The Menger Hotel

There are many exciting and extravagant tourist attractions in San Antonio, Texas. There is the Tower of the Americas, The San Antonio River walk, The Alamo, but not one of these famous landmarks are as interesting and mysterious as The Historic Menger Hotel. The Menger Hotel is located on Alamo Plaza adjacent to both The Alamo and River center Mall. I find the Menger Hotel to be very interesting and mysterious because of its history. The hotel was constructed in 1859 under direction of owner William A. Menger and architect John Fries. William A. Menger hired John Fries to design the two-story cut-stone building, which featured an abundance of classical detail. The Menger Hotel opened February 1, 1859, built in the same location that The Menger Brewery had once been operated. The Menger Brewery was said to be one of the first breweries in Texas. The Hotel opened as a two story building and was expanded to five stories and now 316 rooms. The Menger Hotel added a whole new Ballroom Area in 1988. The Menger Hotel was once said to be “the finest hotel west of the Mississippi River.”
Being 150 years old, The Menger Hotel has been visited by all kinds of people from all over the world. The hotel has been host to many prominent and famous guests throughout its long history. Theodore Roosevelt, Oscar Wilde, Babe Ruth, General Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee are just a few of the notables. Among those visitors are those of the past that never seem to checkout, ghostly entities as one might call them. The Menger Hotel is said to be home to several tenant ghostly entities.

For instance, the most often cited entity is a woman named Sallie White. Sallie White was a chambermaid at The Menger Hotel. One night, as the story goes, she stayed overnight at the hotel after an argument with her husband. She may well have stayed at the hotel with another man. The next day, her husband threatened to kill her. She was later attacked by that same husband in March of 1876 and died two days later. According to the hotel ledger, the hotel paid the funeral cost of $32. According to legend, Sallie White still roams the halls of the hotel's Victorian wing. One man had an encounter with a rude maid. He described the maid who ignored him, to the front desk. The uniform he described the maid wearing was from the late 1800's, which was when Sallie worked at the hotel. She is described as wearing an old long gray skirt and a bandanna around her forehead. She is usually carrying towels, which she never delivers.
One reported encounter sent chills down the back of my neck just reading about it. The report states “a guest of the hotel that stayed near rooms 2005 thru 2008 reported to staff that she had heard the sounds of a woman moaning in agony near the stairway area. The moaning went on for almost 30 minutes, then ceased. The area that this was heard in was the exact spot were Sallie White; the former hotel maid was murdered by her husband in 1876.”
Another popular story is about an American President. President Teddy Roosevelt recruited cowboys for the Rough Riders at the Menger Bar on more than one occasion. Over the years people have reported seen him sipping on a drink at the bar. Teddy Roosevelt is the most famous entity seeing at the Menger Hotel.
Another apparition that is often reported is that of Captain Richard King, one time owner one of the largest ranches in the world – The King Ranch. A frequent visitor to the Menger Hotel during his lifetime, he had a personal suite within the hotel. When he learned of his impending death from his personal physicians, Captain King spent the last months of his life, wrote his will disposing of his great wealth, and expressing farewell to his friends in his suite at the Menger. On April 15, 1885, King’s funeral was held in the Menger’s parlor. Today, the room in which he stayed is called the “King Ranch Room.” He is often seen entering his old room, going right through the wall where the door was once located before it was remodeled.
According to staff a ghostly spirit of a woman is often spotted sitting in the original lobby of the historic hotel. Wearing an old fashioned blue dress, small wire-framed glasses, and a tasseled beret in her hair, she sits quietly knitting. On one occasion a staff member stopped to ask her, "Are you comfortable...may I get you something?", only to be answered with an unfriendly “No” before the woman disappeared. Other entities have been known to “help” in the kitchen area, as various utensils have floated through the air seemingly all by themselves. Utensils are often seen transporting themselves from one area to another without help of human hands.
There are very many ghostly entities that guests claim to have seen over the past 150 years and regularly visited by 32 diverse ghostly entities, which can be seen in all areas of the hotel. The ghosts range from Sallie White, of the housekeeping staff, to Teddy Roosevelt himself. There's a ghost for nearly each era, including a Spaniard, a Confederate Officer, and a man in buckskin and one in a top hat.
The Menger Hotel is registered as a National Historic Hotel and perhaps one of the best for a supernatural encounter. Although much of the architecture, history, appointments, and artifacts found at the Menger Hotel certainly qualify as museum-quality, it remains a public hotel - as it has been since 23 years after the fall of the Alamo. The Menger Hotel continues to operate today and is the oldest continually operated hotel west of the Mississippi. I’ve never been inside the Menger Hotel, I am too frightened by all the reports and encounters I read about during my research, but I do recommend visiting The Menger Hotel to those people which have a interest in the mysterious and supernatural encounters.