Nashville Haunted Hotels: Where to Stay for a Scare

If you want a haunted hotel in Nashville, book the Union Station Hotel and ask about Room 711. It's the city's most famous haunted room. The Hermitage Hotel, a 1910 landmark a few blocks away, comes with ghost stories of its own.

Nashville is known for honky-tonks and hit songs, but the city is older and stranger than Broadway lets on. Here are the haunted hotels in Nashville worth a night, plus one classic Tennessee haunted hotel within a couple of hours' drive.

Union Station Hotel: Nashville's most haunted hotel

Union Station opened on October 9, 1900, as the city's grand train station on the L&N Railroad. Its Romanesque Revival stone tower still stands over Broadway, and inside, the lobby has a soaring, barrel-vaulted stained glass ceiling about 65 feet up.

Passenger trains stopped running through the station in the late 1970s, and the building sat empty until it reopened as a hotel in 1986. Today it's part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, and readers of the USA Today 10Best awards have voted it one of the best haunted hotels in America.

The legend of Abigail and Room 711

The story goes like this. During World War II, a young woman named Abigail came to the station to say goodbye to her sweetheart, a soldier headed overseas. He never came home. Grief-stricken, she returned to the station, and she died on the tracks. Versions of the story differ on exactly how.

Her spirit is said to favor Room 711, a top-floor room some say overlooks the tracks. Guests have reported flickering lights, sudden cold, strange figures in mirrors and the sound of furniture being dragged overhead. Some people also tell of a uniformed soldier seen near the tracks, perhaps the man she was waiting for. The hotel describes Abigail as a gentle, unaggressive presence.

The Hermitage Hotel

The Hermitage opened on September 17, 1910, and it's a Beaux-Arts beauty designed by architect J. Edwin Carpenter. Presidents, movie stars and the pool hustler Minnesota Fats have all spent time here. In 2020 it was designated a National Historic Landmark for its role in Tennessee's 1920 vote to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote.

The ghost stories are a little quieter than Union Station's. Some guests say they've been woken in the early morning by the sound of a baby crying in one particular room. The legend tied to it is a tragic one, but there's no record of any such accident in newspapers from the era. A Lady in White also gets the blame for doors opening on their own and elevators acting up.

Even if you don't book a room, the grand lobby is worth a look just to see the building.

Worth the drive: the Read House, Chattanooga

If you're searching for haunted hotels in Tennessee more broadly, the Read House is the one people talk about most. It's about two hours southeast of Nashville in downtown Chattanooga.

The Read House name dates to 1872. During the Civil War, an earlier hotel on the site served as a military headquarters and a hospital. The current 10-story building opened in 1926 and was restored to its 1920s glamour in 2018.

The ghost story here centers on Room 311 and a woman named Annalisa Netherly, who local lore says died in the room in the 1920s. Accounts differ on how. Guests have reported running water, flickering lights, shadowy figures and the feeling of not being alone. The hotel lets curious guests book the room, if they dare.

What to expect from a night in a haunted hotel

Let's set expectations. Most people who stay in a famously haunted room sleep just fine. The reports that come out of these hotels are usually small things: a light that flickers, a cold patch in the room, a noise from the floor above when nobody's up there. That's part of the fun. You spend the night listening a little more closely than usual.

The real draw is the history. A 1900 train station and a 1910 grand hotel are worth seeing even if nothing ever goes bump, and both give you a good excuse to slow down and look at the details: the stained glass, the architecture, the old photos on the walls.

Planning a haunted stay in Nashville

• Request rooms directly. If you want Room 711, call Union Station and ask. Popular rooms book up fast around Halloween.
• Stay walkable. Union Station and the Hermitage are both downtown, close enough to Broadway and the Gulch to explore on foot.
• Make a weekend of it. Pair a night at Union Station with a night at the Read House for a haunted Tennessee road trip. For an even longer drive, see our fall haunted road trip from Nashville to Asheville.
• Be a good guest. These are working hotels. Keep the ghost hunting to your own room.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most haunted hotel in Nashville?

The Union Station Hotel is Nashville's most famous haunted hotel, thanks to the legend of Abigail and Room 711. The Hermitage Hotel is a close second.

Can you stay in Room 711 at Union Station?

Yes, it's a guest room, and the hotel knows people ask for it. Call ahead to request it, since it can't always be guaranteed.

Is the Hermitage Hotel haunted?

Guests have reported a crying baby, doors opening on their own and a Lady in White. There's no historical record behind the crying baby legend, but the stories persist.

What is the most haunted hotel in Tennessee?

Union Station in Nashville and the Read House in Chattanooga are the two most frequently named. Both are historic, both are still operating, and both have a specific haunted room you can request.

Checked in and ready for more? Spend an evening out with our Nashville ghost tours. You'll hear the city's dark history and local legends with a drink in hand, then head back to your hotel and hope Abigail stays quiet.