The San Carlos Hotel's Spooky Past: Meet Its Famous Enduring “Guests”
Downtown Phoenix has plenty of funky and upscale nighttime hangouts, but it can literally be a ghost town after dark.
The historic San Carlos Hotel, located at 202 N. Central Ave., has been named one of the most haunted hotels in America by paranormal websites. Built during the Roaring ‘20s, but mysterious events at the site may have happened long before the hotel opened.
Phoenix’s first school, Little Adobe, was constructed on this site in 1874, later replaced by Central School, a two-story brick building that matriculated pupils until 1916. Ghost hunters believe that some of the school's students may still be present, as hotel guests have reported hearing the voices of children running through the hallways or laughing in the basement. According to a 2005 ghost tour at the San Carlos Hotel, this paranormal activity is attributed to a water well in the basement that taps into a vortex portal for spirits.
After Central School was demolished, Dwight B. Heard, the founder of The Arizona Republic and the Heard Museum, along with Charles Harris, financed the construction of what they promoted as the finest hotel in Phoenix: the seven-story, 175-room San Carlos, which opened on March 20, 1928.
But only five weeks later, a guest from California named Leone Jensen jumped to her death from the hotel’s roof. She wrote three notes, including this despondent message: “Nervous breakdown; here for lung trouble; too weak to walk; lost appetite; doctors make me sick; have had too many. Just another lonesome and ill stranger.”
Jensen’s last requests ended with, “Goodbye and good luck. Think of me kindly.” The tragedy sparked decades of ghostly sightings of a similarly described young lady.
“I don’t believe in ghosts, but I can’t explain how guests from different decades have given the same description of a ghost they saw in rooms all over the hotel,” wrote Robert Melikian in the 2025 book, Forgotten Phoenix: The Art of Hotel Management, a compelling story of the San Carlos that combines family memoir with Phoenix history. The 69-year-old Melikian, whose family owned the hotel from 1973 to 2021, is one of the city’s leading advocates for historic preservation.
According to Melikian, the descriptions followed this framework: “I was awakened in the middle of the night by a strange feeling and saw a well-dressed woman standing at the foot of my bed. She didn’t scare me; it was calming. She only stared at me. She didn’t say anything. She was wearing an evening gown that flowed in the wind, accompanied by a hat, gloves, and a scarf. She stood there looking at me for about 10 seconds. It seemed like a very long time. Then she floated out the door. But I didn’t hear the door open or close.”
If you can muster the courage to learn more about these apparitions and other ghosts of Downtown Phoenix, Marshall Shore, Hip Historian, and Debe Branning, paranormal investigator and author, are leading Phoenix’s Original Haunted Tour for the 13th year on Saturday, October 25. The event “blends true history with tales of restless spirits, mysterious happenings, and the darker side of Arizona’s capital,” and includes a stop at the San Carlos Hotel. For tickets, visit History and Mysteries of Downtown Phoenix Walking Tour.
As Shore says, “Dare to walk with us—if you’re ready to meet Phoenix’s past.”
Douglas C. Towne is the editor of Arizona Contractor & Community magazine, www.arizcc.com