The Haunted White Horse Hotel, Spirit Lake: Big Girl, Room 2 and Idaho's Oldest Saloon

The White Horse Saloon & Hotel stands on West Maine Street in downtown Spirit Lake, a small town in Kootenai County in the far north of Idaho. It has served drinks and rented rooms for more than a century, its dark wood floors, staircase and bars are original, and it stands within the Spirit Lake Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is the top pick on our list of haunted hotels in Idaho.

It is also a place where the staff talk openly about their ghost. They call her Big Girl, and the Coeur d’Alene Press heard in 2015 that she walks the second-floor hallway, plays tricks in the kitchen and has been seen from the street in the window of Room 2. Below are the stories, who tells them, the building’s history and how to book a night upstairs.

The ghosts of the White Horse

Big Girl

The White Horse has one ghost that everyone agrees on. Staff call her Big Girl. Daytime manager Dolli Massender, who had worked there for almost ten years, told the Coeur d’Alene Press in 2015 that Big Girl strolls the second-floor hallway and likes to play tricks, such as knocking a plate off the drying rack in the dish room.

Massender said she had felt cool breezes, been pushed down the upstairs hall and watched doors close on their own. People outside have reported a figure standing in the shadows of the windows of Room 2, which is why that is the room ghost fans ask for.

Who is she?

Nobody knows Big Girl’s real name. One story Massender had heard is that she was a woman who cleaned the rooms, whose young son ran out into the street and was struck by a horse and buggy. Massender was clear that this is a rumor and that she had no idea whether it was true. We found no record that confirms it either.

Dean Massender, Dolli’s son, has his own name for her: Mama Jo, after a woman he was close to who ran a business called Jo’s Hole further down Maine Street and has since passed away. He loves the building’s old bars and told the paper he has never had an experience of his own, although he has heard reports of a woman walking the hallway in several different spots.

Footsteps upstairs

Former manager Danny Dobyns lived in the rooms above the saloon. He told the paper he often heard footsteps when nobody was there to make them, although he never heard voices. The older version of our guide also described slamming doors and items moving around the hotel, which fits what staff describe today.

The third floor

For years the top floor of the White Horse sat empty. When the Coeur d’Alene Press toured it in 2015, it was gutted and vacant, with an old television in one bare room and “Casper was here” written in the dust. It has since been brought back into use: the saloon’s current booking page lists guest rooms on both the second and third floors.

One more piece of local color: in the 1970s the second floor was used as a Halloween haunted house. Long before the ghost stories were written down, the upstairs was already scaring people.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 2: Where a figure is reported in the window, seen from the street. It has two double beds, a private bath and a kitchenette, and can be booked by number.
• The second-floor hallway: Big Girl’s usual route, and where staff report cool breezes, footsteps and doors closing.
• The dish room: Where plates are said to fly off the drying rack.
• The saloon: Not known for sightings, but the original bars and the iron bars said to come from the old town jail are worth a look.

History of White Horse Saloon & Hotel

Spirit Lake grew quickly in the early 1900s. Its post office opened in 1903, and the 1910 census counted 907 residents. The White Horse went up on Maine Street around 1907, and it has run as a saloon with hotel rooms upstairs for most of the time since. The Coeur d’Alene Press described it in 2015 as the oldest operating saloon in Idaho, a claim the business still makes, although one regional tourism page calls it the second oldest.

Much of the original building survives. The dark wood floors and the staircase are original, and so are the bars in the saloon. Black iron bars separating the saloon from the hotel side are said to have come from a cell in the old Spirit Lake jail. Antique saw blades and old photographs line the walls.

The White Horse is not listed on the National Register on its own. It is part of the Spirit Lake Historic District along Maine Street, which was added to the Register on February 8, 1979. Our older guide said it had been in operation since 1908 and that the haunting stories began in the 1920s; we could not find a source for the 1920s date, so treat it as tradition.

Today the White Horse is still a local bar and grill with a patio and a round lighted sign out front. Its own booking page describes it as the tallest building in town and lists eleven rooms across the second and third floors, some with private baths and kitchenettes and some sharing a bathroom, at budget prices.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book Room 2 by number on the saloon’s own booking page. It is the room linked to Big Girl.
• Eat and drink downstairs first. The saloon is the heart of the building and staff are often happy to share stories.
• Expect a simple, small-town stay: self check-in, stairs only, no TVs, and some rooms share a bathroom. Light sleepers should avoid Friday and Saturday, when there is live music or karaoke below.
• Spirit Lake is in the Idaho panhandle north of Coeur d’Alene, so pair it with the Bates Motel in Coeur d’Alene and the old Brig at Farragut State Park.

More haunted hotels nearby

• The Bates Motel, Coeur d'Alene: the closest haunted stay in the panhandle
• The Brig at Farragut State Park, Athol: a haunted Navy building a short drive away
• Gooding University Inn: Idaho’s most famous haunted stay, in the south of the state
• Haunted hotels in Idaho

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.

• Coeur d'Alene Press: A spirited saloon (2015)
• White Horse Saloon & Hotel: direct booking page (rooms)
• Wikipedia: NRHP listings in Kootenai County (Spirit Lake Historic District)
• Wikipedia: Spirit Lake, Idaho
• Only In Your State: Idaho's haunted White Horse Saloon
• Visit North Idaho: White Horse Saloon

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