The Haunted Sugarloaf Mountain Motel, Virginia City, Nevada: The Doll Room and the Ghost Logs

Virginia City is one of the most haunted towns in the West, and most visitors come for its saloons, mansions and the Silver Queen Hotel. At the quiet south end of C Street, the Sugarloaf Mountain Motel offers something smaller: 12 rooms, a little market and an 1878 brick and stone boarding house that once housed the miners of the Comstock Lode, with views over Six Mile Canyon to Sugarloaf Mountain.

It also has a gentle ghost reputation. Guests describe figures in 19th-century clothes on the grounds, heavy breathing, footsteps and laughter in empty rooms, doors that open and close by themselves and digital clocks that refuse to work. Visit Reno Tahoe says each room keeps a ghost log where guests record what they notice, and the Doll Room is the one people talk about. This guide covers the stories, what we could and could not confirm, and how to plan a stay.

The ghosts of the Sugarloaf Mountain Motel

Miners in 19th-century clothes

The motel’s best-known story is the simplest. Guests say they have seen people on the grounds dressed in 19th-century clothes, who are not there when they look again. Given that the old building was a boarding house for Virginia City’s early miners, many visitors take them for former residents.

Only In Your State, which called it one of the most haunted places in Nevada, notes that none of the spirits seem sinister. That fits the tone of most reports here: unsettling, but not unfriendly.

The Doll Room

Visit Reno Tahoe singles out the Doll Room as the place for unexplained noises: heavy breathing, footsteps, laughter and doors that move by themselves. It is the room most ghost-minded guests ask about.

We could not find the Doll Room named on the motel’s own room list, which describes single queen, historic queen, double and king rooms and a junior suite, so call and ask which room carries the name before you book.

Clocks that will not work and the ghost logs

A smaller, odder detail turns up again and again: digital alarm clocks that will not keep working on the property. Some guests also report doors in their rooms opening and closing on their own.

According to Visit Reno Tahoe, every room keeps a ghost log where guests are encouraged to write down anything strange. Reading the entries from people who slept in your bed before you is half the fun of staying.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The Doll Room: Heavy breathing, footsteps, laughter and moving doors.
• Historic rooms in the 1878 boarding house: Original brick, rock, mortar and iron windows, and the miners’ stories.
• The grounds: Where figures in 19th-century clothes are reported.

History of Sugarloaf Mountain Motel

Virginia City grew up on the Comstock Lode, the great silver strike of the 1860s and 1870s, and is now part of Nevada’s largest National Historic Landmark district. Miners needed somewhere to live, and the building at the heart of the Sugarloaf Mountain Motel was built in 1878 as a boarding house for them. Its brick, rock, mortar and iron windows survive, and the rooms in the old building keep that 19th-century character.

Over the years the property became a small motel with 12 rooms, each decorated in its own style, and a market. It sits at the south end of C Street, which Travel Nevada calls one of America’s top historic main streets, and looks out over Six Mile Canyon to Sugarloaf Mountain, which gives the motel its name.

Charles and Candace Pitts took it over after moving to Nevada in 2016, having first seen it listed online. The motel was named Storey County’s 2019 Business of the Year. It keeps things simple: free Wi-Fi and parking, small fridges and microwaves, a washer and dryer for guests, and free coffee in the market.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Book direct on the motel’s website or call 775-847-0551, and ask about the Doll Room when you do.
• Read the ghost log in your room before you turn out the light, and add your own entry before you leave.
• Walk up C Street for the town’s other haunts. The Silver Queen Hotel is known for Rooms 11 and 13, and the Washoe Club, Mackay Mansion and Piper’s Opera House all have ghost stories.
• Book a ghost tour in town; several run at night. See our guide to haunted Virginia City.
• Bring a dog if you like: the motel welcomes pets, but check its policy first.

More haunted hotels nearby

• Silver Queen Hotel, Virginia City: a short walk up C Street; Rooms 11 and 13
• Mizpah Hotel, Tonopah: the Lady in Red, in central Nevada
• Clown Motel, Tonopah: thousands of clowns beside an old mining cemetery
• 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.

• Visit Reno Tahoe: Haunted places in Virginia City
• Only In Your State: This 141-year-old motel is one of the most haunted places in Nevada
• Sugarloaf Mountain Motel (official site)
• Travel Nevada: Sugarloaf Mountain Motel

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