By reputation, yes. Guests and staff at the Hotel St. Michael, the brick hotel at the corner of Montezuma and Gurley on Prescott's Whiskey Row, have reported a woman in white, whispers in the corridors, lights flickering in unoccupied rooms, and footsteps in empty hallways. The corner earned its stories: the Burke Hotel, which advertised itself as fire-proof, burned here in the Great Fire of July 14, 1900. The Hotel St. Michael has anchored the corner since the early 1900s and still rents rooms.
The Hotel St. Michael holds down the corner of Montezuma and Gurley at 205 W Gurley Street, steps from Courthouse Plaza, where Whiskey Row meets the rest of downtown Prescott. It has anchored that corner since the early 1900s: more than a century of guests, some of whom are reported to have extended their stays indefinitely.
It is a working hotel, not a museum piece. The hotel has its own bistro, and historical photos and artifacts are displayed inside, which means you can order a coffee in a building whose walls have collected a hundred years of check-ins and, if the reports are to be believed, a few guests who never checked out. This page covers what the record actually holds about the corner, what guests and staff have reported inside, and how to walk past it after dark with someone who knows the stories.
Before the St. Michael: the Burke Hotel and the Great Fire
Every ghost story on Whiskey Row starts with the same night. On July 14, 1900, fire broke out in the O.K. Lodging House on South Montezuma Street, by one account from a miner's lit candle left stuck in a wall; the exact cause was never confirmed. It moved through the wooden business district in hours and leveled roughly five blocks of downtown, Whiskey Row included. The Row held eleven saloons that summer. Bartenders and customers hauled stock and fixtures across the street to Courthouse Plaza, and photographs taken after the fire show drinks still being served there while the block behind still smoked. The full story of that night is in our telling of the Great Fire of 1900.
The corner where the Hotel St. Michael now stands had its own part in that story. Stand at Montezuma and Gurley today and you are standing on the site of the old Burke Hotel, which advertised itself as fire-proof. It burned to the ground in less than an hour. The irony is still a favorite tale among our guides, told while looking up at the brick that has held the corner ever since. The Row rebuilt in brick within the year, and the Hotel St. Michael has anchored the corner since the early 1900s.
That fire, and the town's habit of retelling it, is a large part of why guests still come to Prescott to hear the history done properly.
“This is a fabulous tour with great detail about the Whisky Row fire, the rough and tumble history of the town and stories of individuals who lived in Prescott! I highly recommend.” (Katherine W., TripAdvisor, May 2026, Prescott History Tour review)
The woman in white, and the quieter reports
The St. Michael's most repeated story is the simplest one. Guests and staff have reported sightings of a woman in white, and whispers in the corridors when no one else is on the floor.
The rest of the file is quieter, and in some ways stranger for it. Staff and guests report lights flickering in unoccupied rooms and footsteps in empty hallways: activity that is subtle but persistent, the kind that sits at the edge of perception rather than announcing itself. Nobody here rattles chains. The reports are of a hotel that behaves, most of the time, and then does not.
Worth saying plainly, because the internet fills silences with borrowed stories: the research behind our Prescott route does not tie the St. Michael's reports to any single numbered room. What comes up, comes up in the corridors, the hallways, and rooms that should have been empty. If you have read a very specific room number attached to this hotel somewhere online, treat it the way a careful researcher would: as a story that arrived without its receipts.
A triangle of haunted hotels
The St. Michael does not carry the corner alone. Between the St. Michael at Montezuma and Gurley, the Hotel Vendome to the south, and the Hassayampa Inn to the east, Whiskey Row sits inside a triangle of haunted hotels, all of them still renting rooms. Each keeps a different register: the Hassayampa Inn has Faith's story on the fourth floor, the Vendome keeps what may be the gentlest haunting in Prescott, and the St. Michael keeps its whispers. Our roundup of Prescott's haunted hotels covers how to stay in the storied rooms, and the haunted Whiskey Row page puts the whole block in order.
Questions people ask
Is the Hotel St. Michael in Prescott haunted?
Guests and staff have reported a woman in white, whispers in the corridors, lights flickering in unoccupied rooms, and footsteps in empty hallways. The activity is reported as subtle and persistent rather than dramatic. The hotel has anchored Whiskey Row's corner at Montezuma and Gurley since the early 1900s and is still a working hotel.
Which room at the Hotel St. Michael is haunted?
The research behind our Prescott route does not tie the St. Michael's reports to any single numbered room. What guests and staff describe happens in the corridors, in empty hallways, and in rooms that were supposed to be unoccupied. Room-number claims you may find elsewhere online do not appear in our research.
Did the Hotel St. Michael burn in the Great Fire of 1900?
The building standing on this corner in July 1900 was the Burke Hotel, which advertised itself as fire-proof and burned to the ground in less than an hour when the Great Fire took roughly five blocks of downtown. Whiskey Row rebuilt in brick within the year, and the Hotel St. Michael has anchored the corner since the early 1900s.
Can you visit or stay at the Hotel St. Michael?
Yes. It is a working hotel at 205 W Gurley Street with its own bistro, and historical photos and artifacts are displayed inside. Freaky Foot Tours is a tour company, not the hotel; for rooms, book with the hotel directly.
Does a ghost tour pass the Hotel St. Michael?
The Prescott Ghost Tour runs evening tours departing from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue, 120 S Cortez St, directly across the street from Whiskey Row. The walk covers about a mile over roughly 90 minutes. Booking direct includes a full refund when canceled 24 or more hours before the tour.
Walk the corner after dark
The stories on this page are the outline. The endings get told on the sidewalk where they happened. The Prescott Ghost Tour runs evening tours departing from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue, 120 S Cortez St, directly across the street from the Row; the walk covers about a mile over roughly 90 minutes, and the route rests on archival research originally compiled by a Northern Arizona author.
“My wife and I did our walking tour of Prescott on a Friday night in November. It was a beautiful walk, filled with interesting and fun stories about Prescott and its haunted history.” (Mathew S., TripAdvisor, November 2025, Prescott Ghost Tour review)
Regulars of the hotel itself seem to agree the history holds up.
“We stay at the St. Michael's Hotel every year and now know more history about its existence. Great tour, great fun and great guide.” (COMtnGal, Google, June 2026)
As of July 2026, Freaky Foot Tours' Prescott tours carry more than 300 reviews across platforms, and the Prescott Ghost Tour holds a 4.9 rating across 90+ reviews on Viator. If you would rather keep the ghosts at arm's length, the Prescott History Tour walks the same fire-scarred blocks in daylight with the record front and center. Booking direct comes with a full refund when you cancel 24 or more hours before the tour; no refund inside 24 hours.
