HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
1920s Cliffside Jazz-Age Hotel Above the Columbia River
4000 Westcliff Dr, Hood River, OR 97031
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Room rates vary; 40-room boutique hotel with award-winning Pacific Northwest gardens.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Hotel perched on cliffs above the Columbia River; elevator available; outdoor gardens on clifftop
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1921 · Jazz Age Architecture · Simon Benson Legacy · Columbia River Gorge · Pacific Northwest History
The Hotel Benson, now Columbia Gorge Hotel, opened on June 21, 1921 at a site of natural drama — a clifftop position above the Columbia River with views across the Gorge into Washington State. Benson was already known for his civic contributions to Portland, most famously the cast-iron Benson Bubblers drinking fountains he donated to the city in 1912.
The hotel replaced the Wau Gwin Gwin Hotel, which operated from 1904 to 1920 and was torn down for its construction. It opened into the Jazz Age and attracted notable guests through its early decades, positioning itself as one of the Pacific Northwest's premier resort destinations. The Gorge's scenic landscape — basalt columns, waterfalls, and the river itself — provided the backdrop for a property that competed with the grand hotels of the era.
A change in fortunes during the mid-20th century saw the property converted to a retirement home for a period, housing elderly residents and, according to local accounts, accumulating a number of deaths on the premises during that era. The hotel subsequently passed through multiple ownership groups and was eventually restored to its original hospitality function.
The property now operates with 40 rooms, seven acres of award-winning Pacific Northwest gardens, Simon's Cliffhouse restaurant, spa services, and a piano bar. The clifftop setting — with its views down into the Columbia Gorge and its proximity to the dramatic drop to the river below — has contributed to the hotel's atmospheric reputation.
Sources
The Columbia Gorge Hotel's paranormal accounts center on the clifftop itself — the dramatic edge from which, in local lore, a woman reportedly jumped during the hotel's history — and on the specific rooms associated with recurring presences.
The Lady in White has been described in several distinct locations. Outdoor sightings place her on the stone benches along the clifftop gardens, seated with a composure that shifts to vanishing when approached. Indoor accounts describe her in the corridors and in guest rooms — Room 330 in particular receives multiple accounts — sitting or standing in the manner of someone waiting.
A man in a frock coat and top hat has been reported in the hotel's public spaces. A child ghost is associated with the ground floor in the area where a pool once existed. Both figures appear in multiple accounts gathered by the hotel's paranormal tour operators.
The retirement home period, when the property housed elderly residents and saw a number of deaths associated with natural causes and the vulnerabilities of that population, contributes a layer of possible presences that is more difficult to categorize. Paranormal investigators working the hotel have found activity concentrated in areas associated with that era of the building's use.
Notable Entities
40-room hotel opened on June 21, 1921 as the Hotel Benson on a dramatic clifftop above the Columbia River in Hood River, Oregon. Room 330 is most associated with the 'Lady in White' apparition, who has also been seen on clifftop benches and in hallways. Request a riverside king room for cliffside views of the Columbia Gorge.
Dinner at Simon's Cliffhouse, the hotel's signature restaurant offering Pacific Northwest cuisine with Columbia Gorge views. Piano bar dining experience available.
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