ADDRESS: 204 Alamo Plaza San Antonio, TX 78205.

PHONE: (210) 223-4361 OR (800) 345-9285

E-MAIL: almapuente@1859historichotels.com

Web-Site: HistoricMenger.com

Main Hallway Lobby and the Ballroom

DESCRIPTION:

The Menger Hotel can be described as a high-class hotel, with five stories and 316 rooms, and has had more than "130 years of refinements", creating a masterpiece of traditional elegance and atmosphere."

HISTORY:

The Menger Hotel was built in 1859, by William A. Menger and architect John Fries, a mere 23 years after the bloody fight at the Alamo. It was a first class hotel from its very beginning, William Menger saw to that, providing a very classy experience for all who cam for a visit. Many famous, well-known people enjoyed the perks and hospitality of the Menger Hotel, including Theodore Roosevelt, Sidney Lanier, Babe Ruth, Mae West, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Sarah Bernhardt, and Gutzon Borglum.

MANIFESTATIONS:

The Menger Hotel is not only a very appealing place for the enjoyment of the living, but has long been a favorite place for a variety of spirits and ghosts. It was built on ground which is just steps away from where the famous battle of the Alamo took place, 23 years earlier, making it prone from the start to attract unseen guests.

So, it is not surprising that The Menger Hotel it also is home to at least 32 different entities, who don't mind shairng the hotel with the living at all, as they go about their business at hand. Some of these entities have floated in from the Alamo site, which is common in buildings situated on or near a major battleground. Many other entities had enjoyed the hotel while they were living, and are so attached they want to stay there in the afterlife. Though known to startle guests and employees, they always remember their Southern manners, and never intentionally get their kicks out of scaring the living, like some ill-mannered entities have been known to do in other ghost stories found on this website.

1) Sallie White was a maid who took her job seriously. Despite the fact that she was murdered by her jealous husband, she continues to walk along the hotel hallways, going about her business, carrying a load of clean towels for the guests, which never seem to be delivered. She has been seen especially at night for many years. She wears an old, long gray skirt with a bandana around her forehead, the uniform common in her era.

2) Captain Richard King, the one time bigwig owner of the King Ranch, seems to be as fond of the Menger Hotel as he was when he was living, and isn't shy about appearing to guests and employees as well. He still enters his old room, the King Suite, usually going right through the wall, not where the door is now, but where the door was located before the room was remodeled.

3) Imagine being a guest who has just enjoyed a shower in his / her room's bathroom, and then stepping out into the room suite. Imagine the surprise at seeing an entity dressed in a buckskin jacket and grey pants, who is busy having a heated conversation with an unseen presence. The entity demands to know; "Are you gonna stay or are you gonna go?" three times before vanishing, obviously revisiting an upsetting occurrence.

4) A lady, wearing small metal-framed glasses, who was dressed in an old fashioned blue dress, sporting a beret with a tassel made herself comfortable in the original lobby, busily working on her newest knitting project. A well-trained employee, seeing what looks like a real woman, comes over to her and asks "Are you comfortable...may I get you something?" Imagine the employee's surprise when the woman answers NO! in a rather rude manner and then melts into thin air. It is nice to know that Menger Hotel hospitality and service is extended to ghosts as well, even if they are grumpy, which is a testament to the employee training program!

Other Occurrences:

Unseen entities have been known to "help" in the kitchen area, as various utensils have floated through the air seemingly all by themselves.

Still Haunted?

Yes Indeed!

The entities described above and others not mentioned make The Menger Hotel their home. It was a place where they found rest and happiness when they were alive, and they still enjoy the hotel today, despite the inconvenience of being just a spirit with no bodily form!

 

Interior Photos from HistoricMenger.com

The Menger Hotel Bar