Coconino County holds two of Arizona's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, two Coconino County places rank among Arizona's ten most haunted in HauntBound's 2026 index, including Flagstaff's Hotel Monte Vista at #2. The index ranks 116 Arizona sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Hotel Monte Vista ranks #2, and no Arizona site has more separate published accounts. The hotel opened on New Year's Day, 1927, funded by a public campaign organized by astronomer V.M. Slipher. Nine separate published accounts describe activity there. Guests describe a woman in Room 305 seen in a rocking chair by the window, with the chair found moved by morning, and John Wayne reported phantom room-service knocks in Room 210.

El Tovar Hotel ranks #4. Charles Whittlesey designed the hotel for the Fred Harvey Company, and it opened in 1905, four years after Harvey's death. Four separate published accounts describe activity there, the earliest dated to 1980. Guests describe a figure in a long coat and hat on the third floor at Christmas, said to be Fred Harvey inviting guests to the hotel's annual gathering, and a black-caped figure passing the marked grave of a Harvey Girl near the Hopi House.

Statewide, London Bridge in Lake Havasu City ranks #1, and the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, the state's most famous haunted site, ranks #3.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:Hotel Monte Vista, 100 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, is a working hotel; rooms are for overnight guests, and its restaurant and bars are open to non-guests.El Tovar Hotel, 1 El Tovar Rd., Grand Canyon National Park, is a working hotel on the South Rim, with a dining room open to the public.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/arizona/The fact sheet, with Flagstaff numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/arizona/Venue contact: hotelmontevista.com and grandcanyonlodges.comA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

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