Haunted hotel guide · Birmingham, Alabama
The Haunted Hotel Indigo at Five Points, Birmingham: The Nurse on the Eighth Floor
A 1931 Art Deco medical building in Five Points South, once the Pickwick Hotel and the Hotel Highland, where a nurse is said to be still on her rounds.
Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points S – UAB is a 63-room boutique hotel in Five Points South, Birmingham’s old entertainment district, a short walk from the UAB campus and the restaurants around the Five Points fountain. The building went up in 1931 as the Medical Arts Building, home to the offices of surgeons and dentists for decades. The hotel leans into that past: its bar is the Rx Lounge, and the original medical insignia and glass paneling survive around the building.
Ghost stories have followed the building through each of its lives: as the Pickwick Hotel, as the Hotel Highland and now as a Hotel Indigo. The best known is a nurse who still makes her rounds on the eighth floor. Others include a little girl heard playing jacks near the front desk, an angry man who ordered a guest out of his room and a basement gym said to have once been a morgue. It is the most unexpected stop on our list of haunted hotels in Birmingham.
Hotel Indigo Five Points at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 1023 20th Street South, Birmingham, AL 35205
- Opened Built in 1931 as the Medical Arts Building; Pickwick Hotel from the late 1980s; Hotel Highland from 2008; Hotel Indigo since 2018
- Most haunted spots The eighth floor and its elevator, the main-floor waiting area by the front desk, the fourth and fifth floors and the basement fitness room
- Best-known ghosts A nurse on her rounds, a little girl playing jacks and a man who orders guests to leave
- Booking the haunted room No room is named in the stories. Ask for the eighth floor when you book; it is a request, not a guarantee.
- Good to know 63 rooms, including 28 suites. Valet parking. The Rx Lounge serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The ghosts of Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points S – UAB
The nurse on the eighth floor
The building’s oldest ghost story dates from its years as the Pickwick Hotel. Staff began talking about a nurse who seemed to be making her rounds on the upper floors, most often the eighth. Fright Find says she was first seen during renovations.
In her 2001 book Haunted Inns of the Southeast, Sheila Turnage quoted a former director of sales who said the elevator would be called up to the eighth floor when nobody had pressed the button. The stories fit a building that spent more than 50 years as doctors’ and dentists’ offices, though nobody has named the nurse.
The girl playing jacks
Down on the main floor, guests and staff describe the sound of a small girl at play near the front desk and the waiting area: a ball bouncing, the rattle of jacks and laughter. Some say they have seen her, sitting on the floor with her game.
It is the story our original guide told most fondly, and it is still the one staff are most likely to mention.
The man who wants guests gone
Not every presence here is friendly. According to accounts collected by Fright Find and repeated in our original guide, a guest on the eighth floor was ordered out of the hotel by an unfriendly male voice. In another room, a man is said to have appeared and shouted at the guests to leave.
In the room next door, a guest is said to have woken to find the same man standing over the bed. He vanished the moment he was seen.
The friendly women on the fourth and fifth floors
Other rooms have gentler stories. Two women have been seen on the fourth floor, and a friendly female spirit is said to be on the fifth. Guests who report them describe them as kind rather than frightening.
These stories are thin on detail, but they come up often enough to be part of the building’s folklore.
The basement that was once a morgue
The hotel’s fitness room is in the basement, which some tellings say once held a morgue for the medical building. Guests working out there have described rooms turning suddenly cold, a soft breeze carrying the scent of flowers, odd smells, the sensation of being touched and the feeling of being watched.
We have not found records confirming a morgue in the building, so treat it as part of the legend. It is still the least crowded gym you will ever use.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- The eighth floor: Where the nurse makes her rounds and the elevator arrives by itself. Ask for this floor when you book and again at check-in.
- The main-floor waiting area: Where the girl with the jacks is heard. Sit here late in the evening when the lobby is quiet.
- The fourth and fifth floors: Where the friendly women are seen. A good fallback if the eighth floor is full.
