HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Jackson's 1941 landmark hotel and Silver Dollar Bar, where staff credit a ghost named Bob with fixing things.
50 North Glenwood Street, Jackson, WY 83001
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
The hotel offers 55 guestrooms including five Western Theme Suites; the Silver Dollar Bar and dining room are open to the public with no cover.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Downtown two-story hotel with elevator access
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1941 · Jackson's first true luxury hotel, opened 1941 · Silver Dollar Bar (1950), with conflicting official counts of 1,632 and 2,032 Morgan silver dollars · Rebuilt after a major 1980 fire · National Register of Historic Places, 1999
Charles J. Wort homesteaded in Jackson Hole starting in 1893 and bought downtown property in 1917, but it was his sons John and Jess who built the hotel that bears the family name. Construction cost roughly $90,000, financed in part through the sale of the family's Signal Mountain Lodge inside what is now Grand Teton National Park, and the hotel opened in late summer 1941. Architect Lorenzo "Ren" Grimmett designed the two-story Tudor Revival building, with brick facing, half-timbering, and street-facing gables, as Jackson's first true luxury hotel.
In 1950 the Worts added the Silver Dollar Bar, built by a German cabinet maker using Morgan silver dollars from the Denver mint; official pages give conflicting counts of 1,632 and 2,032. The bar became, and remains, the hotel's signature room.
On August 5, 1980, a bird's nest that had touched off a transformer fire spread through the building, collapsing the roof in one of the worst blazes in Jackson's history. The hotel rebuilt and reopened in June 1981, timed to Jackson's first annual Old West Days celebration. The Wort family sold the property in 1984. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 9, 1999, and joined Historic Hotels of America in 2002, later earning Forbes Four-Star recognition.
The hotel operates today much as it has for decades: overnight rooms, a restaurant, and the Silver Dollar Bar, a fixture of downtown Jackson.
Sources
The gentler of the Wort's two ghost stories comes from the hotel's own account. Robert "Bob" Tomingas joined the Wort as maintenance engineer in 1950, the same year the Silver Dollar Bar was installed, and over his career rebuilt the hotel's heating, water, and electrical systems. Current engineers say Bob never appears to guests but still turns up for staff: a wrench left leaning against a wall has pointed a crew toward a hidden broken pipe, and tools in the maintenance shop are found rearranged. The hotel's own blog describes him as a valued, if unseen, member of the team.
The second story is grounded in a documented crime. On the night of August 5, 1964, 19-year-old Andrew Pixley broke into a guest room occupied by an Illinois family vacationing in Jackson Hole and killed two young sisters, ages 12 and 8, while a younger sibling in the room was left unharmed. Pixley was convicted and executed at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in December 1965. In the decades since, hotel staff and guests have reported children's voices and figures glimpsed playing in the hotel's upper-floor hallways and at windows, with no children registered to account for them. The Wort does not promote this history as entertainment; it circulates locally as one of Jackson's most repeated ghost stories, tied to a real and sober event.
Notable Entities
The current hotel has 55 guestrooms including five Western Theme Suites. Book a room in Jackson's 1941 landmark hotel, rebuilt after an August 1980 fire gutted much of the building. Ask the front desk about Bob, the hotel's longtime maintenance engineer, whose tools still turn up rearranged in the shop.
Visit the hotel's Silver Dollar Bar, built in 1950, with official pages giving conflicting counts of 1,632 and 2,032 uncirculated Morgan silver dollars. The bar and adjoining dining room are open to the public without a room booking.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
See current room rates and availability at The Wort Hotel.
Check rates and bookRates come from booking partners, so a small property may not be listed. Book direct with The Wort Hotel
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
9 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Kewaunee, WI
The Hotel Karsten opened on Valentine's Day 1913 in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, replacing an earlier wood inn called The Steamboat House that burned in the early 1910s. Built and operated by William Karsten Sr., the 52-room Arts and Crafts hotel sits on the Lake Michigan shoreline and remains one of the few surviving hotels of its period in the region.
Austin, TX
Colonel Jesse Lincoln Driskill, a Tennessee-born cattle baron who supplied beef to the Confederate Army and later the Texas Rangers, opened The Driskill Hotel on December 20, 1886. Its first event, two weeks after opening, was the inaugural ball for Texas Governor Sul Ross. Driskill sold the hotel in 1888 after severe drought devastated his cattle herds and died in 1890. The hotel has hosted every Texas governor's inaugural ball since 1887.
Gettysburg, PA
Built around 1810 by tanner John F. McFarlane and expanded with an 1833 brick addition, the Farnsworth House sits on Baltimore Street in Gettysburg. During the 1863 battle, Confederate sharpshooters occupied the structure, and the south-facing wall still carries more than 100 bullet holes from Union counter-fire.