10/31/2025
Happy Halloween from the Archives! 👻
The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs is famous for its ghost stories, but the real horror came long before the hauntings began. 😱
✨ Originally built as a Gilded Age resort, the Crescent had fallen on hard times by the Great Depression. Enter Norman Baker, a flashy entrepreneur, radio showman, and self-proclaimed "doctor" with no medical training.
In 1937, Baker bought the hotel and transformed it into the “Baker Hospital.” He claimed to cure cancer with secret formulas and bizarre treatments. He promoted these treatments through the mail using pamphlets like this one, now in our collection. 💉
🟣 Baker painted the elegant hotel in shades of lavender and purple, filled the lobby with clashing reds, yellows, and blacks, and even blared music from a rooftop organ he invented, the Calliaphone, that could be heard half a mile away.
But Baker’s empire didn’t last. By 1940, he was convicted of mail fraud for spreading false medical claims through the U.S. Mail. 📜
After his downfall, the Crescent sat empty until it was restored as the haunted hotspot we know today. 🏨💀
Learn more about Norman Baker from the EOA: https://cals.click/BakerEOA
