HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1900 hot-springs hotel in Paradise Valley where Percie Knowles' ghost still haunts Room 349
163 Chico Road, Pray, MT 59065
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Rooms range roughly $100-$300+ depending on lodge building and season; the hot-spring pools are complimentary for overnight guests and available to day visitors for a fee.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Historic multi-building resort; some rooms in the original 1900 lodge are accessed by stairs, newer buildings are more accessible
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1900 · Paradise Valley Hot-Springs Landmark · National Register of Historic Places · Early Montana Health-Spa Destination
The hot springs in Paradise Valley, between Livingston and Yellowstone National Park's north entrance, had been used by Native peoples and, later, territorial-era miners who stopped to bathe and wash their clothes in water that surfaces around 112 degrees. An 1876 settler piped the water to heat a greenhouse for the local market.
Bill and Percie Knowles inherited the property in 1894 and opened the Chico Warm Springs Hotel in 1900, built around a 44-foot-diameter, six-foot-deep spring-fed pool with separate men's and women's bathing areas. Bill died in 1910; Percie took over operations and, in 1912, brought in Dr. George A. Townsend, who marketed the hot springs' therapeutic reputation and performed medical procedures on-site, including, by local accounts, the region's first successful brain surgery. A 20-room hospital wing went up to handle demand.
The hospital wing closed in the early 1930s as business slowed through the Depression, and Percie's health declined through the decade; she left day-to-day operations in the late 1930s. The resort passed through several owners over the following decades, including Percie's son Radbourne, before Mike and Eve Art bought and restored it in 1973, rebuilding its reputation as a dining and lodging destination. Chico is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and today operates as a year-round resort with lodging, a full-service restaurant, saloon, day spa, and the original hot-spring pools.
Sources
Percie Knowles spent her declining years largely confined to a rocking chair by the window in what's now Room 349, watching the Absaroka Range while her health failed; she was admitted to the state hospital at Warm Springs in 1936 and died there roughly four and a half years later. Guests staying in the room since have reported the antique rocking chair repositioning itself to face the window no matter where it's moved, and employees have described opening the door to an empty room with the chair still rocking and the scent of lilac and jasmine in the air.
The magazine Distinctly Montana and the paranormal podcast History Goes Bump have both covered Room 349's reputation, along with a broader sense among staff that the resort's narrow hallways and former hospital wing carry an atmosphere the current owners don't discourage guests from noticing. No other specific room or figure comes up as often as Percie's.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Stay in the historic 1900 Main Lodge, where longtime owner Percie Knowles spent her final years in what's now Room 349 — still the resort's most-requested haunted room. Rates and room types vary across the resort's several lodge buildings.
Visit the naturally heated pools, saloon, and dining room without booking an overnight room. Day-use access to the hot-spring pools is available for a fee.
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See current room rates and availability at Chico Hot Springs Resort.
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