Menger Hotel — San Antonio's grand haunted hotel since 1859

The Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, is one of the oldest continuously operating hotels west of the Mississippi, built in 1859 adjacent to the Alamo. The hotel's guest list reads like a who's who of American history — Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Theodore Roosevelt (who recruited his Rough Riders in the Menger Bar), Oscar Wilde, and countless others. With more than 160 years of history, the Menger has accumulated ghost stories to match. The most frequently seen apparition is Sallie White, a chambermaid who was shot and killed by her common-law husband in 1876. Sallie has been reported carrying towels and linens through the corridors of the original wing, dressed in her maid's uniform, going about her duties as if she never stopped working. Guests in the historic section have reported hearing footsteps in empty hallways, doors opening and closing on their own, and seeing a man in a captain's uniform — believed to be Captain Richard King, founder of the King Ranch — sitting in the bar. Some guests have reported the scent of cigar smoke and whiskey in rooms that have been empty for hours. The hotel actively promotes its haunted reputation, offering ghost tours and maintaining a list of over 30 documented spirits.