Haunted hotel guide · Jekyll Island, Georgia
Jekyll Island Club Resort: Gilded Age Ghosts, Rooms and History
For 56 winters the richest families in America kept Jekyll Island to themselves. Their clubhouse is now a resort, and it is happy to tell you which members never checked out.
In 1886 a group of wealthy Northerners bought Jekyll Island, off the Georgia coast, as a private winter hunting retreat. Members of the Jekyll Island Club included the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Goulds, Marshall Field and J.P. Morgan, and their turreted clubhouse opened in January 1888. Today it is the Jekyll Island Club Resort, set in a National Historic Landmark District of cottages, live oaks and lawns along the Jekyll River.
Few historic resorts embrace their ghosts as openly. The resort’s Historic Hotels of America listing publishes its ghost stories, and Explore Georgia’s guide to haunted hotels features it too. The cast is drawn straight from the members’ book: a railroad president who still wants his morning paper, a general who died before the club opened, a 1920s bellman, and J.P. Morgan himself.
Jekyll Island Club at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 371 Riverview Drive, Jekyll Island, GA 31527
- Opened January 1888 as a private club; a public resort since the state restoration of the 1980s
- Most haunted spots Samuel Spencer’s old room, the clubhouse second floor, the Aspinwall Room and Sans Souci
- Best-known ghosts Samuel Spencer, General Lloyd Aspinwall, a 1920s bellman, J.P. Morgan
- Booking the haunted room Rooms are not sold by ghost. Book the clubhouse or Sans Souci and ask the front desk which rooms have the stories.
- Good to know Rooms are spread across the clubhouse and historic cottages; Jekyll Island charges a daily parking fee to enter the island
The ghosts of Jekyll Island Club Resort
Samuel Spencer's coffee and newspaper
Samuel Spencer, president of the Southern Railway, was a creature of habit at the club. Every morning he had the Wall Street Journal delivered to his room and read it over coffee. He was killed in a train accident in 1906.
According to the story the resort shares, guests and members who stay in his old room have come back to find the newspaper moved or folded and the coffee poured or sipped while they were out. The ghost story does not give a room number, so ask at the front desk.
General Lloyd Aspinwall on the veranda
General Lloyd Aspinwall, a founding member, was meant to be the club’s first president, but he died unexpectedly on September 4, 1886, more than a year before the clubhouse opened. Letters from later years say some members saw him walking the riverfront veranda around dusk, hands clasped behind his back, on the anniversary of his death. That veranda is now an enclosed sunroom called the Aspinwall Room.
The 1920s bellman
Guests, mostly grooms on their wedding day, have described a bellman in a cap and suit that looks like a costume from a 1920s film. He is seen mainly on the second floor of the clubhouse, knocking gently at doors to deliver a freshly pressed suit. Nobody on the staff dresses that way.
J.P. Morgan's cigar at Sans Souci
J. Pierpont Morgan was part of the group that built Sans Souci in 1896, a six-unit building often described as one of the first condominiums in the country. Explore Georgia says Morgan loved the view from its third-floor balcony, and that guests who wake early sometimes smell cigar smoke there, as if he were still out watching the Jekyll River.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Clubhouse second floor: The bellman’s beat. Ask for a second-floor clubhouse room if you want to hear a knock at the door.
- Sans Souci: J.P. Morgan’s building, where early risers report cigar smoke. Rooms here are part of the resort’s historic collection.
- The Aspinwall Room: The enclosed former riverfront veranda. Walk past around dusk, especially in early September.
- Samuel Spencer's room: The room is not numbered in the story; staff are the best people to ask.
History of Jekyll Island Club Resort
Georgia’s founder, James Oglethorpe, named the island in 1733 after his friend Sir Joseph Jekyll. In 1886 the newly formed Jekyll Island Club bought it from John Eugene du Bignon for $125,000. Chicago architect Charles A. Alexander designed the turreted clubhouse, which opened on January 21, 1888, and members added their own cottages around it. A four-story annex added in 1901 gave the clubhouse 56 rooms plus eight suites.
The island saw some remarkable moments. In November 1910 Senator Nelson Aldrich brought a group of bankers here in secret to draft central banking proposals that fed into the Federal Reserve Act. In 1915 AT&T president Theodore Vail, at the club, joined the first transcontinental telephone call with Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Watson and President Woodrow Wilson.
The club’s last season was 1942; with German submarines off the coast, the island was evacuated. Georgia acquired the island in 1947 for $675,000 and opened it as a state park. The state ran the clubhouse as a hotel for a time but closed it in 1971, and it stood empty for more than a decade.
The district was named a National Historic Landmark in 1978. In 1985 a developer took on the restoration, and the hotel’s grand reopening as the Jekyll Island Club came in 1987. It joined Historic Hotels of America in 1994 and remains one of the best-preserved Gilded Age resorts in the country.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Walk past the Aspinwall Room at sunset. Early September, around the anniversary of his death, is when the general was said to appear.
- Ask the front desk which room was Samuel Spencer’s and whether staff have stories of their own.
- Book Sans Souci if you want the J.P. Morgan story, and set an early alarm for the cigar smoke.
- Budget for the island’s daily parking fee, charged at the entrance to Jekyll Island.
- Join a tram or walking tour of the Historic District to see the cottages the members built.
- Combine your stay with Savannah, about 90 minutes north, for a coastal Georgia haunted weekend.
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.
- USS Battleship North Carolina Ghost Hunt & Tour, Wilmington NC: Investigate the WWII battleship on the Cape Fear River, about five hours up the coast.
- Roanoke Island Inn Ghost Hunt & Sleepover, Manteo NC: Investigate, then sleep over in a historic Outer Banks inn.
More haunted hotels nearby
- The Marshall House, Savannah: Savannah’s oldest hotel, a Civil War and yellow fever hospital
- Casa Monica Hotel, St. Augustine: a haunted Spanish Revival landmark about 90 minutes south
- All haunted hotels in Georgia: every haunted place to stay in the state, from Savannah to the mountains
- Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston: a haunted 1924 hotel about two hours up the coast
- Haunted hotels in Georgia
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 Jekyll Island Club haunted?
It is one of Georgia’s best-known haunted resorts, and its Historic Hotels of America page shares the ghost stories: Samuel Spencer’s coffee and newspaper, General Aspinwall on the veranda and a 1920s bellman. Explore Georgia adds J.P. Morgan’s cigar smoke at Sans Souci.
Who haunts the Jekyll Island Club?
The best-known ghosts are railroad president Samuel Spencer, General Lloyd Aspinwall, a bellman dressed in 1920s uniform and J.P. Morgan.
What happened to Samuel Spencer?
Spencer, president of the Southern Railway and a club member, was killed in a train accident in 1906. Guests in his old room say their newspaper and coffee are disturbed while they are out.
When did the Jekyll Island Club close as a private club?
Its last season was 1942, when the island was evacuated during World War II. Georgia acquired the island in 1947.
Is the Jekyll Island Club a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. The Jekyll Island Club Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
Did the Federal Reserve start at the Jekyll Island Club?
In November 1910 a secret meeting of bankers and Senator Nelson Aldrich drafted central banking ideas here that later fed into the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The meeting did not itself create the Fed.
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 Hotels of America: Jekyll Island Club ghost stories
- Historic Hotels of America: Jekyll Island Club history
- Jekyll Island Club Resort: History
- Explore Georgia: Spend an evening in one of Georgia's haunted hotels
- Wikipedia: Jekyll Island Club
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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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