The Haunted Greystone Hotel, Montgomery: The Bride on the Fourth Floor

The Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown stands at 100 Commerce Street, a short walk from Riverfront Park, the Alabama River and the Rosa Parks Museum. Most guests never realize they are sleeping in one of Montgomery’s grand old hotels: the ten-story Greystone, built in 1928 by architect Frank Lockwood and builder Algenon Blair. A 1928 postcard advertised it as Montgomery’s finest hotel, with 150 rooms, each with a bath or shower and running ice water.

Its ghost story is a local one, passed on by staff rather than promoted by the hotel. A woman is said to walk the fourth floor, and legend says she was a bride who was jilted and took her own life in the hotel. Staff also describe phone calls to the front desk from rooms nobody is in, and crying in the basement. It is the only Montgomery stop on our list of haunted hotels in Alabama.

The ghosts of Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown

The woman on the fourth floor

The Greystone’s ghost is a woman seen on the fourth floor. Staff have told the story for years, and the legend attached to her is a sad one: she is said to have been a bride who was jilted and took her own life in the hotel.

We have not found any record of such a death, and the story is close to tales told at other old Southern hotels, including the lady in red at Mobile’s Battle House. Treat it as legend. But the fourth floor is where the reports cluster, and it is the floor to ask for.

Phantom calls to the front desk

Night staff describe phone calls coming through to the front desk from guest rooms that are empty. When they answer, there is nobody on the line, and when they check the room, nobody has been in it.

It is a story told in many hotels, and an old building’s wiring can do strange things. But at the Greystone it is usually tied to the woman on the fourth floor.

Crying in the basement

In the basement, where the laundry is, staff have described hearing crying when nobody else is there. Workers also say that freshly cleaned linens have been found soiled again, as if someone had been through them.

The basement is not open to guests, so these are stories you will hear rather than experience. Ask night staff, politely, whether anything has happened lately.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The fourth floor: Where the woman is seen. Request it when you book; the hotel cannot promise a floor.
• The front desk: Where the phantom calls come in. Late at night is when staff are most likely to have time to talk about them.
• The basement laundry: Staff only, and the setting for the crying and the soiled linens.

History of Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown

The Greystone was built in 1928 on Commerce Street, near the Alabama River. It was designed by Frank Lockwood, one of the city’s leading architects, and built by Algenon Blair, and Exploring Montgomery describes it as the last collaboration between the two. The ten-story classical tower opened as a modern hotel: a postcard postmarked October 16, 1928, held by the Alabama Department of Archives and History, promotes it as Montgomery’s finest hotel, with 150 rooms and running ice water in every one.

Local history writers say an earlier hotel on the site, the Armstrong (also called the Cherokee), was damaged by fire in 1921 before the property was sold and became the Greystone. The sources are not clear on how much of the earlier building survived, so we give 1928 as the Greystone’s date.

As Commerce Street declined in the second half of the 20th century, the Greystone went through hard times. It was used at different points as a run-down residence and as bank and office space, and it was once nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

When Montgomery’s riverfront began to revive in the 2000s, the building was restored as the Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown. Listing sites give 2007 as the year it opened in its current form, with 86 rooms over ten floors. It now sits in the revived riverfront district, a short walk from Riverfront Park and the Rosa Parks Museum.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask for a fourth-floor room in the booking notes and again at check-in.
• If your room phone rings and nobody is there, note the time and mention it at the front desk in the morning.
• Valet parking is the only option at the hotel, so check the current rate before you arrive.
• Walk down to Riverfront Park at dusk, then back up Commerce Street to see the Greystone’s facade lit at night.
• Pets are welcome for a non-refundable fee; check the current policy when you book.
• Selma’s St. James Hotel is about an hour west if you want to add a second haunted night.

More haunted hotels nearby

• St. James Hotel, Selma: an 1837 riverfront hotel about an hour west, with Jesse James legends
• The Tutwiler Hotel, Birmingham: Birmingham’s most famous haunted hotel, about 90 minutes north
• Hotel Finial, Anniston: an 1888 Victorian mansion in northeast Alabama
• Haunted hotels in Alabama

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.

• Exploring Montgomery: Greystone Hotel (2017)
• Alabama Mosaic: 'The Greystone,' Montgomery, Alabama's finest hotel (1928 postcard)
• Civil Rights Tourism: Lodging
• Hilton: Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown

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