A 1907 three-story hotel in Wynnewood, now a National Register-listed local-history museum, where staff and paranormal teams report moving mannequins, phantom footsteps, and distant ballroom music.
100 E Robert S Kerr Blvd, Wynnewood, OK 73098
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Operated by the Wynnewood Historical Society; admission is typically free or by small donation. Confirm hours before visiting.
Access
Limited Access
Three-story historic building with original staircases; upper floors are stairs-only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1907 · Built in 1907, the year of Oklahoma statehood, by cotton salesman Pinckney Reid Eskridge · Considered the finest hotel between Oklahoma City and Dallas in its era · Operated as a working hotel and boarding house until 1970 · Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 · Operated since 1973 as a museum by the Wynnewood Historical Society
The Eskridge Hotel in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, was completed and opened in 1907, the same year Oklahoma achieved statehood. It was built by Pinckney Reid Eskridge, a traveling cotton salesman, or 'drummer,' who had spent years riding the Santa Fe Railroad between Texas and Kansas. Frustrated by the uncomfortable beds in most railroad-town hotels, and having done well in the cotton trade, Eskridge decided to build a hotel with all the comforts of home in Wynnewood, then the most thriving town on his route.
The thirty-room, three-story structure quickly became a favorite railroad stop between Oklahoma City and Dallas and was considered the finest hotel along that stretch of line. It became especially famous for its dining room, where the chicken dinners drew travelers and locals alike. The hotel continued to operate as a working hotel and boarding house until 1970.
In 1973 the Wynnewood Historical Society purchased the three-story building and converted it into a museum of local and regional history. In 1978 the former hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Garvin County. Today the museum preserves furnishings and artifacts spanning the late 1800s through the mid-1900s, with display rooms recreating a funeral parlor, barber shop, post office, doctor's office, and a veterans' memorial exhibit.
The building's long life as a hotel — through the railroad era, two world wars, and decades of boarders — gives it the deep human history that local lore now attaches its ghost stories to.
Sources
The Eskridge Hotel's century as a working hotel and boarding house has given rise to a steady tradition of ghost stories, reported by OK Haunted Houses and by paranormal investigation teams who have conducted multiple visits. The most repeated claims involve the upper floors of the museum: mannequins used in the historical exhibits are said to move or shift position on their own, and furniture and small items are reported to relocate between visits.
Staff and visitors who have been in the building at night describe hearing footsteps overhead when the upper floors are empty, distant voices, and faint strains of what sounds like ballroom music. Dark shadow figures have also been reported moving through rooms. Paranormal teams that have investigated the building say they have documented footsteps, voices, shadow movement, and what they interpret as apparitions over the course of repeated investigations.
No specific named individual is reliably tied to the haunting in the available sources; the lore is collective, attached to the many guests, boarders, and townsfolk who passed through the hotel across its sixty-three years of operation. We surface these as the venue's reported folklore rather than as established fact.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided or volunteer-led walk through three floors of preserved early-1900s rooms, including recreated funeral parlor, barber shop, post office, and doctor's office exhibits.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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