The Haunted Missouri Resort That Still Smells of Perfume and Cigars

Missouri’s Elms Hotel and Spa in Excelsior Springs blends elegant architecture with stories that linger in the nose as much as the mind. Visitors still report traces of floral perfume and smoky scents in quiet corridors, especially near the old basement lap pool.

If you love history told through buildings and the sensory echoes they carry, this guide walks you through the resort’s most atmospheric corners. Read on to decide where to listen, where to look, and where a whisper of scent might change how you experience place.

Arrival into an Era of Elegance

Walking up to The Elms Hotel and Spa in Excelsior Springs you meet a limestone giant, its blocky walls and steel bones a testament to early 1900s resilience. The building standing today opened in 1912 as the third iteration of the Elms after two earlier hotels on the site burned.

The lobby’s polished wood, patterned tile, and vintage lighting create a visual overture that makes you slow your step and take in the details. From the facade to the reception, the building gently cues your imagination toward an era when mineral springs shaped travel decisions.

The air sometimes carries a faint floral sweetness near the stairwells, a trace that regulars note without fanfare. Whether it is perfume or the aroma of aged wood and wax, the effect suits the hotel’s storied reputation. Before even checking in, you feel a narrative unfolding around you, steeped in craftsmanship, hospitality, and the quieter side of Midwestern elegance.

Mineral Springs, Baths and Resort Culture

Long before ghost tours, the story of The Elms began with water. Excelsior Springs gained fame for mineral wells, and the hotel embraced that wellness identity with baths, pools, and quiet lounges designed for lingering. When you step into the spa corridors today, the tile underfoot and the soft acoustics evoke that therapeutic heritage, even as modern amenities add comfort.

This context matters. Scent reports in these areas take on historical weight, suggesting traces of past guests who traveled to Missouri seeking renewal. The pool decks, with their gentle echoes, feel like amphitheaters for memory. Staff emphasize the resort’s health-forward roots on tours, weaving in verified accounts from local archives.

The sensory mix of humidity, stone, and faint fragrance turns the spa zones into a living museum. You do not just see the past. The atmosphere wraps around you like a story you can breathe, reminding visitors that wellness culture, not fear, first defined The Elms.

Prohibition, Hidden Rooms and Murmurs Below

Step downstairs and the tone shifts. The basement’s narrow passages, service doors, and the entrance to the old lap pool hint at chapters written out of sight. During Prohibition, auxiliary rooms in this zone reportedly hosted parties and gambling, according to regional histories and interview collections that reference local lore.

Visitors today sometimes report a faint smoky or cigar-like aroma at odd hours, a detail that shows up in multiple guest accounts rather than in hotel records. The sensation is fleeting, more suggestion than certainty, yet it recurs enough to be documented in tour narratives. Architecture does some of the storytelling here, with stone walls that hold sound and light differently than the floors above.

When I walked the corridor, the silence felt layered, like a pause waiting to be filled. Missouri’s complicated relationship with vice and entertainment gives context to these accounts. Whatever you believe, the basement leaves an imprint, blending authenticated history with whispers that refuse to settle.

Perfume in Quiet Hallways

The third-floor corridor is where many guests report catching a floral note in the air when no one is around. Accounts collected by local historians describe a figure in a classic uniform, seen briefly near doorways, then gone. I stood there near dusk, listening for footsteps and noticing how the lighting softens corners and frames the long sightline.

The invisible details are what stay with you. Perfume without a source. A hush after a distant click. Staff acknowledge these stories candidly, neither promising spectacles nor dismissing experiences. In Missouri, where several historic lodgings embrace their folklore, The Elms feels unusually measured about its claims.

The hallway’s design, with modest sconces and muted colors, amplifies subtlety rather than drama. If a scent surfaces, it arrives like a memory, graceful and unhurried. Whether spectral or simply a lingering trace of earlier guests, the moment invites attention to the delicate ways a building keeps time.

The Lap Pool Below and Its Echoes

Down at the lap pool, the acoustics change your perception. Every ripple and step seems more pronounced, and even a whisper rides the tile. Regional folklore ties this area to a tragic dispute from the hotel’s wilder years, a thread repeated by tour guides who carefully separate legend from verified fact.

Visitors sometimes describe a trace of smoky scent near the entry or on the stairwell landing. The source remains undetermined, yet the sensory pattern recurs in guest notes. What is clear is the power of the room itself. The tile, the still water, and the low lighting compose a setting where small details feel momentous.

I watched reflections flicker along the walls and thought about how memory travels. In Missouri, many historic pools have evolved into decorative features, but this one still tells a story. It is not loud. It is a quiet echo that asks you to listen closely.

