Haunted hotel guide · Mobile, Alabama
The Haunted Malaga Inn, Mobile: Room 007, the Lady in White and the Bunker Under the Stairs
Two 1862 townhouses on Church Street, joined into one family-run inn, with a lady in white on the veranda of its only odd-numbered room and a hidden bunker beneath the stairs.
The Malaga Inn is a small, family-run hotel in Mobile’s downtown historic district, a few blocks from the Battle House and the waterfront. It is made from two townhouses built in 1862, during the Civil War, and joined together in the 1960s; the lobby fills what was once the yard between them. Behind the houses, courtyard rooms look onto a garden with a fountain. In 2022 readers of USA Today’s 10Best voted it the sixth-best haunted hotel in America, ahead of the Mizpah and the Crescent.
Unlike many old hotels, the Malaga talks openly about its ghosts. The owner has shown local TV around the bunker under the stairs, a Mobile tour company runs a tour called Spirits of the Malaga, and the room everyone asks for is Room 007, where a lady in white is said to pace the veranda. It is one of the best value stays among the haunted hotels in Alabama.
Malaga Inn at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 359 Church Street, Mobile, AL 36602
- Opened Built in 1862 as twin townhouses; opened as an inn in 1968
- Most haunted spots The veranda outside Room 007, the lobby chandelier below it and the bunker under the stairs
- Best-known ghosts A lady in white, possibly the owner’s grandmother Maime Sinclair, and soldiers who appear in guests’ dreams
- Booking the haunted room Room 007 can be requested by calling the inn directly. It is the only odd-numbered room in the building.
- Good to know About 39 rooms and suites, free off-street parking and a pool. There is no on-site restaurant or breakfast.
The ghosts of Malaga Inn
The lady in white on the Room 007 veranda
The Malaga’s best-known ghost is a woman in white who paces the veranda outside Room 007. Guests describe her walking back and forth along the gallery at night, and she is the reason that room is booked so often around Halloween.
Who she is depends on who tells the story. Owner Jordan Beam told WKRG in 2022 that some people believe she is his grandmother, Maime Sinclair, who opened the inn with her siblings in 1968. One version says she haunts Room 007 because she was a devoted James Bond fan. It is a lighthearted explanation for a story that guests take quite seriously, and it has stuck.
The swinging chandelier
A chandelier hangs in the lobby directly below Room 007. Beam says that when business is struggling, it starts to swing. Some in the family put that down to Maime, a businesswoman who they joke still keeps an eye on the books.
Visitors over the years have reported the chandelier moving with no draft to explain it, along with lights switching themselves on and off and furniture that seems to have shifted overnight.
Clocks, plugs and televisions
The smaller stories at the Malaga are the most frequent. Guests have told staff that their televisions turned on by themselves, that devices left charging were unplugged by morning and that bedside clocks were reset to odd times while they slept.
Our original guide noted lamps that unplugged themselves when nobody was looking, and the reports have continued. None of them are dramatic, but they are the sort of thing guests mention at check-out without being asked.
Soldiers in guests' dreams
Some guests have described dreams in which soldiers appear to them during the night. It is easy to link those to the building’s age: the townhouses went up in 1862, in the middle of the Civil War, and the bunker beneath them is believed to date from the same years.
Nobody claims anything violent happened in these houses. But the dreams come up often enough that staff mention them when asked about the inn’s stories.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Room 007: The haunted room: the lady in white is seen on its veranda, and the lobby chandelier hangs beneath it. Call the inn to request it rather than booking online, and book well ahead for October.
- Rooms in the original townhouses: Rooms in the 1862 houses have 14-foot ceilings and hardwood floors. If Room 007 is taken, ask for one of these for the older atmosphere.
- Courtyard rooms: Added in the 1960s around the garden and fountain. Quieter and more modern, but further from the stories.
- The bunker under the stairs: Not a room you can book. A door under the staircase hides a hatch in the floor leading down to it. Ask staff about it, or see it on the Spirits of the Malaga tour.
