The Goldfield Hotel
This Nevada hotel hasn’t seen new guests in 80 years, but a few ghosts may have never checked out
Paranormal Claims at
The Goldfield Hotel
- Visitors have noted the smell of phantom cigar smoke, and ash appearing on the lobby floor
- Disembodied baby cries have been heard
- A woman’s apparition has been spotted in the hotel
- Poltergeist-like activity has been reported in certain areas
- A ghostly woman’s voice has been reported by visitors
- Strange cold spots are noted throughout
- The former kitchen and dining room is purportedly home to a malevolent spirit
From Boom to Bust:
History of The Goldfield Hotel
Head south from Tonopah, Nevada, on Route 95, and the dusty trail will lead you to one of the state’s famous mining boomtowns. Goldfield, once the biggest city in Nevada, had its population boost driven by discoveries of gold nearby.
In those early years of prosperity, the growing town needed a hotel to greet all its newcomers, and so started the story of the Goldfield Hotel.
At four stories, Goldfield Hotel isn’t especially tall, but it still manages to loom over the rest of modern Goldfield.
The hotel hasn’t been active since the 1940s, but some say the empty inn still regularly greets a few ghostly guests. These tales have made the Goldfield Hotel one of the modern town’s biggest, and most mysterious, attractions.
Timeline of The Goldfield Hotel's History
Swipe or use timeline points to see The Goldfield Hotel through the years
1902
In 1902, there was hardly anything resembling a camp in the region near Goldfield, Nevada. But, a gold discovery that year changed everything in an instant. Goldfield was founded that same year, and within a year became the largest city in all of Nevada. At its peak, Goldfield was home to 20,000 residents. As people poured into the mining town, they needed somewhere to stay. Local businessman George Wingfield capitalized on this need with a large, new hotel, the Goldfield Hotel.
1910
Wingfield’s hotel clearly planned for a long and bright future for Goldfield. The hotel included 154 rooms, private bathrooms, and a large dining room. Unfortunately, by 1910, Goldfield’s mine output had dropped considerably, as had its population. By 1920, the town was home to just over 1,500 people. A devastating fire in 1923 destroyed much of the town. Only a few stone buildings survived, including the Goldfield Hotel. But, the blaze drove a final nail into the coffin of Goldfield’s future.
1945
The Goldfield Hotel survived for a few more decades after the fire. But, it was a shadow of its former self. By the early 1940s, the hotel had been reduced to a low-cost inn, mostly for soldiers and workers at airfields in nearby Tonopah. After World War II ended in 1945, so too did the last of the Goldfield Hotel’s business, and the hotel closed for good that same year. In the decades that followed, the Goldfield Hotel sat listless in the Nevada desert.
1982
In 1982, the hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places, helping preserve its future. But it wasn’t until the early 2000s when the Goldfield Hotel started to attract new attention. Featured in the original Ghost Adventures documentary in 2004, the Goldfield Hotel became a swift sensation in the paranormal world. Since then, the building has been visited repeatedly by TV ghost hunters and other paranormal enthusiasts. And through all that, the Goldfield Hotel has grown a new reputation as a Nevada haunted hotspot.
Is The Goldfield Hotel Haunted?
The most enduring ghost story of the Goldfield Hotel focuses on Room 109. Goldfield’s Room 109 is supposedly home to the ghosts of an unspeakable, if uncertain, crime.
The story goes that hotel owner, George Wingfield, had a favorite local prostitute, Elizabeth. But, one day, Elizabeth told him that she was pregnant with his baby.
To hide the affair, Wingfield purportedly kept Elizabeth chained to a radiator in Room 109, where she is said to have died during childbirth. As for the infant, the legend says Wingfield cast it into a nearby mining shaft to die.
Despite the vivid story, there is no historical record of any of these events. Today, the tale is largely considered a local myth. But, that doesn’t explain people’s paranormal experiences around the hotel.
The Wraiths of Room 109
Numerous ghost stories at the Goldfield Hotel correlate to the tale of Elizabeth and Room 109. Room 109 is known for the sounds of disembodied screams and cries from an unseen woman. Many figure this to be the phantom of Elizabeth, calling out for help from beyond the grave.
Along with Elizabeth’s ghostly calls, some people also report the cries of a baby echoing through the hotel. This is thought to be the phantom of George’s illegitimate child, who he supposedly killed alongside Elizabeth. Could Elizabeth and her child be stuck haunting the Goldfield Hotel for eternity?
Great George’s Ghost!
While Room 109 is the most well-known paranormal hotbed at the Goldfield Hotel, it’s far from the only one. George Wingfield’s ghost reportedly lingers on the first floor.
A noted cigar smoker in life, Wingfield’s ghost is best identified by the stench of cigar smoke he trails around the ground floor. Some say you might also come across mysterious piles of cigar ash around the hotel because of his stogie-smoking specter.
The first floor is also said to be home to another, unknown, spirit. This ghost is best-known for its malevolence, referred to by some as, ‘The Stabber.’
Whoever this spirit is, they apparently linger around the first floor dining room, where they will attack anyone invading their space, sometimes with a knife. Little record exists explaining who this ghost might be, and he may be nothing more than another Goldfield legend.
A Hotel of Hauntings
Shadowy figures are another common claim through the Goldfield Hotel. Dark, translucent apparitions are most often seen darting up-and-down the halls. But some passers-by have claimed to see these figures through the lobby windows.
Those who have taken tours of the hotel have further claimed that temperature fluctuations and cold spots will appear around where these figures usually lurk. While most of these figures are unidentified, at least one is thought to be Elizabeth. Witnesses have claimed to see Elizabeth’s spirit as a woman in a flowing white dress, walking the halls alongside the other shadowy forms.
Ghostly Adventures in Goldfield
No description of Goldfield Hotel’s ghost stories is complete without a mention of Ghost Adventures. While the TV series has made numerous stops to the hotel over the years, their most famous stop was their first. During the production of the crew’s original documentary in the mid-2000s, a night of filming at the Goldfield Hotel turned up some very interesting footage.
Most notably, the documentary featured a scene where a brick purportedly got tossed across the basement. Similar, less severe, claims of moving objects and other poltergeist-like activity have been reported around the Goldfield Hotel since then.
The Goldfield Hotel:
A Treasure Trove of Terrors
Whether they’ve been in search of gold or ghosts, Goldfield, Nevada has certainly greeted countless unique visitors over the years. And many of those visitors made their memories of the town at the Goldfield Hotel.
Still today, though the hotel is nearing 80 years of emptiness, it continues to attract attention. The long-lasting ghost stories, and recent appearances on television, have made the Goldfield Hotel a frequent stop for ghost hunters.
Though information on public tours is currently hard to come by, the building has hosted tours in the past, and may again in the future.
But, dormancy has never seemed to quell the lore around the hotel. It seems, just as gold once brought thousands of people to the region, the Goldfield Hotel brings in ghosts…and ghost hunters along with them.
