The Van Gilder Hotel

This brick building went up in downtown Seward in 1916 and became a hotel in 1921; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and still takes guests. Its best-known story belongs to Fannie Guthery-Baehm, a guest who was shot and killed here by her estranged husband. Accounts of the year differ, placing it in either 1947 or 1950. Staff speak of her warmly and call her the hotel's own, describing a young woman with long fair hair in a blue dress. Guests and staff also report a man who appears only as a wisp, two men in bowler hats behind the front desk, and children heard running between rooms when the hotel is empty. Alaska's News Source spent a night here in 2025 for a piece on the hotel's reputation.