Hot Lake Hotel near La Grande in northeastern Oregon was established in 1864 around natural thermal hot springs. The property expanded into a grand resort and later a sanatorium that treated patients with tuberculosis and other chronic diseases. The facility included a hospital, a hotel, and agricultural operations, functioning as a self-contained community. Many patients died during the sanatorium era, and the building has been associated with paranormal activity for decades.
After periods of abandonment and restoration, visitors and staff have reported extensive phenomena including the apparition of a nurse in a white uniform on the upper floors, the sound of coughing and moaning in the former patient wards, and cold spots that seem to cluster around doorways and stairwells. The hot springs themselves produce a constant cloud of steam that adds to the building's atmospheric quality. Some visitors have described seeing figures in the steam — faces and forms that appear and dissolve in the mineral vapor.
The property's isolation in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, surrounded by agricultural land with the Wallowa Mountains visible in the distance, creates a sense of being far removed from the modern world. The building has been partially restored and offers tours that include the former sanatorium areas.