Hotel San Carlos (Phoenix)
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The Hotel San Carlos branch in Phoenix, Arizona, is both an operating hotel and tourist site. It has been associated with ghost sightings.
[edit] Legend
Many employees have said that they have seen ghosts at the hotel, the most commonly mentioned being that of Leone Jensen. This caused the Travel Channel to dedicate part of their show World Travels to the hotel. This feature on the hotel was premiered on Monday, January 19, 2004. Whether the ghost sighting theory is a promotional stunt or not is debatable.
[edit] Historical facts
The site where the hotel sits was the place where the first school in Phoenix was built. The school was inaugurated in 1874. It stopped working in 1916, with construction of a luxury hotel in mind. In addition, many area children died during the 1918 swine flu epidemic that attacked the United States.
In 1919, the land was bought by the San Carlos Hotel company owners, but construction was delayed until 1927. The hotel competed with the posh, nearby Westward Ho hotel, which was located on what once was Phoenix's first radio transmitter and whose list of clientele include such celebrities as Jack Dempsey and John F. Kennedy.
On May 7, 1928, the Arizona Republic reported the death of Leone Jensen. The article's headline read "Pretty blonde jumps from (the) San Carlos (hotel) early today". Based on what she wrote on her death note, it could be assumed that the 22 year old woman was physically abused by her boyfriend, a bellboy at the Westward Ho. Speculations have been made as to whether Jensen was pregnant and/or her boyfriend was having an affair with another hotel worker. Because of these theories, the way she died is also debated. While most evidence pointed to suicide, many have said that she could have been pushed off by her boyfriend or her boyfriend's other girlfriend.
Another ghost frequently mentioned by hotel employees is that of a little girl, possibly around six to nine years old, who is rumored to visit hotel rooms at night and sit crying. Ghost believers think she was probably one of the area children affected either by the school's closing or the flu epidemic.
On December 9, 2004, yet another tragic death happened at this hotel, when an unidentified man jumped to his death from the hotel's roof.
Nowadays, hotel San Carlos in Phoenix faces stiff competition from such other five-star hotels such as The Phoenician, The Biltmore, the Ritz Carlton, many Hilton Hotels and the Hyatt Regency Phoenix.
