Haunted Memphis, TN: The 9 Most Haunted Places to Visit
A little girl who never misses a show, a jukebox that picks its own songs and a young widow who still sits on her bed. These are the most haunted places in Memphis, with what is true and how to visit.
Memphis lost more than 5,000 people to yellow fever in 1878, and the city’s ghost stories run through that history, through Beale Street and the river, and through the grand houses of Victorian Village. We have checked each place against current sources, so you know which you can walk into, which you tour, and which are private buildings to see from the street. The old Hotel Pontotoc, once a bordello, reopened as a boutique hotel in 2025, so you can now sleep in one of the city’s oldest haunts.
Where to look The mezzanine side box, seat C5 and the balcony
Reported ghosts Mary, a girl of about 12 in a school uniform; a jilted lover called Eleanor
Visiting Working theater; see a show or ask about group tours
Tours Occasional group tours
Ghost hunting No investigations; it is a busy working theater
The Grand Opera House opened on the corner of Main and Beale in 1890 and joined the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in 1907. Fire destroyed it in 1923, and the present movie palace by Rapp and Rapp opened on the same corner on November 19, 1928. An $8 million restoration in the 1990s gave it the stage that now hosts touring Broadway shows.
Its resident ghost is Mary, a girl of about 12 in a school uniform who is seen in a mezzanine side box and is said to favor seat C5. How she died depends on who tells it: a fire, a fall, a trolley outside. University of Memphis researchers concluded she died in a 1921 downtown accident unrelated to the theater and simply wandered in. Cast and crew also tell of at least six other spirits.
What investigators report
Reports focus on seat C-5 on the mezzanine, where a girl known as Mary is said to sit, and on the theatre organ. A touring company reportedly held a seance in 1977 after she disturbed their performance.
Where to look The upstairs rooms, the bathroom mirrors and the jukebox
Reported ghosts A jukebox that plays on its own; piano music, footsteps and figures upstairs
Visiting Open as a bar and live music venue
Ghost hunting No formal investigations; downtown ghost tours pass by
This South Main building began as a church in the late 1800s and was later a pharmacy, a sundry store and a jazz club where B.B. King, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin played. Its upstairs is said to have run as a brothel, and Russell George opened the bar as Earnestine & Hazel’s in 1992. Yelp ranked it the fourth most haunted spot in America in 2021.
The famous ghost here is the jukebox, which staff and regulars say starts songs on its own, sometimes the very song someone was about to choose. Upstairs, staff report a piano playing in empty rooms, footsteps, voices and full figures, and customers say they have seen faces in the bathroom mirrors. The second floor bar is cash only.
What investigators report
Staff say the jukebox seems to choose songs that answer whatever is being discussed at the bar, and visitors at the top of the staircase report feeling their hands grabbed.
Where to look Mollie's second-floor bedroom and the third floor
Reported ghosts Mollie Woodruff; a woman in a green dress; a man with cigar smoke
Visiting House museum with self-guided tours
Hours and season Check the museum’s Visit Us page; it closes for weddings and events
Ghost hunting Ask the museum; paranormal groups have investigated here
This Victorian mansion was built in 1871 on Adams Avenue, the old Millionaire’s Row, now the Victorian Village district. Mollie Woodruff lived here as a young bride: she lost a son at birth, and in 1875 her husband died of pneumonia after a river accident. The house stood empty for years before the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities restored it from 1962.
Mollie is the ghost everyone asks about. Guests say she is seen sitting on the bed in her old room, leaving an impression on the coverlet when she fades. Visitors also report perfume, slamming doors, footsteps, a woman in a green dress pacing a room and a man who brings cigar smoke. The house was featured on Ghost Hunters, and paranormal groups come from far away.
What investigators report
A local investigation group reports mediums connecting with a reclusive family spirit called Elliot who stays on the second floor.
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the self-guided tour, then cross the street to the Mollie Fontaine Lounge building, where Mollie is said to turn the lights off.
