A 1935 hacienda-style boutique inn in Paradise Valley built by cowboy artist Lon Megargee — staff still report his cowboy-hatted silhouette breaking glasses and slamming doors after closing.
5532 N Palo Cristi Road, Paradise Valley, AZ 85253
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$$
Luxury boutique inn rates vary seasonally; restaurant (Lon's) is upscale dining
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved hacienda compound on six acres with mostly level paths and ADA-accessible rooms
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1935 · Original adobe home and studio of cowboy artist Lon Megargee · Operated as guest ranch and reputed gambling den in the 1930s · Continuously operating as an inn since the 1940s · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Alonzo 'Lon' Megargee was a self-taught cowboy artist whose Western paintings became widely reproduced — most famously the 'Cowboy's Dream' image used on Stetson hats. In 1935 he purchased six acres of desert in the area that would later incorporate as Paradise Valley. Drawing on architecture he had studied in Spain and Mexico, he built his home and studio of adobe brick at the center of the property, calling it first Los Arcos and then Casa Hermosa — 'beautiful house.' He used salvaged wooden beams from an abandoned mine and aged the exterior walls by pouring a mixture of oil and ash over them from the roof.
Megargee's lifestyle attracted long-staying guests, and to supplement his artist's income he began operating Casa Hermosa as an informal guest ranch. Local lore and Wikipedia hold that he also ran an illegal gambling operation from the property; he is said to have built a tunnel from the main house to the stables so guests could escape into the desert if law enforcement raided. Megargee was married seven times, and the women in his life are part of the property's folklore — one is sometimes identified with the 'lady in pink' apparition seen by guests today.
Megargee sold the Hermosa in 1941 and lived elsewhere in the Phoenix area until his death in 1960. The property has operated continuously as an inn since the 1940s. It was extensively renovated in the 1990s by the Hilton family of Paradise Valley (no relation to the hotel chain), who expanded it into the 43-casita boutique luxury property it is today. The original adobe core of the building — Megargee's studio and residence — now houses Lon's at the Hermosa, the inn's award-winning restaurant.
The Hermosa is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources
The Hermosa's paranormal reputation centers on Lon Megargee himself. According to Phoenix Ghosts and a FOX 10 Phoenix local-news segment, longtime restaurant staff describe Megargee's tall, slim, cowboy-hatted silhouette appearing in Lon's restaurant after closing, in spaces that were originally his living and studio rooms (Phoenix Ghosts; FOX 10). Reported physical activity includes breaking glassware and beer bottles late at night, doors slamming on their own, pots and pans flying off kitchen shelves, and toilets flushing without cause. The activity is consistently described as mischievous rather than threatening — guides interpret it as Lon checking in on the property he built and lived in for six years.
A secondary set of stories described in FrightFind and Phoenix Ghosts coverage references a 'lady in pink' or 'woman in a pink dress' sometimes attributed to one of Megargee's seven wives, and a separate account from a single staff member describing two ghostly children seen in the parking lot (FrightFind; Phoenix Ghosts). HauntBound notes that Megargee died in 1960 elsewhere in the Phoenix area, so his presence at the inn is interpreted by tour operators and the inn's own staff lore as an attachment to the place rather than a death-event haunting. We treat the wife-identification of the 'lady in pink' as folklore rather than verified attribution to a specific named individual.
The Hermosa Inn's official communications acknowledge the property's haunted reputation lightly and have hosted local-news segments about it; FOX 10 Phoenix produced a feature titled 'The haunted Hermosa Inn.' The lore is well-documented by local press, which makes the Hermosa one of the better-corroborated paranormal venues in the Phoenix metro.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Hermosa offers 43 individual casitas spread across six acres, each decorated in Southwestern style. The original adobe core of the property — Lon Megargee's studio and home, built in 1935 — anchors the main building.
Award-winning Southwestern fine-dining restaurant inside Lon Megargee's original adobe home, where staff report some of the most distinctive paranormal activity — broken glassware, flying pots, doors slamming after closing.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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