HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Petoskey's 1899 Grand Hotel and Its Ghost Named Doris
100 Lewis St, Petoskey, MI 49770
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Hotel rates vary by season and room type; call 1-231-347-4000 or visit theperryhotel.com. Dining at the hotel restaurant available separately.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic building in downtown Petoskey; elevator available
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1899 · Northern Michigan Resort Era · Petoskey Historic District · Last Surviving Turn-of-Century Petoskey Hotel
Petoskey, Michigan developed as a resort destination in the late 19th century — a terminus of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad that brought wealthy Midwesterners to the shores of Little Traverse Bay. At peak season, twenty luxury hotels operated in and around the city. The Perry Hotel, built by Dr. Norman J. Perry in 1899, was among the most prominent.
The hotel at 100 Lewis Street stood between Bay and Rose Streets, with proximity to the bay that made it a preferred address. Perry's timing proved durable: of the twenty hotels that characterized Petoskey's resort era, only the Perry remains as a functioning hotel in the 21st century.
Stafford's Hospitality, the northern Michigan hospitality group, acquired the Perry in 1989 and conducted extensive interior and exterior restoration. The Stafford's organization is known for its stewardship of northern Michigan historic properties; the Perry Hotel is among its flagship locations.
The hotel's amenities include the Noggin Room Pub in the lower level and a restaurant serving guests and local diners. Its position in downtown Petoskey near the Gaslight District makes it a natural base for visitors exploring northern Michigan's commercial and cultural offerings.
Sources
The Perry Hotel's haunting is documented in two distinct threads, distinct enough in character that they are generally treated as separate figures.
The first involves a woman who died by suicide at the hotel in 1902. Her form is reported in the hotel's garden, where witnesses describe her standing with her back to the building, looking out toward Little Traverse Bay. The accounts are consistent in her location — the garden, facing the water — and in her apparitional quality: visible but not interactive.
Doris is a different kind of presence. Named by staff and guests based on years of accumulated account, she is associated primarily with the hotel's library. Books have been found moved from their shelves to tables and, in multiple separate accounts, tucked under rugs on the library floor. The behavior is regular enough that it has become part of the hotel's informal lore: library staff and regular guests note when the books have moved, without alarm.
The Noggin Room Pub in the hotel's lower level is the site of more physically dramatic activity. Glasses have been reported breaking without being touched. Silverware has been observed in flight — not dropped, but moving laterally. These incidents cluster in the pub rather than in other areas of the building.
The 106KHQ radio podcast 'Ghosts of Northern Michigan's Past' dedicated an episode to the Perry Hotel's Doris encounters, drawing on staff and guest accounts collected by the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau and local history sources. Multiple accounts describe a woman in a white or billowy dress in association with Doris.
Notable Entities
Stay in the only one of 20 luxury hotels that existed in Petoskey at the turn of the 20th century that still remains. The hotel's library — where books have been found moved from shelves to tables and under rugs — is Doris's preferred territory. The Noggin Room Pub in the lower level is where glasses have been reported breaking without cause.
The Perry Hotel's in-house restaurant and Noggin Room Pub serve guests and locals in the historic 1899 building overlooking Little Traverse Bay. The Noggin Room is the site of the most documented poltergeist-style activity at the hotel, including glasses breaking independently and silverware in flight.
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