Where to look The yellow fever lots, Confederate Soldiers Rest and the Victorian monuments
Reported ghosts Evening stories of the 1878 yellow fever dead
Visiting Grounds open daily 8 AM to 4:30 PM, free
Tours Self-guided, docent-led, tram and private walking tours; evening events
Ghost hunting No ghost hunting; this is an active cemetery
Founded in 1852 as one of the first rural garden cemeteries in the South, Elmwood is the oldest active cemetery in Memphis, grown to 80 acres. About 2,500 victims of the 1878 yellow fever epidemic are buried in its public lots, among them doctors, nuns, ministers and sex workers who stayed to nurse the sick. Generals, governors, mayors, madams and civil rights leaders such as Benjamin Hooks rest here too.
Elmwood does not sell itself as haunted, which is part of its appeal. It is a place of real and heavy history, and its evening events, such as Spirits with the Spirits, bring the stories of the dead to life after the gates close. Memphis ghost tours tell the epidemic’s stories, and the grounds are free to walk by day.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pick up a self-guided map at the office, find the yellow fever lots, and watch for after-hours events in the fall.
Reported ghosts A woman crying on the third floor; an old woman with wild white hair guarding the stairs
Visiting House museum run by MoSH Memphis
Hours and season Guided tours Fridays and Saturdays at 10:30, 11:30, 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30
Tickets $16 (2026)
Ghost hunting No
Two doors from the Woodruff-Fontaine House in Victorian Village, this Italianate mansion was finished in 1852 for banker Isaac Kirtland. Cotton factor James Columbus Neely bought it in 1883 and grew it to three floors and about 25 rooms. His youngest daughter, Daisy Neely Mallory, lived here until her death in 1969 at 98, and the original interiors, furniture and belongings are still in place.
The stories cluster on the third floor. Guides and visitors tell of a woman crying where no one is, and of a spectral old woman with untamed white hair who seems to guard the staircase. Someone once reported a disembodied hand on the banister. These are visitor stories, not documented events. The Museum of Science and History runs the house and offers guided tours on Fridays and Saturdays.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a Friday or Saturday tour and ask your guide about the third floor.
Where to look The upstairs rooms and the basement, once the Cellar Club
Reported ghosts Friendly spirits said to resist renovation upstairs; a manager who died in the boiler
Visiting Boutique hotel and bar, reopened 2025
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Built around 1906 near Central Station as a small hotel with Turkish baths for riverboat men and rail workers, the Pontotoc took its name in 1916 and by the 1920s was a well-known bordello. It later became a family hotel, a nightclub, a recording studio and, from the early 1980s, the Davis family’s home. New owners restored it, and it reopened in 2025 as a 10-room boutique hotel with The Dame bar below.
For years the story was that friendly spirits kept the empty second floor exactly as it was, and that a drunken manager once died in the boiler. Coverage of the reopening calls the building rumored to be haunted. You can now sleep in it, which makes it the easiest of Memphis’s old haunts to test for yourself.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a night upstairs, or have a drink in The Dame, which sits where the 1970s Cellar Club used to be.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Reported ghosts Nathan Wilson, a servant said to guide treasure hunters to buried gold
Visiting Private; no longer a hotel. View from Beale Street only
Ghost hunting No; private property
This Greek Revival mansion on Beale Street, finished around 1830 to 1832, was headquarters for Confederate General Leonidas Polk and then for Ulysses S. Grant, who stayed from June 27 to July 12, 1862, and is said to have planned the Vicksburg campaign in its library. It later served as a soldiers’ home and hospital. After a 1990s restoration it ran as a museum, a bed and breakfast and an events venue, but it no longer takes guests and has been on and off the market since 2018.
Its legend is Nathan Wilson, a servant who is said to have buried the family’s valuables during the war and died of yellow fever before revealing where. The story goes that he appears at midnight under a full moon to guide treasure hunters to the gold. Nothing has ever been found, and there is no record of him. View the house from the street only.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk east along Beale Street to see the mansion from the sidewalk; the grounds are private.
