Hotel Bothwell

A historic hotel opened in 1927 in the heart of Sedalia, now part of the Ascend Collection by Choice Hotels. The hotel has served as the center of social and business activity in Sedalia for nearly a century.

Hotel Bothwell in Sedalia, Missouri, opened its doors in 1927, built by the same John Homer Bothwell who created the clifftop lodge that bears his name. The downtown hotel was designed to bring luxury hospitality to Sedalia, and over the decades it has hosted famous guests including President Harry Truman, actress Bette Davis, and actor Clint Eastwood. But the hotel's most enduring guests appear to be the spectral children who roam the third floor, disturbing visitors and staff with activity that has been consistently reported for decades.

The third floor of Hotel Bothwell has earned a reputation as the most intensely haunted section of the building. Guests staying on the upper floors have reported hearing the voices of young children when no children were present in the hotel -- laughter, whispered conversations, and the sound of small feet running down the hallways. Some visitors have caught sight of ghostly children, including a little girl in a white dress who appears on the third floor before vanishing into the walls.

The physical phenomena on the third floor go beyond sightings and sounds. Guests tell of feeling someone sitting on their beds in the middle of the night -- a distinct depression in the mattress accompanied by a weight that presses against their legs, as if a visitor has perched on the edge of the bed to watch them sleep. Footsteps run back and forth in the hallway outside guest rooms at hours when the corridor is confirmed to be empty. Doors open and close on their own, and personal belongings mysteriously disappear during the night, only to reappear in unexpected locations the following morning.

The identity of the ghostly children is a matter of speculation. Some researchers connect them to the building's history during the Great Depression, when economic hardship and displacement may have resulted in tragedy within the hotel's walls. Others point to the general history of the building site and the surrounding downtown area, where children from Sedalia's poorer neighborhoods may have died from disease or accident in the early twentieth century.

A former hotel employee reported receiving unexplained scratches on their neck after leaving work -- marks that appeared without any physical contact and that could not be attributed to any known cause. Ghost Hunters investigated the hotel and captured compelling evidence, including footage that appeared to show ghostly children running through the corridors. Hotel Bothwell continues to operate as a full-service hotel, welcoming guests who understand that a stay on the third floor may include encounters with residents who checked in long ago and never checked out.