Haunted hotel guide · Lake Lure, North Carolina

The Haunted 1927 Lake Lure Inn: Room 217, Dr. Morse and the Voice in the Spa

A 1927 mountain resort hotel below Chimney Rock that hosted presidents, rested combat airmen in World War II and housed the Dirty Dancing cast, and where guests still ask about Room 217.

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

2.8/5Haunted Rooms Score
1927Year opened
Room 217Most requested room

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The 1927 Lake Lure Inn & Spa stands on Memorial Highway in the little resort town of Lake Lure, in Hickory Nut Gorge about 25 miles southeast of Asheville. It opened the same year the lake filled behind a new dam on the Rocky Broad River, and for nearly a century it has been the grand hotel of the gorge: a cream stucco building with an arched front arcade, a big lobby, a veranda terrace, a spa and around 72 guest rooms.

It is also one of the best-known haunted hotels in North Carolina. Staff have described a low, gravelly voice calling their names in empty rooms, guests talk about a woman said to have been murdered in Room 217 in the 1930s, and a figure in the dining room is often linked to Dr. Lucius Morse, the man who dreamed up the lake. None of these stories can be proven, but they have followed the inn for decades.

Lake Lure Inn at a glance

2.8/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation3
History4
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300Pet friendly
  • Address 2771 Memorial Hwy, Lake Lure, NC 28746
  • Opened 1927, the year the lake was filled and the town was founded
  • Most haunted spots Room 217, the dining room and the Allure Spa
  • Best-known ghosts A woman said to have died in Room 217; a man linked to Dr. Lucius Morse; a gravelly voice that calls staff by name
  • Booking the haunted room Room 217 is not sold as a themed room. Book a standard room and ask for 217 by phone; it is not guaranteed.
  • Good to know Lake Lure was hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September 2024 and the lake reopened to the public in May 2026. Check which restaurants and spa services are running before you go.

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The ghosts of Lake Lure Inn & Spa (the 1927 Lake Lure Inn)

The woman of Room 217

The inn’s most repeated story is about Room 217. Local legend says a woman was murdered in the room in the 1930s, the lean years when the Depression nearly sank the resort. No record of the crime has been published, and the inn itself does not tell the story, so treat it as legend rather than history.

What keeps it alive is what people say happens there. Paranormal Scene Investigators, a group from nearby Forest City, have said they recorded a woman’s scream in Room 217 on two separate occasions, and that the two recordings sound almost the same. One guest, writing in the comments of the Southern Spirit Guide in 2018, described a stay in the room with her grandchildren: hair in the bathroom, and a radio and TV that came on by themselves. Plenty of other guests have slept in 217 without noticing a thing.

Dr. Lucius Morse in the dining room

Dr. Lucius Morse bought Chimney Rock with his brothers Hiram and Asahel in the early 1900s and spent the next two decades planning a resort around a mountain lake. The dam, the town and the inn were his project. Guests and staff have described a man in the dining room whom they believe to be Morse, still keeping an eye on the place he built.

Some recent write-ups go further and suggest that Morse is also the voice heard in the spa. That is speculation, but it gives the inn’s ghosts a founder figure, which most hotels can only wish for.

The gravelly voice in the spa

A former staff member, quoted on the paranormal blog Phantoms and Monsters, described shadows moving in the spa area and a man with a low, gravelly voice calling their name when nobody else was there. It is the story that has spread furthest, and it matches what the original version of this guide described: staff and guests hearing a grave voice say their name in empty rooms.

The spa is the Allure Spa, still part of the inn today and normally open Monday to Saturday for massages, facials and hair and nail services.

The figure in the ice sculpture photo

In November 2010 an inn employee photographed an ice sculpture at a function. When the picture was looked at later, a fuzzy figure appeared in it, with a face some people read as a young boy or a young man. Photos like this are easy to explain away, and the image proves nothing, but it is still passed around whenever the inn’s ghosts come up.

The same Forest City investigators say they photographed a ball of light in one room. They have said they cannot conclusively call the inn haunted, only that they experienced activity there.

