The historic inn has been visited by such celebrities as novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and presidents Calvin Coolidge and Franklin Roosevelt. In the 1940s it was used as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers. It is now rumored to be the home of many haunts. Staff members report hearing a man’s gravelly voice call their names and seeing a shadowy shape. The apparition of a woman who was murdered in the 1930s in Room 217 has been seen by guests, and a woman’s scream has been recorded there by ghost hunters. An apparition believed to be Dr. Lucius Morse has been seen in the dining room. A photo taken of an ice sculpture at an event showed a ghostly figure of a man standing behind it.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 2771 Memorial Hwy
Lake Lure, NC
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 35.430718, -82.23034000000001
- County:
- Rutherford County, North Carolina
- Nearest Towns:
- Chimney Rock, NC (1.1 mi.)
Lake Lure, NC (1.4 mi.)
Edneyville, NC (6.7 mi.)
Gerton, NC (7.4 mi.)
Fruitland, NC (9.5 mi.)
Dana, NC (10.8 mi.)
Fairview, NC (11.0 mi.)
Columbus, NC (12.4 mi.)
Hoopers Creek, NC (13.3 mi.)
Black Mountain, NC (13.9 mi.)
Contact Information
- Web:
- http://lakelure.com/
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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.
I helped start the spa in the basement at Lake Lure Inn, in 2005, as assistant to the hardworking and dedicated spa director. She told me that I might likely encounter Lucius Morse at some point, which apparently I did.
I don’t know if this is interesting or not, as there have been so very many more exciting routine experiences of spirit presences in that hotel, and I am completely willing to accept that it might have been my imagination or some common occurrence somehow… but one night after dark, completely alone in the spa after-hours in a massage room (directly under the dining hall, I believe, where Lucius is said to appear most often?), I noticed the water was running full blast in the sink beside me.
Although fatigued from long days of work, I felt fairly certain I had not left it on, and that I probably never turned it on in the first place. I turned it off, and I think it came on again once or twice and I again turned it off. At first I thought something must be wrong with the sink because everything had just been newly installed, and we were working the kinks out of all of the equipment etc. I couldn’t figure out how a faucet could turn itself on.
That’s when I knew something was up. I felt the presence that she had described, of someone strongly wanting to know why I was there? Although that was scary to me, it felt very insistent yet protective and kind. The air felt strangely cold yet humidly warm, heavy and suddenly damp, like it was vibrating somewhat and the air had been sucked out of the room? And I felt like I was blocked from leaving through the door. It seemed like sound was blocked, absorbed or altered somehow, and like a momentous moment was occurring which I don’t exactly know how to explain. I didn’t see anything visual, and I asked him not to show himself to me because it would scare the daylights out of me lol!
So assuming (and hoping!) it must simply be Lucius, I followed my director’s advice and kind of told him that I was there to help and heal people, in line with his original hope for the building, that I was a good kind person and would never act disrespectfully or do any harm to people, the building or the land there, and I respected and appreciated all that he had done and was indeed doing there. It was an interesting mental conversation, but I’m not given to confusing such things with reality, and it did not seem like it was my imagination lol. (I was shaky, having chills in my spine and hair standing up a bit on my arms and neck; I had never experienced that but only heard of it, and was quite unnerved by the experience lol.)
After awhile he seemed satisfied, and I felt like he was trying to insistently make it known to me that he would keep an eye on me in case I ever used or allowed anyone else to use the space for any harmful/coarse/impure/dishonorable intents and purposes, which seemed extremely (obsessively) important to him. (It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but I came to understand it more later when I learned about other things that had been quietly going on nearby, unrelated to the inn, both historically and that time on that land!)
I asked him please don’t turn the water on again like that because it was freaking me out lol! Then the unusual presence was gone, and everything very suddenly returned to feeling normal. (Many years later, after hearing ghost stories from someone who worked at Grove Park Inn, I learned that moving water is one main way ghosts gain energy so that they can manifest in our world? Which is why they often turn on faucets and manifest strongly where there are underground springs?)
I didn’t entirely believe in ghosts when I went to work there. Whether my encounter was my imagination, whether I was just seriously fatigued or it was some normal occurrence from being down in an underground basement like that, I definitely believed in the reality of ghosts by the time I left there!
It’s a wonderful, lovable, relaxing and worthy place to visit, with a fantastically interesting, inspiring and admirable history in a friendly, fun and lushly beautiful part of the country. I highly recommend spending time there. And from all the stories I’ve heard from people who have worked and stayed at Lake Lure over the years, Lucius and many others are undeniably alive and well there!
We stayed at the Inn last week (July 2015) in room 217 and were told by staff it was haunted. After a discussion in the room about the hauntings, our TV went on the blink suddenly and stayed that way for quite a few minutes. A group of amateur ghost hunters were also staying at the hotel the same night and we got together to conduct our own ghost hunt! They were able to get several photos with a digital camera showing a clear apparition of a lady in a long gown in the downstairs lobby and several anomalies in the old pictures on the 2nd floor. The shapes and forms of persons not showing visibly on the paintings could be picked up on the camera. I also conducted an EVP session in my own room, 202 and asked specifically “did you see all of us in the hallway?” and was able to get a faint response. It was a lot of fun to explore and find these evidences of a haunting. I would say for sure, their are spirits at the Inn!!
