Broadway Hotel and Tavern

A historic hotel and tavern in downtown Madison, a beautifully preserved river town on the Ohio River. The building dates to the early 1800s and has served travelers along the river route for generations.

The Broadway Hotel and Tavern in Madison, Indiana, has operated continuously since 1834, making it one of the oldest taverns in the state. Situated in the heart of Madison's historic downtown along the Ohio River, the establishment served as a waystation where travelers could rest before continuing their journeys deeper into Indiana's frontier. Over nearly two centuries of continuous operation, the building has accumulated layer upon layer of history -- and a reputation as one of southern Indiana's most haunted locations, featured in Virginia Dyer Jorgensen's book Ghosts of Madison, Indiana.

The hotel's primary ghost is believed to be the spirit of a criminal who was shot and killed on the premises. The apparition has been seen in the main dining room and tavern section, a shadowy figure in period clothing that appears and vanishes without warning. One owner who purchased the hotel in 1992 reportedly used a Ouija board to attempt contact with the spirit. From the answers the board produced, they concluded the ghost was a man named Charles Morgan from Chicago who had come to the Madison area during Prohibition. According to the Ouija board account, Morgan worked in the illegal liquor business and had connections to organized crime. He was allegedly shot in the 1920s in a dispute tied to his mob dealings. While paranormal researchers have noted that historical documentation confirming Charles Morgan's existence has not been found in available records, the name has persisted in the hotel's ghost lore for decades.

The second prominent spirit is an unknown woman in distress who haunts the bed and breakfast portion of the building. Guests sleeping in the upstairs rooms report being awakened in the hours between dusk and dawn by a woman's cries for help echoing through the hallways. The voice is described as desperate and anguished, as though the woman is in immediate danger, yet she has never been seen -- only heard. Staff have investigated the sounds on countless occasions and found no living source. The crying woman is one of the most consistently reported phenomena at the hotel, with guests across many years describing nearly identical experiences.

Beyond these two primary spirits, the hotel generates a steady stream of additional paranormal reports. Staff and guests have seen a woman in white drifting through the older sections of the building and a man in period clothing who disappears when approached. Unexplained footsteps echo through empty hallways, disembodied voices carry on conversations that stop the moment someone enters the room, and objects move on their own -- glasses slide across tables, doors open and close without being touched, and items left in one location are found in another. WAVE 3 News featured the hotel's paranormal activity in a 2018 segment highlighting the unexplained occurrences that continue to this day.

Madison itself is considered one of the most haunted small towns in Indiana, with the Broadway Hotel and Tavern as its centerpiece. The town's position along the Ohio River made it a hub for commerce, travel, and all the human drama that accompanied frontier life. The hotel has witnessed nearly two hundred years of that drama, and the spirits that remain appear unwilling to check out. The Broadway Hotel and Tavern continues to operate as both a restaurant and lodging, welcoming guests who come for the history, the food, and the chance to spend a night in one of Indiana's most persistently haunted buildings.