French Lick Springs Hotel

Dr. William Bowles opened a small spa here in 1845 to capitalize on the area's natural sulfur springs; by 1901, former Indianapolis mayor and U.S. Senator Thomas Taggart had bought the property and built it into one of the Midwest's grandest resorts, hosting U.S. presidents and stars like Louis Armstrong. Often called the most haunted hotel in Indiana, its best-known ghost is believed to be Taggart himself, still said to look after the standards of the place he built. Most other reported activity centers on a bellhop remembered as Charlie, who died in an elevator shaft, along with music and dancing heard from the empty ballroom, unexplained cold spots, phones ringing in unoccupied rooms, and a persistent stain said to reappear in one guest bathtub tied to a bride's suicide.