I have heard of this place but I never went there
I part of a paranormal team I wonder if they would let my team come in and investigate?
My little brother died in vacation there. We seen him walk in the room we followed. Then he dat on the bed. He played with his toys we locked the door for the night. We turn on the tv[ him behind us] we turned cuz we heard him scream and he was gone.. R.I.P. Grayson March 2nd
My husband & I stayed at Lake Lure Inn for our anniversary in April, I think it was 2005 or 2006, before the spa was there. We stayed in the room that is right next to 217, Nothing happened at all in the room, but every time we would walk down those main stairs that leads into the lobby, near the 3rd step from the bottom I fell down the few steps, thought nothing of it, Well it happened again, every time ,I would get to the 3rd step from the bottom, I held on to the bannister as not to fall & felt like something pushed me I fell anyway even holding on to the railing, I remember the staff was decorating an Easter Egg tree in the lobby, I fell so hard just from the 3rd step, they all turned to look at me, it was embarrassing to say the least, I was about 36 years old at the time & in good shape, ,good balance, no reason for me to fall down a couple of steps numorous times, Yes it is Haunted, I felt the push, my husband now believes in ghosts, & I started getting interested in the Paranormal, I will never forget this experience
When was this?
I stayed in room 217 and my K2 meter was spiking to the red, off and on, through out the night.Every time I thought I was feeling a cold spot, I would look at the K2 meter and it would be maxing out to the red.I had never seen my K2 meter do anything until I went to this hotel.I hobby with this kind of thing and will definitely go back.The staff was very nice and some interesting stories, as well.
I worked at the Inn in 2001-2003. On my third day I went to the restroom, which is still on the ground floor but is rearranged) and as I went to turn the light out I saw something in the corner of my eye. I turned and looked full on and there was a man with a gray coat and a cane. I was very rattled and didn’t want to make a bad impression. I went all day weirded out and finally my superior asked what was wrong. I told her and she said, “Oh, that’s just Mr. Powers. You’ll see him, now and again.” she said it like it was nothing. I never got a bad feeling except in the arcade building. There was some bad energy there.
I stayed at the inn with my mother in January 2015. during the colder months it tends to be pretty quiet, well it turned out that night we were the only guests checked in. We had a nice evening, sat at the bar and chatted with the bartender. It was a normal night. We went back to our room, watched some tv them went to bed. In the middle of the night I had a dream that I was lying on the bed in that same room and there was a chair hanging upside down. The chair catapulted toward me, which startled me awake. I opened my eyes to a woman with dark hair and a long white gown standing over me. I could not make out her face. I was so tired that I immediately fell back asleep. Actually, for the longest time I thought that entire experience was a dream. Until I started hearing from people about the woman in white. I now believe she entered my dream to wake me up so she could make her presence known. It’s still hard to wrap my mind around but I know it was real.
When was this?
My Husband and I stayed at the Inn Oct 23,2020 for my birthday. I knew nothing of the Inn being haunted I had always just been enchanted by the hotel on my visits to Lake Lure beach. I felt a very strange presence the minute I entered our room alone for the first time. So much that I immediately went back and stood with the door opened waiting for my husband to bring our things from the car. I thought I felt that way because the building was old. I mentioned to my husband how excited I was to stay at such and old hotel. I also asked did he think it was haunted. That night when I went to sleep I dreamed of a woman in a white lace dress who was in great distress and needed my help. I woke up startled at 2:00 a.m. on the dot. I got some water, told myself it was just a dream. I had been deeply disturbed by the dream. I went back to sleep and again I dream of a woman in a white lace dress who needs help and no one will help me, help her. I see a man in the lobby of the hotel in my dream and I tell him the woman needs help, to which he replied to let her lay and die. I woke up even more startled from this dream. It was 4:00 a.m. at this time. I got up,turned on the lights, woke my husband and told him. So then I researched the hotel online and found the stories of it being haunted. I believe the woman in the white dress was trying to make contact with me. I read all the stories and took myself on a self guided tour to see the sites in the stories. I visited 217 the door was opened to 218 and I was indeed, in gilded with the undeniable smell of roses outside the door to room 218. I got a feeling like I couldn’t breathe as soon as I stepped on to the second floor.
Did the spirit woman look like this girl? I captured her image in water in room 218 February 2014.
I am a paranormal author and wrote Speaking to the Dead with Radios. I investigated the inn in 2014 and I stayed in room 218. I asked the spirit of the bride that was supposedly murdered in room 217 to appear in my water scrying dish, and I was able to get an image of a 1930s era looking woman, and in another frame I got an image of a woman’s finger with a gold ring. In this same room I also got an image and audio from the late Patrick Swayze who stayed at the hotel during the filming of the hit movie Dirty Dancing. All my audio and image evidence is here on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/lakelureinnspahaunted