STAY IF YOU DARE.

  1886   -   1908     /     THE   “  CARRIAGE   SET  ”   YEARS  .

 the   first   fifteen   years   of   the   hotel   were   operated   under   the   eureka   springs   improvement   company   as   a   year   round   luxury   resort   hotel   for   the   elite  .     the   hotel   provided   warm   southern   hospitality    &    recreational   activities   for   it’s   guests .     a   stable   with   a   hundred   sleek  -  coated   horses   was   provided   for   the   guests'   riding   pleasure   on   early   morning   rides   over   the   trails  .     often   as   many   as   seventy   five   riders   could   be   seen   making   their   way   along   some   remote   mountain   trail   from   the   hotel  .     guests   could   also   enjoy   tea   dances   during   the   afternoon    &    dance   parties   each   evening   with   music   provided   from   an   in - house   orchestra   maintained   by   the   hotel  .     other   activities   available   to   guests   included   picnics  ,   hiking  ,   streetcar   rides  ,   &   the   ever - popular   tallyho   rides   to   sanitarium   lake  .

 in   1908  ,   due   to   winter   business   becoming   slow  ,   the  crescent   college    &    conservatory   for   women   was   opened   to   offset   the   off  -  season   during   the   fall  ,   winter  ,   &   spring .    during   the   summer   it   continued   to   function   as   a   hotel  .

  1908   -   1934    /    THE    CRESCENT   COLLEGE   FOR   WOMEN  .

 girls   from   well   off   families   attended   the   college   as   a   boarding   school   &   local   girls   could   attend   classes   as   day  students  .    girls   were   boarded   on   the   second    &    third   floors   while   the   fourth   floor   was   reserved   for   professors  .    many   girls   took   on   athletics   at   the   school    &   the   college   ran   with   a   surprising   amount   of   championship   teams   in   it’s   time .     tuition   was   from   $270  -  $375   (  around   $4k  -  $5k   in   today’s   economy  )    a   year   including   room  ,   board  ,   &    courses  .

 the   college   shut   down   in   1934   due   to   effects   of   the   great   depression   while   the   hotel   remained   as   only   a   summer   hotel  .

   1937  -  1940    /    THE   BAKER   HOSPITAL  .   * tw !     :    cancer ,  mass  death .

 easily   the   darkest   part   of   the   hotel’s   past   :    the   hotel   was   purchased    &    refurbished   into   a   sanitarium   for   cancer    by   a   man   by   the   name   of   “ doctor ”   norman   g .   baker  .

 *  background   on   “ dr . ”  baker  :    norman   baker   was   a   man   from   muscatine  ,   iowa   who   dropped   out   of   high   school   at   age   sixteen   to   become   a   machinist    &    also  ,   though   a   lesser   known   fact  ,   took   on   some   lessons   in   forms   of   hypnotism .    in   late   1925   he   began   a   radio   station   in   iowa   known   as   ‘ KTNT ’   or   ‘ Know   The   Naked   Truth ’ .     from   here   baker   spoke   down   upon   big   businesses    &    the   american   medical   association  .     he   believed   organized   medicine   was   corrupt    &   only   for   the   profit .    he   claimed   there   was   a   “ miracle   cure ”   for   many   diseases  ,   including   cancer  ,   that   the   AMA   was   keeping   from   the   public  .    he  claimed   to   have   this   cure    (  which   was   a  useless  mix  of   watermelon   seed ,   brown   corn   silk ,   alcohol ,   &   carbolic   acid   that   he   would   inject   to   patients  )     &    would   conduct   tests   of   it   on   volunteers    who   would   die   from   the   treatment    then   have   their   fates   lied   about   by   baker   who   would   publish   magazines   saying   his   patients   all   had   miraculous   recoveries  .     he   opened   his   first   cancer   institution   in   1930   in   iowa   but   was   later   driven  out   of   the   state   by   the   AMA   who   sent   out   a   warrant   for   his   arrest   for   practicing   medicine   without   a   license .     baker   fled   to   mexico   for   several   years   then  returned   to   iowa   in   1937   where   he   spent   a   day   in   jail   for   practicing   medicine   without   a   license  .     he   left   iowa   again   after   that ,   his   home   state   running   him   out  ,    &   went   on   to   eureka   springs  ,   arkansas   where   he   found   the   crescent   hotel  :    the   perfect   place   for   his   new   cancer   institute  .

 baker   picked   up   where   he   left  off   in   iowa   on   the   new   naive   crowd   of   the   south   within   the   new   ‘  BAKER   CANCER   CURABLE   HOSPITAL ’  .     he   ran   the   same   medical   scams   on   the   hundreds   of   desperate   patients   who   came   into   his   care  .     he   would   have   patients   sign   false   documents   in   case   they   died  within   the   hospital   &    he   would   forge   the   signature   on   typed   letters  ,   that   claimed   treatment   was   working   wonderfully    &    to   send   more   money  ,   that   he   would   send   to   their   families  .     he   would   admit   hypochondriacs   who   believed   they   had   cancer   then   release   them  ,   making   it   seem   as   though   people   were   being   healed  .     the   treatments  ,    which   was   a   series   of   injections   admitted   throughout   each   day  ,   were   also   extremely   painful    &    if   a   patient   began   to   vocalize   their   pain   he   would   ship   them   to   what   was   once   the   servants   quarters   in   the   early   days   of   the   hotel   as   to   not   worry   the   other   patients  .     the   quarters   had   only   one   entrance   on   the   third   floor   which   was   behind   a   steel   door   at   the   time    &    would   successfully   muffle   any   sounds   of   pain  .     he   called   the   part   of   the   hospital   “ the  asylum ”   (   today  ,   it’s   nicknamed   the   pain   asylum   in   ghost   tours    &    is   the   current   location   of   the   hotel’s   honeymoon   suites   )     &    if   patients   sent   there   were   asked   about   he   would   fib   that   they   had   been   sent   there   to   work   on   their   mental   health  .

