Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center

Originally the Heidelberg Hotel, this was a favorite haunt of Louisiana's most colorful politician, Huey P. Long. An underground tunnel was dug specifically for "The Kingfish" to escape his many enemies.

In 1927, architect Edward Nield casually sketched a luxury hotel on a napkin, and from that sketch rose the Heidelberg Hotel in downtown Baton Rouge — 216 rooms with a dining room, roof garden, and coffee shop that quickly became the social hub of Louisiana politics. By 1929, the hotel's most consequential guest had taken up residence: Huey P. Long, the firebrand governor who would reshape the state, occupied a permanent fifth-floor suite. Long frequented the Heidelberg so often that in 1931 he had a subterranean tunnel constructed connecting the hotel to the King Hotel across the street, allowing him to evade political enemies and visit his mistress. The tunnel, known as 'Peacock Alley' for its colorful tiled floor, still exists today. During a governance crisis in 1931, when Long refused to relinquish the governorship after winning a U.S. Senate seat, the Heidelberg itself briefly served as the Louisiana State Capitol while Lieutenant Governor Paul Cyr contested his authority.

Long's story ended violently on September 8, 1935, when he was shot in a corridor of the Louisiana State Capitol building, just four blocks from his beloved hotel. The assassin was identified as Dr. Carl Weiss, the son-in-law of a political opponent, though controversy persists over whether Weiss or Long's own bodyguards fired the fatal shot. Long died two days later at age forty-two. His final words, according to those present, were 'I wonder why he shot me.'

But according to the staff of what is now the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, Long never left. His ghost is most frequently encountered on the tenth floor — the top level of the 1957 addition that expanded the original building. Guests and housekeepers have reported seeing a well-dressed man in 1930s attire walking the tenth-floor hallways while puffing a cigar. He acknowledges no one, and when directly addressed, he vanishes. The most consistent phenomenon is the smell of cigar smoke wafting through freshly cleaned rooms — a remarkable occurrence in a hotel that has been entirely smoke-free since its 2006 renovation. Housekeeping staff have reported the scent repeatedly, always on the upper floors, always in rooms that were just serviced and confirmed empty.

Staff also describe sensing Long's commanding presence in certain areas of the hotel — an authoritative energy that makes people stand up straighter, as though the 'Kingfish' is still holding court. The hotel sat abandoned from 1985 until its rebirth as the Hilton in 2006 after a seventy-million-dollar renovation, and during the pre-construction inspection, workers discovered something inexplicable: the building's pool, which had been covered in mold and filth from decades of neglect, appeared sparkling clean the very next day, as though freshly maintained. No one had access to the area, and no explanation was ever found.

The Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center was named one of the twenty-five most haunted hotels in America by Historic Hotels of America. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Guests today can dine in the restored Peacock Alley tunnel and walk the same hallways where one of Louisiana's most powerful and controversial figures once plotted, schemed, and — if the stories are true — still roams.