The Haunted Larian Motel, Tombstone: Room 3, the Wyatt Earp Room and a Guest Who Never Checked Out

The Larian Motel is on Fremont Street, which is also Highway 80, in Tombstone’s historic district. It is one block from Allen Street and an easy walk to the O.K. Corral, Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, the Bird Cage Theatre and the Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park. Its rooms are named after characters from the town’s past and were recently remodeled, which makes it one of the better value bases for a ghost-hunting trip to Tombstone.

It is not a Wild West building: it went up in the 1950s, some 70 years after the gunfight. But Tombstone does not keep its ghosts in the saloons alone, and guests at the Larian have reported a handful of quiet, oddly specific experiences in the original block of rooms. It is one of the stays in our guide to the haunted hotels in Tombstone.

The ghosts of Larian Motel

The white-haired man in Room 4

Room 4 is named the Wyatt Earp Room, but the ghost reported there is no gunfighter. In an account collected by the MVD Ghostchasers, a guest described sensing a large, white-haired man in a white shirt, dressed in the style of the 1950s or 1960s, who watched for a few minutes and then faded away.

Nobody has tied him to a name or a death at the motel, and there is no record of one. The favorite theory is that he is a past guest who liked the place enough to come back.

The twins in Room 3, the Doc Holliday Room

The best-known Larian story comes from Room 3. Twin sisters staying there both woke at the same moment, around 12:30 am, with the strong feeling that someone else was in the room. Neither said anything until breakfast the next morning, when they found they had had the same experience.

Room 3 is also where guests most often report things going missing.

The glasses on the nightstand

In one account, a man put his glasses on the nightstand, turned round and could not find them. He and the staff searched the room without luck. When he came back from dinner and a walk along Allen Street, the glasses were sitting on the nightstand exactly where he had first left them.

Stories like this, objects vanishing and returning to the same spot, are reported across Rooms 1 to 4, the original part of the motel.

Music with no source

Longtime owner Gordon Anderson has described hearing faint, old-fashioned music near the motel that he could never trace, and which never lasted long. He has also told True West Magazine that he does not believe the motel is haunted and has never seen proof of it himself, though friends, guests and a former maid have felt otherwise.

That mix, a skeptical owner and a steady trickle of guest stories from the same rooms, is a fair summary of the Larian.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 4, the Wyatt Earp Room: Where the white-haired man has been seen. The obvious first request.
• Room 3, the Doc Holliday Room: The twins’ room and the place for disappearing belongings. Keep your things in one spot and see if they stay there.
• Rooms 1 and 2: Also in the original block where most reports come from. A good fallback if 3 and 4 are taken.

History of Larian Motel

Tombstone was founded on silver in 1879 and became famous after the gunfight near the O.K. Corral in October 1881. When the mines flooded and silver prices fell, the town shrank, and by the middle of the 20th century it was living mostly on its history and the tourists who came to see it.

The Larian went up in the 1950s, in the era of road trips and motor courts, on Fremont Street where Highway 80 runs through town. Sources disagree on the exact year: a 2022 Construction Reporter article, citing the Tombstone Epitaph’s coverage of the build, gives 1952, while other accounts give 1957. Its name comes from its first owners, Larry and Ann.

The Anderson family, who moved to Tombstone from Minneapolis in 1979, bought the motel in 1980, and Gordon Anderson took over running it in 1990, according to True West Magazine. The motel was renovated in 2013 and was listed for sale in 2022. The neon sign out front may date from the original build.

Today the small motel has a little over a dozen rooms, many named for Tombstone characters. It does not publicize its ghost stories, and they are modest compared with the Bird Cage Theatre or Big Nose Kate’s, but guests keep reporting the same few things in the same few rooms.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Ask for Room 3 or Room 4 when you book. Calling the motel directly is the best way to request a specific room.
• Book an evening ghost tour that starts on Allen Street; you can walk back to your room afterward.
• Visit the Bird Cage Theatre and Boothill Graveyard in daylight, then come back at night for the tours.
• Tombstone gets busy on festival weekends such as Helldorado Days. Book early if your dates line up with one.
• Bisbee and its haunted Copper Queen Hotel are about 25 miles south, an easy second night.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Tombstone Bordello: a former brothel on Allen Street
• Tombstone Motel: an 1870s adobe a block along Fremont Street
• The Oliver House, Bisbee: Haunted Rooms has run ghost hunt sleepovers here
• Copper Queen Hotel, Bisbee: Arizona’s best-known haunted hotel
• Haunted hotels in Arizona
• Haunted hotels in Tombstone

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.

• The Larian Motel (official site)
• Lodging in Tombstone (Discover Tombstone)
• Tombstone's Haunted Larian Motel (Ghost Theory)
• The Larian Motel and owner Gordon Anderson (True West Magazine)
• 70-Year-Old Motel in Town Too Tough to Die Listed for Sale (Construction Reporter, 2022)
• Arizona roadside signs: Larian Motel (Road Arch)

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.