The Haunted Gold Hill Hotel, Nevada: Rosie's Room, William's Room and the Lost Miners of the Yellow Jacket

The Gold Hill Hotel and Saloon sits on Main Street in Gold Hill, the small mining town just down the canyon from Virginia City. Its stone and brick core dates to 1859, it was taking guests by 1861, and it calls itself Nevada’s oldest hotel. Today it is run by owner Jill Clough, with the Crown Point Restaurant, an old saloon and a collection of rooms, cabins and lodges. It is one of the essential stops on our list of haunted hotels in Nevada.

The hotel is open about its ghosts. Two of its historic rooms are known as Rosie’s Room and William’s Room, and its Miner’s Lodge has been featured on Ghost Adventures. Beneath it all lies the Yellow Jacket mine, scene of the worst mining disaster in Nevada’s history.

The ghosts of Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon

Rosie and the scent of roses

Rosie is the hotel’s best-known ghost. Some believe she was a lady of the evening who lived at the hotel, and she is linked to the small historic room known as Rosie’s Room, Room 4. Travel Nevada says she likes to make the room smell of roses, and Carson Now reports guests describing a strong rose scent, lights switching on and off and belongings moved around.

The writer at Legends of America described soaking in a claw tub at the hotel one night when the bathroom filled with a smell of roses, like spilled cheap perfume. He searched the soaps, windows and doors and found nothing, and the scent faded, only to return when he got back in the bath. He placed it in Room 2, so room numbers in the retellings vary, but the roses are always the same.

William and the pipe smoke

Next door, in Room 5, is William. Some say he was a former resident; others believe he was one of the miners lost in the Yellow Jacket fire. Guests report a strong smell of tobacco, as if someone has just smoked a pipe or cigar, even though the hotel is non-smoking. Visit Reno Tahoe says he has been seen sitting on the bed.

The miners of the Yellow Jacket

On April 7, 1869, fire broke out about 800 feet down in the Yellow Jacket mine as the day shift went below. It spread through the timber framing and poisonous gas flooded the tunnels into the neighboring Kentuck and Crown Point mines. Accounts put the dead at between 35 and 37 miners, most of them from the Crown Point, and Carson Now reports that many bodies could not be retrieved. The burning tunnels were sealed off, and the workings are said to run beneath the hotel.

Visit Reno Tahoe says the miners’ spirits are said to remain in several rooms and in their favorite cabin out back. The Miner’s Lodge, behind the hotel near the old shaft, is the place most often named, and Ghost Adventures has filmed there twice.

Children in the Great Room

The Great Room, with its fireplace and old furniture, is said to be where living guests and the hotel’s spirits meet. Guests have reported the sound of children running and giggling at night when no children were staying.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• Rosie's Room (Room 4): One of the original historic rooms. Rose scent, lights and moved belongings.
• William's Room (Room 5): Pipe or cigar smoke in a non-smoking hotel, and a man seen on the bed.
• The Miner's Lodge: The cabin behind the hotel near the old shaft, filmed twice by Ghost Adventures.
• The Great Room: Children’s footsteps and laughter late at night.

History of Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon

Gold Hill grew up around the first finds of the Comstock Lode, the great silver strike that built Virginia City. A Nevada state historical marker, placed in 1966, says the hotel’s original stone and brick building stands on the site of the first recorded claim on what became the Comstock Lode, made on May 1, 1859, and that it offered miners lodging, a tavern and a barber shop. Another marker calls it the first building in Nevada worthy of the name hotel.

The marker dates the building to 1859. Local historians quoted by Travel Nevada say it was fully open as the Riesen House by July 1861 (Wikipedia gives 1861 as its founding date), three years before Nevada became a state. Mark Twain, who worked as a reporter in Virginia City in the 1860s, is said to have been a visitor, and the hotel says he drank in its bar.

In 1869 the Yellow Jacket disaster struck almost under the hotel’s feet. The mine was later flooded and abandoned, and it remains under water. As the Comstock faded, Gold Hill shrank to a handful of buildings, but the hotel survived.

In 1987 a wooden addition was built to hold the restaurant, kitchen, front desk and eight more rooms, while the stone building kept its small original rooms, with uneven floors, old plaster and exposed brick. The bar dates to the 1920s and still has its original top. In 2026 owner Jill Clough received a $20,000 Shop Small grant from American Express and Main Street America to update the 1987 kitchen and replace bedding and chairs while keeping the historic character.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book directly with the hotel by phone or through its website and ask for Rosie’s Room or William’s Room; they are small original rooms, so expect character rather than space.
• Arriving late? The front desk closes at 4pm, so arrange late check-in in advance. On Thursday to Saturday, keys can be collected at the bar until 8:30pm.
• Ride the V&T Railway up to Virginia City instead of driving, especially on busy event weekends. The last train back usually leaves Virginia City at 5pm.
• Traveling with a dog? Pets are allowed only in select lodging, so ask which when you book.
• In past winters the hotel has hosted historical ghost tours with the Northern Nevada Ghost Hunters. Ask whether any are scheduled during your stay.
• Have dinner at the Crown Point Restaurant, but check the hours first: it is not open every day.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City: another Rosie, in Room 11, a mile up the road
• Sugarloaf Mountain Motel, Virginia City: a small motel on C Street with its own stories
• Haunted Virginia City: the ghosts of the whole Comstock
• Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah: the Lady in Red, a longer drive south
• Haunted hotels in Nevada

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.

• Gold Hill Hotel (official site)
• Travel Nevada: Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon
• Carson Now: The haunted Gold Hill Hotel
• Visit Reno Tahoe: Haunted places in Virginia City
• HMdb: Gold Hill Hotel markers
• HistoryNet: The Yellow Jacket mine fire
• Wikipedia: Gold Hill, Nevada
• Fox5 Las Vegas: Gold Hill Hotel, Nevada's oldest, gets $20K grant (2026)

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