Windsor Hotel

A grand Victorian hotel that opened in 1892 with a three-story atrium and 100 rooms. FDR gave a speech here in 1928, just before he became New York's governor.

The Windsor Hotel in Americus was built in 1892 as a Queen Anne masterpiece featuring towers, balconies, elevators, and a three-story atrium lobby. Designed by Atlanta architect Gottfried Leonard Norman, it was the height of luxury - the only hotel in Georgia offering guests individualized silverware. Notable guests included Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and infamous bank robber John Dillinger.

The hotel's 130-year history is dotted with suicides, murders, and guests who died unexpectedly in the night. The most haunted tale involves Emily, a housekeeper in the early 1900s who had an affair with a local politician. One day, as the couple argued in the third-floor hallway, Emily's young daughter Emma Mae stood nearby holding her mother's hand. In a fit of rage, the politician pushed Emily into an empty elevator shaft. Mother and daughter, hand in hand, fell three stories to their deaths.

Since then, guests report a little girl giggling and running around the third floor. A woman in black drifts through hallways. Room 200 is believed to be haunted by the Fitzpatrick family who originally owned the building - including the spirits of two daughters who died in that room, one from illness and one from a fall down the back stairs.

Floyd, a beloved doorman who worked at the Windsor for 44 years, also never left. Despite the hotel not having a bellhop in decades, guests still see a man resembling Floyd at the front entrance, ready to assist with luggage. Floyd's Pub is named in his honor.

On at least one occasion, a new employee resigned in terror after encountering Emma Mae's ghost. The hotel offers 45-minute guided tours that explore both its historic grandeur and supernatural secrets.