HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
+ 1 further entry on record
The 1925 hotel built to serve Union Station passengers was the scene of at least two violent deaths in Room 1009 — the door to that room still resists opening, and guests report sobbing and cold spots on the tenth floor.
302 S Houston St, Dallas, TX 75202
Research updated June 2026
Age
21+
Cost
$$$
Hotel room rates vary; check-in age minimum is 21. Lobby not open to non-guests.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Ten-story downtown hotel with elevator; accessible entrance on S Houston Street
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1925 · Adjacent to Dealey Plaza and Union Station · Original Scott Hotel, 1925 · Renamed Hotel Lawrence in late 1930s · Room 1009 murder site documented in Dallas news coverage
The hotel at 302 S Houston Street opened in October 1925 as the Scott Hotel, a ten-story, 160-room property positioned directly across from Union Station to capture rail passenger traffic. The building was named for owner George C. Scott, though some accounts credit a developer named Michael Angelo Genaro with its financing and construction.
The Scott Hotel occupied a commercially significant location: Union Station was Dallas's primary rail hub through the mid-twentieth century, and the hotel's proximity made it a practical stop for travelers, salespeople, and, as Prohibition-era records suggest, some less law-abiding clientele as well. The building sits one block from Dealey Plaza.
At some point in the late 1930s the hotel was renamed the Hotel Lawrence, a name it retained through several ownership changes over the following decades. The property has since operated under multiple brands; it was most recently a La Quinta Inn before transitioning to Holiday Inn Express under IHG management, its current brand. The 1925 structure remains intact beneath the successive renovations.
Sources
The haunting of this downtown Dallas hotel centers almost entirely on Room 1009, which sits on the tenth floor and has accumulated two documented deaths according to Dallas television coverage. The first involved Jack 'Smiley' Jackson, identified in CW33's reporting as a 1930s gangster who was murdered in the room. Jackson's murder was followed, at a later and unspecified point, by a second death in the same room: a man found with his throat slashed.
The most frequently described paranormal phenomenon at Room 1009 is the door. Multiple guests and visitors have reported that the door physically resists opening — refusing to budge when pushed or keyed in the normal way — until the visitor addresses 'Smiley' directly and asks him to move. Accounts of this phenomenon have appeared consistently across several years of reporting, including in CW33's segment on the hotel.
Beyond Room 1009, the tenth floor generates a broader cluster of reports: unexplained cold spots in the corridor, the sound of a woman sobbing without a visible source, and shadows in areas with no corresponding light source. CandysDirt, which covered the hotel in a 2025 feature on haunted Dallas hotels, characterized the tenth floor's atmosphere as 'gritty' rather than theatrical.
Additional accounts from the hotel's full history describe a woman who either fell or was pushed from the tenth floor and a congressman who died by suicide during his stay, though neither of these accounts is as specifically documented as the Room 1009 deaths.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Guests seeking the hotel's paranormal reputation can request Room 1009, where gangster Jack 'Smiley' Jackson was murdered in the 1930s and a second occupant was later found dead. Reports of the door sticking, cold spots, sobbing, and shadows are concentrated on the tenth floor.
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