Stone Lion Inn – Haunted Bed & Breakfast in Guthrie, Oklahoma

The Stone Lion Inn stands as one of Oklahoma’s most celebrated haunted locations. This Victorian mansion turned bed and breakfast welcomes guests seeking both historical charm and paranormal thrills.

Built in 1907, this three-story building has witnessed over a century of tragedy and mystery. The spirits that remain refuse to check out, making every night an adventure for brave visitors.

Guthrie itself is Oklahoma’s original capital city, brimming with turn-of-the-century architecture and ghostly tales. The Stone Lion Inn ranks among the town’s most actively haunted properties, drawing paranormal enthusiasts worldwide.

Owner Becky Luker has documented countless supernatural encounters since purchasing the property in 1986. She transformed the former funeral home and family residence into a popular paranormal destination.

Historical Background

F.E. Houghton commissioned the mansion’s construction in 1907 for his growing family. The prominent Guthrie businessman spared no expense on the impressive three-story structure featuring stunning architectural details.

The Houghton family occupied the home until tragedy struck in the 1920s. Their eight-year-old daughter Augusta fell gravely ill under mysterious circumstances that still puzzle researchers today.

Augusta’s death marked the beginning of the property’s dark reputation throughout the community. Some historical accounts suggest she died from poisoning, though official records remain frustratingly vague.

The home served multiple purposes over subsequent decades, including operating as a funeral parlor. Bodies were embalmed in the basement, adding another layer to the property’s macabre history.

The transition from funeral home to bed and breakfast occurred in 1986 under new ownership. Renovations uncovered disturbing artifacts and evidence of the building’s mortuary past hidden within the walls.

Paranormal Activity Summary

Guests consistently report the sound of children’s laughter echoing through empty hallways at night. Footsteps race across second-floor rooms when no living person occupies those spaces.

Objects move independently throughout the inn, particularly children’s toys left in certain rooms. Doors lock and unlock themselves despite modern deadbolts and security measures installed by concerned owners.

Cold spots manifest suddenly in specific locations, dropping temperatures by twenty degrees within seconds. Electronic devices malfunction regularly, with batteries draining instantly in particular areas of the building.

Shadow figures dart across doorways and disappear into walls before witnesses can focus clearly. The basement generates overwhelming feelings of dread that force even skeptical visitors to flee upstairs.

Disembodied voices call out names of guests who have never visited the inn before. The smell of flowers or funeral home chemicals appears without any physical source present.

Ghost Stories & Reports

Young Augusta Houghton remains the inn’s most famous permanent resident and most active spirit. Her childish giggles and running footsteps are heard almost nightly by guests and staff alike.

Witnesses describe seeing a little girl in old-fashioned clothing peering from second-floor windows. She appears approximately eight years old with long dark hair and a white Victorian-era dress.

Augusta particularly favors the room that once served as her childhood bedroom, now named after her. Guests staying in the Augusta Room report feeling tucked into bed by invisible hands at night.

One visitor woke to find her jewelry rearranged in deliberate patterns across the dresser. Another guest discovered their hairbrush moved multiple times despite placing it in different secured locations.

The spirit seems playful rather than malevolent, though her presence unsettles many overnight visitors. Children visiting the inn often report playing with “the little girl upstairs” whom parents cannot see.

A male entity haunts the basement area where bodies were once prepared for burial. His presence feels decidedly more threatening than Augusta’s innocent spirit, radiating anger and territorial behavior.

This unidentified male spirit pushes people on the basement stairs and slams doors violently. Several psychics claim he worked as an embalmer and resents visitors disturbing his workspace.

Staff members refuse to enter the basement alone after experiencing physical contact from unseen hands. One employee reported being shoved hard enough to leave bruises on her shoulders and back.

The third floor harbors a female presence that visitors describe as a protective maternal figure. She appears wearing 1920s-era clothing and watches over guests like a concerned mother or nurse.

Some theorize this woman served as Augusta’s nurse during her final illness and death. Others believe she represents one of the Houghton family members who died in the home.

Most Haunted Spot

The Augusta Room on the second floor experiences the most concentrated paranormal activity. Guests frequently request room changes after encountering the playful but persistent spirit of young Augusta Houghton.

The room features period-appropriate Victorian furnishings and vintage toys that often move overnight. Visitors photograph orbs and strange light anomalies that appear only in this specific bedroom space.

The basement follows closely as the second most actively haunted location within the property. The embalming area generates such intense negative energy that paranormal investigators consider it genuinely dangerous.

