Amarillo, the Yellow City of the Texas Panhandle, is a railroad town that became a Route 66 boomtown, and a century of cattle deals, oil money, dance-hall nights, and hospital wards has left it with more ghost stories than most cities of its size. If you're building a dark tourism road trip, Amarillo rewards you twice: the history is real and well preserved, and the haunted lore is deliciously layered on top.
First, you'll get a brief history of the city. Then, you'll read about the hauntings and ghost stories locals still share, from a Route 66 dance hall to an abandoned hospital and a lost apartment building.
A Brief History of Amarillo
Amarillo exists because of the railroad. Construction of a line across the Panhandle led to the city's founding in April 1887. The name is Spanish for "yellow" and comes from Amarillo Lake.
The city grew into the Panhandle's commercial center on the strength of cattle, then oil and gas, and later helium, which earned it the nickname Helium Capital of the World. In 1921, a stretch of Sixth Street became Amarillo's first paved road, and when Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, it ran right through that neighborhood. Amarillo was the only large urban city on the route's 177 miles across Texas, so a steady stream of motorists stopped here for food, gas, a bed, and a dance.
The Dust Bowl years of the 1930s hit the Panhandle hard. Decades later, Interstate 40 pulled traffic away from the old road, and that decline left many Route 66 buildings standing. Today the Route 66 Sixth Street Historic District is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it is the best place to start a visit.
The Nat (it was closed so I couldn’t check it out)
The Nat: Route 66's Haunted Dance Palace
The Amarillo Natatorium, known to everyone as "The Nat," opened in July 1922 as an indoor swimming pool. By 1926, it had been converted into a dance hall, and during the Depression, businessman Harry Badger bought it and rebranded it as the Nat Dine and Dance Palace. It sits at 2705 SW 6th Avenue on old Route 66, and it is a contributing property in the Sixth Street Historic District, which was listed on the National Register in 1994.
Today, the building is a large antique mall, and its ghost stories are part of what makes it unique. People have reported the following activity:
A lady in white, seen from time to time.
Ghostly dancers. When bands still played at the Nat, a spectral couple was said to glide across the hardwood floor.
A cold spot in the stairwell, one of the most regularly reported oddities, along with chilly spots on the upper floor.
Phantom music. Past investigations turned up audio anomalies described as singing or drum solos.
Photo from Preservation Texas
The Herring Hotel: Oil Boom Grandeur, Locked Doors
Cornelius Taylor Herring finished his hotel in 1927 after two years of construction and a reported $1 million price tag. At 14 floors, it was Amarillo's tallest building, one of three built during the Panhandle oil boom. Its basement held the Old Tascosa Room, paneled in pine and decorated with murals by local artist H.D. Bugbee, where much of the town's early deal-making happened.
The Herring closed as a hotel in 1966, served as government offices in the 1970s, and has stood vacant since 1978. It sits at 3rd and Pearce downtown, right beside the police station,. Locals say it is haunted, though the stories are mostly atmosphere: a boarded-up tower, a lost grand mezzanine, and the sense that something is still waiting inside. A 2022 headline reported plans to restore it with an anticipated opening in 2029.
You can't wander in, but the exterior is worth the stop for any photographer or history fan.
St. Anthony's Hospital: Exorcisms and Echoes
St. Anthony's began in 1901 when Sisters sent from San Antonio opened a two-story red brick building with room for just ten patients. It grew with the city, adding a nursing school in 1909 and a much larger "Greater St. Anthony's" during the 1920s oil boom. By its end, it was a 565,000-square-foot complex on Amarillo Boulevard, and it closed in the early 2000s after merging into Baptist St. Anthony's.
Abandoned buildings attract legends, and this one has plenty. The best-known claim is that 76 exorcisms were performed there between 1909 and 1931, a figure an urban explorer passed along. Treat it as lore rather than documented fact, but it fuels the stories of footsteps, voices, and shadows in the halls. Local photographers who have been inside report that many rooms were left as they were, with patient files and old equipment still in place.
