The Pfister Hotel

The Milwaukee businessman Guido Pfister and his son Charles F. Pfister set out to give the city a grand downtown hotel. Designed by Henry C. Koch in Romanesque Revival style, the Pfister opened in 1893 at a cost of more than $1 million, boasting fireproofing, electricity and thermostats in every room – rare luxuries at the time. Charles Pfister, its long-time owner, died in 1927.

In 1962 the hotel was bought by the Milwaukee hospitality entrepreneur Ben Marcus, whose company renovated the Victorian building and added a 23-storey tower behind it. Today it is a member of Historic Hotels of America and claims the largest collection of Victorian art of any hotel in the world.

Because it sits close to the Brewers’ ballpark, the Pfister is where many visiting Major League Baseball teams stay – and over the past two decades it has become the most famous haunted hotel in the sport. Players have described clothes and furniture moved in the night, radios, iPods and televisions switching themselves on, footsteps in locked rooms, scratching in the walls and flickering lights. Rumour credits the ghost of Charles Pfister himself, still keeping an eye on his hotel. Some players laugh it off; others have changed floors, slept with the lights on or booked rooms elsewhere.

The stories are now a ritual of the baseball season, retold by sportswriters every time a team comes to town. Skeptical players point to old wiring, thin walls and a busy hotel full of tired, superstitious athletes – but the Pfister’s reputation shows no sign of fading.

Reported by players and other guests: furniture and clothing moved overnight, electronic devices – radios, iPods, televisions – turning on, off or changing channels by themselves, footsteps in locked rooms, scratching in the walls, lights and TVs shutting off, flickering lights, unexplained noises, and a presence in bed.

Guest rooms and corridors throughout the hotel, especially in the original 1893 building; one player says he asked to move to a higher floor after a disturbing night.

The Pfister is a fixture of baseball lore, covered by ESPN, MLB.com and local Milwaukee media almost every season. The hotel’s Victorian art collection, lobby bar and history make it a Milwaukee landmark beyond its ghost stories.