Fires, Rebuilding and a Stubborn Spirit of Place

The Elms stands today because earlier versions did not. Two devastating fires preceded the current limestone structure, prompting a commitment to steel and stone that still defines the silhouette. That history matters when you walk the grounds. Rebuilding can create a stronger bond between a community and its landmark, and Excelsior Springs rallied around the resort’s return.

Guides point to period photographs and municipal records that corroborate the timeline. Guests who report unusual scents often do so alongside observations about the building’s solidity, as if permanence and ephemera coexist. The stones feel immovable, yet the air shifts.

You sense the resilience of Missouri hospitality, patient and steady, despite setbacks. On quiet mornings the facade glows softly, and you understand how a regional icon survives by adapting. The resort is not a relic. It is a palimpsest, and each restoration layer adds depth to the experiences people carry home.

Cold Spots, Footfalls and Fleeting Aromas

Across guest reports, three sensations recur in specific zones near the pool and along upper-floor hallways. Brief chills that move like a draft. Light footfalls where no one appears. A whiff of perfume or a smoky trace that fades almost as soon as you notice it.

While such experiences are subjective, the consistency is striking, echoing mentions in local media features and community archives. On my visit, I paused at a landing where two corridors meet and felt a drop in temperature that quickly lifted. Was it airflow, or something harder to name. The architecture encourages curiosity, with sightlines that bend around corners and staircases that reveal and conceal in the same moment.

Missouri travelers familiar with historic stays will recognize the pattern. The Elms does not overwhelm with theatrics. It nudges the senses, and the most memorable moments are small enough to doubt yet compelling enough to remember.

Architecture as Amplifier

The building itself shapes every story told here. High ceilings lengthen echoes, stone absorbs and releases sound unevenly, and corridors frame long vanishing points that intensify anticipation. Design choices from the early 1900s, preserved and refreshed over time, create a setting where minor sensations feel significant.

A faint scent carries farther under these conditions, catching attention at the edge of perception. Preservation teams have kept the textures authentic, from the weight of the banisters to the look of original-style fixtures, documented in renovation notes and historic images.

When people speak of perfume or smoky traces, they are responding within a carefully maintained acoustic and visual container. Many Missouri landmarks share this dynamic, but The Elms refines it. Architecture here is not background. It is the instrument, and visitors bring the melody. Whether you arrive for history, relaxation, or a brush with the uncanny, the design makes sure you hear every note.

Practical Tips for the Curious Visitor

If you hope to experience the building’s quieter signatures, plan with intention. Request a floor near the historic corridors or ask about access to the basement pool area during appropriate hours or tours. Bring a small flashlight for dim corners, and keep notes so you can track where and when you notice unusual sensations.

The hotel has hosted guided experiences that interweave verifiable history with collected anecdotes, and staff can share current offerings listed on the official site. Respect shared spaces and other guests, since silence enhances the atmosphere. Missouri weekends draw more visitors, so consider a weekday stay for calmer halls.

Watch lighting transitions near stairwells and long corridors where acoustics magnify subtle cues. If a scent appears, pause rather than chase it. The best moments often arrive when you are standing still, giving the building room to speak in its own careful voice.

Context Among Missouri’s Haunted Stays

The Elms is part of a statewide tapestry of historic stays that blend hospitality with folklore. In Kansas City, the Savoy’s preserved facade and grand lobby make a strong architectural statement, and guests have long discussed odd sounds and scents. Carthage’s Grand Avenue Bed and Breakfast sits in a stately home where visitors have linked nostalgia to unexplained moments.

Cape Girardeau’s Rose Bed Inn occupies a century-old residence with stories that surface in guestbooks and local features. St. Louis travelers often mention the ornate rooms of the Lemp Mansion when discussing Missouri’s best known haunts. Each property approaches its history differently, yet all lean on the power of place.

When compared with these venues, The Elms stands out for its mineral springs legacy and the measured way staff frame lore against documented facts. That balance, grounded in architecture and careful storytelling, keeps the experience credible and compelling.

Reflection on Scent, Memory and Enduring Hospitality

After a few days on the grounds, I came to think of scent as a guide rather than a gimmick. The floral note in a quiet hallway, the fleeting smoky trace near a stair, both feel like signals pointing to overlooked details. You notice the craftsmanship, the way light gathers in corners, the careful preservation that keeps the resort relevant.

In this reading, the haunting becomes a conversation about continuity. The Elms carries forward Excelsior Springs history while welcoming modern travelers who want rest and story in one place. Missouri has many storied properties, but few that balance wellness heritage with folklore so gracefully.

As you check out, the building invites one last long look back. The air seems calmer, and the narrative settles into memory. What remains is hospitality, a sense of care embedded in stone and wood, and the subtle suggestion that some guests never truly leave.