The ending is unexpectedly hopeful: the building is being transformed into senior living, so the legend may soon have residents.
More Amarillo Ghost Stories
The Anderson sisters and the Rio Petroleum building. Josephine and Aleck Anderson arrived in Amarillo in 1926, and Josephine's sister Sara Morris eventually joined them in a grand home on West 15th. Local folklore says Aleck left the house to the two sisters, who then stopped speaking but kept living under one roof, and who wanted the place burned to the ground after they died. The house sat empty for years before a 1975 renovation turned it into a restaurant, Rhett Butler's Steakhouse. Workers later reported strange noises and objects moving in the old beauty shop, and one photograph is said to show two transparent figures on the stair balcony. The address, 2801 SW 15th, is now home to Rio Petroleum, and its owners do not allow ghost hunting.
The old York Tire building. At 10th and Jefferson, this former tire shop is now home to escape rooms. Legend says a death took place in the building, and one account describes a man in an old elevator repairman's uniform walking toward the break room, counting change, who disappeared when someone went to see if he needed help.
As one local radio writer put it, if every one of these places were truly haunted, Amarillo would be the scariest city on Earth. Whether you believe or not, the stories grew out of real people and real buildings.
Where We Stayed….The Big Texan Motel
The Big Texan Motel is the newer half of a Route 66 institution, and it opened more than two decades after the restaurant next door.
1960: R.J. “Bob” Lee opened the Big Texan Steak Ranch on Route 66 in a former barbecue building. It had a western theme, a 60-foot neon cowboy sign, and, by year's end, the free-if-you-finish 72-ounce steak challenge.
Late 1960s to 1971: Lee bought land east of town on the old Dallas highway and moved the restaurant there. The restaurant’s own timeline says it moved in 1969 and opened the new facility in April 1971. Wikipedia says 1970, so the exact year varies by source.
1976 to 1978: A fire destroyed the main dining room and original Route 66 furnishings. The rebuilt steakhouse reopened in January 1978 with seating for 480.
November 1983: Lee opened the Big Texan Motel across the parking lot from the steakhouse.
What it’s known for: The cinder-block motel has 54 units. The façades look like a Wild West main street, the rooms are western-themed, and the pool is shaped like Texas. They added a stable for guests’ horses in 2004.
Since then: Lee died in 1990, and his sons Bobby and Danny took over. The restaurant got a boost when Man vs Food featured the steak challenge in 2008.
Because it moved off Route 66, it’s technically no longer on the old road, though it’s still a classic Mother Road stop. Still the rooms were clean and comfortable and the restaurant is right across the parking lot…..super convenient!
Reported Paranormal Activity
Motel & Rooms: Guests have reported strange things happening in the rooms and suites, like doors opening by themselves, shadowy figures, ghostly children, and bathroom lights turning on and off at random (though some visitors say loose wiring could explain it).
Upstairs & Banquet Rooms: Staff and managers closing up at night often hear chairs moving, shuffling, and rumbling sounds upstairs. The Marann Lee banquet room is known for the sounds of children running and playing early in the morning when no one is there.
The Steak Ranch & Booth 49: Employees and visitors have reported phantom cigar smoke, unexplained shadows near Booth 49 (a favorite spot of the owner's late father), and objects that move on their own. The venue has even hosted special paranormal-themed events like "Route 66: Paranormal Exposed."
Visiting Haunted Amarillo
Start on Sixth Street. Walk the Route 66 Sixth Street Historic District between Georgia and Western, and go inside The Nat while the antique mall is open. Check current hours before you go.
Look, don't enter. The Herring Hotel and old St. Anthony's are private and closed to the public, so view them from the street. Trespassing is not worth it.
Respect the living. Some of these sites are businesses, homes, or sites under redevelopment, and the Rio Petroleum owners have said no to ghost hunting.
Bring a healthy measure of skepticism. Most of these tales started with a real event or person and grew with every telling. That's part of the fun.
Have a story of your own from Amarillo? Share it in the comments. Make this beautiful day count!
Annette
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