Site of the April 4, 1968 assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now the centerpiece of the National Civil Rights Museum, where Room 306 is preserved as it was on the day of his death.
450 Mulberry Street, Memphis, TN 38103
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Admission fee for the National Civil Rights Museum; check civilrightsmuseum.org for current pricing and free admission days.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully accessible museum facility with elevators, ramps, and accessible exhibits.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1925 · Site of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. · National Historic Landmark · Premier Black-owned motel of the segregation era · Centerpiece of the National Civil Rights Museum
The building at 450 Mulberry Street in downtown Memphis first opened in 1925 as the 16-room Windsor Hotel, later renamed the Marquette Hotel. In 1945, businessman Walter Bailey purchased the property and renamed it the Lorraine — honoring both his wife Loree and the song 'Sweet Lorraine.' Bailey expanded the property into a two-story motel that became one of Memphis's premier Black-owned lodging establishments during the segregation era, hosting Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Nat King Cole, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and many other African American performers and travelers who were excluded from whites-only hotels.
On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived in Memphis to support the city's striking sanitation workers. He checked into Room 306 of the Lorraine, a room he had used on previous visits and which has since been called the 'King-Abernathy Suite' for King and his close colleague Ralph Abernathy. That evening, King delivered his 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech at Mason Temple.
At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony outside Room 306, King was struck by a single rifle shot fired from the bathroom window of a rooming house across Mulberry Street. He was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital approximately an hour later. James Earl Ray was later convicted of the assassination.
Loree Bailey, the motel's co-owner, suffered a stroke within hours of the assassination and died days later; Walter Bailey kept Room 306 sealed and the parking lot below preserved with the wreath in place for the rest of his ownership. The motel continued to operate at diminishing capacity until the state took possession of the property in 1988 and Bailey's family agreed to its conversion.
The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel opened on September 28, 1991, designed to integrate the preserved motel facade and Room 306 with new exhibition galleries tracing five centuries of African American history and the civil rights movement. Room 306, the balcony, the two 1959 Cadillacs and the 1968 Dodge in the courtyard parking lot, and the rooming-house bathroom across the street (now also part of the museum complex) are preserved as they were on the day of the assassination.
Sources
The paranormal narrative around the Lorraine Motel is unusual among American haunted sites in that virtually every source frames the activity as residual emotional imprint rather than as intelligent or attention-seeking haunting. According to paranormal databases and Memphis-area ghost-tour operators, visitors to the museum frequently report an oppressive heaviness in the area immediately outside Room 306 — cold sensations on the balcony, sudden shortness of breath, and a profound, unexpected sadness that some describe as being 'pulled into' the moment of April 4, 1968.
According to US Ghost Adventures and Our Haunted Travels, museum staff and security have over the years reported muffled voices and occasional voices calling out Dr. King's name with no one present, particularly around the preserved balcony. Some accounts describe visitors having vivid dreams about the site after their visit.
The coverage from PANICd, US Ghost Adventures, and Our Haunted Travels emphasizes that the Lorraine is generally understood within the paranormal community as a site where the trauma of the assassination has left an emotional imprint on the location, rather than as a place where Dr. King's spirit is believed to actively walk. This framing is consistent across the literature and reflects the broader cultural reverence with which the site is treated.
The National Civil Rights Museum itself does not promote or acknowledge paranormal claims about the property. Visitors interested in the historical and emotional weight of the site are best served by approaching it primarily as a memorial and museum, with any paranormal interest secondary.
Notable Entities
Self-guided tour of the National Civil Rights Museum, including the preserved exterior balcony outside Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel. The museum integrates the original motel structure with exhibition galleries tracing five centuries of African American history and the civil rights movement.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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