 at   night  ,   while   the   other   patients   were   sleeping  ,   a   nurse   would   wheel   a   gurney   from   the   asylum   with   a   stack   of   bodies   of   those   who   passed   away   during   the   day  .     the   bodies   would   be   taken   to   the   basement   which  ,    though   once   the   kitchens  ,   now   served   as   a   morgue  .     around   thirty   bodies   at   a   time   were   kept   stacked   upon   one   another   in   a   small   meat   locker   in   the   morgue    &    doctor   baker   would   conduct   experiments   on   the   bodies   with   the   help   of   his   surgeons  .     with   many   bodies   he   would   also   have   the   site  of   the   cancer   cut   out   then   kept   in   jars   of   formaldehyde  .     he  kept   these   jars  in   a   sealed   room    (  one   that   would ,  years   later ,   be  discovered   by   two   unfortunate   maintenance   men  )    claiming   them   as   “ proof ”   of   his   success  .     some   claim   he   also   stored   some   body   parts   in   the   walls   of   the   basement  .

 though   it   only   ran   for   around   three   years  ,   the   baker   hospital   claimed   hundreds   of   lives   within   it’s   walls  .     &   those  who   didn’t   die   within   it   typically   died   shortly   after   returning   home .     a   postal  inspector   claimed   norman   brought   in   around   $500,000    (  around   $9million  in   today’s   economy  )    a   year   with   his   hospital    &    by   the   end   of   the   hospital   he   had   scammed   cancer   sufferes   out   around   $4million   (  around   $71million   today  )   in   total   of   his   entire   cons  from   iowa   to   arkansas .

 in   1940 ,   the   baker   hospital   was   shut   down   when   norman   baker   was   arrested   on   mail   fraud  .     he   was   sentenced   to   six   years   in   prison   but   was   let   out   two   years   early   on   good   behavior  .     he   lived   out   the   rest   of   his   days   on   a   yacht   off   the   coast   of   florida   until   he  ,   ironically  ,   died   of   liver   cancer   in   1958  .

 1941  -   PRESENT    /    RESTORATION  .

 the   hotel   sat   empty   for   six   years   after   the   baker   hospital   until  ,   in   1946  ,   it   was   bought   by   four   chicago   businessmen   who   began   working   on   renovating   the   hotel .     by   1970   only   one   of   the   chicago   businessmen   remained   alive    &    eventually   put   the   hotel   up   for   auction .     it   was   bought   in   1972   by   mr .   &   mrs .   feagins    &    dr .   &   mrs .   kori      (   who   out   bid   those   who   sought   to   destroy   it   to   become   a   chicken   house   )      who   began   putting   the   hotel   through   restoration   until   it   was   officially   fully   reopened   in   1973  .     things   went   smoothly   until   the   SBA   crisis   in   1992   forced   the   hotel   into   foreclosure .     in   1997   the   hotel   was   bought   by   it’s   current   owners ,   marty   &   elise   roenigk   who   are  ,   to   this   day  ,   dedicating   their   efforts   to   perfectly   restoring   “  the   grand   old   lady   of   the   ozarks  ”  .

 the   hotel   is   on   the   historic   national   register   today    &    the   amount   of   frequently   reported   specter   sightings   it’s   received   has   it   dubbed    “ america’s   most   haunted   hotel ” .     guests   can   enjoy   horse   drawn   carriage   rides   around   downtown   eureka   springs   once   more   as   well   as   many   other   activities   such   as   the   spa   or   the   hotel’s   ghost   tour   that   takes   guests   through   the   hotel   to   learn   about   it’s  most   famous   phantoms    &   even   brave   a   trip   to   the   morgue   where   you   can   see   the   “  body   part   room  ”    &    even   volunteer   to   spend   a   minute   locked   within   the   very   same   meat   locker   norman   baker   used    as   well   as   see   one   of   his   still  -  in  -  tact   operating   tables .     the   hotel’s   most   infamous   ghost   is   said   to   be   that   of   a   17/18   year   old   irish   stonemason   named   michael   who   resides   in   room   218   after   he   fell   to   his   death   onto   a   beam   where   the   room   now   sits .    other   ghosts   include   theadora   in   room   419  ,   a   young   girl   who   tugs   at   guest’s   clothes   at   the   top   of   the   main   staircase  ,    a   young    woman   who   can   be   seen   jumping   from   the   4th   floor   observation   deck  ,   a   woman  in   white   pushing   a   gurney   down   the   3rd   floor   hallway ,   the   spirit   of   one   of   the   previous   owner’s   cats  ,    &   many   more .     some   even   assume   norman   baker   himself   may   still   haunt   the   hotel  .

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