- The basement fitness room: The supposed old morgue. Go for a late workout and see whether the room turns cold.
History of Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points S – UAB
The Medical Arts Building at 1023 20th Street South was built in 1931 in the Art Deco style, across from Birmingham’s first apothecary, according to Business Alabama. For more than half a century it housed the offices of surgeons and dentists, and Bhamwiki records that UAB School of Public Health departments also used space in the building until 1996.
In 1987 cardiac surgeon Dr. Donald Kahn developed Pickwick Place, a European-style shopping plaza around the building, named after the Pickwick Club, a dance club that stood nearby from the 1930s to the 1950s. As part of the project, the Medical Arts Building became the Pickwick Hotel and Conference Center, which opened in 1988. Some older guides say the building itself was the dance hall; it was not, but the hotel borrowed its name and Art Deco style.
In 2006 Atlanta developers announced a $7 million plan to turn the Pickwick into a high-end boutique hotel. It closed in January 2007 and quietly reopened in July 2008 as the Hotel Highland. Our original guide dated the Hotel Highland to the 1950s; Bhamwiki’s dated records put it at 2008.
In October 2016 SJP Investment Partners of Atlanta bought the property for $3.6 million. After a $5 million renovation that kept the Art Deco features, it reopened in September 2018 as Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points S – UAB, an IHG hotel run by Marshall Hotels & Resorts, with 63 rooms including 28 suites.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for the eighth floor, and pay attention if the elevator stops there on its own.
- Have a drink in the Rx Lounge, which plays up the building’s medical past with apothecary-style cocktails.
- Walk to the Five Points fountain and the restaurants around it in the evening; the hotel is in the middle of the district.
- Combine your stay with the Tutwiler and the Redmont downtown, a short drive north, and the Birmingham Ghost Walk.
- Parking is valet only, so factor that into your budget.
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.
- Old Moore County Jail and Old Lynchburg Funeral Home Ghost Hunt, Lynchburg, TN: Our nearest ghost hunt to Birmingham, a little under three hours north.
- Thomas House Hotel Ghost Hunt and Sleepover, Red Boiling Springs, TN: Investigate a haunted hotel all night, then sleep in it.
More haunted hotels nearby
- The Tutwiler Hotel, Birmingham: downtown, home of the Knocker on the sixth floor
- The Redmont, Birmingham: where Hank Williams spent his last night
- Sloss Furnaces: Birmingham’s most famous haunted landmark
- Haunted hotels in Alabama
- Haunted hotels in Birmingham
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 Hotel Indigo in Birmingham haunted?
It has a long ghost reputation. Staff and guests describe a nurse on her rounds on the eighth floor, an elevator that goes there on its own, a little girl playing jacks near the front desk and an angry man who orders guests to leave. These are stories, not proven events.
What was the Hotel Indigo building before?
It was built in 1931 as the Medical Arts Building, with offices for surgeons and dentists. It became the Pickwick Hotel in 1988 and the Hotel Highland in 2008, and has been a Hotel Indigo since 2018.
Was the Hotel Indigo a hospital?
No. It was a medical office building, not a hospital. Stories of a nurse and a basement morgue come from its medical past, but we have not found records of a morgue.
Is the Hotel Indigo the same as the Hotel Highland and the Pickwick Hotel?
Yes. All three names belong to the same building at 1023 20th Street South in Five Points South.
Which floor is haunted at the Hotel Indigo?
The eighth floor has the most stories, including the nurse and the elevator. The fourth and fifth floors and the basement fitness room have reports too.
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.
- Bhamwiki: Hotel Indigo
- Bhamwiki: Pickwick Place
- Lodging Magazine: Hotel Indigo Birmingham Five Points S opens (2018)
- Business Alabama: 5 reasons to visit Hotel Indigo in Five Points
- Southern Spirit Guide: Birmingham's haunted five (2015)
- Fright Find: Hotel Highland (Pickwick Hotel)
Get new haunted hotel guides by email
New guides, haunted hotel picks and ghost hunt dates near you. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
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.
Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.