It’s October, so I’ll share a true spooky tale you likely haven’t heard.
It involves multiple unsolved murders, a peculiar floor of ninety-six year old building where things inexplicably seem to happen, the US Government, and the growth of the fine West Texas town of Lubbock.
In 1926, railroad and an expanding economic hub of cotton and other agriculture necessitated The Hotel Lubbock’s construction and grand opening.
At the time, the hotel was billed as the epitome of European elegancy, absolutely fireproof, and the most modern hotel in West Texas.
The hotel’s original construction was six stories tall, sitting high above the rest of the flat, South Plains landscape.
In researching the hotel, I learned each window casement is unique and built on-site to separate specifications and measurements, resulting in an odd façade..
The hotel quickly became the preeminent lodging for folks doing business with West Texas Cotton Kings, visiting the Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) campus, or simply passing through the “Hub City”
Success and high-demand resulted in The Hotel Lubbock outgrowing its original six floors and expanding to eleven stories in height, boasting a 142-room capacity and claiming status as the highest building in Lubbock for the next three decades.
During those three decades, it was business as usual, with the grand ballroom being the premiere spot for Lubbock’s social calendar.
Fifteen years after opening, US Army Air Corps fortuitously commissioned the Advanced Flying School in August 1941 about 10 miles West of Lubbock.
Designed for training large numbers of cadets, Lubbock Field consisted of three 6,500′ asphalt runways arranged in a triangular pattern, in addition to five auxiliary fields nearby.
The base’s first class, 42-0 began training shortly after the US entered the second world war.
It became one of the premiere destinations for training multi-engine bomber and fighter pilots.
Over the next three years, 7,008 pilots were certified and many wing ceremonies, mess nights, and romantic getaways occurred at the nearby Hotel Lubbock.
Largely unmentioned, the airfield also served as a special purpose glider pilot school, whose silent efforts have gone largely underreported, but were integral in major operations for both sides of the war.
Today, the field is home to Silent Wings Museum.
The energy of these men and their crews left its mark on West Texas.
Many did not return home.
Following the war, the establishment of USAF and subsequent advent of Strategic Air Command moved the 3500th Pilot Training Wing from Barksdale to Lubbock, renaming it Reese AFB.
The extraordinary begins in the 1950s.
“The Lubbock Lights” – observed Unidentified Aerial Phenomena witnessed by folks from Lubbock to Albuquerque; the lights were captured by a Tech freshman.
A Q-Level Sandia employee at Los Alamos even witnessed, and was unable to explain..🛸
“Do people look up if they have no reason to do so?”
This was not the first incident of this kind, with the Roswell incident occurring <200mi West, 4 years prior.
This got the attention of the Air Technical Intelligence Center, who sent Captain Edward Ruppelt to investigate.
Ruppelt describes incident in-depth in his seminal 1956 “Report on Unidentified Flying Objects”, arriving in Lubbock two weeks after initial sightings were reported.
Captain Ruppelt was making waves as the lead of Projects Grudge and Blue Book, and his work was used to review –
An ATIC/CIA panel approached his findings, dismissing them.
Images/link are from a declassified FOIA request by USAF Colonel Gerald Jorgensen.
Ruppelt then resigned from service to work at Northrop Aircraft.
He died of a heart attack at age 37.
What does this have to do with The Hotel Lubbock, you ask?
Maybe nothing.
The 1950s continued to see odd events further transpire, with multiple disappearances reported across West Texas / New Mexico area, all of which remain unsolved to this day.
The next event brings us to the fourth floor of The Hotel Lubbock, where a couple checked in to their room on 16 Jan 1958, but never checked out…
While the couple slept, their necks were tied to the bedposts and they were both hung from window outside.
No one witnessed entry into room, there were no reports of noises, and it’s said the door was locked from inside.
Police investigated to no avail, and the case went cold.
A few weeks later, a California businessman en route to Dallas had a flat tire, unexpectedly staying the night at the hotel, it would be his last.
