HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An 1846 steamboat lodge in the village of Bentonsport — Underground Railroad station, Civil War hospital, and one of Iowa's most documented haunted inns.
21982 Hawk Drive, Bentonsport, IA 52565
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Overnight inn rates apply; ghost hunt packages available through the inn.
Access
Limited Access
1846 historic inn building; stairs required to access upper-floor rooms.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1846 · Underground Railroad Station · Civil War Field Hospital · Steamboat Era Lodging · Mormon Pioneer Craftsmanship
The Mason House Inn was constructed in 1846 in Bentonsport, a small village on the Des Moines River in Van Buren County, Iowa. Mormon craftsmen built the structure as a lodging house for the steamboat travelers who moved goods and passengers along the river during the mid-nineteenth century boom years. The building's brick construction and generous proportions reflected the traffic that Bentonsport saw before the railroads bypassed the river trade entirely.
Documented history connects the inn to the Underground Railroad — it served as a station for freedom seekers traveling north through Iowa — and to the Civil War, when it functioned as a field hospital for the region's wounded soldiers. A physician working at the makeshift hospital died in the building during this period, according to reporting by the Iowa Gazette. Three previous owners of the property also died within the building, a fact the current owners acknowledge and which contributes substantially to the inn's documented haunting reputation.
NBC's Today Show named the Mason House Inn one of America's most haunted lodgings in 2006. The current owners have operated the inn as both a bed-and-breakfast and a ghost-tourism destination, maintaining the property's nineteenth-century character and accepting overnight guests year-round.
Sources
The Mason House Inn's haunted reputation rests on a documented foundation: multiple deaths within the building across different eras. The physician who died during Civil War hospital use, three previous owners who died in the building at different points in its history, and the uncounted freedom seekers and travelers who passed through during the decades of steamboat traffic all contribute to accounts of an unusually active site.
Guests and staff report a range of phenomena: footsteps in unoccupied rooms, the sensation of a presence at bedside during night stays, unexplained sounds from the stairwells, and — in the more dramatic accounts — apparitions in period clothing in the inn's common areas. The current owners have documented some of these accounts and incorporated them into the property's identity without manufacturing the claims.
The Today Show's 2006 designation of the Mason House Inn as one of America's most haunted lodgings brought national attention that the inn has maintained. One blog source from 2012 references a claim of over 300 spirits on the property — a number the research cannot independently verify and which likely reflects the aggregate of paranormal investigators' claims rather than documented incidents.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Stay in one of the original 1846 rooms at Mason House Inn, restored to the period of its steamboat-era operation. Guests have access to the full inn and its history as an Underground Railroad station and Civil War field hospital.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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