The Haunted Hotel San Carlos, Phoenix: Leone Jensen and the Children in the Halls

Hotel San Carlos stands on the corner of Central Avenue and Monroe Street in downtown Phoenix, an Italian Renaissance high-rise that opened on March 19, 1928 with air conditioning, elevators and chilled water piped to every room. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a member of Historic Hotels of America and calls itself Phoenix’s only historic boutique hotel. It is also the most famous of the haunted hotels in Arizona‘s capital.

The ghost story begins just weeks after the grand opening. On May 7, 1928 the Arizona Republic reported that a young woman, Leone Jensen, had fallen from the hotel’s roof. Guests have described a woman in white on the upper floors ever since, and staff have long fielded calls about children playing in the halls in the middle of the night. Ghost Adventures investigated the hotel in 2023.

The ghosts of Hotel San Carlos

Leone Jensen, the woman in white

Leone Jensen was 22 when she checked into the San Carlos in the spring of 1928, according to the version told in Phoenix ghost tours and in a 2013 Borderzine feature. She had come west to marry a bellman who worked at another hotel, the story goes, and when he lost interest she put on her wedding dress, went up to the roof and fell to Monroe Street. Her death made the front page of the Arizona Republic on May 7, 1928; the romantic details come from later retellings.

Since then guests have described a pale woman in white, sometimes wrapped in a haze, who stands at the foot of the bed for a few seconds, walks to the door and disappears. She never speaks and is described as friendly. Phoenix Ghost Tours told KTAR she is most often seen on the seventh floor and tends to appear to men.

The children in the halls

The hotel stands on the site of Phoenix’s first school, a little adobe schoolhouse that opened in 1874, and a well from the city’s early days survives in the basement. Legend says three children, two brothers and a friend, drowned in that well chasing a ball, and that their laughter and running feet are what guests hear.

Management has asked writers to make clear that there is no evidence any children drowned there. Still, night staff told the ASU State Press that guests call the front desk at 2 or 3 am to complain that kids are playing in the hallway and keeping them up.

The basement and other reports

The basement is often called the most haunted part of the building. Visitors on the hotel’s past ghost tours described a strong presence there. Other guests mention televisions switching themselves on and lights flickering on the upper floors.

Some tellings add Marilyn Monroe, who stayed often, to the hotel’s spirits, saying she still visits the pool deck. That one is pure legend and has no reports behind it beyond tour guide patter.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 720: The room Leone Jensen is said to have taken in 1928. Ask about it, or any seventh-floor room, when you call.
• The seventh floor: Where most sightings of the woman in white are placed.
• Room 412: A corner room where Clark Gable is said to have stayed regularly, with Carole Lombard next door.
• The rooftop: Where Leone’s story ends. The sundeck has views over downtown and the desert.

History of Hotel San Carlos

Before the hotel, this corner held Phoenix’s first school, a four-room adobe that opened in 1874, was replaced in 1879 and was condemned in 1916. The Babbitt family bought the land in 1919, and Charles Harris and Dwight Heard later took over the project. Architect George Whitecross Richie designed an Italian Renaissance high-rise, and it held its grand opening on March 19, 1928.

For its day it was a marvel: the first air-conditioned hotel in Phoenix, with elevators and circulating ice water in the rooms. Hollywood stars stayed here, among them Mae West, Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Autry. The Harris family lived in a penthouse on the roof. The building even makes a cameo in the opening skyline shot of Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1960.

The Harris family owned the hotel until 1967. In 1970 it was bought by Gregory Melikian, and his family has owned, run and restored it ever since. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, had a $1 million remodel in 2003 and has been brought back gradually to its original look.

The ghost stories grew alongside the hotel’s revival. Management told the State Press in 2013 that its haunted reputation had hurt business in the past, so it began running its own Saturday night ghost tours to help pay for upkeep. Ghost Adventures filmed an episode here that aired in July 2023.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Call the hotel to request the seventh floor; online bookings are by room type only.
• Go up to the rooftop sundeck at night and look down on Central Avenue.
• Downtown parking is in public garages nearby, or take the light rail, which stops close to the hotel.
• Ask at the front desk whether ghost tours are running; they have come and gone over the years.
• Combine your stay with the Hermosa Inn in Paradise Valley and our guide to haunted places in Phoenix.

More haunted hotels nearby

• The Hermosa Inn, Paradise Valley: cowboy artist Lon Megargee’s 1930s adobe, our full guide
• Haunted places in Phoenix: more ghost stories around the city
• Hassayampa Inn, Prescott: Faith the bride, about two hours north
• Hotel Congress, Tucson: Room 242 and the Dillinger fire, two hours south
• Haunted hotels in Arizona

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.

• Hotel San Carlos (official site)
• Hotel San Carlos (Wikipedia)
• Hotel San Carlos brings back haunting historical ghost tours (State Press, 2013)
• The ghostly guests of Phoenix's Hotel San Carlos (Borderzine, 2013)
• Phoenix ghost tours tell downtown's haunted past (KTAR, 2012)
• Ghost Adventures: Hotel San Carlos (TheTVDB)
• Sleeping With Ghosts in Arizona (Legends of America)

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