The Kahler Hotel

Started going to Rochester in the early 1970’s because my folks would go to Mato for annual physicals. Just there again last year for a family member. Always stayed at The Kahler.

Never have I seen/experienced/smelled anything unusual in any of the halls, rooms, elevators, tunnel system or at the pool. About the only thing that haunts me is my memory of the 70’s color schemes and decor, but for those of us old enough to remember that, well, you know what I mean.

I’m not necessarily a skeptic of the paranormal, but that ain’t happening at The Kahler.

April 2026

I was there many years ago with a friend and his family for a basketball tournament his dad was coaching at. Probably 1999 or 2000. We discovered that if you get in the elevator on I think the 8th floor (the top floor on the button panel) and went down, sometimes it would go up. I can’t remember if it was the 9th floor or the 11th floor it went up to but I do know the pool was on the 10th floor only accessible by stairs. After going up from the 8th floor the elevator opened up on to what looked like an abandoned floor, really messed up and kind of opened up with just the light from inside the elevator so you couldn’t see in very far. We met a few girls in the hotel later and we all decided to go up there and explore. They held the door while my friend and I walked in a little ways and this dark, but quiet human shaped shadow started walking towards us. We quickly noped the heck out of there and didn’t go up there again.

November 2025

Me and my mom and aunt and 2 cousins we came to the kahler hotel just for the fun when we got there we went and explored we got trapped in the staircases because you could only come in cant come out got to around last floor there was a weird brown swinging door grey staircases really weird energy and tempature drops we explored 3 floors on the tenth floor which what we were on we looked around felt so empty felt like we were the only ones we went to 1st floor none of the buttons were working to get back up we tried 3 elevators only 1 brang us to 9th floor we got to 9th and we went to a dark spot vibe dropped we noticed the stairs on 9th floor the door was open we looked through we swear we seen a shadow walk through we came back to our room at 12:54 a paper came through the door at 11:00 oclock really weird we also heard stomping through the 10th floor at about
1:22.

April 2025

I worked there in various positions: housekeeping, room service and the late-night deep cleaning crew.

I do not remember but, the roof top pool has been there for at least 50-60 years. I had heard that there were some drowning deaths in that pool.

When I worked there i cannot remember going to the pool area at any time but, I have heard of people having experiences up there. (I cannot remember anything specific, but I vaguely remember that there were rumors of multiple weird experiences up there),

The hotel was originally half the height it was now. When it was first opened, back in the 1920s, as part hotel and part hospital. I do not know which floors were hotel rooms and which were hospital rooms. I bring this up because it's likely that if there were paranormal activity it would be more likely on the lower floors than the upper floors.

I do remember at times getting the creeps in the elevators. I tried to remember but I can't recall anything story worthy but, just weird, creepy feelings in there. BTW: I think most people who worked on 2nd or 3rd shift will say that they had similar feelings. (The employee elevators were worse).

The basement, if I remember correctly, was originally the old morgue when the Kahler was part hospital. I had to help clean up after functions in the basement ballrooms late at night. The basement is seriously creepy late at night

If memory serves me right, there was one time that I thought i saw a guy walking down the hall and went into the employee locker room. A few minutes later I was in the employee locker room, to clean it, and no one was there.

(I would like to note that I was working full time and trying to go to college full time. I had a stressful final coming up and had only slept for 1-2 hours that night and maybe about 15 hours that week and it took a lot of effort to stay awake. I bring this up because although I do stand by what I experienced yet, I acknowledge there is a huge possibility that my mind was playing tricks on me)

Lastly, because people come to the hotel to get treatment at the Mayo Clinic which means that they have very complicated medical conditions; it is not uncommon for people to die in the hotel. I also heard that there have been several suicides in the hotel.

As far as noticing ghosts there I remember very few specific paranormal experiences there. Although, there were real live legitimate monsters there. Most of these monsters were hired as managers. Others were particularly demanding obnoxious vile guests. Specially one caterwauling dingbat who would rant at the top of her lungs over an unreasonable undoable demand and would end when she would howl "I AM A CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND OF MISTER MALLOY!!!" Her idiocy was equaled by her portly physical ugliness.

In conclusion, Is the Kahler haunted? I cannot say for sure. But if any place had the traditional factors that could lead to paranormal activity; it would be the Kahler Hotel.

