, and the weeping women of the hotel floors have a whole tradition of their own.
Walk this story
All three landmarks sit within a few blocks of each other, which is exactly the ground our guides cover after dark. The Flagstaff Haunted History Tour runs nightly at 7 PM, with an extra 8 PM walk on Fridays and Saturdays, 75 minutes, $29 for adults. Night owls who want the darker cuts can step up to Mountain Town of Madness, the 18+ version, Fridays and Saturdays at 9 PM, $39. The Meat Man will be waiting either way.
