Haunted hotel guide · Marshall, Michigan
The Haunted National House Inn, Marshall: Michigan's Oldest Inn and the Lady in Red
An 1835 brick stagecoach inn on Marshall’s fountain circle, where a woman in a red dress has been seen gliding through the halls since the building was brought back to life.
The National House Inn faces the Fountain Circle in Marshall, one of the best-preserved 19th-century towns in the Midwest. Colonel Andrew Mann built it in 1835 as a stagecoach stop between Detroit and Chicago, from bricks fired on the spot, and it is considered the oldest brick building in Calhoun County. After a long second life as a factory and apartments, it was restored in 1976 and calls itself the oldest operating hotel in Michigan.
Its ghost stories began with that restoration. Staff and guests describe a woman in a red dress who seems to float rather than walk along the upstairs halls, and a local paranormal group has said it believes the inn is haunted. The building also holds a real mystery: a hidden room discovered under the dining room, which may have sheltered freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad and later stored Prohibition liquor. This guide covers both. For more across the state see our list of haunted hotels in Michigan.
The National House at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 102 South Parkview, Marshall, MI 49068
- Opened 1835, as Andrew Mann’s stagecoach inn; bought and restored in 1976 and reopened as a country inn (Thanksgiving 1976, per the inn)
- Most haunted spots The upstairs hallways and the hidden room below the dining room
- Best-known ghosts A woman in a red dress
- Booking the haunted room No single room is linked to the ghost. Book a second-floor room to be near the halls where she is seen; call 269-781-7374.
- Good to know 15 rooms, all with private baths, breakfast included, from about $140 to $210 a night. No pets. Book direct, as it is not listed on Booking.com.
The ghosts of The National House Inn
The woman in red
The inn’s best-known ghost is a woman in red. As WFMK put it in 2020, after the 1976 renovations employees and guests began reporting a ghostly woman in red floating through the halls, often upstairs, in a way that looks more like gliding than walking. People still ask whether the work woke something up.
Nobody knows who she might be. Hauntedhouses.com has suggested she may have been a 20th-century apartment resident tied to the bootleg liquor once sold from the basement, or a 19th-century railroad traveler. Neither idea is backed by records.
Noises and the paranormal investigators
Guests also describe unexplained noises. Investigators from the Spirit Society, a local paranormal group, studied the inn and told WFMK they agree it is haunted and have the findings to prove it. Some people link the activity to the inn’s possible role on the Underground Railroad, though there is no evidence for any particular ghost from that period.
The hidden room
During the 1976 restoration the owners found a hidden room about 10 feet wide running the length of the dining room, with shelves that had once held bottles. Signs of a possible tunnel or outside entrance were found, but no tunnel has been located. A first-floor closet, now a telephone booth, has a trap door and iron grillwork that may once have served as a lookout.
The inn is open about the evidence: it believes the room sheltered people escaping slavery on their way to Canada, but says there is no proof. The bottle shelves point to its later life as a Prohibition liquor store.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Second-floor rooms: Most of the inn’s rooms, including the H.C. Brooks Room with its claw-foot tub and fireplace, are on the second floor, close to the halls where the woman in red is seen.
- The Adam Crosswhite Room: A second-floor twin room named for the man whose rescue from slave catchers in 1846 made Marshall famous.
- The Andrew Mann Room: Named for the colonel who built the inn in 1835, with a walnut double bed.
- The Ketchum Suite: A first-floor Victorian suite with a sitting room, named for the family whose sawmill supplied the inn’s lumber.
History of The National House Inn
Builders George Bentley and Nathan Benedict started work in 1834 for Andrew Mann, using lumber from the Ketchum sawmill and bricks made and fired on the site, and the inn was finished in 1835; Mann hosted a ball there on January 1, 1836. Marshall was about two days by stagecoach from Detroit, and the Mann Hotel became a midway rest stop for travelers bound for Chicago. A state historical marker calls it the first brick building in Calhoun County.
The Michigan Central Railroad arrived in 1844, and for about 30 years the building served as a railroad hotel under several owners and names. Dining cars and Pullman sleepers took its trade, and after Mrs. R. A. Facey sold it in 1879 it stopped operating as a hotel. It became a factory building windmills and farm wagons; an 1895 photograph from those years hangs in the lobby.
Around 1900 Dr. Andrew Dean, a local veterinarian, turned it into eight apartments known as Dean’s Flats; the inn gives the date as 1902. The building slowly fell into disrepair until 1976, when Norm and Kathryn Kinney and Hal and Jacque Minick bought it and restored it as a bicentennial gift to the town. The inn says it reopened on Thanksgiving 1976; Wikipedia gives 1977. Barbara Bradley is the innkeeper today.
Marshall itself has a strong anti-slavery history. In 1846 Kentucky slave catchers tried to seize Adam Crosswhite and his family, and townspeople arrested the Kentuckians while the family was smuggled to Canada. The rescuers were fined in federal court in Detroit in 1847, and Crosswhite returned to Marshall after the Civil War. The inn is a State Historical Site, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 3, 1978, and stands inside the Marshall Michigan Historic Landmark District, a National Historic Landmark District.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Book direct by phone or on the inn’s website; it is not on Booking.com.
- Ask for a second-floor room to be near the hallways where the woman in red is seen.
- Take afternoon tea in one of the three parlors and ask about the hidden room and the telephone-booth lookout.
- Walk Marshall’s historic district and look for the Crosswhite markers; seasonal ghost walks run in the fall.
- Friday and Saturday stays booked together get 10 percent off, with restrictions.
- Check-in is at the front desk from 3 p.m., until 8 or 9 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; arrange late arrivals when you book. Cancellations are free with a week’s notice.
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.
- Mortuary Manor Ghost Hunt, Toledo, Ohio: Investigate a former funeral home just south of the Michigan line with the Haunted Rooms team.
- Ringling House Ghost Hunt & Sleepover, Baraboo, WI: Investigate Charles Ringling’s 1901 mansion, then stay the night.
- Ashmore Estates Ghost Hunt, Ashmore, IL: A night inside a former poor farm and private psychiatric hospital in central Illinois.
More haunted hotels nearby
- Henderson Castle, Kalamazoo: an 1895 castle with a Lady in White, 35 miles west
- The Henry, Dearborn: Suite 418, about 90 minutes east on I-94
- River Raisin National Battlefield Park: a War of 1812 battlefield with its own ghost stories
- Haunted hotels in Michigan
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 National House Inn in Marshall haunted?
Staff and guests say so. Since the 1976 restoration they have described a woman in a red dress gliding through the halls, along with unexplained noises, and a local paranormal group concluded the inn is haunted.
Is the National House Inn the oldest hotel in Michigan?
It describes itself as the oldest operating hotel in Michigan. It was built in 1835 and is considered the oldest brick building in Calhoun County.
Was the National House Inn on the Underground Railroad?
The inn believes so but says there is no proof. A hidden room found under the dining room in 1976 may have sheltered freedom seekers and was later used for Prohibition liquor.
How many rooms does the National House Inn have?
15: two suites and 13 rooms, all with private baths. Rates run from about $140 to $210 a night with breakfast.
Does the National House Inn allow pets?
No. Pets are not allowed.
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.
- National House Inn: History
- National House Inn: Underground Railroad
- National House Inn: Rooms
- Wikipedia: National House (Marshall, Michigan)
- 99.1 WFMK: Michigan's oldest hotel, the history and the hauntings (2020)
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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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