Address On the bluff south of downtown, Memphis, TN
Where to look The old hospital buildings and the basement once used as a morgue
Reported ghosts Voices of sailors and medical staff; the feeling of being watched
Visiting Main museum moved to 1930 Poplar Ave, Overton Park, in September 2026 (Wed to Sun, 11am to 5pm). The 3.2-acre bluff campus is kept for artist residencies, with public programs expected in 2027
Ghost hunting No
On the bluff above the Mississippi, the Metal Museum spent decades in the buildings of a hospital that opened in 1884 for river boatmen and was used in yellow fever research. One building had a morgue and a body chute in the basement. Paranormal stories say renovation work in 1979 stirred things up, with voices of sailors and nurses and a feeling of being watched.
In September 2026 the museum moved its main home to Overton Park. The old campus is now called Metal Museum on the Bluff and is planned for artist residencies and new public programs from 2027, so check before you go. The neighboring Marine Hospital buildings are now private apartments.
Haunted Rooms tip: Check the museum’s plans for the bluff campus before visiting; until programs open, enjoy the river view from Chickasaw Heritage Park next door.
Where to look The upstairs windows and the Meditation Garden
Reported ghosts Elvis, said to be seen at an upstairs window
Visiting Ticketed mansion tours
Tours Ticketed mansion tours start at the visitor complex across the boulevard (3717 Elvis Presley Blvd)
Hours and season Daily from 9am; last mansion tour around 4pm (check the site)
Tickets Elvis Experience Tour from $85 adults, $49 kids; VIP tours cost more
Ghost hunting No
Elvis Presley’s home, built in 1939, draws about 600,000 visitors a year, making it the second most visited home in America after the White House. Its rooms are kept much as he left them, a time capsule of the 1960s and 1970s. Elvis is buried in the Meditation Garden beside the house, with his parents and grandmother.
The ghost stories are few and soft. Some visitors say they have seen Elvis gazing down from an upstairs window at the crowds, and a few claim to have caught him on camera, though the photos are always blurry. The upstairs was Elvis’s private space and is still closed to the public, which only adds to the story.
Haunted Rooms tip: Look up at the upstairs windows from the front lawn, then spend a quiet moment in the Meditation Garden.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
Voodoo Village
Older lists send visitors to this small private community in south Memphis, said to be a center of voodoo and spiritual practice where cameras are forbidden. It is a private neighborhood, not an attraction. Please do not go.
Grawemeyer's piano bar
Our older guide listed Grawemeyer’s, with a piano said to play itself. We could not find the bar operating today, so it is no longer listed.
The Lorraine Motel
The site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination is now the National Civil Rights Museum. Our older guide repeated claims that it is haunted; we have removed it out of respect. Visit it for its history.
Changed from our older guide: the Metal Museum moved its main home to Overton Park in 2026; its old riverside hospital campus is being reworked. The Pontotoc Hotel has reopened as a hotel. The Inn at Hunt-Phelan is closed and private. New in this update: Elmwood Cemetery and the Mallory-Neely House.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most haunted place in Memphis?
The Orpheum Theatre, with its ghost Mary, and Earnestine & Hazel’s, with its haunted jukebox, are the most famous. The Woodruff-Fontaine House is the most haunted house you can tour.
Who is the ghost at the Orpheum in Memphis?
Mary, said to be a girl of about 12 in a school uniform, seen in a mezzanine side box and linked to seat C5. Researchers believe she died in a 1921 accident downtown, not in the theater.
Is Earnestine & Hazel's haunted?
Staff and regulars say the jukebox plays songs on its own and that piano music, footsteps and figures turn up upstairs. Yelp ranked it the fourth most haunted spot in America in 2021. It is open as a bar; bring cash for the upstairs.
Are there ghost tours in Memphis?
Yes. Historical Haunts runs walking and bus ghost tours and a haunted pub crawl, and Backbeat Tours runs a Memphis ghost tour through the South Main district.
Can you stay in a haunted hotel in Memphis?
Hotel Pontotoc, a former 1920s bordello long rumored to be haunted, reopened in 2025 as a 10-room boutique hotel. The Inn at Hunt-Phelan no longer takes guests.
Where is the nearest Haunted Rooms ghost hunt to Memphis?
Our nearest events are at the Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah, Kentucky, and the Old Moore County Jail in Lynchburg, Tennessee.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
