Haunted Las Vegas: Ghost Stories, Mob History & Haunted Hotels
Haunted Las Vegas: Ghost Stories, Mob History & Haunted Hotels
Every city has ghost stories. Las Vegas has ghost stories with a rap sheet.
Most lists of haunted places in Las Vegas treat the city like any other old town — a death here, a legend there, a woman in a red dress nobody can quite explain.
But Las Vegas ghost stories and mob history have a habit of occupying the same addresses.
The men who financed and operated some of the city's most famous casinos didn't just leave behind large signs and legends of gambling woes. Their stories involve hidden money, organized crime, violence, mysterious deaths and buildings that have accumulated decades of paranormal stories.
That's why some of the most haunted hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are also some of the most important locations in the city's mob history.
From Ben (Bugsy) Siegel and the Flamingo to Tony Spilotro and Circus Circus, here's a look inside haunted Las Vegas — the whispers and the old casinos that haven't completely gone off the radar.
Golden Gate: Where Las Vegas Ghosts Begin at the West end of Fremont Street
Golden Gate Hotel Las Vegas Original 10 Hallway
Look up inside the Golden Gate casino today and you'll still see it — a strip of original two-way mirrors set into the ceiling, installed to watch gamblers who never knew anyone was above them. For decades, employees would lie flat in the crawl space above and watch the tables below through the glass, looking for cheaters in an era before cameras made that kind of surveillance invisible.
Head toward Bar Prohibition and you'll pass the ceiling seam where the original pressed-tin tile gives way to the modern build-out — the literal line between old Vegas and new sitting right over your head.
The Golden Gate expanded in 2017 and absorbed a small casino called La Bayou, formerly the Northern Club, a speakeasy operating out of what was, on paper, a soda shop.
Mayme Stocker opened it in 1920 with her husband and sons, selling soft drinks up front while liquor and card games ran behind closed doors. When Nevada re-legalized gambling in 1931, the Northern Club received the state's first modern gaming license. Around 1940–41, Bugsy Siegel invested $18,000 in the Northern Club, becoming involved with the Fremont Street casino years before the Flamingo made his name synonymous with Las Vegas. — his first documented business interest in the city that would make him famous.
The Flamingo: Where Ben (Bugsy) Siegel Never Checked Out
Guests near the old Presidential Suite have described a man in a dark suit standing at the foot of the bed — gone the second the lights come on.
You can't talk about haunted Las Vegas without talking about the Flamingo.
Ben "Bugsy" Siegel became involved with the Flamingo's construction in the 1940s, went wildly over budget, and opened the resort in December 1946. In June 1947, Siegel was shot dead in Beverly Hills — and according to one of Las Vegas's most enduring ghost stories, he never completely left the property he poured his time, heart and soul into creating.
Guests and staff have reported seeing a mysterious man in a dark suit near what was Siegel's old apartment and around the memorial that now bears his name. Other stories describe unexplained cold spots, cigar smoke and a figure appearing near the pool after dark.
But one of the most fascinating secrets associated with Ben's Flamingo wasn't paranormal at all.
It was hidden above the ceiling.
Siegel reportedly had a concealed escape route incorporated into his private quarters. A hidden ladder led upward into a passageway, providing another way for someone to leave without simply walking back through the same front door they'd entered.
The idea was pure old Vegas: someone could arrive through the suite's front entrance and later disappear through a hidden route, away from anyone watching the door, with transportation waiting to take them away. That's what makes the Flamingo such an important stop in the story of old Las Vegas.
Bugsy Siegel's Secret Flamingo Escape Route — 1993 photos
El Cortez: One of Downtown Las Vegas's Most Haunted Casinos
Regulars swear they've watched a man in 1940s dress sit down at an empty table, place a bet — and vanish before the dealer can pay him out.
If the Flamingo is the famous one, El Cortez may be one of the best places to experience old Las Vegas history in a building that still feels old.
Ben Siegel and Meyer Lansky both had a hand in the property during Vegas's early gambling years, and much of the building retains a character that's increasingly difficult to find among the Strip's rebuilt megaresorts.
The most repeated ghost story is the "Phantom Gambler" — a man dressed in 1940s clothing who supposedly appears at the gaming tables before disappearing.
Then there are the footsteps, unexplained knocking and shadowy figures employees and visitors have described over the years.
Cross Ogden Avenue to the Cabana Suites and there's another piece of Vegas history hiding in plain sight. The corridor was used by Martin Scorsese for Ginger's final walk in Casino (1995), and the elevator has accumulated paranormal stories of its own.
There's also a stranger — and more verifiable — story beneath the casino.
Longtime owner Jackie Gaughan paid funeral expenses for employees who died without family to claim them, and cremated remains were kept in the basement rather than allowing those employees to simply be forgotten. Owner Kenny Epstein has discussed the story publicly.
It's a glimpse into the contradictions of old Vegas: a world associated with organized crime that could simultaneously operate according to its own fierce ideas about loyalty and taking care of its people.
The Original 47, room 2220 at the El Cortez. Fat Irish Green's Room - where he lived out the rest of his days.
The Original 47: Sleep Inside Mob-Era Las Vegas
The history at El Cortez isn't locked behind glass. You can actually spend the night in it.
Directly above the casino are the Original 47 — the hotel's original rooms dating back to 1941. These aren't modern rooms decorated to look like old Vegas. They're part of the original El Cortez, from the era when Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky owned the casino.
Siegel even used space in this original hotel wing as an office.
Then there's "Fat Irish" Green, Siegel's longtime friend and associate. Green lived at El Cortez under an extraordinary arrangement that reportedly provided him with a complimentary room for life — an agreement that survived changes in ownership and became part of El Cortez lore.
