Hot Lake Hotel

Hot Lake Hotel was originally built in 1864 in La Grande, Oregon during the gold rush. It became THE place for vacationers as the 205 degree sulfurous Hot Lake were thought to have healing properties. A Dr. William T. Phy bought the establishment in 1917 and turned it in to a state-of-the-art medical facility known as the "Mayo Clinic of the West". Actually, the Mayo Brothers who established the Mayo Clinic were frequent visitors. Wild Bill Hickok and his Wild West Show also visited Hot Lake regularly. Prior owners and investors include Governor Walter M. Pierce and Senator Parish L. Willis. There Dr. Phy practice along side his son Marcus until his death in 1931 from a cold or alleged radiation poisoning. Marcus committed suicide a couple of years later.

In 1934, a fire destroyed the ballroom and library. The remaining buildings went on to be a hotel. Then later an insane asylum, a nightclub, nursing home and restaurant in the 1970s. Nurses trained there during World War II. The same railroad that brought Hot Lake business was rerouted guests, the new highway bypassed it and the Depression further led to its dormancy in 1991. It fell prey to vandals and the elements, changing ownership several times. Purchased by The Manuels, it began restoration in 2003 and was scheduled to re-open late 2008.

It is rumored to be haunted by a former gardener who committed suicide, old vacationers and former patients from its sanatorium days. Some people have reported hearing music from the third floor where an old piano formerly owned by Robert E. Lee's wife use to be. Former caretakers have heard footsteps and a woman's screams from the old surgery room.

For more information: http://www.hotlakesprings.com/index.php

Comments

Anonymous said…
I love ghots stories. my Language arts teacher told me a story a lot like this one, thats why im looking up things about the Hot Lake Hotel.:]:):]:):]
Anonymous said…
It is a wonderful place to stay now,I feel good there,and the people are so nice. Love it!
JB55Pisces said…
I was a caretaker there in 1981, and lived alone in the building for 29 harrowing days, until I finally fled in the middle of the night after experiencing the ghosts firsthand. It was horrible beyond description.

JEB BUCKINGHAM
Kennewick, Washington
Sue Shaw said…
Any more stories about ghosts at the Hot Lakes Hotel?
JadeMartinson said…
I went there while it as still abandoned when I was about eight with my dad and brother and while were looking around we heard piano music... coming from the basement for some reason and when we yelled down the dark hole no one answered it was pitch black down there. Then we were on I think the second floor and in one of the rooms where the wallpaper was torn to shreds, there was paintball marks all over and the window broken out, we saw something in the middle of the room. It was an old bassinette style baby incubator. The chrome and dials on it were all shiny and the upholstery was in mint condition. My dad wouldn't let us go into the room. It was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen in my life and we wonder to this day if it was actually there.
Anonymous said…
I used to go there in the early 90s. A few friends of mine were walking around in there recording with a voice recorder. This was before I knew of EVP, at one point you can hear a woman scream on the tape. You have to turn it up really loud to hear it but its very clear.
Another time we went in because a week prior we had witnessed a rocking chair in the wash room on the third floor across from the operating room. It had no dust on the seat or were the hands were. A perfect imprint of what looked like someone still sitting there. So a week later we went there to see if it was still there and as soon as we got on to the third floor we heard a large crash and then foot steps could be heard on the fist or second floor in not sure which. That was the last time I was there until recently. It is beautifuly restored. A must visit
Anonymous said…
When was 12 in the early 70s my aunt donna pattee owned the hotel my name is donna pattee as well named after her . They bought the hotel with some friends . My parents and i stayed there for a week it was not opened to the public wet my aunts mother was staying there as well . Ine night my parents and auntvand uncle went out and had mer mother watching me but she had her own room . I was laying in my bed when i heard some kids running and screaming in the halls my first thought was to yell t them and tell them to be quite my aunt owns this hotel and she will kick you out but when i opened my door no onevwas there . So i went to the room where i heard noises knock on the door becouse i really wanted to play no one was there at that time itvwas the third night there i wanted a friend so the next morning i adked my aunt where are the kids that are staying here she said whatare you talking about i said the kifs i heard playing in the halls last nigjt . She told me it was a family whi needed a place ti stay last night but are gone now . I thought ok will what eles would i believe but thought that was weird . Later i over heard my mom talking to my aunt about what i said she told my mom she has been hearing that as well and she is freaked out and wants out of the project they are doing here . Later the next night i went off by myself up to the third floor with a flashligjt there was sheets over the furniture and dust everywhere i started hearing footsteps i got scared thinking about what my aunt said i rqn diwn to my room . I never tild my mom . I have had nightmares of that place for years later i looked up my aunt on Google and saw that my aunt posted the things she heard in that hotel look her up donna pattee also she went bankrupt due to all this
Anonymous said…
My father went there in his collage years and he and a couple of his friends herd screams on the top floor while their group where in the basement
Unknown said…
I went there early twenties it was me my daughter her daddy her aunt and her aunts 2 kids wasn't in Hotel itself we were in the luttle house next to it and something evilsaid GET OUT so we did and i have never been back
Anonymous said…
I went to this place a long time ago. while i was there i heard the stories about the nurse and the doc. when we went at night we walked through the main hall towards the front with me, my mom, and my dad. what we saw was a white figure walking across the floor to the front desk. it looked like a male doctor. we were about to run up to it but we heard a scream coming from the third floor near the stairs. we had other friends in the hotel, but when we got to the stairs it wasn't anyone we knew that screamed. so we turned back around to look for the white figure and it was gone. we were there before they started renovating the place. it was creepy as hell. especially the sealed tunnel under the gazebo that we found near the lake surface.
Anonymous said…
I have a story for
I went there when I was around 13. It was when it was a hotel, so this was pretty recent. That was the very first time I had been there. I wanted to walk through the whole place because I knew it used to be a sanitarium, but it costs $10 a person for the tour. So we just got to see the gift shop and the history rooms. I was walking down the hallway and it was run down and quiet. A little too quiet. Just the hallway was really eerie. We went into the first couple of the history rooms, and in one, my vision went super blurry. I thought it was because of looking through the glass showcases because looking through glass messes up my eyesight. But now I'm not so sure anymore. Now I'm known to have an extremely active imagination, but when I saw the medicine bottles, the necklace with a cross on it, and a big heavy lock in the showcases, i immediately had like a flashback. I don't know how else to explain it. I just saw an image in my head of the doctors injecting the medicines into screaming patients, an insane person fighting a caretaker an the necklace being ripped free of the insane person's grasp, and for the lock, I thought of my Mom's story of when she went there:
So one day, when the hotel was still run down, my mom's cousin dared her and some of her siblings to stay one night at Hot Lake and if they did, they would get to have any motorcycle they wanted. So they drove up, and the main door was locked, so they went to the window to look inside. When they went back to the door to try at the lock, it was broken and ripped aside. They never went inside. They all ran to the car and started driving. Just as they got out of the "driveway", I guess, there was a woman standing in the middle of the highway at 2:00 am balancing a brick on her head. Either that or she was walking funny and doing something weird with her arms. After that, my mom promised herself to never go to Hot Lake ever again. But she went with me when I was 13 soooo yeah. But I am so going next year and the year after that, I'm going to try to convince my cousins so stay the night there! I am extremely freaked out about that place, but I love it and I love hearing the freaking haunted stories about it!

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