DeSoto House Hotel
The oldest hotel in Illinois may also be the state’s most haunted lodge. Ready to book a room?
Paranormal Reports at
DeSoto House Hotel
- The vivid apparition of the ‘Lady is Black’ is often spotted
- Unexplained uneasy feelings are common around Room 333
- Phantom footsteps are heard from above on the top floor
- Disembodied voices are heard
- Shadow figures are seen in the halls
- Guests sometimes capture strange figures in photos and videos
- Room TVs and lights turn on and off without explanation
- Strange figures sometimes appear at the end of guests’ beds at night
- Phantoms cigar smoke is encountered at times
Oldest Inn in Illinois:
History of the DeSoto House Hotel
Illinois is a state steeped in history. To be the ‘oldest’ anything in the Land of Lincoln is to be amongst the most exceptionally historic places in the country. Galena, Illinois, is home to one of the state’s most historic cornerstones.
DeSoto House Hotel is the oldest operating hotel in the state of Illinois, still proudly greeting guests after over a century and a half.
The hotel’s stout brick frame has been a fixture of Galena’s downtown since the 1850s.
While the lodge has changed a lot in all that time, the hotel’s spirit remains the same. As do a few of the literal spirits, old souls who reportedly roam the halls and rooms of DeSoto House Hotel.
Timeline of DeSoto House Hotel's History
Swipe or use timeline points to see DeSoto House Hotel through the years
1855
The DeSoto House Hotel opened in 1855, a five story lodge in the heart of Galena. With 225 guest rooms, it was billed as the biggest in the west. Galena was rapidly developing at the time, and the hotel quickly filled up with new settlers, visitors, and traveling salespeople. The new lodge quickly attracted big names of the era to town. In 1856, Abraham Lincoln stopped at the hotel while stumping for John Fremont’s presidential bid.
1858
Lincoln proved to be just one of many famous names in Illinois to visit the DeSoto House in its early years. In 1858, Stephen Douglas spoke from the hotel’s balcony. In 1860, a massive Republican rally formed in front of the hotel in support of Lincoln’s run for president. Unfortunately, the hotel’s early glamour was stymied by numerous accidents. A fire in 1859 tore through much of the hotel. Ten years later, a boiler explosion crippled Galena’s hotel even further.
1880
In 1880, a major refit removed the five story hotel’s top two floors. Updates and refits in the late 1800s and early 1900s added hot and cold water to every room, and improved other amenities over time. But by the mid-1900s, the changing hotel landscape threatened DeSoto’s future. The building became a mixed hotel-boarding house in this era to help improve business. Major renovations were attempted in the 1970s, but all failed.
1985
In 1985, enough funding was finally raised to restore the now condemned DeSoto House Hotel. The yearlong restoration saved the building and allowed it to continue on as a hotel. Today, the hotel offers over fifty guest rooms and many modern accommodations. And, along with the reputation as Illinois’ oldest hotel, DeSoto House has also gained a reputation as a Galena haunted hotspot.
Is DeSoto House Hotel Haunted?
The Lady in Black is the most famous ghost of the DeSoto House Hotel. As her name suggests, she is an apparition who is always seen in the same 1800s style black dress.
Most commonly, the Lady in Black is seen in the upstairs halls, simply roaming on many of the same paths she always has.
Interestingly though, many people report her figure disappearing into the same area of the hotel’s wall.
During renovations, that area of wall was inspected and a long lost doorway was found behind it. Could the Lady in Black have been a tenant in the room behind that hidden door?
DeSoto House & The Lady in Black
Some people have been lucky enough to capture the Lady in Black’s spectral form in photos and videos taken around the DeSoto House Hotel. However, the Lady in Black’s dark figure isn’t the only mysterious apparition you might see at the hotel.
Some shadowy forms purportedly linger at the edge of guest’s beds at night, giving them a startle when they wake up. Others wander the halls at odd hours.
Top Floor Terrors
Strange noises and disembodied voices are also regularly reported in hallways around the DeSoto House Hotel. But whenever guests go out to shush the loud guests, they find their halls totally empty.
On the third floor, the sounds get especially mysterious.
Third floor guests sometimes report the racket of a loud party going on upstairs. Only, there is no upstairs anymore, the hotel has been three stories since the 1880s.
Could the whole fourth floor be one of DeSoto House’s phantoms?
Smoky Spirits & Eerie Entities
The DeSoto House Hotel is said to have countless ghosts. And at least one apparently loves to smoke. Phantom cigar smoke has been smelled frequently all through the building.
Elsewhere in the hotel, guests and staff report unexplained uneasy feelings. This has been felt all through the building, but is said to be most common in Room 333, though no one currently knows why.
Electrifying Activity at DeSoto
Ghost stories are now a popular draw to the DeSoto House Hotel. Plenty of guests come simply hoping for a scare, and oftentimes they get what they came for.
Along with the other activity, guests sometimes report electrical oddities in their rooms at night. These claims include TVs and lamps turning on and off in the middle of the night. Others simply note especially vivid dreams while staying at the DeSoto House Hotel.
Find the Lady in Black
at DeSoto House Hotel
The DeSoto House Hotel today is a true cultural cornerstone of Galena, quite literally. The hotel’s brick facade has been a fixture of its downtown corner for over a hundred and seventy years now.
These days, the DeSoto House Hotel is in a new heyday, thanks largely to its extensive history and all the ghosts that come with it.
Ghost tours are not currently offered at the DeSoto House. It is, after all, still an active hotel. But ghost hunters are more than welcome to book a room or two and see what activity might turn up.
Maybe the Lady in Black will even drift through the wall to say hello.
