Is the Westin-Poinsett Hotel haunted? While we can neither confirm nor deny, we’re here to give you some history so you can decide for yourself.
The Poinsett Hotel, built in 1925, was erected a few feet away from the former Mansion House Hotel downtown, after it was demolished in 1924. The roughly $1.5 million hotel was named after Joel R. Poinsett, an SC politician who as the Secretary of War under President Martin Van Buren.
Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t make a profit until 1930, after J. Mason Alexander took over. The hotel boomed until the 1970s, when chain hotels took over in popularity. It closed its doors in 1975.
After that, it was acquired by a developer in who turned it into a retirement home. In 1987, the building once again closed its doors due to a foreclosure and a failure to pass fire code inspections.
It sat empty until 1997 when Steve Dopp and Greg Lenox purchased + renovated the vacant building, and The Westin-Poinsett that we know and love today re-opened in 2000.
Now for the scary stuff. The most well-known story is about the man in the black coat. According to Greenville360, “guests have reported seeing an elderly man appear in their room, only to vanish seconds later.”
A specific patron claimed to see an ‘undiscernable figure’ standing in front of a third floor window, dressed in a black coat. He took it off, and vanished into thin air.
Some say the man is Dr. Robinson Earle, who was killed outside the site of the Westin-Poinsett Hotel in 1838. But that’s only a spectre-lation.
Whether it’s haunted or not, the Westin-Poinsett is arguably one of the coolest buildings downtown, and you should stop by for a visit... if you dare.