September 2024

While staying at the Kahler I went to use the ice machine. Every machine seemed to be broken so I continued to go higher and higher up the elevator. I don't remember why but I just remember feeling terrified in that elevator, it has actually caused a slight fear since. When I entered the final floor is was so quite and I could see anyone but I could feel a strong presence of many. My mother who was staying with me at the time went to get Ice later and said that she had no problems with the ice machine. So, I assumed matinence fixed it and moved on. My mother and I began walking the halls in the hotel for light exercise.
There was one room at the end of our hallway that had a busted door( you could see only through cracks). The room was super creepy and dirty it had pipes and board dangling everywhere. I pushed on the door and it just popped open. Under the sink I found dirty baby clothes. Terrified again I alerted the front desk. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep that night and for days after. In the middle of the night I saw a dark creature near my bed. It inched closer and began to gnaw on my fingers. I remember the blood staining our bed and looking at my mom screaming bloody murder while she was dead asleep. All of a sudden the pain, blood, and creature was all gone like nothing had happened. I honestly thought I was crazy but after diving into the buildings history I'm not so sure. Personally I thought it was stunning, but I will not be planning to go back. :)

August 2024

Many years ago I stayed at this hotel with my family to attend an event in the "ballroom" in the basement.

We stayed in a room on the 7th floor. It felt like we were the only people on this floor, completely silent all around. We were there the day before the event and we decided to grab a bite a bite to eat. Up to this point I hadn't experienced anything.

Hallway:
Walking down the hallway to the nearest elevator is when I became to notice weird energy. My family was ahead of me, and I had this constant feeling that something was watching me. I looked back a few times, and then the last time I looked there was "something" that went right into a door. I couldn't make sense of it at the time, but it appeared to be a black ball of something going into a door.

An elevator:
We get to the elevator, and something didn't seem right. I had a feeling that this elevator would probably stop functioning, but we all went down without issue. We get back from dining out and when we go to use the same elevator to get back to our room it had malfunctioned and was put out of service. A few hours later we wanted to check out the main floor and explore the hotel a bit more. The elevator was back in service by that time and we decided to use it. We step in and when I push the button for the main floor nothing happened. I push it again and nothing happened. After the second button press we waited for about 5 seconds before deciding to get out of the elevator. As soon as we were starting to get out I felt this strong energy and the button appeared to register and it began closing the doors.

The Pool:
The pool is located on the top floor where you need to walk up a flight of stairs due to no elevator access. This. Was. Epically. Weird. The view was amazing looking out the large window panes to the city, but that's where the excitement ended for me. I would get these STRONG gusts of what appeared to be the smell of rotten meat or something, and my family, literally, right next to me didn't smell anything of that nature whenever these "gusts" happened.

The basement:
Where the event was held. I didn't feel the same type of energy I felt in the pool area, but it had a creepy feeling to it. There were a few moments that were off where no matter how I tied a balloon to the chairs we were sitting on I bought during the event would find its way to the ceiling that had me scratching my head. They grabbed the balloon for me several times with a tool that extended to the ceiling. They eventually gave me a weight for free they tied the balloon to, and the balloon eventually ended up on the ceiling -- I left it up there until the event was over.

After we arrived home I immediately googled this hotel and found there to be several similar stories across several websites.

The details have remained vivid ever since.

August 2023

So I got in the elevator to go down, I got to the 8th floor and the doors opened, this lady walked in and didn’t hit any buttons and just stood there. I didn’t make eye contact with her but I could see she was just looking at me anger my corner of my eye, I got to level 3 and I got out and when I looked back as the doors where closing . There wasn’t anyone in the elevator.

October 2021

Me and my friend (no adults) were at the Kahler and we were on this one floor and it was bare empty and look like it needed construction but when we were in our room we keep hearing kids playing in the hallways when there was no one in the hallway and no one else in that floor also we keep hearing knocking on the walls....

February 2021

we went there because a family member needed treatment at mayo, we stayed there quite a bit because it was connected. one night we woke up and my family member was screaming stop and help. also with that you can notice some weird smells some like rotten mac and cheese in hallways and staircases.

December 2020

I stayed there in 2019, a couple times, carpet in hallway looks like on the movie 'The Shining'. I would walk down the hallway to go smoke a cig outside, i didnt know the hotel was haunted, as i was walking, i could feel someone behind me, staring. I would keep turning around, no one was there. Pool area is on 10th floor. Elevator goes to 8th floor, you have to walk in staircase 2 floors. Air is heavy there, feel spooky if ur by urself, like i was. Haven't been back there.

August 2020