Haunted hotel guide · Eureka Springs, Arkansas

The New Orleans Hotel, Eureka Springs: Ghost Stories of an 1892 Spring Street Hotel

Built in 1892 as the Wadsworth, the New Orleans Hotel has watched Spring Street for more than 130 years. Ghost walk guides say some of its nineteenth-century guests never checked out.

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

2.2/5Haunted Rooms Score
1892Opened as the Wadsworth
1954Became the New Orleans Hotel

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

Halfway up the curve of Spring Street, with wrought-iron balconies stacked across its front, the New Orleans Hotel looks as if it has been lifted out of the French Quarter. It is in fact pure Eureka Springs: a stone and brick hotel built in 1892 for the crowds who came to take the waters, built so far into the hillside that it stands four stories tall at the front and six at the back. Inside are a four-story staircase, period furniture and 21 guest rooms, most of them suites.

The hotel does not talk about ghosts on its own website, and its stories are modest next to those of the 1886 Crescent Hotel up the hill. But the New Orleans is a stop on the downtown ghost walk, where guides say travelers from the 1800s still roam its halls, and at least one guest has published an account of a very strange night here. This guide sets out what is told, what is documented and how to plan a stay.

New Orleans Hotel at a glance

2.2/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation2
History4
Ghost hunter access1
$$ · $150 to $300No pets
  • Address 63 Spring Street, Eureka Springs, AR 72632
  • Opened 1892, as the Wadsworth; the Hotel Allred from 1915; later the Springs Hotel; the New Orleans Hotel since 1954
  • Most haunted spots The guest floors above the lobby and the grand four-story staircase
  • Best-known ghosts Nineteenth-century travelers said to linger, and an unseen presence that sits on the end of the bed
  • Booking the haunted room There is no haunted room package. A guest account names Room 106; you can ask for it, but the hotel does not promote it.
  • Good to know No pets (service animals only). The Quarter on Spring, a bar below the lobby, has live music on many nights, so ask for an upper floor if you want quiet.

Check availability

The ghosts of The New Orleans Hotel

Weary travelers from the 1800s

The New Orleans Hotel’s place in Eureka Springs ghost lore comes mostly from the town’s walking ghost tours. US Ghost Adventures, whose evening tour starts at the Basin Park Hotel and works its way along Spring Street, describes the New Orleans as a hotel where weary travelers from the nineteenth century still roam.

That is a broad story rather than a named ghost, and it fits a building that has housed travelers since 1892, when visitors arrived by train and stagecoach for the healing springs. Guides on the street tend to tell it alongside the stories of the Basin Park, the old courthouse and the underground passages beneath Spring Street.

A night in Room 106

The most detailed account comes from a guest who wrote about a New Year’s stay for the travel site Haunted Excursions. The writer had called ahead and been told the room was ready, but on arrival the clerk had trouble finding it and then found it unmade and strewn with rubbish, although it had supposedly been cleaned earlier that day.

At about 2 a.m. the writer woke to the feeling of someone sitting on the end of the bed, and felt a heavy presence for the rest of the night. In the morning a friend sharing the room admitted she had heard someone come in and the bathroom sink turn on, but had kept quiet. The post does not give the hotel’s street address, though the writer also mentions taking the Crescent Hotel ghost tour on the same trip. It is one person’s story, but it is the kind guests at old hotels on Spring Street tell often.

What the hotel says

Nothing, as far as ghosts go. The New Orleans Hotel’s website and its listing with the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce talk about woodwork, antiques, balconies and the staircase rather than spirits. A travel blogger who stayed in a suite here recently found the back of the building a little eerie but reported nothing unusual.

We rate it as a lightly haunted stay: a genuinely historic hotel with a place in the town’s ghost walks, a handful of guest stories and no tradition of named ghosts. If you want the full experience, book a room here and a ghost tour at the Crescent or the Basin Park.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • Room 106: The room named in the published guest account of a presence at the foot of the bed. Ask for it by number when you call; the hotel lists rooms by type rather than number online.
  • The grand staircase: Four stories of original woodwork running up through the building. It is the heart of the old hotel and the best place to feel its age late at night.
  • The Spring Street balconies: Several suites open onto the wrought-iron balconies over the street, where you can watch the evening ghost walks go by.
  • The back of the building: Because the hotel is built into the hill, the rear rises six stories. Guests and one travel blogger have called it the eeriest part of the property.

History of The New Orleans Hotel

Eureka Springs grew up around the springs that gave it its name, and by the 1890s it was a busy resort town. The hotel at 63 Spring Street opened in 1892 as the Wadsworth, with 50 rooms, steam heat and electric lights. A night cost 50 cents, or a dollar with a bath, according to early advertising retold by the travel blog The Beth Lists.

The building is stone and brick, set into the steep hillside so that it shows four stories to Spring Street and six to the back. Its four-story staircase and much of its original woodwork survive, and the iron balconies across the front give it the New Orleans look that would later inspire its name.

In 1915 the hotel became the Hotel Allred, and it was later known as the Springs Hotel. It took the name New Orleans Hotel in 1954, by which time Eureka Springs was turning from a health resort into a tourist town known for its Victorian streets. The hotel was renovated in the 1980s, including a major project in 1984.

Today the New Orleans Hotel has 21 guest units, 18 of them suites, with antiques, quality linens and in many cases balconies over downtown. A bar called The Quarter on Spring sits below the lobby. The hotel shares a reservations website with the Grand Central Hotel, another historic Spring Street property.

The whole of downtown Eureka Springs is listed as a historic district, and the New Orleans Hotel is one of a group of Victorian hotels, along with the Basin Park, the Palace and the Grand Central, that still take guests within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Ask for an upper-floor room if you want quiet; the bar below the lobby has live music on many nights.
  • Request Room 106 by phone if you want the room from the guest account, and a balcony room if you want the view.
  • Leave pets at home. The hotel accepts service animals only.
  • Take the walking ghost tour that starts at the Basin Park Hotel; it covers the New Orleans and the rest of Spring Street.
  • Book the Crescent Hotel’s ghost tour, which ends in Norman Baker’s morgue, for a second night of stories.
  • October weekends sell out early across Eureka Springs, so reserve in summer if you want a Halloween 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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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 New Orleans Hotel in Eureka Springs haunted?

It has a modest reputation. Ghost walk guides say nineteenth-century travelers still roam the hotel, and one guest has published an account of feeling someone sit on the end of the bed in Room 106. The hotel does not promote ghosts, and there are no records behind the stories.

When was the New Orleans Hotel built?

It opened in 1892 as the Wadsworth, a 50-room hotel with steam heat and electric lights. It became the Hotel Allred in 1915, was later the Springs Hotel and took its current name in 1954.

Can you request a haunted room at the New Orleans Hotel?

You can ask for Room 106, the room in the published guest account, when you call. The hotel does not market a haunted room, so it is a request only.

Does the New Orleans Hotel allow pets?

No. The hotel accepts service animals only.

Do ghost tours visit the New Orleans Hotel?

Yes. The walking ghost tour that starts at the Basin Park Hotel includes the New Orleans Hotel on its route along Spring Street.

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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