home of the free because of the brave garden stone

It all dates back to its origins, when Alex Carlton Johnson dreamt up a luxe homage to the Black Hills and the Lakota Sioux Tribes, in the form of an ornate hotel filled with wood, brick and Native American tapestries. The hotel has also hosted its fair share of ghosts. Rising over downtown Rapid City like a sky-scraping beacon, the historic Hotel Alex Johnson has hosted luminaries and dignitaries from the world over, who come to marvel at the awe-inspiring wonders of the nearby Black Hills. To this day, the doctor and his patients make occasional ghostly appearances in the hotel, and guided ghost tours take guests to the on-site morgue, which still contains an autopsy table. Norman Baker who conned patients and families out of their money. Most chilling of all, the hotel was temporarily used as an experimental cancer hospital in the 1930s, run by fraudulent Dr. Slightly less terrifying, sights of men and women in Victorian attire have been spotted in the Crystal Dining Room as well. To this day, the ghost nicknamed “Michael” has been said to emerge in mirrors, slam doors and cry out like he’s still mid-plummet.

Looming over the valley like an Arkansan Hill House, the majestic and mighty property has been plagued by creepy lore since its inception well over a century ago, starting with a stone mason falling to his death from room 218.

Any Victorian-style hotel nestled in the wooded Ozarks is pretty much required to be haunted, and the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, overlooking the small mountain town of Eureka Springs, understood the assignment.

Home of the free because of the brave garden stone