I’ve stayed at several haunted hotels in my time making this blog. They have all been really fun and given me good stories. As far as haunted hotels in Albuquerque, The Hotel Parq Central is one that has stood out. And it stood out for many reasons. If you have ever been to Albuquerque, you know the town has a vibe. It’s not for everybody, but if you do ever find yourself there, definitely check out the Hotel Parq Central.
The Santa Fe Railroad Company built the building in 1926 as the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital. They built it primarily to give medical treatment to the railroad workers and their families. As the railroad industry declined and workers started getting private insurance, there was no need for the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital.
History of Hotel Parq Central
In 1982, the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital closed. A group of psychiatrists bought it and turned it into Memorial Hospital. Memorial Hospital was a psychiatric hospital for children and young adults. It operated from the mid-1980s to 2007.
For a couple of years, the building sat vacant. A group of investors bought the property with the vision of turning it into a boutique hotel. In 2010, it officially opened as the Parq Central Hotel. Locals widely consider it one of the most haunted hotels in Albuquerque.
Becoming one of the most Haunted Hotels in Albuquerque
And I have to say it is a beautiful hotel. For the price I paid, what I got was honestly one of the best deals I’ve ever gotten on a hotel. It felt like a Marriott, but I paid like $160 for a night. They could have charged double that just by how nice of a place it was.
But this isn’t like a normal travel blog. This is a haunted travel blog. Let’s talk ghosts. So as you can imagine, a 100-year-old building serving as a hospital and psychiatric ward carries some energy. This has led to its legacy as one of the most haunted hotels in Albuquerque. Hotel staff and guests have reported some strange phenomena.
Hauntings at the Hotel
Guests most commonly report cold spots and disembodied voices. They happen all over, but I’ve heard the third floor has the highest reports. Guests commonly report their bed sheets being pulled off at night, and shadow figures in the hallways are commonly reported. There’s a fitness center that was part of the morgue. I didn’t get to see it because I didn’t know about it when I was there. But there is a big vault-like door in the fitness center where bodies were cremated.
The top floor has a fair amount of energy. Guests claim to see an apparition of a woman wandering around. The top floor also has a bar called The Apothecary Rooftop Lounge. I had a drink and talked with the bartender. I knew she was cool because she had bloody chef knife earrings on; she was one of us. For her, the most common experience was the elevator controlling itself. She’d be working alone and the elevator would come up to the top floor and open with nobody on it.
Stories form the Staff
Back down in the hotel lobby, I talked to the front desk about hauntings. He said yes, it was haunted, but not in a “normal” way. He said weird energy lingered and affected guests in bizarre ways. One night he got a call from a room, and the woman staying there said she had cut her finger and asked for a first aid kit. He grabbed one and headed to her room. When he got there, the door was cracked open. He knocked and no one answered. He pushed the door open and saw her on the bed with her knees to her chest, arms around them. She was rocking back and forth, muttering about “she came in here” and “it was her.” The front desk attendant just placed the first aid kit on the bed and backed out of the room.
The next day he saw her, and she was fine, acting totally normal. She didn’t even remember him. He said she was a normal person, in town for business. She wasn’t drunk or on drugs when it happened. It was just some messed-up energy getting inside her head.
Ghost Hunting at Hotel Parq Central
As far as ghost hunting here, it was super fun. There is the main building, a second smaller building, and a courtyard/garden. All of it is fenced in, so it felt like I had a private ghost hunting experience. I was able to walk around the whole property at night hunting. And I went everywhere; the lobby, the dining room, each floor in the main building. The courtyard and garden were my favorite. I got super eerie vibes of being watched and had the most EMF activity there.
Hotel Parq Central is Made for this
The hospital staff used the smaller building for administrative purposes. Today it’s rooms for guests and was open for me to poke around. I didn’t find much there, as no patients stayed in there, so not a lot of energy was hanging out. It’s still cool to check out because the whole property gave me vibes of the mansion from Resident Evil.
The hallways in the main building feel super liminal. Since the building was built as a hospital and not for hospitality, the hallways felt off. There’s also a bunch of artifacts and old pictures of the former hospital staff. Again, going back to my Resident Evil reference, it felt like there was some mystery to uncover.
Should You Visit One of the Most Haunted Hotels in Albuquerque?
So if you’re looking for haunted hotels in Albuquerque, I recommend staying at the Hotel Parq Central. The whole experience was top notch. I love when the staff is like, yea this place is haunted, and then gives examples. The price is well worth it. It’s a 10-minute drive to Old Town Albuquerque, another super haunted place. You can even check out one of these haunted tours while you’re there.
Happy hunting.
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