The nineteenth century inn was built in 1894 by a man who was forced to jump ship in the town and ended up prospering and owning a wagon empire. Staff and guests nowadays have reported seeing the apparition of an distinguished gentleman, while the owner claims to have heard disembodied footsteps.
(Submitted by Callum Swift)
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 504 Bluff Street
Dubuque, Iowa
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 42.4979798, -90.66783889999999
- County:
- Dubuque County, Iowa
- Nearest Towns:
- Dubuque, IA (0.2 mi.)
East Dubuque, IL (1.3 mi.)
Sandy Hook, WI (4.3 mi.)
Sageville, IA (4.3 mi.)
Asbury, IA (4.4 mi.)
Kieler, WI (6.7 mi.)
Menominee, IL (6.9 mi.)
Durango, IA (7.0 mi.)
Centralia, IA (8.8 mi.)
Sherrill, IA (9.4 mi.)
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
We just stayed there this past weekend. We were in Suite 36 and our friends were in suite 33, both on the 3rd floor. The four of us were in our room after dinner because it had a sitting area. After coming from the bathroom my friend, Dean, asked if someone left the hot water running in the sink. No one thought they did, but then again we’re getting older.
When our friends returned to their room the hot water in their bathroom sink was running. That creeped them out a bit. The next day they were getting ready and heard a knocking on the door and when they went to see if it was us no one was there.
The next day we questioned the owner and he admitted that other quests shared the same stories about noises and unexplained things in our friends room.
Dean took several pictures of a portrait in the third floor hallway, of the original owner, A.A. Cooper. There was a strange white dot that appeared on the portrait all in different locations on the mans suit. The next morning when the owner was telling us stories about why the place might be haunted my friend took a picture of a portrait of A.A. Cooper’s daughter and there was that same dot again, wasn’t using a flash when taking the picture.
My husband and I are celebrating our honeymoon this weekend and stayed in room 33 (marked on their website as room 36) the one with the round sitting room. When we entered the room everything felt fine until I approached the arched entryway to the sitting room. I immediately got hit with a very unpleasant and unwelcoming energy. The temperature was significantly colder in that room as well. I did not enter the sitting room at that point. I am very sensitive to the paranormal and felt an angry inhospitable female entity. We got settled and went to dinner. We turned off all lights and my husband spoke to the entity letting her know we mean no harm or intrusion and wanted to have a nice time in her room. We came back from an amazing Italian dinner to find the only light on in the suite was in the sitting room. It was as if the spirit was saying we were welcome. The energy was much lighter and the room was not as cold as before.
I also picked up on the feeling of being watched in the bathroom. Felt more of an older male presence.
We took some photos and I had one near the bathroom that was blurred like some sort of cream colored brocade silk fabric was whooshing through in front of the camera. All the other photos had nothing in them. During the night, we had issues keeping the heaters on. They kept shutting off every five minutes. Then around 2:45AM I was awoken with a gentle yet firm hold on my arm like someone was comforting me. I also felt a gentle tug on the bedding by my legs. No one was visibly there. Also smelled a sweet vanilla lavender perfume and then immediately it was gone.
I will say, I had the best sleep here and did not feel threatened in any way. I haven’t slept that well in a long time and it is an unusual thing for me to sleep well in an unknown place especially one with paranormal activity.
These spirits are very quiet and don’t talk much. I am able to speak to the dead quite often and it is like sitting in a noisy cafeteria when everyone is trying to speak to you at once. I was very happy and relieved that these spirits are polite and quiet and understood my abilities and respected my space.
Glad to hear we were in a room that someone else reported activity.
We didn’t have anything with the water running though.
I posted the photo of the fabric anomaly.
My daughter and her boyfriend stayed last night and they reported loud banging and shuffling feet outside their rooms. When they both came out of their repective rooms and met in the hallway there was no one else out there. My daughter also told me she heard someone shuffling around in her bathroom and she was in the room alone.
We stayed there this pass Saturday and took several pictures. several picture were taken by Charlotte and Regenia, they all had orbs in them. There’s a mirror in the hall way by those picture, while taking a picture I didn’t realize I took a picture of my self(reflection of my self in the mirror) there is clearly a man (dark shadows) standing right behind me. My husband took a picture of the front of the hotel and you can clearly see a women in the window. We stood in room 36 and in the morning the water was slightly on in the jacuzzi
I would love to see that photo
June 15, 2019 We stayed there this pass Saturday and took several pictures. several picture were taken by Charlotte and Regenia, they all had orbs in them. There’s a mirror in the hall way by those picture, while taking a picture I didn’t realize I took a picture of my self(reflection of my self in the mirror) there is clearly a man (dark shadows) standing right behind me. My husband took a picture of the front of the hotel and you can clearly see a women in the window. We stood in room 36 and in the morning the water was slightly on in the jacuzzi
I worked there in the mid-nineties. It was my first job as a teenager. This place is definitely haunted. Noises, faucets turning on by themselves. Room 36 (the turret room on the 3rd floor is the most haunted of all.
We stayed in room 36 July 30th & were supposed to also stay the 31st. We ended up seeking alternative lodging. My husband booked our stay & didn’t Google. He knows I like inns. As soon as we arrived it was awkward. The owner greeted us, told us to go to our room, the door was open & the key was there. I immediately felt “off” and the hairs on my arm stood on end. By the 2nd floor I had a ringing in my ears. I told my husband the place was haunted & he told me I was over reacting. Neither of us knew of the claims. By the time we got to the 3rd floor we both said “we’re just sleeping here, we’ll be gone all day”, the inn is pretty run down. We went to dinner & the waitress asked us where we were staying & said “good luck, I thought that place was shut down”. We stopped for a drink down the street & I decided to Google, that’s when I saw the inn had reported activity. We went to bed around 11pm. I woke up around midnight to a large banging noise outside our door. There wasn’t anything out there. From that point on, activity picked up. I kept waking up, gasping for air. I rolled over hoping to hide my neck. My legs were tucked in by something. The quilt was pushed tight around them. I rolled over and started gasping again. By 3am my husband was packing our things back up to leave. He booked us a room in platteville Wisconsin since it wasn’t too far away. We did stay til 6am, we went out for an early breakfast and left. This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend away since our 3 kids have us exhausted…the ghost apparently felt the need to disrupt my sleep just as much as my children. Rude ghost.