Lumber Barons - The Water Street Inn

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 2026

Stayed here 3 years ago for our 20th wedding anniversary. I kept feeling something touching my feet. There was also something making our candy bags sound like someone was owning them up. The a/c was not running and no vents pointed to the table. Would stay here again!

June 2024

I've been working at the Water Street Inn for a while now and have also spent the night multiple times. I hate to break it to you, no one who works there has ever had any experiences with this "smelly soldier". Now, don't get me wrong, the building is still very much haunted. I've even had a few experiences myself (doors opening and shutting on their own, spots so cold you can see your breath in the middle of summer, unexplained noises, camera glitches, a feeling of being watched, and more). But you can ask anyone who works there and they will tell you that this story is a hoax. There are multiple ghosts that haunt the hotel, but they are all very sweet and none of them come with the smell of body odor.

August 2021

Back in the late 1970's, I worked for a firm that had its offices in the Lumberman's Exchange building. According to the office gals, the smelly specter would occasionally make his presence known not only by his body odor, but also with footsteps in the then vacant offices on the second story of the south-west corner of the building. There has been a lot of discounting of the idea of a former "Johnny Reb" haunting a post-Civil War building in "staunchly Union" Minnesota, but a lot of Southerners really had nothing left to go home to after the war, and they came north to homestead and start new lives, especially in southern Minnesota. As far as I know, there is no rule that the dear departed must appear in the garb they die in--why should they?..

September 2018