The Ghost of Hotel San Carlos

My friend Jassiel came to Arizona to do research for his PhD project about cultural beliefs regarding paranormal activity. He heard that downtown Phoenix' historic Hotel San Carlos is one of the most haunted buildings in the Southwest. He hired two experienced crews of ghost hunters to assist him. I was brought along as his local sorcerer's apprentice.

We learned before our planned visit that a guest named Leone Jensen died by suicide on May 7, 1928 shortly after Hotel San Carlos opened for business. She jumped off the roof. It was documented that this twenty-something woman had health problems and struggled with loneliness.

Since that tragic night, her spirit has been said to haunt the 128-room hotel. Many guest accounts over the decades state that her spirit has been seen wandering the hallways and appearing at the foot of beds.

Jassiel's project was not intended to prove the existence of ghosts. It was to understand the significance of them in various cultures. But he and I went into this with open minds. We walked through those iconic hotel doors on North Central Avenue just like movie stars Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Mae West did back during Hollywood's Golden Age.

Each crew accompanied Jassiel and me with tours at different times. My scholarly pal wanted to get assessments from multiple ghost hunting teams to compare and contrast their findings from this spectral adventure.

The teams brought along high-tech equipment for investigating. Including EMF sensors, thermal imaging cameras, spirit boxes, and electronic voice phenomena recorders.

Our tours had us visiting empty guest rooms, the rooftop, alcoves, secluded corridors, and mysterious dead-ends. Jassiel and the crews interviewed the hotel staff and each one of us as well to gain insight for our curious mission.

Several days later, Jassiel met me at a coffee house near the San Carlos to discuss his findings from our supernatural exploration. He told me that both of the crews' equipment picked up the exact same finding. Something fascinating and remarkably eerie. Identifying an apparition through their cameras and sensors.

My buddy asked if I remembered sensing anything out of the ordinary during both tours. I elaborated on what I described as recurring adrenaline surges with plenty of hair-raising moments. Attributing that to the shivering thrill of being on a ghost hunting expedition in a haunted hot spot.

Jassiel wanted me to think hard. Pinpointing the locations where I had those heightened experiences. I explained that all throughout the tours I felt that spine-tingling sensation. I said, "It's understandable when there's the anticipation of the unknown lurking around every shadowy corner."

Getting screamingly impatient to know what he knew, I gravely asked my friend, "So where did they find that paranormal activity you mentioned?"

He responded, "It's not a place in the hotel that indicated the presence of a spirit." His statement bewildered me. I inquired as to whether it was something identified outside. Perhaps levitating above the rooftop or hovering beyond the windows.

Jassiel replied, "No. The presence was a person. Not specific to one location. It was someone we all talked with the other day. In our background check we found an intriguing connection with this person and the notorious 1928 guest Leone who never officially checked out of the hotel."

My good friend suspected that his physics department contacts at the university would likely submit scientific answers that explained away this paranormal activity. Possibly being explained from the clothing worn by or distinctive environmental factors associated with this person of spooky interest.

Jassiel said it was highly convincing evidence that both crews uncovered. Those experienced phantom experts detected through their sensors and cameras at different times the same unusual illumination found around only this one person.

He met my mesmerized stare and announced in a quivering voice, "It was you." Further adding, "Both teams believe it's your ongoing efforts to keep moving past trauma and suicidal ideations that mystically connects you to Leone."

An otherworldly rush of frightful cold enveloped me. Absolutely spellbound, I simply asked, "Cut to the chase Jassiel. What precisely are you telling me?" He chillingly replied, "It was you that appeared as the ghost of Hotel San Carlos the other day."

This phantasmagoria is brought to by that guy responsible for things that go bump in the night. That poltergeist is Ron Blake and he can be found hexed in line at rblake5551@hotmail.com

About the Author

Ron Blake Ron Blake is an artist and writer born in Gary, Indiana and raised with four siblings in the Chicago suburbs. Blake graduated with an MPA from Indiana University. He is a proud honorary Pennsylvanian contributing articles for Erie Gay News since the Obama Presidency. Also contributing articles and Op-Ed pieces for numerous LGBT publications as well as for USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and Austin American-Statesman. He now resides in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. Instagram, Ron Blake (@blakelateshow) | TikTok, Ron Blake | LinkedIn