Haunted hotel guide · Ottumwa, Iowa

Haunted Hotel Ottumwa: The Lady in White and a 1917 Hotel's Last Chapter

For more than a century this six-story hotel was the social heart of downtown Ottumwa, and for years guests whispered about a woman in white in the basement. It closed to guests on May 31, 2026.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

1917Opened
BasementMost reported spot

Current statusMeet the ghosts

No longer open to guests

Hotel Ottumwa closed on May 31, 2026, after two sale deals fell through. The owners hope a new buyer will reopen it, but none had been announced when we last checked. For a haunted stay in southeast Iowa, try the Mason House Inn in Bentonsport.

Hotel Ottumwa stands at 107 East Second Street, a dark brick building with terracotta trim that rises six stories over downtown Ottumwa. It opened with a banquet and a grand ball in September 1917, hosted generations of weddings, club lunches and Sunday brunches, and survived a decade of standing empty before the Schwartz family brought it back to life in 1982. After 44 years under the family, it closed on May 31, 2026, when two deals to sell it fell through.

Its ghost stories are quieter than some on our list of haunted hotels in Iowa, but they have been told for years: heavy breathing in empty rooms, shadow figures in the halls and, above all, a woman in a white gown seen in the basement, part of the hotel’s old ballroom level. We have kept this guide because people still search for the hotel and its legends, and because the building’s owners hope someone will reopen it.

Hotel Ottumwa at a glance

  • Address 107 East Second Street, Ottumwa, IA 52501
  • Opened September 1917; restored by the Schwartz family from 1982; closed May 31, 2026
  • Most haunted spots The basement (part of the old ballroom level) and the upper hallways
  • Best-known ghosts A woman in a white gown, a man’s face seen hovering in the dark, and a man in a suit in the halls
  • Booking the haunted room Not possible: the hotel is closed and no new owner had been named when we checked.
  • Good to know Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Before it closed it had 61 rooms, the Lobby Cafe and the 1950s-style Tom-Tom Tap.

The ghosts of Hotel Ottumwa

The lady in white

The story most often told about Hotel Ottumwa belongs to its basement, a level tied to the hotel’s old ballroom and event spaces. Guests and visiting paranormal investigators have described a woman in a long white gown who appears there and then is gone. Nobody has put a name to her, and no record links her to a particular death in the building.

In 2025 Ottumwa Radio called her the town’s own version of the “White Lady” legend found across the world: a grieving woman in white, tied to old buildings and to loss. The station was careful to call the story unproven but persistent, which is a fair way to put it.

The face in the dark

The second basement story is stranger. Guests have reported a man’s face, with no body, seen hovering in the darkness. Some versions say the face seems to follow people along the hallways upstairs as well. As with the lady in white, there is no name and no backstory, just a description repeated by people who say they saw it.

Breathing, footsteps and a man in a suit

The most common reports are the smallest ones. Guests described hearing heavy breathing close by when nobody else was in the room or the corridor, along with unexplained noises and shadowy figures at the end of a hallway. A man in a suit is said to have been seen walking the halls, which fits a hotel that spent decades hosting business lunches, Rotary and Kiwanis meetings and deal-making over dinner.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The basement: Once home to bowling alleys (added in 1927) and part of the ballroom level, and the place most linked to the lady in white and the floating face.
  • The ballroom: Where the hotel opened with a grand reception and ball in September 1917, and where Ottumwa held weddings and club events for a century.
  • The upper hallways: Where guests reported breathing, footsteps and a man in a suit.

History of Hotel Ottumwa

By 1915 Ottumwa’s best hotel, the Ballingall, was old and struggling, and local businessmen wanted a first-class replacement. Rather than wait for an outside investor, they formed a company and sold shares to 309 residents at around $500 each, adding $150,000 in bonds. The J.C. Mardis Company built the hotel in 1916 and 1917 to a design by the Des Moines firm Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, with a reinforced concrete frame, dark brown brick and classical terracotta details.

The hotel opened with a banquet on September 4, 1917, followed by a grand reception and ball two days later. Bowling alleys went into the basement in 1927, and from 1928 to 1934 radio station WIAS broadcast from the building. For decades the ballroom was where the Kiwanis Club, Rotary and the Ottumwa Women’s Club met, and where couples held their weddings.

Like many downtown hotels, it struggled once travelers took to cars and to motels with parking. It was renovated in 1939 and 1951, was sold in 1975 and closed, and sat empty for most of a decade. In 1982 the Schwartz family bought it (it had been operating as the Parkview Plaza), restored it and brought back the name Hotel Ottumwa. They added the Lobby Cafe, the Tom-Tom Tap, apartments and refreshed ballrooms, and the hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The family first put the hotel up for sale in 2020. Two development deals later fell through, and in April 2026 owner Tim Schwartz announced it would close on May 31, 2026, after a farewell concert on May 30. Regulars packed the cafe and bar in its final week. Schwartz told KCRG he believes there is “a lot of life left in this building” and that it is waiting for someone to take it on. When we checked, no buyer had been announced.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • The hotel is closed, so do not try to book it through old listings. If it reopens under new owners, we will update this guide.
  • You can still see the 1917 building from East Second Street; the terracotta trim and arched upper windows are worth a look.
  • For a genuinely haunted overnight stay nearby, the Mason House Inn in Bentonsport is about an hour southeast and has a ghost story for nearly every room.
  • Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunt sleepovers at the Mason House Inn; check the listing for new dates.
  • Combine Ottumwa with a drive to Davenport’s Hotel Blackhawk, where Cary Grant spent his last day.

More haunted hotels nearby

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Frequently asked questions

Is Hotel Ottumwa still open?

No. Hotel Ottumwa closed to guests on May 31, 2026, after 44 years under the Schwartz family. The owners hope a buyer will reopen it, but none had been named when we checked.

Is Hotel Ottumwa haunted?

Guests and paranormal investigators have long reported a woman in a white gown in the basement, a man’s face hovering in the dark, heavy breathing and shadow figures in the halls. These are stories, not documented events, but they have been repeated for years.

When was Hotel Ottumwa built?

It was built in 1916 and 1917 and opened in September 1917 with a banquet and a grand ball. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Who is the lady in white at Hotel Ottumwa?

Nobody knows. She has no name or documented backstory; she is described as a woman in a long white gown seen in the basement, part of the old ballroom level.

Where can I stay in a haunted hotel near Ottumwa?

The Mason House Inn in Bentonsport, about an hour southeast, is the closest well-known haunted inn. Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport and Hotel Julien in Dubuque are longer drives.

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.

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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.