The airmen of 1943 to 1945

Many people connect the inn’s atmosphere to its war years. From July 1943 to November 1945 the Army Air Forces used the inn as part of the Lake Lure Rest and Redistribution Center, where combat aviators home from overseas spent 10 to 20 days resting before their next assignment. Ghost write-ups usually call it a convalescent home for wounded and shell-shocked soldiers. There are no specific ghost stories tied to individual servicemen, but the original guide to this hotel named the war years and the 1930s murder as the two most likely reasons the inn feels the way it does.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Room 217: The room in every story: the 1930s murder legend, the twice-recorded scream and the 2007 guest account. It is a regular guest room, not a themed one. Ask for it by phone; the front desk may or may not be able to promise it.
  • The dining room: Where a man many link to Dr. Lucius Morse has been seen. The Veranda Restaurant and the Grande Lobby Sunday brunch put you close to it; check current opening days.
  • The Allure Spa: Where staff have reported shadows and a gravelly voice calling their names. Book a treatment and you will spend an hour in the inn’s most talked-about space.
  • Roosevelt Hall and the veranda: Event spaces named for the inn’s famous guests. Not haunted in any particular story, but the best place to feel the 1920s scale of the building.

History of Lake Lure Inn & Spa (the 1927 Lake Lure Inn)

Lake Lure began as one family’s idea. In 1902 Dr. Lucius B. Morse and his brothers Hiram and Asahel bought land around Chimney Rock and later built their holdings up to about 8,000 acres. In 1925 the Morse family formed the Carolina Mountain Power Company and began damming the river. By 1927 the lake had filled, the town of Lake Lure was incorporated and the inn opened its doors. Morse’s wife, Elizabeth, is credited with naming both the lake and the town.

The timing was bad. The stock market crash of 1929 and the Depression stopped development, and the lake and dam were foreclosed on and held by a Philadelphia company until the town bought them back in 1965. The inn struggled through the 1930s, which is the decade the Room 217 legend is set in.

Even so, the inn drew famous names. Franklin Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Post are all listed among its guests. In July 1943 the Army Air Forces took over the inn, which housed officers, and the nearby Rocky Broad Inn, which housed enlisted men, for the Lake Lure Rest and Redistribution Center. NCpedia calls it the first center of its kind in the nation: about 5,000 airmen back from combat passed through, many with their wives, and doctors assessed whether they were fit to fly again. The center closed on November 1, 1945, and the buildings went back to their owners.

Lake Lure became a film location in the 1980s, when much of the 1987 film Dirty Dancing was shot around the lake, and the inn housed the cast and crew. The town still holds an annual festival for the film. In recent decades George and Hope Wittmer led a long restoration of the inn and the town center. In mid-2024, after 20 years of ownership, the Wittmers sold the 72-room inn, the Arcade building and the spa to Atlanta-based Ridgeline for about $11 million.

Two months later Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic flooding in Lake Lure and neighboring Chimney Rock. The lake was closed for about 20 months while sediment and debris were cleared, and it reopened to the public for Memorial Day weekend 2026. The inn will mark its centennial in 2027.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Call the inn directly if you want Room 217, and have a backup plan: it is an ordinary guest room and cannot always be held.
  • Book a spa treatment if you want time in the spot where staff hear the voice; the spa normally runs Monday to Saturday.
  • Check the Veranda Restaurant and Moose and Goose Lounge days before you travel; they have run Thursday to Sunday.
  • Walk to the lake and the town beach, then drive ten minutes to Chimney Rock State Park, the land Dr. Morse first bought.
  • Fans of Dirty Dancing should time a stay for the town’s annual festival, and fans of a quieter inn should avoid it.
  • After Helene, some local businesses are still rebuilding. Check what is open before a winter or early spring visit.

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 Lake Lure Inn haunted?

It has that reputation. Staff have described shadows in the spa and a gravelly voice calling their names, guests talk about a woman said to have died in Room 217, and a figure in the dining room is often linked to founder Dr. Lucius Morse. These are reported experiences and local legend, not proven events.

What happened in Room 217 at the Lake Lure Inn?

Local legend says a woman was murdered there in the 1930s. No record of the crime has been published. A Forest City paranormal group says it recorded a woman’s scream in the room twice, and some guests describe odd events there, while many others report a quiet night.

Was Dirty Dancing filmed at the Lake Lure Inn?

The 1987 film Dirty Dancing was shot largely around Lake Lure, and the inn housed the cast and crew. The town holds an annual Dirty Dancing festival.

Is Lake Lure open after Hurricane Helene?

Yes. Helene caused severe flooding in September 2024 and the lake was closed for about 20 months. It reopened to the public for Memorial Day weekend 2026. Check the inn’s current dining and spa hours before you travel.

Who has stayed at the Lake Lure Inn?

Franklin Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Emily Post are among the guests named in the inn’s history, along with the Dirty Dancing cast and crew.

Was the Lake Lure Inn a hospital?

Not a hospital. From 1943 to 1945 the Army Air Forces used it as a rest center for combat aviators returning from overseas, the Lake Lure Rest and Redistribution Center. About 5,000 men passed through.

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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