The Haunted Hassayampa Inn, Prescott: Faith, the Bride Who Waited in Room 426

The Hassayampa Inn stands on Gurley Street in downtown Prescott, a block from the courthouse plaza and a short walk from Whiskey Row. It opened in 1927 as the Hassayampa Hotel, a red brick landmark with a tiled bell tower, built with money raised from hundreds of local residents. It has 67 rooms, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of Historic Hotels of America.

It is also one of the few historic hotels in Arizona that tells its own ghost story. The inn’s website calls the tale of Faith its “most famous legend,” and Historic Hotels of America names the room most linked to her: the Grand Balcony Suite, Room 426. That makes the Hassayampa one of the most bookable haunted hotels in Arizona.

The ghosts of Hassayampa Inn

Faith

The story the inn tells is this. In 1927 a very young bride, usually named Faith Summers, checked into a balcony suite with her much older husband. On their first night he went out to buy cigarettes and never came back. She waited for three days, and then took her own life. The inn’s version leaves it there; others say she died of a broken heart, and some, including a Sharlot Hall Museum article, say she was found hanged, with tellings split between the bell tower and the flagpole.

Faith is described as sad rather than frightening. The inn says she “never threatens” anyone. Guests report a young woman crying at the foot of the bed, a figure in a pink gown in the hallways, sometimes holding flowers, cold spots and the scent of flowers in the honeymoon suite, and in one account, a guest who felt themselves hugged in their sleep.

There is no record we could find that confirms a guest named Faith died at the hotel in 1927, so this is best taken as the inn’s own legend.

Room 426

Historic Hotels of America says the Grand Balcony Suite, Room 426, has the most sightings. In one story, a wreath fell from the door after knocking was heard from inside an empty room. In another, a couple were woken at 3 am to find the radio and TV blaring, every light on and the bathroom taps running.

The kitchen burners

Staff have their own Faith story. Kitchen workers report gas burners turning off by themselves, and objects that go missing and reappear. Coffee spills and flapping bedsheets have been blamed on her too.

The boy and the night watchman

Faith is not alone. Local accounts describe a small boy, sometimes connected to the laundry room, and guests and staff report the sound of a bouncing ball. An old man in Western clothes, known as the night watchman, has been seen in the lobby and around the Peacock Room.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 426, the Grand Balcony Suite: Faith’s suite, beneath the bell tower. Book it directly with the inn and book early; it is the room everybody asks for.
• The hallways: Where the woman in the pink gown is seen. Walk them late, when the hotel is quiet.
• The lobby: Where Faith is said to have waited for three days, and where the night watchman appears. Its painted, beamed ceiling is worth a look anyway.
• The Peacock Room: The inn’s restaurant and bar, recently renovated, and linked to the night watchman.

History of Hassayampa Inn

Prescott wanted a first-class hotel in the 1920s, and its citizens paid for one. The Hassayampa Hotel Company formed in 1924 and raised $150,000 by selling one-dollar shares to residents. The first company was poorly run and collapsed within months, but the Prescott Kiwanis Club revived the project and a bank loan in 1926 made it possible to build.

Trost and Trost of El Paso, led by Henry Trost, won a local design competition, and the El Paso contractors Ramey Brothers built it. Construction started in February 1927 and took about ten months. The result was a three-story red brick hotel in a blend of Spanish Colonial and Italian Renaissance Revival styles, with a four-story tower under a tiled pyramid roof, a lobby with ceramic tile wainscoting and a painted, beamed ceiling. It was named for the Hassayampa River north of town.

Guests over the years have included Will Rogers, Tom Mix, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Georgia O’Keeffe and D.H. Lawrence, and Steve McQueen stayed here while filming Junior Bonner in 1972. The inn later bought the neighboring 1933 telephone building.

The Hassayampa was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and joined Historic Hotels of America in 1996. It has been carefully restored, and the Peacock Room has had a full renovation.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book Room 426 directly with the inn; booking sites will not let you choose it.
• Have breakfast or a drink in the Peacock Room, then sit in the lobby late in the evening.
• Whiskey Row is a short walk away, with the Palace Saloon and its own ghost stories.
• Prescott’s Hotel Vendome, home of Abby and her cat, is a short walk away; stay a night in each.
• Dog-friendly rooms are available, so ask when you book if you are traveling with a pet.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Hotel Vendome, Prescott: Abby and her cat Noble in Room 16
• Palace Restaurant and Saloon, Prescott: Whiskey Row’s most haunted bar
• Haunted hotels in Jerome: the old hospital on the hill, about an hour away
• Hotel Monte Vista, Flagstaff: the Phantom Bellboy and Room 305
• Haunted hotels in Arizona

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• Hassayampa Inn (official site)
• About Us (Hassayampa Inn)
• Hassayampa Inn history (Historic Hotels of America)
• Hassayampa Inn ghost stories (Historic Hotels of America)
• Haunted Prescott (Sharlot Hall Museum)
• Hassayampa Inn (Wikipedia)
• Sleeping With Ghosts in Arizona (Legends of America)

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