Mizpah Hotel - The Lady in Red Waits Upstairs

Stop on Area 51, a free self-guided tour.

Five stories of reinforced concrete rise above Main Street, and in boomtown Tonopah they must have looked like a skyscraper. The Mizpah Hotel shared the title of Nevada's tallest building with the nearby Belvada Building until 1927, and it had the first elevator in Tonopah.

The hotel closed in 1999, then reopened in August 2011 after a renovation by Fred and Nancy Cline. Today it offers 47 rooms, a bar, and restaurants, and you can walk in and look around. Its Jack Dempsey Room and Wyatt Earp Bar carry famous names, though historians dispute whether either man really had a connection to the place.

Then there is the Lady in Red, the hotel's resident ghost, variously described as a murdered prostitute or a woman killed by a jealous spouse. USA Today ranked the Mizpah first among haunted U.S. hotels in 2018. Ask the staff which floor she prefers.

Getting here: It is less than a mile from the mining park. Head to Main Street and look for the tall, historic building at the corner.

Trivia: What is the name of the Mizpah Hotel's legendary ghost?

Nearby: The Pittman Cafe and Jack Dempsey Room restaurants and a bar are inside, so this is a good place to stretch your legs, eat, and use the restrooms.