The Faust Hotel

Posted: 06.20.2025 | Updated: 10.10.2025

New Braunfels is a shining example of one of America’s best aspects as a melting pot for various cultures. Born under the influence of Germanic culture, with an elegant hint of Hispanic and Native American influences, it remains one of Texas’s most thriving towns, just outside of San Antonio. And just like its neighbor, it too has its own share of ghostly haunts at the historic Faust Hotel. 

Built at the onset of the Great Depression, this historic structure was a symbol of hope to carry the town through its hard times. Even the hotel itself encountered its own obstacles, including a fair share of tragedies that left a shadow cast on its brick façade. A shadow that some say has left its rooms filled with otherworldly figures that don’t quite give you the peaceful night’s sleep you were looking forward to when you checked in. 

Read on and see what spooky guests have chosen to make the Faust Hotel their eternal home. Looking for a more personal chilling experience? Come see what spirits and ghouls lurk in the night in the city of San Antonio. 

Make some lasting memories, take in the history, and who knows, you may even come face to face with one of San Antonio’s ghosts yourself. Book your tour today with River City Ghosts! In the meantime, get a goosebump-inducing read through more of our stories from San Antonio, and more of America’s haunted places at our blog!

Is the Faust Hotel Haunted?

The Faust Hotel, New Braunfels’ most historic hotel, is a luxurious mirror of the town’s early multi-cultural influence. However, it’s also a doorway into the unknown, with accounts of apparitions, sounds, and odd occurrences that undoubtedly make it one of Texas’s most haunted hotels. 

History of the Faust Hotel

New Braunfels, Texas, was originally settled by German immigrants on March 21, 1845, under the protective eye of the Adelsverein — a German Texas-based organization whose goal was to encourage and facilitate German emigration to Texas. They made camp on a site of present-day Dry Comal Creek at the behest of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. 

The newly arrived German immigrants wasted no time in developing their newly established town. Within a decade, New Braunfels became a major agricultural and manufacturing center, producing goods such as wagons, furniture, and clothing for pioneers seeking to settle in Central Texas. Supposedly, by 1850, New Braunfels was the fourth-largest town in the state, as blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans also continued to immigrate to the ever-developing location. 

Agriculture in Texas took a turn for the worse as the dawn of the 20th century approached, first with the spread of the boll weevil, a destructive pest that ravaged the state, causing severe crop damage. A severe drought came next in the mid-1920s, prompting a group of citizens to come up with a new idea for New Braunfels: build a hotel to attract tourists.

The Traveler’s Hotel was built in 1929 on a piece of land donated by Joseph Faust — a prominent banker and mayor of New Braunfels. Joseph’s son, Walter, secured the property, even having their three-story family home transported on rollers down the street to make room for it. 

The hotel was renamed as the Faust Hotel in 1936 upon Walter’s death, in honor of the family. The historic Faust Hotel has proven itself worthy of standing today, withstanding the test of time despite several ownership changes, renovations, and hardships. It’s currently closed at the time of this writing, but that hasn’t kept the spirits inside from refusing to check out. 

Faust Hotel Hauntings

 It’s not unheard of for guests at the Faust Hotel to wake up in the middle of the night and feel like they’re not alone. It could just be Anna — a former maid who worked at the hotel in the 1940s. She is known for tucking guests into bed, as well as leaving small gifts and treats for them in their rooms. 

There are still occasional occurrences that plague guests, and — despite the fact that they are never violent — they don’t detract from the chills they cause. One guest reported she and her husband were plagued with nightmares that woke them up every hour. 

Another guest wrote on Yelp that at 4 a.m., he heard what sounded like someone trying to enter his room. He then heard what sounded like furniture being moved, although he was able to convince himself it was someone in an adjacent room, before falling back to sleep. The terror would continue, as he had a startling nightmare of someone trying to enter his room. 

The hotel’s bar manager has also reported that inside the bar, glasses have fallen on their own. Kitchen staff have also seen the full-bodied apparition of a man believed to be none other than Walter Faust donning a black trench coat and black hat. 

More Haunted Happenings

Another apparition has been seen standing in the hotel’s lobby, wearing a suit and top hat. His identity remains obscure for the most part, but some believe him to also be Walter. Others think he may be a former guest who died in the hotel. 

The elevator is also prone to nightly spooks. A visiting couple once asked the desk clerk who the nice gentleman running the elevator was, only to be flabbergasted when they were assured the hotel did not employ an elevator operator. 

Rooms 215 & 217

A ton of ghostly activity has been reported at the end of the hall near rooms 215 and 217. What gives this one a little more chill, however, is that the sounds reported are said to be those of children playing in the middle of the night. Staff would check the guest list to see who was staying in the rooms, only to find that no children were staying there. 

It’s believed to be an eight-year-old girl who has been seen peering out of the hotel’s windows at times. Her apparition has also been seen standing at the end of the hallway, decorated as though it came right out of Stephen King’s novel, The Shining. 

Even creepier, guests have reported feeling her presence in their rooms at night, sometimes hearing her footsteps and whispering in the darkness. The reason this girl forever haunts the second floor is that she died in a fire at the hotel in the 1920s.

Haunted San Antonio 

New Braunfels is one of America’s unique cultural crossroads, a destination gem where Germanic culture meets Native American and Hispanic influence. At the heart of it is the historic Faust Hotel, a standing testament to community collaboration and the spirits that lurk in this picturesque town. Every room crawls with inexplicable sounds and figures that go bump in the night. 

The chills don’t stop here. Head just a little over 30 miles southwest to the city of San Antonio, home to some of Texas’s most haunted spots: the St. Anthony Hotel, Fort Sam Houston, the San Fernando Cathedral, and more. Dare to see for yourself if they’re true? Come see for yourself with a ghost tour past San Antonio’s most historic and spine-tingling locations. Book your spot with River City Ghosts today! 

Curious what other ghost stories leave a dark cloud over sunny San Antonio? Read up on our blog, and stay in touch with us via Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sources:

• https://www.thefausthotel.com/
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/new-braunfels-tx#:~:text=The%20depression%20and%20the%20boll,Braunfels%20had%20approximately%2012%2C200%20residents.
• https://texashighways.com/culture/exploring-new-braunfels-german-history-at-faust-hotel/
• https://ghosttexas.com/ghosts-at-the-faust-hotel/
• https://www.expressnews.com/lifestyle/article/Hauntings-in-the-Hill-Country-Spooky-legends-16568950.php
• https://www.ksat.com/holidays/2016/10/17/ghosts-of-children-past-owner-haunt-faust-hotel/