Formerly: The Elms Hotel
Excelsior Springs, Missouri · Founded 1888 · Building: 1911–1912
Excelsior Springs' third Elms Hotel opened in 1912 after two wooden predecessors burned, later becoming Harry Truman's election-night refuge in 1948.
The Elms Hotel & Spa traces its resort lineage to an 1888 wooden hotel built for Excelsior Springs' mineral-water visitors. Fire destroyed that first hotel in 1898 and a second in 1910, leading to the present limestone building's opening on September 7, 1912. The hotel became nationally associated with Harry S. Truman, who checked in secretly on election night in 1948.
The first Elms Hotel opens as a wooden resort hotel for visitors to Excelsior Springs' mineral waters.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"; Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024
Fire destroys the first wooden Elms Hotel. The hotel reports no fatalities or injuries.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"; The Elms history packet, July 2022
A second Elms Hotel opens on the site.
Source: Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024; The Elms Hotel and Spa historical summaries
A second fire destroys the 1909 Elms Hotel.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"; The Elms history packet, July 2022
The third and current Elms Hotel, built of native limestone, opens.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"; Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024
President Harry S. Truman checks into The Elms in secrecy on election night and is awakened early the next morning with news of his victory.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"
The Elms Hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: National Park Service, Missouri National Register listings
The property enters the Destination Hotels brand after a transaction involving Horizon–Midway Group and Two Roads Hospitality.
Source: Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024; hotel ownership and operation summaries
A Hyatt-era renovation of guest rooms, spa facilities, pools, restaurants, and public areas is completed.
Source: Edge Magazine, November 27, 2024
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The Elms' own historical account says Truman checked in secretly on November 2, 1948 and was awakened at 4:30 a.m. with news of his victory. This audit did not verify the candidate's more elaborate account of a mineral bath, meal, or precise Secret Service arrangements.
The hotel has a longstanding Al Capone association repeated in local history, journalism, and paranormal-tour sources. This audit did not find a guest register, law-enforcement record, or contemporaneous reporting that independently proves Capone stayed at the hotel or held the alleged basement events.
Ghost-tour accounts connect the pool and basement areas with alleged Prohibition violence and paranormal experiences. The reviewed material does not establish an identified gunman, a documented shooting at the hotel, or a paranormal cause for reported experiences.
The Elms is marketed and reported as a paranormal destination, and Ghost Hunters filmed an investigation there. This documents a modern haunted reputation and media treatment, not the existence of ghosts or the historical accuracy of individual legends.
The first Elms Hotel opened in 1888 but burned in 1898. A second hotel burned in 1910. The current limestone building opened on September 7, 1912.
Recent reporting identifies The Elms Hotel & Spa as a Destination by Hyatt hotel. This audit found conflicting secondary accounts about the current title owner, so it confirms the operator/brand but does not name a current property owner.
That a crew visited and filmed is usually easy to verify. What they claim to have captured is a separate, and usually lower-rated, claim.
Syfy documents a Ghost Hunters episode titled "Something In The Water," Season 9, Episode 12, set at The Elms Resort and Spa. The episode's production and broadcast are documented; its paranormal interpretations and any claimed evidence remain unverified.
Everything below has been reported by two or more independent sources — this is an informational record of what's said about this place, not a verified account of paranormal activity. Still Open America doesn't certify hauntings as real.
The basement lap-pool and former speakeasy area are associated with reports of a man in white or 1920s-era clothing, unexplained splashes or rippling water, cold spots, and people feeling pushed. The figure is commonly said to be a gambler or gangster killed during an illegal Prohibition-era gathering.
No historical record reviewed confirmed an identified shooting victim or a fatal Prohibition-era incident at the hotel or pool area.
Guests and paranormal-tour accounts describe childlike splashing, swimming sounds from an otherwise empty pool, and reports of an unseen child grabbing ankles or brushing against swimmers. These stories are generally presented as a recurring pool-area activity rather than tied to a confirmed historical identity.
Staff and guests have reported seeing a benevolent woman in a 1920s-style maid uniform on the third floor. The figure is said to appear around housekeeping areas, inspect rooms, and then disappear.
A female presence is reported wandering the hotel while searching for a child. Accounts attribute hair pulling, objects thrown or moved, and uneasy encounters in guest-room and hallway areas to this figure.
Guests and staff have reported chandeliers moving in the ballroom, apparitions of women in white or servers, and unexplained activity during events. The Ghost Hunters investigation concluded that air conditioning could account for the chandelier movement and that the reported man in white could be produced by reflections, while other reported phenomena remained part of the program's account.
Guests report fresh beds developing unexplained indentations, furniture or luggage moving, doors or handles moving without an apparent person, and strange sounds in guest rooms, particularly on the fourth floor. The reports are not consistently connected to one named presence.
Across the hotel, staff, guests, and investigators have reported shadow figures, disembodied voices, heavy breathing, a woman screaming or howling, hallway noises, and loud clanging around 1:30 a.m. The stories do not consistently identify a single source for this wider pattern of reported sound and shadow activity.
The current stone building of The Elms Hotel dates to 1888.
The 1888 wooden hotel burned in 1898, and its 1909 replacement burned in 1910. The current native-limestone hotel opened on September 7, 1912.
Source: The Elms Hotel & Spa, "Elms History"; Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024
Al Capone's Elms stay and basement parties are documented history.
Capone's association with The Elms is a long-repeated local story, but this audit did not identify independent contemporaneous records proving his stay or the alleged basement parties.
Source: Kansas City Star, May 15, 2024; Legends of America, "Haunted Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Missouri"
A Ghost Hunters episode proves that The Elms is haunted.
Ghost Hunters documented a filmed investigation at The Elms. The fact that an episode was made is separate from, and does not prove, claims of paranormal activity.
Source: Syfy, Ghost Hunters, "Something In The Water," Season 9, Episode 12
The Elms survived because the resort was rebuilt twice after fire and repeatedly reinvented as Excelsior Springs' mineral-water economy changed. Its 1912 limestone construction answered the vulnerability of the earlier wooden buildings, while its Truman association and spa history gave later owners a usable historic identity. The present hotel operates under Hyatt's Destination by Hyatt brand, with recent investment including a renovation completed in 2022.
Harry S. Truman checked into The Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs on November 2, 1948 to avoid election-night crowds. The hotel says he was awakened at 4:30 a.m. the next morning with news that he had won the election.
The Elms Hotel burned twice. The first wooden hotel, opened in 1888, burned in 1898. A second hotel opened in 1909 and burned in 1910. The present limestone hotel opened on September 7, 1912.
Al Capone's alleged stays at The Elms are longstanding local lore, repeated by the hotel-history and paranormal-tour tradition. This audit did not find independent contemporaneous evidence such as a guest register, police record, or newspaper report confirming that he stayed there.
The Elms has a well-established modern haunted reputation and was investigated on Syfy's Ghost Hunters. The television production and the hotel’s ghost-tour culture are documented, but individual stories about deaths, apparitions, or paranormal evidence remain unverified.
401 Regent Street, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024
(816) 630-5500
Confirm current access to the lobby, restaurants, historical displays, spa, tours, pool areas, and events directly with the hotel before visiting.