Yes. Whiskey Row is the block of Montezuma Street facing Courthouse Plaza in downtown Prescott, Arizona, and by local reputation it is the most haunted stretch of pavement in town. The block burned in 1900 and again in 2012, and both times the fire took the building and spared the bar. The Palace Saloon, Hotel St. Michael, the Hassayampa Inn, and the Hotel Vendome all carry decades of reported activity, and Freaky Foot Tours walks the block on its evening Prescott Ghost Tour.
The Great Fire of 1900, and the bar that crossed the street
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 Prescott, Whiskey Row included. The Row held eleven saloons that summer, and as the flames worked north, bartenders and customers hauled everything they could lift across the street to Courthouse Plaza, the Palace's celebrated bar among it.
Here is where record and legend split. That the bar survived is documented: photographs taken after the fire show it on the Plaza, serving drinks from a hastily raised temporary saloon while the block behind it still smoked. How it crossed the street is not documented. The beloved version has patrons hoisting it by hand; other tellings put horse teams on the job. The Row rebuilt in brick within the year, and the new Palace opened in 1901 with the rescued bar back inside, where it still stands.
The pattern repeated in modern dress. On May 8, 2012, a two-alarm fire gutted a building near the south end of the block, taking three businesses including the Bird Cage Saloon. Out of the smoke came the saloon's ornate 1873 back bar, and the Bird Cage reopened in 2015 farther down the Row with the bar restored. Twice now, a Whiskey Row fire has taken the building and spared the bar. A town that watched its main street burn, rebuilt on the ashes, and kept the bar is the classic recipe for a haunted downtown, and Prescott followed the recipe exactly.
The Palace Saloon and the Phantom Cowboy
The Palace on Montezuma Street calls itself Arizona's oldest saloon, with roots in the 1870s and a guest register that once read like a census of the territory's gamblers and lawmen. It is also the address on the Row with the most reported activity: glasses that move on their own, lights that keep their own schedule, and a recurring figure that staff and regulars have long called the Phantom Cowboy. The full story, from the bar's December 1897 arrival by train to its Travel Channel filming visits, lives on our page on the haunted history of the Palace Saloon.
Hotel St. Michael, the corner the Row turns on
Hotel St. Michael has anchored the corner of Montezuma and Gurley since the early 1900s, which means more than a century of guests, some of whom are reported to have extended their stays indefinitely. Staff and guests describe lights flickering in unoccupied rooms and footsteps in empty hallways, activity at the edge of perception rather than the theatrical kind. The reports, and what the historic photographs in the lobby have to say about them, are collected on our page on the hauntings of Hotel St. Michael.
The Hassayampa Inn, Faith, and Room 426
A block east on Gurley Street stands the grandest of the Row's neighbors, the 1927 Hassayampa Inn. Room 426 is said to belong to Faith Summers, the bride whose husband stepped out for cigarettes and never came back. Guests describe soft weeping, the sudden scent of flowers, and a figure gliding down the fourth-floor hall. We tell her story gently and keep to what the reports actually say, on our page on the haunted Hassayampa Inn and Room 426.
Hotel Vendome: Abby, Noble, and Room 16
A short walk south of the Row, the Hotel Vendome keeps what may be the gentlest haunting in Prescott. Room 16 belonged to Abby Byr, a resident of the hotel rather than a passing guest, and the story goes that she died there with her cat Noble beside her. Guests have reported the pair ever since: soft purring with no pet in sight, doors easing open, and now and then the light pressure of something small settling at the foot of the bed. The full telling, and how to book Room 16 for yourself, is in Room 16 at the Hotel Vendome.
What guests say about walking the Row
As of July 2026, Freaky Foot Tours' Prescott tours hold more than 300 reviews across TripAdvisor, Viator, and other booking platforms. The Prescott Ghost Tour holds a 4.9 of 5 rating across 90+ Viator reviews, and the Prescott History Tour a 5.0 of 5 across 70+ Viator reviews, as of the same date.
“I had a wonderful time touring Whiskey Row. Loved learning about the historical events and context of Prescott.” (Carolyn, Airbnb, January 2026)
“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!” (Katherine W., TripAdvisor, May 2026)
“Stephanie was a great guide around Whiskey Row and the other local haunts of Prescott. She seemed very knowledgeable about both the natural and supernatural histories of the town, and was very engaging with our group.” (Mithrin a., TripAdvisor, September 2025)
Questions people ask
Is Whiskey Row in Prescott haunted?
By reputation, yes. The Palace's Phantom Cowboy, the Vendome's Abby and Noble, and the Hassayampa's Faith Summers all sit within a couple of blocks of one another, and bartenders and hotel staff along the Row have logged unexplained reports for decades. We tell these as reported lore, hedged wherever the record thins, and on this block the record is unusually thick.
Why is it called Whiskey Row?
By the 1890s the block of Montezuma Street facing Courthouse Plaza was lined with saloons standing shoulder to shoulder, eleven of them by the time of the 1900 fire, and the name stuck. After the Great Fire the Row rebuilt in brick, and its saloon-row character never left.
Is there a ghost tour of Whiskey Row?
Yes. Freaky Foot Tours runs an evening ghost tour of Whiskey Row in Prescott, Arizona. It departs from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue, directly across the street from the Row, covers about a mile in roughly 90 minutes, and ends near the Hassayampa Inn. Other cities have streets called Whiskey Row; this tour walks the one on Montezuma Street in downtown Prescott.
Which Whiskey Row saloons are haunted?
The Palace carries the most reports, from the Phantom Cowboy to a mannequin named Annie said to have turned her head on a security camera. Matt's Longhorn has a ghost girl who is said to tug at patrons' sleeves, and the rebuilt Bird Cage pours beneath the 1873 back bar that survived the 2012 fire. Every one of them is open for business, so the reports are easy to check in person.
Can you stay in a haunted hotel near Whiskey Row?
Yes. The Row sits inside a triangle of haunted hotels, all of them still renting rooms: Hotel St. Michael on the corner of Montezuma and Gurley, the Hotel Vendome a short walk south, and the Hassayampa Inn a block east. At the Vendome, Room 16 can be booked by number; the Hassayampa's reports center on Room 426.
Walk the Row after dark
The stories on this page are the outline; the endings get told on the sidewalk where they happened. Our evening Prescott Ghost Tour departs from Courthouse Plaza at the Rough Rider statue, 120 S Cortez St, directly across the street from the Row, runs about 90 minutes over about a mile, and ends near the Hassayampa Inn, which is to say it ends near a nightcap. Cancel 24 or more hours before the tour for a full refund. The Row's daylight history, from the territorial-capital years to its brushes with Hollywood, belongs to the Prescott History Tour, which keeps its ghosts to a minimum. For the rest of the evening around the walk, see our guide to Prescott at night or the timed version, a perfect evening in Prescott, and for the town's full roster beyond the Row, start with the most haunted places in Prescott.
