The Emily Morgan Hotel
Located on East Houston Street in San Antonio, Texas is a gorgeous hotel. Known today as the Emily Morgan Hotel it was built in 1924 and was originally the Medical Arts Building. Over the decades it was home to doctors' offices and even a 5-bed mini-hospital. In 1976, it was renovated to be a full office building. However, that didn't quite take off...so it was renovated again into a hotel. Now, haunted hotels are a dime a dozen…but haunted hotels that used to house dozens of doctors’ offices? Now, that’s a bit more unique.
While it has been a part of San Antonio's historic register since 1977, and in 2015 it was inducted into the Historic Hotels of American Organization. But, in 2015 it recieved an honor legenders might respect the most: USA Today's third most haunted hotel in the world.
But why is it called the Emily Morgan hotel? Emily D. West is who the hotel is named for and is known as one of the heroes of the Alamo. She was, at the time, an indetured black servant who had been captured by Mexican Forces on April 16th, 1836. General Santa Anna was being occupied and distracted by Emily and that caused the slow response to the Texans' charge. But why is it not the Emily West hotel? At the time, it was common for household indentured servants to take the surname of the head of the household. Hence, Emily Morgan.
One of the reasons the Emily Morgan hotel is believed to be so haunted is the fact that doctors who practiced lobotomies had their offices within its walls. In particular, the seventh, ninth, and fourteenth floors are supposed to be the most haunted. Why? They were psychiatric wards, the surgery floor, and the morgue. Most of the experiences at the hotel happen in one of these three floors and they seem to be the most active.
In particular, water seems to be a continuing problem for the building. Across the hotel, faucets also turn on and seem to run indefeintely. But, as soon as someone opens the bathroom door or walks in the water suddenly stops...but then sometimes will start again. Similarly, the baths often turn on and begin filling themselves. But the water does not appear normal, some guests describe it as being impossbly blue. And, in bad news for the hotel, sometimes the water begins to run even when the rooms are unoccupied.
Smells and noises are also quite popular experiences. Guests often report the smell of anesthetic, blood, and, steel or metal. Footsteps, mumuring, and general sounds of surgery are also all things people here.
The elevators often have a mind of their own, maybe still bent to the whims of harried medical staff. Often, the elevators are known to run by themselves arriving at random floors. Or, even if there are guests using the elevator, the floors they’ve chosen will be skipped and they’ll arrive at a random floor.
Today, the hotel is still well used and well appointed. If you’re looking to experience something, we suggest going during a renovation or redecorating. Apparently, the spirits are extra active after their surroundings have been disturbed (again).
Thank you to Kate Balfour McLean for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The head image depicts the Emily Morgan Hotel. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. It was taken by Roman Eugeniusz.
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