Beautiful, Old, Haunted Skirvin-Hilton Hotel In Oklahoma City [PICTURES]

I mentioned the other day that I'd spent the weekend at a convention at a beautiful, classy, old, haunted hotel in Oklahoma City. Here are some pictures and a brief description of the hotel and my stay there.

The hotel was originally built in 1911 and must have been one of the high points of downtown Oklahoma City at that time.

We spent a lot of our time in meetings on the second floor, but there was a balcony that looked out over the main lobby.

Wow! Between the chandeliers and floor to ceiling drapes this was a spectacular place to stand and watch people come and go.

To the left is a view from standing in the lobby area looking past the registration counter into one of the seating areas.  Beautiful woodwork, lush carpets and comfy seating were everywhere you looked.

The second floor lobby area was just as beautiful.

More chandeliers, more places to sit and talk.

These gargoyle characters were all over the place! I can't remember being in a building with so many beautiful, yet slightly haunting, design elements.

Then there was this room on the left. It had flowing staircases at both ends and amazing chandeliers on the ceiling, which was two stories above the floor.

Wherever you looked there was artwork. Either bright, colorful paintings, beautifully framed photographs of Oklahoma City landmarks from a century ago, or bronze statues, many illuminated by sunlight filtering through 100 year old window glass.

There is a long story to go with this grand old hotel, its several owners over the years, the many distinguished guests who've stayed there, falling on hard times and closing down in the late 1980s, then being refurbished and opening up again under the Hilton flag in 2007, and, yes, its haunting.

The story of the haunting goes back to the hotel's namesake, W.B. Skirvin and one of the maids on staff during the 1930s. As the story goes, there was a pregnancy, there was a period of imprisonment above the 14th floor during and after the pregnancy, then there was an escape through a window. Or so the story goes. Fortunately for me, no one in the 100 or so people I was meeting with had any encounters. At least none that anyone 'fessed up to ...

But the one thing that I will never forget about the Skirvin-Hilton hotel is the lipstick red piano in the lobby!

You can find out more about the history of the Skirvin-Hilton hotel from the Oklahoma City Hotels site.

And you can learn more about it's ghost(s) from Haunted Houses dot com here.

Dave D.