The Lowe Hotel

A grand hotel built in 1901 in the heart of Point Pleasant's historic district, originally named the Spencer Hotel. The four-story brick building has hosted travelers for over 120 years and sits just one block from the Mothman statue.

The Lowe Hotel in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, has stood watch over the Ohio River since 1901, accumulating more than a century of ghost stories that make it one of the most haunted hotels in Appalachia. Originally built as the Spencer Hotel, the elegant brick building served as prime lodging for riverboat travelers, sitting just steps from the Ohio River landing. When Homer Smith and J.S. Spencer launched the Security Steamboat Company in 1914, the hotel became a popular haven for passengers and crew during repairs and inclement weather. The building was purchased in 1929 by Homer D. Lowe, who renamed it the Lowe Hotel and passed it to his son Homer Jr. in 1945. The Finley family took ownership in 1990 and maintained it until recent years.

The hotel harbors at least four distinct spirits, each with their own territory and habits. The most frequently encountered is the Dancing Lady, a beautiful but disheveled young woman seen on the mezzanine between the first and second floors, dancing barefoot to music only she can hear. She wears a nightgown and has long, flowing hair. Some believe she is the ghost of Juliette Smith, Homer Smith's middle child and only daughter -- a heartbroken woman from the early 1900s who, according to local legend, never got her happy ending.

On the second floor, guests and staff report encounters with the Girl on the Tricycle, a small child between two and three years old seen riding a tricycle down the hallway. The sound of tiny wheels squeaking and faint giggling echoes through the corridor when no children are present. Most paranormal researchers believe the child is a residual imprint of one of the Lowe children who grew up in the hotel during the decades the family lived there.

The third floor belongs to the Whistling Maid, a presence known for unexplained whistling sounds and footsteps in empty hallways. Guests have reported a sudden chill and the unmistakable sense of being watched. Transoms above the doors are frequently found in the opposite position from how they were left, and cleaning supplies appear in locations where no employee has been working.

Perhaps the most poignant spirit is Captain Jim, a legless riverboat captain who haunts Room 316. Witnesses have seen him standing -- or floating -- by the windows, gazing out toward the river as though waiting for a boat that will never come. His connection to the hotel's riverboat heritage gives his presence a melancholy weight that guests find deeply unsettling.

The Lowe Hotel's location directly across from the Mothman statue adds another layer to its paranormal reputation. The hotel has been investigated by paranormal teams including the Center for Inquiry, whose researcher Joe Nickell examined a mysterious figure that appeared in a mirror photograph taken at the hotel. The building was recently sold to an anonymous local attorney with plans for a major renovation into a sixty-room luxury establishment, though the new owners have pledged to preserve its historic character -- and, presumably, its resident ghosts.