Est. 1862 · Gold Rush Era (1852) · California Historical Landmark · National Register of Historic Places · 1918 Spanish Influenza Ward · Three U.S. Presidents as Guests
Gold reached Jackson, California in the early 1850s, and the business district that grew along Water Street and Main Street reflected the chaotic wealth of the rush. The Louisiana House occupied the corner at 2 Water Street from 1852, operating as a combination general store and hotel in the pattern common to gold rush supply towns.
On a date in 1862, fire swept through Jackson's business district. The Louisiana House burned, and several guests inside the hotel died, among them — according to accounts passed down through the hotel's oral history — a pair of children, identified as twins. The National Hotel was built on the same site after the fire and has operated continuously since.
Over the decades, the National became a stop on the circuit traveled by figures moving through California. Three men who would become U.S. presidents — Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon — are documented as guests. Mark Twain spent time in the region during his journalism years. John Wayne reportedly settled a gambling debt of around $50,000 by leaving furniture to the hotel, pieces that remained in the bar until a 2024 renovation.
In 1918, the Spanish influenza pandemic reached Amador County. The National Hotel converted its two upper floors to an emergency ward, accommodating patients who could not be treated elsewhere. Several patients died in the rooms. The hotel's paranormal reputation draws significantly on this period; staff and guests describe the upper floors as the most active part of the building.
The hotel joined Hilton's Tapestry Collection in 2023 and underwent a significant renovation, reopening with a bar and restaurant in early 2025. The over-100-year-old bar was retained. The 'Book of Shadows' guest logbook in the lobby, which has collected paranormal accounts from guests for decades, continues to be maintained.
Sources
- https://www.comstocksmag.com/article/jacksons-national-hotel-got-facelift-its-still-haunted-ever
- https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/smfcaup-national-hotel-jackson/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_California
ApparitionsPhantom childrenPhantom footstepsFlickering lightsDoors opening/closing
The twin children said to have died in the 1862 fire are the National Hotel's defining ghost story. Guests describe them in the hallways of the upper floors — appearing briefly and then gone, sometimes emerging from rooms, sometimes simply standing in the corridor. The accounts span decades of the Book of Shadows logbook and multiple independent descriptions.
The logbook itself is an unusual feature: rather than marketing around ghost stories, the hotel has maintained a record of what guests actually report, dating back years. Staff will produce it for interested guests. The entries vary — vague feelings of presence, specific visual encounters, sounds that don't resolve — but the upper floors generate the highest volume of entries.
The 1918 flu ward on the top two floors produces a distinct category of account. Staff describe these floors as where the heaviest activity concentrates, separate from and more diffuse than the children-in-the-hallway reports on other floors. Flickering lights, doors found opened or closed against their left position, and the sound of footsteps in empty corridors are the most common reports from that section.
The hotel's own approach to its reputation is straightforward: it acknowledges the history, maintains the logbook, and does not organize formal ghost tours or investigations. Guests who come for the history stay in the same rooms as guests who come for the Gold Rush architecture. The building holds both.
Notable Entities
The Twin Children (1862 fire)