Ballplayers Say Pfister Hotel Haunted

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Ballplayers Say Pfister Hotel Haunted
May 27, 2009
WSN.com

MILWAUKEE -- A downtown Milwaukee landmark is ornate and opulent, historic -- and perhaps haunted.

WISN

Slideshow: Ballplayers Say Pfister Hotel Haunted

Professional baseball players have lots of eerie tales about the Pfister Hotel, 12 News' Mike Miller reports.

Most professional baseball and basketball teams stay at the Pfister when they're in town. Some members of the Brewers heard the ghost stories when they visited Milwaukee while playing for other teams.

"There was a few people that said there was particular floor -- I don't know which one. But there might be some chains rattling or something at night," Trevor Hoffman said.

"The halls seem like they're really creepy. You know, just really cringy a lot," Mike Cameron said.

A player for the Dodgers has been known to sleep with a baseball bat for protection after hearing odd noises. And two pairs of Florida Marlins players reportedly demand to share a room when they're in Milwaukee because they're afraid of ghosts.

One of the St. Louis Cardinals told Miller on Wednesday about something that seemed paranormal in his room at the Pfister.

"It was more like a moving light that kind of passed through the room. It was very strange. The room got a little bit chillier," Cardinal Brendan Ryan said. "Strange things. Strange things."

Guests claim they've seen the ghost of hotel founder Charles Pfister looking out over the lobby from the grand staircase. The balcony over the Imperial Ballroom is another place people say they've seen something strange.

Hotel spokesmen said any building more than 100 years old is going to have some "squeaks and creaks."

"There are so few hotels in the United States that have that grand dame status. The Pfister certainly is one of them. So there definitely is a heritage and a history here that you just don't find in other hotels across the country," said Pfister general manager Joe Kurth.

"I think it's a first-class hotel," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "You get first-class care. And if there's a ghost or two, they're good friends."

The Pfister recently completed a multimillion dollar restoration of all the guest rooms, down to the wallpaper and carpets.

The general manger said there has been "no sign of any spirits."