Paso Robles Inn

On December 19, 1940, a cigarette discarded in a wastebasket started a fire on the second floor of the Paso Robles Inn. Night clerk J.H. Emsley discovered it, raised the alarm and ran to warn guests, then died of a heart attack; everyone else got out, but the building was lost. The inn was rebuilt in 1945 using bricks from the original and still operates today. Staff say the manager's desk and the local police have received repeated phone calls from one particular guest room at times when no one was staying in it, and the inn's own management has suggested it is Emsley, still trying to raise the alarm without knowing that everyone was saved.