The Union Station Hotel

Posted: 02.17.2025 | Updated: 02.17.2025

Trainyards aren’t always cheerful, picturesque scenes full of whistling workers, serene landscapes, and happy endings like you may see on an episode of Thomas and Friends. Some of them hide some dark secrets and even a ghost or two. 

Today’s blog is all about one hotel that serviced a railroad for over a century before time and tragedy took its toll on it. It’s in Nashville, Tennessee, and is called the Union Station Hotel, a name that’s very familiar to rail enthusiasts and ghost hunters alike. 

The Union Station Hotel has a long and storied history. While it’s been converted into a luxury hotel nowadays, it still has a few edgy reminders of its past, including ghosts that are said to haunt this historic place. 

Keep reading on to learn just who these ghosts could be and what they’re doing here. After you’re done, we’re sure you’ll want to learn even more about haunted Tennessee. The best way to do that is by booking an in-person ghost tour with Nashville Ghosts.

Is the Union Station Hotel Haunted? 

The Union Station Hotel certainly has the history to support the idea that it is haunted. From tragic love to a hub for soldiers going off to war, it is a haunting memorial to a young love and a pair of old ghosts.

Hotel History

The Union Station Hotel was initially designed by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad company to handle the increasing amount of train travel and passengers coming in and out of Nashville. The architect, Richard Montfort, elected to make it not just a hotel but a shining tribute to the growing prestige of the city. 

By all accounts, the design lived up to the vision, with beautiful Romanesque-style architecture, stained glass windows, and marble flooring sourced from local Tennessee mines. 

Of course, the most impressive of amenities was the clock tower. Built to impress, this tower featured one of the world’s earliest digital clocks and was adorned by an intricately sculpted statue of Mercury, the Roman god of messengers, shopkeepers, and thieves. 

However, you’ll be hard-pressed to find the statue today, as it blew off the tower in the 1950s during a storm. Of course, given that Mercury was known for his magic and winged helmet, perhaps the god himself usurped his statue and not the tornado! 

Due to this extravagance, the place opened to much fanfare in the year 1900, quickly becoming one of America’s busiest travel hotels. Famous passengers ranging from Hollywood legend Mae West to notorious gangster Al Capone stayed under its roof. It also achieved greater notoriety when soldiers shipping off to World War II used it as a travel hub before their journey. 

However, all golden ages come to an end. After rail travel declined in the 1960s, the Union State Hotel closed its doors in 1979, even after attempts were made to convert it into a federal government building.

But you can’t keep a good hotel down, and it was eventually saved thanks to the efforts of hotelier Leon Moore and a group of investors. It’s retained its old-school charm…and some of its old-school residents, too! 

Hauntings at the Union Station Hotel

The first old-school resident, and certainly the most notable, is Abigail. She’s famous not just for her lingering presence in the hotel today but also for her tragic backstory. She was one of the many girlfriends and wives who accompanied their lovers to the Union Station Hotel before they were shipped off to World War II. 

Her lover was a strapping young soldier whose name has been lost to history. By all accounts, they were madly in love and he promised to get married to her just as soon as he returned home a hero. Unfortunately, that beautiful dream would only remain a dream because he was killed overseas while fighting on the front lines of France. 

Despondent, Abigail could not live with the grief and came back to the station from which he departed and threw herself in front of an oncoming train. However, she’s evidently lingered around and is often blamed for various occurrences that happen in the hotel, particularly in Room 711. 

This room is known for unexpected temperature drops, lights that flicker back and forth no matter how many times the bulb is changed, and her face occasionally popping up in the room mirror, giving residents quite the scare.

It is thought that she chose this particular room to haunt due to its view of the train tracks; the last place she saw her love alive. Room 711 isn’t the only room thought to be haunted either.

Room 701 is known for guests having trouble sleeping due to a constant tapping noise coming from the bathroom and under the bed. No matter how many people investigate, the source of that sound can’t seem to be found. 

Curiously, the sound also only occurs at night.  

The Soldier By The Tracks 

However, there’s a chance that the ghosts in the Union Station Hotel aren’t just confined to inside the hotel. One particular ghost is said to only haunt the outdoors, on the trainyard tracks. And the identity of this ghost? There are those who believe it’s one or several of the passengers who died in a train derailment that happened in the yard. 

But some say that he’s none other than Abigail’s former lover. 

Yes, even though he died overseas, this determined young man knew that he had to make it back to Abigail somehow. Although it seems like he’s barred from entering the hotel proper in his afterlife, he can still wander around the grounds and the tracks. 

If the reports of Abigail looking out at the tracks from the window are true, this adds a certain degree of tragedy to their tale, as these two lovers are forever able to see each other but never embrace. 

And yet, there may be a little bit of hope for them after all. Recently, some hotel guests have reported seeing a male ghostly figure appear leaping from the third-floor building. 

Some speculate that this ghost may be someone who took their own life years back. However, there are a few who believe that it is Abigail’s soldier, finally able to visit her in her room and leaping back down to the tracks to return to his ghostly home. 

The full answer may never be known, but supporting the theory is that some have claimed to see the apparition of a woman jumping out after him, only to vanish just before she hits the ground. 

Perhaps it’s Abigail trying to follow her lover home?

Haunted Nashville

Whether those two ghosts are Abigail and her lover or not, the Union Station Hotel remains a fascinating part of American history, a unique tourist stop in Nashville, and a lure to paranormal investigators everywhere. 

If you liked this story and want to learn similar tales, check out our Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. They spotlight other offbeat ghost stories all over the United States. Checking our blog is another good way to stay up-to-date with all the latest ghost stories and haunted spots in America.  

If you want to explore Tennessee ghosts specifically, a ghost tour with Nashville Ghosts is the best way to do that. Our guides are knowledgeable and enthusiastic and can provide even more information on the area. 

Sources:

• https://www.unionstationhotelnashville.com/
• https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/union-station-hotel/history.php
• https://www.hhhistory.com/2021/08/the-history-of-union-station-nashville.html
• https://www.tennesseehauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/union-station-hotel.html