Cold spots in the basement remain year-round, even during Oklahoma’s sweltering summer months. Equipment malfunctions occur with disturbing regularity when investigators attempt to document activity in this space.

Can You Visit?

The Stone Lion Inn operates year-round as a fully functional bed and breakfast. Overnight stays range from standard room rates to premium paranormal investigation packages for serious ghost hunters.

Public ghost tours run on weekend evenings, allowing non-overnight visitors to experience the haunting. These guided tours cost approximately thirty dollars per person and last roughly ninety minutes.

Photography is enthusiastically encouraged throughout the property by owner and staff members. Many guests capture unexplained anomalies, orbs, and shadow figures in their vacation photographs.

The inn welcomes paranormal investigation teams by advance reservation and special arrangement. Groups can rent the entire property overnight for undisturbed research and evidence collection.

Regular operating hours for tours and check-in accommodate most schedules throughout the week. Special Halloween season events and murder mystery dinners book months in advance annually.

Best Time to Visit

October through early November represents peak paranormal activity according to longtime owner records. The anniversary of Augusta’s death in late autumn seems to intensify supernatural occurrences significantly.

Late night hours between midnight and four AM produce the most dramatic manifestations. Guests willing to stay awake during these predawn hours report the clearest spirit encounters.

Weekend nights generate more activity than weekday evenings for reasons investigators cannot explain. Some theorize that increased guest energy and excitement somehow fuels the paranormal phenomena.

First-Hand Accounts & Eyewitness Reports

A couple celebrating their anniversary reported waking to find Augusta sitting at the foot of their bed. The apparition smiled sweetly before fading away into the darkness of the bedroom.

Local news crews filming a Halloween special captured compelling audio evidence of child’s voice. The recording clearly says “come play with me” despite no children present during filming.

One guest documented her experience of being locked inside the Augusta Room from the outside. Staff had to remove the door from its hinges because the lock engaged impossibly from both sides.

A paranormal investigator recorded temperature drops from seventy-two degrees to forty-eight degrees in under thirty seconds. His thermal imaging camera captured a child-sized cold spot moving deliberately across the bedroom.

Multiple visitors report identical dreams about a little girl showing them around a house. They describe architectural details later confirmed to match the original 1907 floor plan before renovations.

Paranormal Investigations & Findings

The Stone Lion Inn has welcomed numerous professional paranormal investigation teams over the decades. Several prominent groups recorded evidence they consider among their most convincing supernatural documentation.

Electronic Voice Phenomena captured in the basement includes disturbing phrases and threats directed at investigators. One recording clearly states “get out” in a deep male voice when no men were present.

Electromagnetic field detectors spike dramatically in the Augusta Room without any electrical sources nearby. Investigators eliminated all conventional explanations for these consistent, repeatable readings over multiple visits.

Full-spectrum photography has captured shadow figures and light anomalies invisible to the naked eye. These images show human-shaped masses moving independently through rooms and passing through solid walls.

Several psychic mediums independently identified Augusta and described identical details about her death and personality. None had prior knowledge of the inn’s history before their separate investigations.

Local Legends & Myths

Local folklore insists that Augusta’s death resulted from accidental poisoning by her own father. The story claims F.E. Houghton mistakenly gave his daughter medicine intended for his wife.

Some versions suggest deliberate poisoning by a jealous family member or household servant. These darker tales lack historical evidence but persist in Guthrie’s oral tradition nonetheless.

Another legend claims the entire Houghton family died cursed deaths after disturbing Native American burial grounds. This story appears fabricated, as most family members lived long lives elsewhere after leaving Guthrie.

The basement supposedly contains a sealed room where the most disturbing funeral home activities occurred. Structural surveys reveal no hidden chambers, but the rumor refuses to die among local residents.

Cursed or Haunted Objects

A vintage child’s rocking chair in the Augusta Room moves independently with disturbing regularity. Staff members position the chair carefully each morning, only to find it relocated each night.

Guests report the chair rocking by itself with no air currents or vibrations to explain the movement. Some photograph the phenomenon, capturing the chair mid-rock with no visible cause for the motion.

An antique mourning portrait hanging in the main hallway allegedly follows visitors with its eyes. Multiple guests independently report feeling watched by the stern-faced woman depicted in the painting.

Victorian-era toys placed in the Augusta Room as atmospheric decoration frequently rearrange themselves overnight. Staff members document the positions daily and discover significant changes each morning without exception.

A music box plays spontaneously despite remaining wound down and deliberately kept silent. The tinkling melody echoes through empty hallways at unexpected moments throughout the day and night.

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