Haunted hotel guide · Napa, California
The Haunted Napa River Inn: Ghosts of the Historic Napa Mill
A boutique hotel inside an 1884 riverside warehouse in downtown Napa, where the staff’s answer to “Is there a ghost?” has been “Which one?”
Wine country is not where most people go looking for ghosts, but the Napa River Inn has some of the best-documented stories in Northern California. The hotel opened around 2000 inside the Historic Napa Mill, a cluster of brick buildings on the riverfront built around Captain Albert Hatt’s 1884 warehouse. Rooms are spread over the old Hatt Building and two newer buildings along the river walk, a few minutes on foot from downtown tasting rooms and the Oxbow Public Market.
Reports began soon after the hotel opened. In 2004 the Napa Valley Register spoke to the general manager, the maintenance engineer and the bell captain, and each had a story. Most of them point to the captain’s son, Albert Hatt Jr., who died in the building in 1912, and to a woman in a white dress who seems to be searching for someone. A third figure, a later mill owner, has been seen on the stairs.
Napa River Inn at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 500 Main Street, Napa, CA 94559, in the Historic Napa Mill on the Napa River
- Built Hatt warehouse completed in 1884 (the hotel’s own history gives 1882 for the start of construction); silo section 1887; hotel opened about 2000
- Most haunted spots Rooms 207 and 208 above Sweetie Pies bakery, the hallway outside them, the stairway and the old storerooms
- Best-known ghosts Albert Hatt Jr., a woman in a white dress often thought to be his wife Margaret, and mill owner Robert Keig
- Booking the haunted room Ask for a room in the historic Hatt Building, ideally 207 or 208, when you book. Room numbers are not guaranteed.
- Good to know Pets welcome for a nightly fee. Pastries from Sweetie Pies are delivered to the door each morning for direct bookings. A member of Historic Hotels of America.
The ghosts of the Napa River Inn
Albert Hatt Jr.
Albert Hatt Jr. was the son of the captain who built the warehouse. He married Margaret Riley in 1889, and she died in 1906. On April 1, 1912, at the age of 46, he took his own life in the warehouse, in the part of the building now occupied by Sweetie Pies bakery.
He is the spirit most often blamed for what happens in the Hatt Building. According to Historic Hotels of America, a guest staying near the rooms above the bakery heard two sets of footsteps in the corridor, one with the swish of a long dress and one with a man’s heavy tread. Then the doors to Rooms 207 and 208 opened and shut hard. When the guest went to look, nobody was there.
The woman in the white dress
The most often described figure at the inn is a woman in white. Guests say she does not seem upset; she seems to be looking for someone. The hotel’s general manager at the time suggested to the Register that it might be Margaret, and the theory that has stuck is that she came back to find her husband, or that the two of them are still in the building together. This is a guess, not a fact, but it fits the footsteps in the hallway.
Robert Keig on the stairs
Robert Keig bought the mill from the Hatt family in 1912, and his family ran the Napa Mill Feed Store there until 1974. In a 2003 letter to the Register, a local man described friends who met a man on the stairway who introduced himself as the owner of Napa Milling, then vanished, leaving behind a smell of hay and grain. Keig’s grandson told the paper he would be happy to see his grandfather again.
The staff stories
The inn’s own staff have contributed plenty. The maintenance engineer described plastic glassware bins flying off shelves in a storeroom while he was alone and said there was no explanation. The senior bell captain heard the elevator running up and down and doors opening and closing when he was the only person in the building, and a guest twice found a drawer open after closing it. A visitor from UC Davis described one room turning so cold it felt as if the air conditioning was on.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 208: Directly above the bakery, where Albert Hatt Jr. died. The guest who heard the dress and the footsteps was staying here, and the door was one of the two that slammed.
- Room 207: Across the hall from 208. Its door is said to have closed with real force with nobody near it.
- The Hatt Building hallways: Where the woman in white is seen and the footsteps are heard. Ask for any room in this building rather than the newer Plaza or Embarcadero buildings.
- The stairway: Where Robert Keig is said to have introduced himself before disappearing.
- Sweetie Pies bakery: The ground floor corner where Albert Hatt Jr. died, now a bakery that sends pastries up to guests in the morning.
History of Napa River Inn
Captain Albert Hatt bought the land at Main and Fifth Streets from Napa’s founder, William H. Coombs, and built a warehouse on what had been a steamboat landing since the 1840s. The hotel’s history dates the sale and the start of the A. Hatt Building to 1882; the Register and other sources give 1884 for the completed building, and a silo section followed in 1887. Hatt ran a steamship named for his daughter Amelia, and the gift shop now named after her sits in the mill’s old business office.
The warehouse served the valley’s farms and vineyards and later became a grain mill and feed operation. After Albert Hatt Jr.’s death in 1912, Robert Keig bought the business, and his family ran the Napa Mill Feed Store until 1974. By then the Hatt and Napa Mill buildings were among the last pieces of the industrial riverfront that once lined Main Street.
A local family spent about a decade restoring the complex and turning it into the Historic Napa Mill, with the hotel opening around 2000. The buildings hold local landmark status and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Napa River Inn joined Historic Hotels of America around 2003 to 2004. Today the mill also houses restaurants including Angèle, in an 1890s ship chandlery, and a spa in the old Napa police station.
The Travel Channel featured the inn’s ghosts in the early 2000s, and staff told the Register that guests started asking about them as soon as it aired. The hotel itself does not promote the stories on its own website, but Historic Hotels of America lists them on the inn’s page.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the Hatt Building. The stories come from the original brick warehouse, not the newer buildings. Book direct and request Room 207 or 208.
- Bring the dog. The inn welcomes up to two pets per room for a nightly fee, though they cannot be left alone in the room.
- Walk the river at night. The river walk outside the mill is quiet after dinner, and the old silos and warehouse look their best then.
- Plan a Bay Area ghost trip. The Union Hotel in Benicia and San Francisco’s Queen Anne Hotel are both about an hour away.
- Book early for harvest season. Late summer and fall are the busiest months in Napa, and rooms in the historic building go first.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Union Hotel, Benicia: a Gold Rush era hotel about half an hour south
- Queen Anne Hotel, San Francisco: Miss Mary Lake and Room 410, about an hour away
- Claremont Resort, Berkeley: a little girl ghost and Room 422 across the bay
- Haunted hotels in San Francisco: more Bay Area haunted stays
- Haunted hotels in California
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Napa River Inn haunted?
It has some of the best-known ghost stories in Napa Valley. Guests and staff report footsteps, slamming doors, a woman in a white dress and objects moving on their own, mostly in the historic Hatt Building. These are guest and staff accounts, not proven events.
Who haunts the Napa River Inn?
Most stories point to Albert Hatt Jr., who died in the warehouse in 1912, and a woman in white often said to be his late wife Margaret. Robert Keig, who bought the mill in 1912, has reportedly been seen on the stairs.
Which rooms are haunted at the Napa River Inn?
Rooms 207 and 208, above Sweetie Pies bakery in the Hatt Building, are the rooms named in published accounts.
How old is the Napa River Inn building?
The Hatt warehouse dates to 1882 to 1884, with a silo section added in 1887. The hotel opened inside it around 2000.
Does the Napa River Inn allow dogs?
Yes. Up to two pets per room are welcome for a nightly fee, and they cannot be left alone in the room.
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.
- Napa Valley Register: The ghosts of Napa River Inn (2004)
- Historic Hotels of America: Napa River Inn ghost stories
- Napa River Inn: history
- Napa River Inn: official site
- Wikipedia: Napa River Inn
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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 hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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