Haunted Places in Tucson

311 E Congress St

Located a stone's throw from the Tucson railroad station, the Hotel Congress was built in 1919 in response to the increase in commerce and visitors. The Tap Room opened in the 1930s and was renamed Tiger's Tap Room after longtime bartender Thomas "Tiger" Zeigler, who worked there starting in 1959.

The Hotel has several well-documented haunted rooms. Room 242 is known as the "woman in the white dress" room. Guests have reported being awakened by a heaviness in the air and seeing a woman sitting on their bed. She appears ghostly, dressed in white, and sometimes lies down beside them. She is said to have taken her own life, and a bullet hole is still present if you know where to look.

318 E Congress St

Built by the same architectural firm as the nearby Hotel Congress, the Rialto opened in 1920 and featured vaudeville acts, singing, comedy, and the occasional silent movie. In the 1930s the "talkies" flipped the movie industry, and the Rialto adapted. But business dwindled as downtown Tucson changed and people moved toward the suburbs.

In the mid-1940s, the piano player in the orchestra pit was killed when his bench collapsed and the piano fell on him. His spirit is said to haunt the theater. Footsteps heard upstairs at night, mutterings and murmurings, and a shadowy presence seen moving across the stage area have all been documented through paranormal investigations.

88 E Broadway

The elegant Santa Rita Hotel was built in 1903 in the Mission Revival style and opened in February 1904 to great celebration. It boasted indoor plumbing, a dance floor, cafe, a roof garden, and a swimming pool. At one time the hotel was owned by a business group that included singer Linda Ronstadt's grandfather. The Santa Rita was built on the site of the former Camp Tucson, used post-Civil War to keep the peace in the settlement. The area has a long military history dating back to the 1700s. The last of the hotel was demolished in 2009.

Seven people died at the Santa Rita Hotel. In 1939, a young boy was found dead at the bottom of the pool after his parents retired to the hotel bar. When hotel staff awakened his still-intoxicated parents the next morning, they made their way to the rooftop garden and jumped to their deaths, hitting the concrete alongside the pool.

192 S Stone Ave

St. Augustine Cathedral is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. The first chapel was built by Father Donato and his parishioners in the 1860s when Tucson was little more than a village. It was part of the Spanish fort that occupied the grounds, and the soldiers frequented the one-room sanctuary. The church was expanded, rebuilt, and restored several times over the decades. The crown jewel is the 17-foot, 2,000-pound Pamplona Crucifix, over 600 years old and carved in Spain.

A persistent sighting through the decades is that of a woman dressed in black, walking to and fro in front of the church. She has appeared at all hours, day and night, and is described as a woman in mourning. Several people have reported approaching her only to watch her turn her head around, and around, and around. No one has arrived at a satisfactory explanation for her presence at the cathedral steps.

17 W Congress St

The Fox Theatre opened on April 11, 1930 with great fanfare. Congress Street was closed and waxed so people could dance in the street to the music of four live bands. A grand party atmosphere prevailed and streetcars gave free rides that night. The film Chasing Rainbows and a Mickey Mouse cartoon were featured. The Fox became the "crown jewel" of downtown for the next four decades, staging live acts and showing movies. Eventually the theater fell into disrepair as Tucson expanded. The Fox closed in the 1970s, but in the 1990s the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation formed to restore it to its former stature.

The most frequently seen apparition is a shabbily dressed man who appears outside the Fox and asks passersby for money to feed his family before disappearing into thin air.

100 N Stone Ave

Built in 1929, the Pioneer International Hotel was one of downtown Tucson's busiest and most iconic venues. Its twelve stories towered over the other buildings, and the Pioneer was a favorite for office parties, family gatherings, and holiday festivities.

Even after rebuilding and refurbishing, the horror of that night had tarred the Pioneer's reputation. It was eventually converted into an office building. The hauntings are well-documented: the sound of running footsteps on the upper floors, murmurings and shrieks in empty rooms, the smell of smoke (especially on the upper floors and in the stairwells), and the rare apparition of a person running wildly through an upper hallway.

125 E Pennington St

Francisco Studios sits near the train depot and the old Congress Hotel, placing it right in the middle of Tucson's frontier action from the late 1800s. The studio rooms are rented by bands for practice and recording, often late into the night and early morning hours. While there are rumors the building site once housed a morgue, what is certain is the building's proximity to some of downtown Tucson's most historically active ground.

Musicians practicing inside the studios have reported consistent paranormal activity. One man watched his water bottle fly off a shelf before a door slammed shut on its own. As he hurried to leave, a stereo set crashed to the floor. Running down the stairs, he felt something pushing him toward the bottom.

400 N Toole Ave

The Southern Pacific Railway Station was built in 1907, replacing a smaller depot. The railroad was the lifeline that allowed Tucson to connect with the rest of the country. The depot's basement was used as a holding cell for prisoners awaiting transport to another jurisdiction.

The station and the adjacent Transportation Museum are a swirl of paranormal phenomena: wispy apparitions, doors slamming, footsteps on empty tile, and muted voices. One employee reported frequently smelling strong, strange perfume in the women's bathroom. Merchandise has been rearranged on shelves overnight. Lives were lost laying the tracks and running the trains, and the old depot has a way of holding onto the people who passed through it.