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Menger Hotel –
HauntedHouses.com
Haunted Place — Menger Hotel
ADDRESS:
204 Alamo Plaza
San Antonio, Texas 78205
(210) 223-4361 or (800)
345-9285
___ web site
email: almapuente@1859historichotels.com
LOCATION:
This first rate hotel is located in the
historical heart of downtown San Antonio, only 100 yards from the
Alamo and also close to the Rivercenter Mall.
  
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 sharing 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
web site.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
gray 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.
-
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!
The Menger Hotel
Bar
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