He was given that same fateful room on the fourth floor.
He was brutally murdered in the room, again no trace of killer ever found.
Shortly thereafter, there was one another murder in that same fourth floor room. Another instance of no trace, and another case went cold.
These unsolved deaths in this same room are certainly unsettling, but believe it or not the story gets even spookier.
1950s – Was killer a man, a ghost, or MKUltra?
CIA Director Allen Dulles made one of four addresses that year in Lubbock, discussing Lubbock-borne ‘Project Alert’ – his time in Lubbock was extremely brief, but it is not unreasonable to assume he may have had alternate purpose.
In the wake of these horrific events, in 1961 the hotel exchanged ownership, underwent a massive and luxurious renovation, and became the “Pioneer Hotel”
Unfortunately for the new proprietors the happenings were not finished.
Over the next next nine years Pioneer operated until in 1970 an F5 Tornado swept through middle of Downtown Lubbock – causing catastrophic damage and death.
For the next few years, the damaged hotel sat vacant, some even said it was haunted, tempting local kids to check it out..
The legends of the unsolved murders became a challenge, with high schoolers entering the “haunted” hotel to make it to that cursed fourth floor room.
It was an innocent idea that would prove to be fatal, resulting in the even stranger demise of three thrill-seeking young kids..
A few kids made their way up the stairs to floor four, when they saw a man and got frightened, they turned and started running.
The man began incoherently yelling and followed them to stairs.
Their friend didn’t make it; the others heard him screaming, but then it stopped..
When they found his body, his bones were shattered.
As I was told, another group attempted to reach the room, and encountered the same situation.
The girls body was found at the bottom of elevator shaft.
A third kid made it to the room, but was found dead from overdose.
In 1975, the building exchanged ownership once more –repurposed as a senior retirement center. This is where this story becomes personal, for me.
During the time, a relative’s good friend’s father was a resident – a troubled man, he took his own life. Guess what room he occupied?
The retirement home closed in 1994, where the building sat vacant until a decade later. A year prior, a local developer had purchased the building and begun renovations.
Around Halloween my freshman year, one of my friends said he’d heard about a cool abandoned hotel to explore. We knew nothing of the deep history within the walls of the Pioneer/Hotel Lubbock. We gathered a group of from our dormitory and made our way downtown around midnight..
After scouting out the building perimeter, we found an open gap in the chainlink fence surrounding the building, and made our way in. Our intent was to make it to the top. The interior had been totally gutted as part of the renovation process, devoid of any furnishing or décor.
We snuck around the dank, musty boiler room. One of our friends hid, jumped out and tried to scare us, we all laughed and then decided to see if we could get all the way to the top floor… We had no idea the fourth was the floor to investigate, oblivious to the past events.
By the time we made it halfway up the third flight of stairs, we started to hear some weird noises.. was it squatters? Kids? Junkies? When we hit 4th floor landing, we looked down hall and saw what I can only describe as a ball of light darting between rooms down the hallway…
The noises became louder, like a yelling, but totally incoherent/unrecognizable language. We freaked out – as we ran down the stairs, the yelling intensified. We made it out of the building, and into the cool Lubbock night air. We regrouped, checked for everyone, and GTFO’d.
We got back to campus, and the next day I told my relative this story. It was then I learned about their friend’s father. I thought that was odd enough, until a few years later when researching related history, I came across the history of the hotel’s peculiar unsolved murders.
The building was renovated, opening as condos and hotel in 2012 – so far no further events have been reported. I think about this each Halloween/Samhain season, and every year the whole thing seems even odder. I actually experienced this, and don’t know what to make of it all.
So what do you think happened in that room on the fourth floor? Dark energy? Spirits of pilots never returned from war? MKUltra test? Alien intervention? An elusive serial killer evading detection for decades? We’ll likely never know. You can stay at the Pioneer/Hotel Lubbock, and investigate for yourself.
