Haunted hotel guide · Placerville, California

The Haunted Cary House Hotel, Placerville: Stan, Room 212 and the Old Elevator

A red-brick Gold Rush hotel in the old town once called Hangtown, with a flirtatious ghost on the stairs and an elevator that runs with nobody inside.

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

3.8/5Haunted Rooms Score

1857Built

Room 212Most requested room

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Historic Cary House Hotel has stood on Main Street in Placerville since 1857, when the town was a booming Gold Rush camp still widely known as Hangtown. William Cary built it in red brick after fires had burned the town down three times, and it was soon the finest hotel in the gold country. Stagecoaches stopped at its door, Horace Greeley spoke from its balcony and Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant and, much later, Elvis Presley stayed under its roof.

It is also one of the most haunted places in Placerville by reputation, and one of the best-known haunted hotels in California. The El Dorado County Visitors Authority itself tells the story of Stan, a desk clerk stabbed on the stairs who still pinches guests in the lobby. An old wagon driver is said to linger in Room 212, the 1920s elevator makes trips with nobody aboard, and Portals to Hell filmed an episode here.

The ghosts of the Cary House Hotel

Stan, the desk clerk on the stairs

Stan is the hotel’s signature ghost. The story says he was a desk clerk, or a bellhop in some versions, who liked his liquor and could not keep his hands to himself. One night he made a pass at the wrong woman. In most tellings she or her fiance stabbed him in the chest on the main staircase, and he fell to the bottom and died there, leaving a pool of blood.

He has not changed his habits. Women say they have been pinched or touched in the lobby with no one near them, and some guests believe he checks on rooms with women staying in them; doorknobs are said to turn at night. One woman who locked herself out on a balcony said a bellhop waved at her from inside, but no employee matched his description. Bartenders say that when they tell Stan to stop, the bar stereo switches off.

The wagon driver of Room 212

Room 212 is said to be home to an old horse-and-wagon driver who died in the room. Staff say most activity happens on the second floor, and the general manager has described guests being pulled out of bed, always in the same second-floor room. A housekeeper reported being poked hard from behind in a second-floor room when she was alone. According to one account, 11 employees quit in a single year because of what they experienced.

The elevator

The hotel’s elevator was installed in 1926 and is said to be the second-oldest running elevator west of the Mississippi. It also seems to have a mind of its own. Guests and staff say it travels between floors with nobody inside and nobody calling it, and one blogger described the doors refusing to open on the way up but working fine on the way down.

The lavender lady, a ghost cat and a scream

Other reports are gentler. Guests mention a woman who leaves the scent of lavender behind her, a ghost cat that the San Francisco Chronicle says is nicknamed Slimmy and roams Room 220, and doorknobs that turn on their own. A long-time worker named Romero has said he heard a scream on the third floor followed by running footsteps, and the guests nearby heard it too. He also says the lights go off on him in the basement.

Irish Dick and Portals to Hell

Some people say the ballroom is haunted by Irish Dick, Richard Crone, a gambler who stabbed a man after a dispute over a game of monte and was dragged to an oak tree and hanged by a mob of around 2,000 men. He never stayed in this building, which came later, though he is said to have gambled at the earlier hotel on the site.

Jack Osbourne and Katrina Weidman investigated the hotel for season two of Portals to Hell, setting trigger objects in the ballroom and reporting an extreme chill in the basement.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Room 212: The wagon driver’s room on the second floor, and the room most often asked for.
• Rooms 208 and 406: Two other rooms guests request for activity; the second floor is where staff say most happens.
• The main staircase: Where Stan is said to have been stabbed and fallen to his death.
• The 1926 elevator: Makes unmanned trips between floors.
• The ballroom and basement: Investigated by Portals to Hell; linked to Irish Dick and to cold spots and lights switching off.

History of Historic Cary House Hotel

Placerville grew up in the first years of the Gold Rush, not far from Coloma, where gold was found in 1848. A wooden hotel called the El Dorado stood on this site in the 1840s and burned in 1849, and the town burned three more times by 1856. When East Coast businessman William Cary built his hotel, he built it in brick. The Cary House was finished in 1857: three stories in the Italianate and Second Empire styles, with 77 rooms, bathrooms on every floor, hot and cold running water, a grand staircase and a lobby of mahogany and cherry wood.

It became the town’s grand hotel. Stage lines stopped at the door, and travelers passed through carrying bullion bound for the San Francisco mint. Horace Greeley gave a speech from the wrought-iron balcony. The famous Hangtown Fry, oysters with scrambled eggs, is said to have been cooked here for the first time for a miner who had just struck it rich. Guests over the years included Mark Twain, Ulysses S. Grant, John Studebaker, Levi Strauss, Bette Davis and Elvis Presley.

In 1911 the Raffeto family bought the hotel and owned it for 68 years. According to local history, while digging out a basement they found a cache of gold dust and nuggets, and used it to add a fourth floor and steam heat. They renamed it the Raffles Hotel and in 1926 installed the elevator that still runs today.

The family sold in 1979 and the Cary House name returned. Today the hotel has about 40 rooms, many of them suites with kitchenettes, with the original 1850s woodwork and brick, and third-floor rooms named after famous guests. It is run as part of the Lexington collection. The films Route 666 and The Invited were shot here.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book, then call the hotel and ask for Room 212, 208 or 406. Mention that you are interested in the history; staff are used to the question.
• Read the journal in your room. Guests have been writing up their experiences in them for years.
• Ride the old elevator at least once, and stand at the bottom of the main staircase where Stan is said to have fallen.
• Placerville is the gateway to Apple Hill, the Coloma gold discovery site and the El Dorado County wineries, so plan a daytime itinerary as well.
• Head south along Highway 49 to the Historic National Hotel in Jamestown for a two-night gold country ghost trip.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Historic National Hotel, Jamestown: Flo, the gold country’s other famous hotel ghost, down Highway 49
• Union Hotel, Benicia: the woman at the upstairs window, on the way to the Bay Area
• Haunted places in Sacramento: about an hour west
• Haunted hotels in California: every haunted stay in the state
• Haunted hotels in California

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.

• Historic Cary House Hotel: official site
• History Goes Bump: Haunted Placerville
• Press Democrat: In rural California hotels, spookiness is the appeal
• San Francisco Chronicle: The creepiest places to fall asleep in California
• Legends of America: Sleeping With Ghosts in California
• Sweethearts of the West: The Historic Cary House Hotel

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