Haunted hotel guide · Gooding, Idaho

The Haunted Gooding Hotel, Idaho: The Town's First Hotel and the Ghost Who Hates His Headstone

A frame-and-brick hotel on Main Street, built for the town’s first settlers and listed on the National Register as Kelly’s Hotel, with one odd and very specific ghost story.

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

2.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
c. 1907Built for William B. Kelly
1985National Register

Visit hotel websiteMeet the ghosts

The Historic Gooding Hotel Bed & Breakfast stands at 112 Main Street in Gooding, a farm town in the Magic Valley of southern Idaho. It was built in the town’s first years by William B. Kelly, and its National Register nomination calls it Gooding’s first hotel, so crowded in the early days that tents went up on its grounds for the overflow. It housed railroad workers and travelers off the nearby Oregon Short Line, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kelly’s Hotel. It is one of two haunted hotels in Idaho in this one small town.

Its ghost story is short and strange: a man in old-fashioned clothes who appears in guests’ rooms at night, said to be angry because his name was spelled wrong on his headstone. The sources on this small B&B are thin, so this guide sticks to what we could check and says clearly where the story is legend.

Gooding Hotel B&B at a glance

2.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation2
History3
Ghost hunter access1
$ · Under $150
  • Address 112 Main St, Gooding, ID 83330
  • Built About 1907 to 1909, for William B. Kelly; listed on the National Register as Kelly’s Hotel in 1985
  • Most haunted spots The guest rooms at night
  • Best-known ghosts A man in period dress, said to be upset that his name was misspelled on his headstone
  • Booking the haunted room No single room is named in the story. Rooms are named for people in the hotel’s past, such as William’s Room and the Senators Suite. Book by phone.
  • Good to know A small B&B of about a dozen rooms, only some with private baths. The building was listed for sale in 2021, so confirm it is taking guests before you travel.

Visit hotel website

The ghosts of the Gooding Hotel

The man in period dress

The Gooding Hotel’s ghost is a man. Guests have described waking at night to find a figure in old-fashioned clothes in their room, and the story has been part of the hotel’s reputation for years; it was the heart of our original guide.

No one has given him a name, and no particular room is linked to him. He is simply said to turn up in the guest rooms after dark.

The misspelled headstone

The detail that makes this story stick is the reason he is said to be restless. Local legend says his name was spelled wrong on his headstone in a nearby cemetery, and that he has never forgiven it.

We could not identify the man or the grave, and we found no record that backs the story up, so treat it as folklore. Gooding’s main burial ground is Elmwood Cemetery, where Frank Gooding himself is buried, but nothing links the legend to any particular grave there. One guess is as good as another, though it is tempting to think of William Kelly, the man who built the place.

A haunted little town

Gooding has more than one ghost story. Across town, the former Gooding College dormitory that served as the Idaho State Tuberculosis Hospital from 1947 to 1976 is now the Gooding University Inn, where paranormal investigators report voices, including a small child. Ghost hunters often visit both places on one trip.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The guest rooms: Where the man in period dress is said to appear at night. No single room is singled out.
  • William's Room and the Senators Suite: Two of the named rooms, a nod to builder William Kelly and to the town’s political namesake.
  • The William Kelly Room: Where breakfast is served, named for the hotel’s first proprietor.

History of The Historic Gooding Hotel Bed & Breakfast

Gooding was platted in 1907 as a supply and shipping center for the farms and ranches of the Magic Valley, first under the name Toponis, and incorporated in 1908. The hotel was one of its first buildings. According to its National Register nomination, prepared by the Idaho State Historical Society in 1985, it was built in stages around 1907 and 1908 and had reached its present form by September 1909, when it appears on a Sanborn fire insurance map.

Its first proprietor was William B. Kelly, who had ranched on the Little Wood River and also ran a livery stable in town. A local history quoted in the nomination calls Kelly’s the town’s first hotel, so crowded during early settlement that tents were set up on the grounds. Kelly kept it until 1916. It served transient workers and railroad passengers from the Oregon Short Line tracks nearby, and by 1930 it was the only one of Gooding’s four early hotels still operating. Later it became an apartment building.

The building is a mix of two-story brick and frame sections with narrow shiplap siding, a false front and a two-story frame porch, rebuilt around 1981 after the original was destroyed when a car hit it. It was listed on the National Register on September 12, 1985, as a relatively unaltered example of early small-town architecture.

Our older guide, and a 2007 Waymarking entry by a former manager, said the original building dated from the late 1880s and that it once belonged to Frank R. Gooding, the sheep rancher who became governor of Idaho and a United States senator and gave the town its name. The National Register record does not support the 1880s date and does not mention Gooding as an owner, so we treat both as unconfirmed. The same 2007 entry said the B&B was then owned by a descendant of the Gooding family.

In 2021 the building was listed for sale as a turnkey bed and breakfast with 13 guest rooms. Inn directories still list it with rooms from about $64 to $80, breakfast in the William Kelly Room and an innkeeper named Joy, but published details are thin, so check directly with the hotel before you plan a stay.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Call ahead to confirm the B&B is open and taking guests; it is small, only some rooms have private baths, and the building was on the market in 2021.
  • Pair your night with a visit to the Gooding University Inn, the former tuberculosis hospital across town.
  • Gooding is close to Malad Gorge State Park, Hagerman Fossil Beds and the Thousand Springs area.
  • Ask about William Kelly and the building’s railroad years when you check in.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Gooding Hotel haunted?

It has a local ghost story. Guests describe a man in period clothes appearing in their rooms at night, said to be angry that his name was misspelled on his headstone. It is legend; we found no record behind it.

Who built the Gooding Hotel?

William B. Kelly, an early settler and livery stable owner, who ran it as Kelly’s Hotel until 1916. That is the name it carries on the National Register. Claims that Governor Frank Gooding owned it are not supported by the National Register record.

How old is the Gooding Hotel?

It was built around 1907 to 1909, in the first years of the town. An older claim that it dates from the late 1880s is not supported by the National Register nomination.

Is the Gooding Hotel the same as the Gooding University Inn?

No. The Historic Gooding Hotel is a B&B on Main Street. The University Inn is the former Gooding College dormitory and tuberculosis hospital on University Avenue.

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.

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