Excelsior House Hotel

The oldest continuously operating hotel in East Texas, this property traces its origins to 1850 when steamboat captain William Perry built the Irving House. Prominent guests have included Oscar Wilde, Ulysses S. Grant, and Steven Spielberg, whose 1982 film Poltergeist was allegedly inspired by his terrifying stay here. The Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club has operated the hotel since the 1950s.

The Excelsior House Hotel, standing proudly in Jefferson, Texas since the 1850s, is the oldest continuously operating hotel in East Texas. Through its storied halls have passed steamboat captains, Oscar Wilde, President Ulysses S. Grant, President Rutherford B. Hayes, Lady Bird Johnson—and, most infamously, film director Steven Spielberg.

The Jay Gould Room (Room 215) carries the hotel's darkest legend. Jay Gould was a notorious robber baron who hoped to run his railroad through Jefferson. When locals rejected his proposal, he allegedly charged into the road and issued a curse: "Grass will grow in your streets and bats will roost in your belfries." The town did decline—though whether from the curse or from shifting trade routes remains debated.

The most infamous story involves Steven Spielberg. In 1974, while location scouting for "The Sugarland Express," the director stopped at the Excelsior House. According to legend, upon entering the Jay Gould Room, Spielberg tossed his briefcase into a rocking chair—and the briefcase flew back into his face, as if thrown by an unseen force.

He eventually drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened by a little boy asking if he was ready for breakfast. After seeing the boy, Spielberg packed his bags, awakened his entire crew in the middle of the night, and fled 20 miles to the nearest Holiday Inn. He reportedly told Dallas Morning News columnist John Anders: "I swear my room was haunted. I made everyone wake up, pack up, and get back in the cars at about two o'clock in the morning." Some claim this encounter inspired "Poltergeist."

The hotel refuses to officially acknowledge its ghosts, though at least three rooms are said to be haunted. In the Jay Gould Room, the rocking chair moves on its own and doors slam without cause. A headless man has been spotted wandering the second-floor hallway, and a woman in black mourning attire is often seen carrying a baby through the hotel.