The Haunted Tombstone Bordello Bed and Breakfast: A Silver Boom Brothel on Allen Street

The Tombstone Bordello Bed and Breakfast stands on West Allen Street, a short walk from the O.K. Corral, the Bird Cage Theatre and the boardwalks of the old town. The building was a working brothel in Tombstone’s red-light district during the silver boom of the 1880s, and today its nine rooms carry the names of the women who worked there: Calico Queen, Diamond Annie, Shady Lady, Soiled Dove, Fallen Angel and more. It is one of the best-known haunted hotels in Tombstone.

It is also a Haunted Rooms venue. We have run our Tombstone Bordello Ghost Hunt and Sleepover here, with investigations through the night and the option to sleep in one of the nine rooms. See the event page for dates. The rest of the year, the Bordello takes ordinary bookings, and the ghosts come free.

The ghosts of Tombstone Bordello Bed and Breakfast

The miner outside

The Bordello’s best-known ghost is a miner who, the story goes, died in a fight just outside the building. He is said to show himself from time to time and to make advances toward the women staying here, which, given the building’s history, guests tend to find more funny than frightening.

The Haunted Rooms event page adds that he is said to stroke guests’ hair and climb into beds. There is no record of who he was, so treat him as house legend.

Spirits that brush past in the night

Owner Susan Sinsley told Arizona Highways that the spirits here are benevolent. They move small things around and brush against guests at night, and she says they never frighten anyone: they just want to be seen or known.

Every room has a logbook for guests to write up what they experienced, and reading back through them is part of the fun. Sinsley says some guests are thrilled by the rumors, while once or twice people have canceled when they arrived.

Soiled doves, a cowboy and the madam

The Haunted Rooms event page passes on guest reports of misty figures in Victorian dress, a cowboy said to come in through the windows and a protective presence they take for the madam. Some guests report the uncomfortable feeling of hands at the throat, the source of a story about a woman strangled in the house.

None of these figures can be matched to a name in the records. They are the stories that have built up around a house with a very busy past.

Big Nose Kate

Local lore links the Bordello to Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday’s companion, and some write-ups say she owned it. We could not find a record that confirms this, so take it as Tombstone legend. Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, named for her, is a short walk along Allen Street.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The Soiled Dove: A small room with a full bed that keeps its 1881 layout. The best pick for atmosphere.
• The Fallen Angel: Also in its 1881 layout, with a king bed and a private balcony over Allen Street.
• Calico Queen, Diamond Annie and Shady Lady: Named for women who worked in the house; most rooms have queen beds.
• The parlor and back yard: Where seances and investigations take place during Haunted Rooms events.

History of Tombstone Bordello Bed and Breakfast

Tombstone was founded in 1879 after prospector Ed Schieffelin found silver in the hills, and within a couple of years it was one of the richest mining camps in the West. Prostitution was part of the town’s economy, with women working out of saloons on the south side of Allen Street and in the red-light district in the southeast corner of town.

This house was one of those brothels. The Bordello dates it to 1881, the year of the gunfight near the O.K. Corral; other write-ups give a later date in the 1880s. Visitors could pay to sit and talk with the women in the parlor, and wealthier men could rent private rooms.

The silver boom did not last. Groundwater flooded the mines, a fire in 1886 destroyed the pumping plant, and by 1900 fewer than 700 people lived in Tombstone. In 1923 the house was moved about two blocks to its present spot on West Allen Street to save it from demolition when a school was built on its original site.

In the 1970s a Tombstone judge and his wife bought the house and put in plumbing and electricity. An English couple later added rooms, a hot tub and an in-ground pool while keeping as much of the original structure as they could. Susan Sinsley bought it when they returned to England, and she runs it with an eye on the 1880s: staff in period dress, historic photos on the walls and a full breakfast in the dining room. Tombstone’s historic district became a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book the Soiled Dove or Fallen Angel for the original 1881 layout.
• Read the logbook in your room before bed, and add your own entry before you leave.
• Walk to the Bird Cage Theatre and Boothill; Allen Street is right outside.
• See our Tombstone Bordello Ghost Hunt and Sleepover page for dates.
• Bisbee is about 25 miles south: add a night at the Copper Queen Hotel.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Inn History Tombstone (formerly the Tombstone Motel): an 1870s adobe on Fremont Street
• Larian Motel, Tombstone: a 1950s motel with a haunted Room 4
• Copper Queen Hotel, Bisbee: Julia Lowell’s Room 315, our full guide
• The Oliver House, Bisbee: another former Haunted Rooms venue
• Haunted hotels in Arizona
• Haunted hotels in Tombstone

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.

• Tombstone Bordello (Arizona Highways)
• Tombstone Bordello Ghost Hunt and Sleepover (Haunted Rooms)
• What was once a brothel, the Tombstone Bordello (Only In Your State)
• Lodging in Tombstone (Discover Tombstone)
• Tombstone, Arizona (Wikipedia)

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