Lumber Barons – The Water Street Inn

3 Reviews

1. Nope

   The smelly odor is very much real based on a first hand experience. On a company retreat stayed in room 201. No warning that this place could be haunted and stay in hotels alone for work all of the time. I clearly experienced someone getting into bed with me with a very strong B.O. and after lofting the blankets a few times and smelling myself to make sure it was not me the strong smell completely went away. After that about 30 minutes later As soon as I shut the TV off to try and go to sleep someone or something exhaled directly into my right ear. I heard and felt the breath, jumped out of bed like a ninja, flipped the light on ready to fight someone only to find myself completely alone. I did not sleep at all that night. I was skeptical until this event but a firm believer after this experience. It honestly took months before I was able to comfortably sleep in a room alone again and took years to build the courage to look further into this place to confirm it wasn’t just me. Fuck this place, I did not sign up for this shit and the hotel should be obligated to inform guests before sticking them in this room. There are people that seek this stuff out but I am not one of those so next time you randomly assign rooms make people aware of the possibility of an encounter. I only give this 5 stars based on the website this is posted on but it was for sure a 0 star experience for this guy.

   July 23, 2026 at 1:13 am Reply
2. admin (Listing owner)

   THIS WAS SENT IN BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR REGARDOM THE HAUNTED LUMBER BARONS WATER STREET INN.
   In the late 1970’s, I worked for a firm that had its offices in the Lumbermen\’s Exchange Building ( its proper historical name) which now houses this Inn. The legend of “The Rank Rebel” –the ghost of drunken CSA veteran was already LONG established. Supposedly he went on a bender in the old saloon and was taken to a second story room to “sleep it off”. Unfortunately, he never awoke, going to his “eternal sleep”. The office gals claimed he would occasionally make his unseen presence known by his strong body odor and footsteps in the then unoccupied 2d story offices in the S.W. corner of the building. I can\’t shed any light on the Confederate attribution because I am unaware of any visual manifestations. This story has been much discounted by recently arrived “historical experts”, since the building was built in 1890 and, to them, a rebel in “staunchly Union” MN is unlikely. I grew up in Stillwater (4th gen.), and can perhaps shed some light on how this could be. After the Civil War, many Southerners had virtually nothing to go back to, so they moved North to homestead and start new lives (especially in southern MN). Growing up, I had neighbors that had a black sheep ancestor who rode (and died) with the James Gang. The south hill neighborhood of town is widely planted with catalpa trees (supposedly planted by homesick transplants from Dixie), and a field on Osman Avenue by the old school had been used as a tobacco field by one of these sons of the South. My own ancestors were close neighbors of the Younger brothers in MO and according to family legend were known to occasionally swap horses with them. When the surviving Younger brothers were finally paroled in the early 1900\’s, Cole Younger was the guest of honor at a dinner party held by the prison surgeon in his home! Another objection was the fact he had appeared in his CSA regalia a quarter century after the war\’s end. As far as I know there is no rule that the dear departed have to appear in the togs they died in. In fact, it seems more likely that a troubled spirit would appear in the robes of the most important and life-changing times of their life…

   September 20, 2018 at 4:07 pm Reply
3. Emma

   My family (mom, step dad, sister, and me) stayed at the Water Street Inn early October 2017 for a wedding. It gave us all a unsettling vibe due to the vintage decor and furnishings and it felt like stepping into a different time period. The second room with a pull out couch where me and my sister slept was very large and empty besides the random bath tub, a wardrobe that looks exactly like it’s the doorway to Narnia, and an old fireplace. If that doesn’t scream creepy I don’t know what does, not to mention the third story window in our room was boarded up…right next to stains on the carpet… suspicious. ME And my sister aren’t exactly close with each other and would never hug each other but when it came time to go to sleep she made me turn the lights off and run through the large dark empty room to the bed even though I was just as fearful as her. We have never hugged that tightly in our entire lives; the whole night we were squeezing each other out of fear. I looked up “haunted water street inn and found an account about waking up to the tv turned off and he remote missing not to mention the strange presence in the room and the smell of extreme body odor. No we did not encounter any supernatural occurrences ourselves, but it was the perfect environment for paranormal activity.

   July 21, 2018 at 2:58 pm Reply