The Crescent Hotel was built in 1886 by Powell Clayton, who was the 9th governor of Arkansas. It first ran as a luxury hotel for the wealthy until 1907. In 1908 the hotel was used for the Crescent college and conservatory for young women. It was one of the first accredited all women’s colleges, and a lot of the curriculum taught is still being taught in colleges today. Once the Great Depression hit the United States, the hotel was closed down for 4 years. And in 1937, Norman Baker bought the Crescent Hotel and turned it into a cancer hospital.

Norman Baker claimed he had discovered a cure for cancer, and people flooded to the hotel in hopes to be cured. Long story short, Norman Baker was a fraud, a charlatan, and a quack, and his “cancer cure” was anything but a cure. He was using human beings as guinea pigs, and getting rich while doing so. His methods were painful, devious, and evil in nature. Many of his patients died under his care, yet he kept promoting in his magazine and over his popular radio station, that he had a 100% success rate. In 2019 they discovered over 500 bottles filled with human body parts buried behind the hotel that were linked to the fraudulent doctor.

Today, the Crescent is up and running as a hotel once again. The hotel’s breathtaking victorian beauty nestled into the highest point of the Ozark mountains, has become one of the most beloved travel destinations in the United States. Over the year’s, the Crescent Hotel has also earned the title of “the most haunted hotel in America”. Spirits from the hotel’s past are known to roam the halls and grounds of this beautiful hotel, and people from all over come to experience this for themselves.