Gratz Park Inn

This historic inn in downtown Lexington occupies a beautifully restored building in the elegant Gratz Park neighborhood. The hotel combines modern amenities with 19th-century charm - and multiple resident ghosts.

The building that houses the Gratz Park Inn — now known as The Sire Hotel — sits at the corner of Second and Upper Streets in Lexington's historic Gratz Park district. The structure was originally commissioned in 1916 by three physicians and opened in July 1920 as the Lexington Clinic, one of the city's first multi-doctor medical practices. The clinic eventually grew to include nine physicians, with additional rooms added to accommodate the expanding practice. When the clinic relocated in the 1950s, the building was repurposed as an engineering firm before being converted into a luxury hotel in 1988. Remnants of its medical past remain visible today, including the scuppers in the basement morgue — a physical reminder that patients once died within these walls.

It is those former patients who are believed to account for the inn's most persistent spirits. Staff and investigators have identified at least three distinct ghosts tied to the building's years as a medical facility. The first is known as John, an entity described as displaying a sense of humor in his haunting. John is associated with the mischievous manipulation of electronics, particularly televisions, which guests report switching on and off by themselves. A sad-looking male apparition has also been seen on the bottom level of the building, near the old basement morgue area, and may be a separate entity or another manifestation of John's presence.

The second spirit is Little Annie, a quiet apparition of a young girl who is seen playing with her doll in the third-floor hallway. Some guests have also spotted her running and playing jacks in the corridors. One guest provided a particularly detailed account to the front desk, which was recorded in the staff's paranormal ledger: around 9 AM, the guest heard a child's footsteps running in the hallway, then heard them slow to a walk and approach their bed. When the guest removed their sleep mask, the footsteps were heard "quickly running out — just like a child's." The encounter matched the pattern attributed to Annie.

The third and most frequently reported ghost is the Lady in White, a woman in Victorian-era clothing — a white dress and matching hat — who glides through the second-floor hallways. She is described as constantly looking for someone or something, taking no notice of the living guests she passes. Her identity remains unknown, though she is believed to be a former patient from the clinic era.

Beyond these three named spirits, guests have reported hearing the sounds of drunken partygoers celebrating from another era — raucous laughter, clinking glasses, and muffled conversation from empty rooms. The activity occurs at all hours of the day and night, and staff maintain an active log of guest paranormal reports. The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation has included the inn in its Gratz Park Ghost Tails and Tours, and the MK Paranormal investigation group conducts ghost walks through the surrounding Gratz Park district, where at least seven documented spirit locations exist within a three-block radius.

The hotel continues to operate and welcomes guests interested in its haunted reputation. Whether you encounter John, Annie, or the Lady in White, the staff will note your experience in their ledger alongside decades of similar accounts from those who have spent a night in Lexington's most haunted hotel.