HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Built by the Virginia Central Railroad in 1855, used as a Confederate hospital in 1862, its basement served as a morgue — investigators report voices, footsteps, and children's laughter
125 South Augusta Street, Staunton, VA 24401
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior and public areas free to view; ghost tour access via Haunted Staunton tour
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown Staunton sidewalk; historic building with period construction
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1855 · Virginia Central Railroad-era commercial hotel — 1855 · Confederate receiving hospital 1862 · Basement used as Civil War morgue · Survived Union General Hunter's 1864 Shenandoah burning · President Grant's 1869 visit
The Virginia Central Railroad commissioned the American Hotel in 1855 to serve the growing traffic through Staunton, which sat at a key junction in the Valley. The building at 125 South Augusta Street opened as a respectable commercial hotel suited to railroad travelers and the town's professional class.
The Civil War transformed the hotel's function. In 1862 it became a Confederate receiving hospital, taking in wounded soldiers from the campaigns rolling through the Valley. The building's basement — a logical choice for a field medical facility given its relative stability and temperature — served as a morgue during this period. The sheer volume of casualties processed through Shenandoah Valley hospitals during the war years means the American Hotel basement witnessed substantial death.
When Union General David Hunter swept through Staunton in June 1864 burning public buildings, the American Hotel survived. Hunter's forces destroyed the Virginia Central depot and several other structures, but the hotel was spared — possibly because its function as a medical facility was recognized, or for reasons the historical record doesn't fully clarify. President Ulysses S. Grant stayed at the hotel during an 1869 visit, one of several notable post-war guests.
The building is listed in Wikipedia's documentation of historic Staunton structures, confirming the 1855 construction date, Civil War hospital use, and subsequent history.
Sources
The American Hotel's documented history as a Civil War hospital and morgue gives its paranormal claims a concrete historical anchor. WHSV television news covered the building in October 2020 as part of a 'Hauntings with Hood' series, documenting specific phenomena in the basement: voices recorded by investigators, unexplained footsteps, and shadowy figures observed in period photographs and video.
The children's laughter reported in the basement is among the more unsettling specific claims. Given that the building served as a hospital rather than a pediatric facility, the presence of a child's voice in the morgue space doesn't fit neatly into the hospital narrative — investigators have noted the disconnect without resolving it. One possibility is that the building's function predated or postdated the hospital use in ways that involved families or non-military occupants.
Visit Staunton, the city's official tourism body, includes the American Hotel as a stop on its Haunted Staunton programming, giving the building official recognition as a paranormal site within the city's tourism infrastructure. The combination of well-documented Civil War history and multi-source paranormal reporting makes this one of the more credibly documented haunted sites in the Shenandoah Valley.
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This Staunton tour includes American Hotel (Staunton) on its route.
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Staunton, VA
Staunton's original 1854 depot was burned by Union General David Hunter in June 1864 during his Shenandoah Valley campaign. The rebuilt station was then destroyed in an 1890 train derailment that killed at least one person: Myrtle Knox, a 17-year-old opera singer. The current Amtrak station operates near the footprint of these earlier structures.
Portsmouth, VA
Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth's Olde Towne Historic District traces its congregation to 1762. The current building was constructed 1828-1830. During the Civil War the church served as a Confederate hospital, and the crew of the CSS Virginia worshipped here before the ironclad's 1862 battle with the USS Monitor.
Front Royal, VA
The Belle Boyd Cottage is one of the oldest buildings in Front Royal. Originally built as guest quarters behind the Fishback Hotel, it was where Maria 'Belle' Boyd lived during the Civil War and eavesdropped on Union officers in May 1862, gathering intelligence she then passed to Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. The building was donated to the Warren Heritage Society in 1981 and relocated to the Society's grounds in 1982.