And those original rooms aren't sealed off today.
You can still book one of the Original 47 and sleep directly above the casino, inside the same 1941 hotel where Bugsy, Meyer Lansky, Moe Sedway and the characters of old Vegas once walked the halls.
One of those rooms is Room 2220. We use Room 2220 as part of our Sin City Soirée, bringing guests upstairs and inside one of the Original 47 rather than simply pointing at history from the casino floor. That's what makes El Cortez different from so much of Las Vegas. Here, the mob-era hotel hasn't disappeared beneath a newer resort.
You can still walk upstairs and step inside it.
Circus Circus: Haunted Las Vegas inside a family-friendly big top
Guests have described waking up to the covers yanked clean off the bed, with no one else in the room — minutes after hearing laughter echo down a hallway that was empty.
Circus Circus opened in 1968 selling something unusual for the Las Vegas Strip: a casino resort that was also supposed to be family entertainment. Clowns, midway games, and a big top.But underneath that family-friendly image was another side of Vegas.
Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the Chicago Outfit's Las Vegas enforcer, and the notorious "Hole in the wall gang" conducted operations connected to gift shops at the property while tourists played carnival games nearby. That split identity — family resort on the surface, organized crime operating underneath — is part of what makes Circus Circus such a fascinating piece of Las Vegas mob history.
It's also developed a long paranormal reputation. Guests have described voices in empty rooms, unexplained laughter in hallways and bed covers seemingly being pulled away with nobody there.
There is also documented tragedy beneath some of the hotel's ghost lore. In 2018, a Vietnamese couple traveling with a tour group were killed inside their Circus Circus hotel room during a robbery. Other widely circulated stories, including claims involving a murder-suicide in "Room 123." Hotel staff reportedly refuse to even visit certain rooms alone.
Want to Explore Circus Circus's Haunted Mob History?
This is one place where you don't have to settle for reading about old Vegas.
Our Circus Circus Haunted Mob Tour takes you through the property's mob history, Tony Spilotro's connections, paranormal stories and surviving pieces of the older hotel.
→ Explore the Circus Circus Haunted Mob Tour
The Tropicana: Gone, But Its Las Vegas Ghost Stories Remain
Staff reported bad luck and unexplained accidents clustering around one particular object in the lobby — long before anyone thought to ask why.
The Tropicana closed in April 2024, ending the physical life of one of Las Vegas's best-known historic resorts. Opened in 1957, the Tropicana attracted mob figures, entertainers and high rollers for decades. But one of its strangest paranormal legends wasn't about a dead gambler or gangster.
It centered on a large hand-carved tiki mask. The mask displayed near the lobby developed a reputation for bad luck and paranormal activity, with stories of unexplained accidents and strange experiences associated with it.
With the Tropicana gone, its story illustrates something happening throughout Las Vegas: The physical remains of mob-era Vegas are disappearing.
Every demolition and major renovation removes another piece of the city where these stories actually happened. That's why the remaining historic casinos become more significant every year.
The Stardust skim makes headlines, January 1984. Casino bosses, gaming officials and alleged mob associates became part of the investigation into money disappearing from Las Vegas casinos — the same underworld Tony Spilotro inhabited while operating in Las Vegas.
Why Haunted Las Vegas and Mob History Keep Overlapping
The overlap between Las Vegas ghost stories and mob history isn't surprising.
During the formative decades of Las Vegas casino development, organized crime was deeply intertwined with the city's gambling industry. That means many of the oldest casinos — the buildings that have had decades to accumulate stories of deaths, strange encounters and unexplained phenomena — are also connected to the mob era.
New megaresorts simply don't have that history yet.
They haven't had generations of employees walking the same corridors or decades of guests telling stories about the same unexplained figure appearing in the same place.
In Las Vegas, the mob history and the ghost stories grew up together.
Often in the same rooms.
See Haunted Las Vegas Before More of Old Vegas Disappears
Las Vegas changes incredibly fast.
Historic casinos are renovated, sold, renamed or demolished, and every time it happens another physical piece of the city's past disappears.
If you're interested in haunted Las Vegas, mob history and the stories behind old Vegas, don't just read about these places.
Go see them while they're still here.
→ Book the Circus Circus Haunted Mob Tour
→ Visit our full list of Las Vegas Tours
FAQ: Haunted Las Vegas
What are some of the most haunted places in Las Vegas?
The Flamingo, El Cortez and Circus Circus are among the historic Las Vegas casinos associated with some of the city's best-known paranormal stories. Their reputations are especially interesting because each property also has connections to different periods of Las Vegas mob history.
Is the Flamingo haunted by Ben "Bugsy" Siegel?
Visitors and employees have reported sightings and unexplained experiences associated with Bugsy Siegel at the Flamingo, including stories involving a mysterious man in a dark suit. These remain paranormal claims rather than established facts, but Siegel's connection to the Flamingo and his 1947 murder are part of documented Las Vegas history.
Where did Bugsy Siegel's Las Vegas career begin?
Before the Flamingo, Siegel acquired an interest in the Northern Club on Fremont Street around 1940. The former Northern Club property eventually became La Bayou and was later incorporated into the Golden Gate casino.
Is Circus Circus haunted?
Guests and staff have reported unexplained voices, footsteps, laughter and other strange experiences in older portions of Circus Circus. Whether you believe the paranormal stories or not, the property's connections to Tony Spilotro and Las Vegas organized crime give it a very real place in the city's mob history.
Can you take a haunted tour of Circus Circus?
Yes. The Circus Circus Haunted Mob Tour explores the property's mob history, paranormal stories and connections to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro.