Spirits high at The Alaskan Hotel & Bar, nominated for USA Today’s ‘Best Haunted Hotel’ competition
- Mark Sabbatini
- 15 hours ago
- 4 min read
112-year-old Juneau landmark third in online voting as of Wednesday; voting continues until Sept. 22
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Bettye Adams says she wasn’t exactly spooked to hear the hotel she’s owned for nearly 50 years is a nominee for the Best Haunted Hotel in the U.S. But "I was really, really shocked."
"It took my breath away and I was like ‘OK, I'm not even going to try, this is ridiculous,’" she said Wednesday. "All the other nine entries are either world famous — like Lizzie Borden’s house, that’s one of them — and all these East Coast, big-city places, or outside the big cities like New York, and they're way beyond mansions. They're like castles."
As of Wednesday afternoon, however, The Alaskan Hotel & Bar was third among 20 nominees in USA Today’s Reader Choice award for the best haunted hotel. Online voting began Monday and ends at 8 a.m. Alaska time on Sept. 22. The top 10 winners will be announced Oct. 1.
Another Juneau business, Hearthside Books and Toys finished eighth in the newspaper’s "10 Best Independent Bookstores" poll when the results were announced in June.
The website for the haunted hotel contest states the 20 contenders were "nominated by an expert panel."
"It’s no surprise that the oldest operating hotel in Juneau, Alaska, is also known for being haunted," the description of Adams’ hotel states. "This historic Alaskan Hotel & Bar has a storied past, having served as a speakeasy and a brothel, and it was once shut down and even condemned. Several legends exist about the hotel, including one about Room 315. The story goes that the room was found to be covered in blood after a Navy soldier jumped out the window (no one ever found out what caused all the blood in the first place)."
Among the other nominees are the Farnsworth House Inn in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania ("this Victorian inn has housed everyone from Confederate sharpshooters to curious travelers since the early 1800s"), Hotel Cassadaga in Cassadaga, Florida ("droves of psychics are drawn to it each year"), and Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts (where she murdered her father and stepmother in 1892).
Adams and her husband, Mike, purchased The Alaskan in 1977 when she was a state employee with no innkeeping experience. But she said she’s never looked back on the decision and has few fears about owning a haunted hotel, aside from occasional guests whose interests are a bit too ghastly.
That includes the sailor who asked to stay in the infamous Room 315 because over the years employees and occupants declared a peculiar amount of paranormal activity was occurring, such as apparitions or objects being mysteriously moved. His stay didn’t end well, with the police knocking down the door and the man being medevaced elsewhere due to his injuries.
"I'll never rent to somebody who wants to see ghosts again — ever — in the room," Adams said. "I just say to them ’Ghosts aren't confined by walls.’"
The hotel that opened in 1913 has been featured in a multitude of articles, broadcasts and other historical narratives, with references to its early years focusing on earthly experiences such as the rough-and-tumble Gold Rush era and speakeasy service during Prohibition. But there are also haunting stories such as the 1917 murder of "Alice," reportedly murdered in Room 219 by a jealous husband who returned from the gold fields after a prolonged absence and discovered she was working as a prostitute to survive.
The Alaskan was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Among the establishment’s TV appearances are the Travel Channel’s reality makeover show "Hotel Impossible" in 2014 and the channel’s series "Portals to Hell" in 2019.
For the USA Today contest, Adams and other hotel staff are promoting the hotel with, among other things, security videos shared on social media that show a mysterious moment on the evening of April 7.
"Our security cameras picked up a mysterious whisper," a narrative on one of the posts states. "Sara, one of our front desk staff, was working alone when she clearly heard someone say, ‘help me,’ just outside the office door. Curious and slightly unnerved, she went to investigate, but found no one nearby."
That post has more than 270,000 views and another camera angle has more than 70,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.
Sara Snyder, who started working at the hotel last December, said other possible plans during the contest may include a gathering on Sept. 16 to commemorate the date the hotel originally opened. Beyond that, she and Adams said they’re considering new ways beyond the contest to emphasize the ethereal elements of The Alaskan given its newfound national exposure.
"I think something fun around Halloween," Snyder said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