History of Malaga Inn
The Malaga Inn began as a pair of matching townhouses built in 1862, while Mobile was a Confederate port under blockade. The inn’s own history says they were built by two brothers-in-law; OnlyInYourState names the builders as the Goldsmith and Frohlichstein families and says the houses were wedding gifts for two sisters. The two accounts agree on the essentials: two related families, two twin houses, side by side on Church Street.
The houses passed through several owners over the following century. In the 1960s the current family bought them, joined them into one building and turned the yard between them into the lobby. Courtyard rooms were added around a garden at the back. Jordan Beam’s grandmother, great-aunt and great-uncle opened the inn together in 1968, and the Malaga has stayed in the family ever since. Beam’s mother, Julie Beam, took over in 1991, and Jordan moved home to run it in 2011.
In the 1990s a maintenance worker found something unexpected under the staircase: a second door set into the floor, leading down to a small bunker. Staff began exploring the space, and the family believes it connected to the network of tunnels said to run under old Mobile during the Civil War. Beam has suggested it may have been built with a cot so that someone could hide if fighting reached the city. That is a reasonable guess rather than a documented fact, but the bunker itself is real, and WKRG filmed it in 2022.
Today the inn has about 39 rooms and suites. It is a popular base during Mardi Gras, when parades pass close by, and its courtyard is often used for weddings and events.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Call the inn to request Room 007; online booking cannot promise a room number.
- Book the Spirits of the Malaga tour from Secret History Tours of Mobile if it is running during your stay.
- There is no breakfast or restaurant on site, so plan to eat in the downtown restaurants a few blocks away.
- Parking is free and off-street, which is unusual for downtown Mobile.
- During Mardi Gras the inn fills early and events may take over the courtyard; check dates before you book.
- Sit out on the gallery after dark. That is when the lady in white is said to walk.
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: One of our nearest ghost hunts to Alabama, in southern Tennessee.
- 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 Battle House, Mobile: Mobile’s grand hotel, with a lady in red in its ballroom
- Fort Conde Inn, Mobile: an 1836 inn a few blocks south, with a Confederate soldier at a cottage window
- Kate Shepard House, Mobile: an 1897 Queen Anne bed and breakfast in midtown
- USS Alabama: the haunted battleship across the bay
- Haunted hotels in Alabama
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 Malaga Inn in Mobile haunted?
It is one of the best-known haunted hotels in Alabama, and USA Today 10Best readers voted it the sixth-best haunted hotel in America in 2022. Guests report a lady in white on the veranda of Room 007, a swinging lobby chandelier, televisions turning on and clocks reset overnight. These are guest and staff stories, not proven events.
What is the haunted room at the Malaga Inn?
Room 007, the only odd-numbered room in the hotel. A lady in white is said to pace the veranda outside it, and the lobby chandelier hangs directly below. Call the inn to request it.
Who is the ghost at the Malaga Inn?
Nobody knows for sure. The owner’s family has suggested the lady in white may be Maime Sinclair, his grandmother, who helped open the inn in 1968 and is said to have loved James Bond.
Is there really a bunker under the Malaga Inn?
Yes. A maintenance worker found a hidden door in the floor under the staircase in the 1990s, leading to a small bunker. The family believes it dates from the Civil War and connected to tunnels under the city, though that has not been documented.
Does the Malaga Inn serve breakfast?
No. Rates do not include meals and there is no restaurant on site, but downtown Mobile’s restaurants are a short walk away.
Is the Malaga Inn near the Battle House?
Yes. Both are in downtown Mobile, a short walk apart, so it is easy to visit both in one trip.
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.
- WKRG: Inside and underneath one of the best haunted hotels in America (2022)
- WKRG: Malaga Inn named 6th best haunted hotel in America (2022)
- OnlyInYourState: The haunting story of this Alabama hotel
- Fodor's: Malaga Inn review
- Visit Mobile: Ghost tours and haunted spots
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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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