Truman's Election Night Hotel, Built Three Times from Fire
401 Regent St, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024
Age
All ages
Cost
$$$
Room rates approximately $142–$366/night. Ghost tours available for hotel guests at $25/person, starting 9pm, approximately 45–60 minutes. Paranormal Package available through the hotel.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Full-service spa resort hotel with elevator access. Third-floor ghost tour involves stairs.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1888 · Harry Truman Election Night 1948 · Prohibition Era · Excelsior Springs Mineral Springs Heritage · Missouri Political History
The Excelsior Springs Company built the first Elms Hotel in July 1888 on a 50-acre site, taking advantage of the mineral springs that had made the town a destination. The three-story hotel with its broad verandas was substantial for its era. On May 9, 1898, the building burned entirely. A second structure opened in 1909 and burned again on October 30, 1910. The third iteration, completed and opened on September 7, 1912, used limestone and concrete throughout — fireproof by design.
Excelsior Springs drew health tourists throughout the early 20th century, and the Elms became a destination for anyone seeking the area's mineral waters. Prohibition brought a different clientele. Al Capone was among the figures who used the Elms during the 1920s and early 1930s, with all-night gambling parties in basement rooms that functioned as a speakeasy; lore places his favored quarters in Room 214. The basement was later sealed.
October-November 1948: Harry Truman, facing a presidential race almost every poll and commentator expected him to lose to Thomas Dewey, drove to Excelsior Springs and checked into the Elms. He ordered a ham sandwich and a glass of buttermilk, took a steam bath, and went to sleep. He woke at midnight to early returns suggesting an unexpectedly close race. By morning, he had won in one of American electoral history's most famous upsets — and he was still at the Elms when he learned the result.
The hotel was featured on SyFy's Ghost Hunters in July 2013 (Season 9, Episode 12, 'Something in the Water'). It operates today as the Elms Hotel & Spa, A Destination by Hyatt, with 153 rooms and a full spa program. The Paranormal Package is available for booking, and ghost tours run from the front desk at 9pm.
Sources
The sealed basement — where Al Capone's parties once ran through the night — generates reports concentrated around the lap pool. Investigators and guests describe a male presence in the pool area that staff associate with the Prohibition-era occupants. The basement's history as a blocked-off speakeasy adds documentary weight to the accounts.
The third floor's reported housekeeping ghost is among the more consistently described figures in any American haunted hotel. Multiple staff members and guests have independently reported seeing a woman dressed in a 1920s-era uniform moving through the third floor hallways, appearing to observe the work of current housekeeping. The specific detail of the period uniform — not just a woman, but a woman in identifiable 1920s dress — appears in unconnected accounts.
A third figure, described as a distressed woman searching for her child, has generated reports of physical interaction: hair pulling and objects thrown across rooms. These accounts are more scattered than the third-floor housekeeping ghost, but appear in multiple sources.
The hotel appeared in SyFy's Ghost Hunters in 2013. Their investigation documented the basement and third floor as the most active areas, consistent with the accounts collected by hotel staff over the preceding decades.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
153-room Destination by Hyatt property in Excelsior Springs, Missouri, where Harry Truman awaited the 1948 election results before his unexpected victory. Al Capone hosted parties in the now-sealed basement speakeasy during Prohibition. Ghost tours available to hotel guests at $25/person from the front desk.
A 45–60-minute guided ghost tour for hotel guests, departing at 9pm. The tour covers the lap pool basement, the third floor's 1920s housekeeping ghost, and the history of the Prohibition-era speakeasy. $25/person; sign up at the front desk. Additional tours added on demand.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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