HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
An 1888 Queen Anne mansion built by a saloon magnate who died at 49 during a card game — now a B&B where guests encounter a well-dressed figure on the stairs and a maid who walks into closets and vanishes.
2120 Louisiana St, Little Rock, AR 72206
Research updated October 2026
Age
12 and older
Cost
$$
Bed and breakfast room rates; see website for current pricing
Access
Limited Access
Victorian mansion with grand staircase; stairs required to access most guest rooms
Equipment
Photos OK
Pets require prior arrangements and are allowed only in Majestic, Pagoda and Victoria Garden Suite. Pets are prohibited inside Hornibrook Mansion.
Est. 1888 · 1888 Queen Anne mansion · Built by Canadian saloon magnate James Hornibrook · Hornibrook died at 49 during card game in 1891 · National Register of Historic Places · Restored Victorian B&B
James Hornibrook arrived in Arkansas from Canada, where he had operated saloons, and leveraged his capital into the construction of this Queen Anne mansion at 2120 Louisiana Street in Little Rock, completed in 1888. The house represents the high-water mark of Victorian residential architecture in the neighborhood, with a distinctive three-story octagonal tower and elaborate exterior woodwork that survive largely intact.
Hornibrook died in 1891 at the age of 49. Accounts describe his death occurring during a card game — the cause of death listed as cardiac arrest. His wife also died within a few years of the house's construction. The conjunction of sudden deaths in a newly built home attached an early reputation to the property.
The mansion passed through private hands across the twentieth century before restoration efforts in the 1980s and 1990s returned it to a habitable state. It was subsequently opened as a bed and breakfast and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Atlas Obscura documented the property among Arkansas's notable dark-tourism addresses, drawing on both the Hornibrook family history and the accumulated guest and staff reports of unexplained activity.
Sources
The staircase is the most consistently cited location in accounts from The Empress of Little Rock. Multiple guests have described a well-dressed man in period clothing standing on or near the stairs — locally attributed to James Hornibrook, though no witness reports receiving any verbal identification from the figure. A woman in pink has been described in upper hallway sightings.
A third figure — described as resembling a sea captain — appears in a smaller number of accounts and has not been linked to any historical occupant of the property. The sea captain attribution may reflect the building's tower architecture, which has been compared to a ship's wheelhouse in popular descriptions.
The most specific and most-repeated account involves a maid in period domestic dress who has been seen on the second floor moving down a corridor and entering a closet. Witnesses who have checked the closet immediately after report finding it empty. Frightfind and Arkansas Haunted Houses both document this account, drawing on guest reports accumulated over multiple years of B&B operation.
Book a room at the Empress. The staircase, second-floor corridor, and guest rooms have been the primary sites of reported encounters. No formal ghost-hunt program; guests explore at their discretion as part of their B&B stay.
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