Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa

This massive historic hotel sits at the head of Bathhouse Row in downtown Hot Springs. The current building dates to 1924 and has hosted Al Capone, Babe Ruth, and multiple presidents.

The Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa stands at the north end of Bathhouse Row in Hot Springs, Arkansas, a grand institution whose history spans three buildings and one hundred fifty years. The first Arlington opened in 1875, financed by railroad executive Samuel W. Fordyce and his partner Samuel Stitt. That original three-story wooden structure held 120 guest rooms, making it the largest hotel in the state. It was razed in 1892 to make way for a grander vision — a 300-room Spanish Renaissance hotel in red brick with corner towers, which opened in 1893. On April 5, 1923, an employee noticed smoke from an electrical panel, and despite the brick building's presumed fireproofing, the fire spread through the sub-flooring and leveled the structure. One fireman was killed and the damage reached $1.6 million — approximately $28 million today. William Pinkerton, founder of the famous security firm, lost his belongings in the blaze but reportedly sat unconcerned on the veranda as the building burned around him.

Ground was broken for the current hotel on October 25, 1923, and it opened on November 28, 1924. Architect George R. Mann, who also designed the Arkansas State Capitol, created the twin-towered Mediterranean-style building that rises eleven stories above Central Avenue. The Arlington's guest register reads like an American history book: Babe Ruth stayed during Boston Red Sox spring training visits, Joe T. Robinson announced his Democratic vice-presidential nomination from the hotel's front steps in 1928, and presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all occupied its rooms. Most notoriously, Al Capone regularly booked the entire fourth floor during his frequent visits to Hot Springs, with Room 443 serving as his personal suite.

At least six distinct apparitions have been reported across the hotel's eleven floors. The ghost of a young girl in a pink dress appears in the lobby, described by one young guest as resembling Shirley Temple, materializing momentarily before dissolving into thin air. A woman in a white wedding gown has been observed gazing from the windows of one of the two towers, staring into the street at night as though waiting for someone who never arrives. On the fourth floor, the ghost of a bellman in full uniform walks through closed doors near the elevators before disappearing — an entity multiple sources identify as Henry Tweedle, a former bellboy. A man in a black suit has been seen in the hotel laundry, where he silently waves to startled workers before vanishing. On the seventh floor, a female spirit known to staff as "Babs" or Diana — described as an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old in a beaded black flapper dress — has been encountered near Room 732, behaving in a playful, childlike manner. A soldier-like figure has been reported bathing in the men's bathhouse, connected to the building's long history of serving military personnel and veterans who came for the thermal spring treatments.

Room 443, the Capone Suite, produces the hotel's most distinctive phenomenon. Despite the Arlington's strict no-smoking policy, guests in this room repeatedly detect the strong scent of cigar smoke that appears and vanishes without explanation. The connecting door's knob has been heard and seen turning from the inside — despite there being no knob on the other side of the door. Room 824 has been described by multiple guests as harboring an oppressive presence: bathroom sinks activate on their own, items fall from shelves, lights toggle between three and four in the morning, and guests have reported covers being pulled off the bed and a sensation of paralysis. A 2017 employee identified as Mr. Jones described lights in the Magnolia Room and Venetian Dining Room dimming and then brightening to unnatural intensity; maintenance workers found no wiring problems. On the seventh floor near Room 723, footprints have been photographed appearing in the carpet, left behind by the apparition of a woman in a white gown walking the hallway.

Throughout the hotel, wine glasses jump from shelves untouched, faucets activate and deactivate on their own, elevator doors open at the fourth floor without being summoned, chandeliers sway in still air, and ghostly laughter echoes through empty corridors. Hotel management previously prohibited staff from discussing the hauntings with guests, though that policy was reportedly relaxed in recent years. As of 2023, the Arlington entered a $30 million renovation under new owners Sky Capital of San Antonio, Texas, with work continuing through 2025 — whether the spirits will survive the renovation remains to be seen.