Today on the Grave Talks, the Crescent Hotel.

The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas has a reputation of being one of the most haunted buildings in the United States.

It was originally built in 1886 as a resort or almost private club for the rich and famous,

but quickly became unmanageable and fell into disrepair.

In 1908, it was reopened as the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women.

This institution closed down in 1924 and then opened again in 1930 as a junior college.

After the college closed in 1934, the crescent was leased again as a summer hotel.

In 1937, a new owner, Norman G. Baker turned the place into a hospital and what was known at the time as a health resort.

Baker, who's a millionaire, inventor, and radio personality, styled himself as a doctor despite having no real medical training.

He claimed to have discovered a number of cures for various ailments, including cancer, and launched

frequent attacks on organized medicine, which he accused of being corrupt and often profit-driven.

Having been run out of Iowa for practicing medicine without a license, Baker moved his cancer

patients to Arkansas and advertised his new health resort at the Crescent.

His cure consisted primarily of drinking the area's natural spring water.

In 1940, federal charges were filed against Baker for mail fraud and he spent four years

in prison. The Crescent Hotel was left ownerless until 1946, at which point a group of

investors came in and purchased the property. On March 15th of 1967, the hotel was nearly burned to the

ground, the only living owner at the time being Dwight Nichols. The hotel then fell into many more

years of disrepair until

1997 when the hotel was spared what could have been one of the strangest turns in its history

as becoming a possible chicken farm. Luckily the new owners saw the potential and respected

the history of the building and turned it into what is now known as the Crescent Hotel.

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