With such a gaudy architecture resonating throughout the Las Vegas Strip, it’s hard to make anything really stand out in the City of Sin. A few have managed it, such as the Eiffel Tower at Paris, the magnificent fountains of the Bellagio, and of course the mammoth bastion of the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, with its steepled turrets and moated castle walls. Guests have said it’s creepy, others say it feels haunted, some even say the slots are cursed, but what’s really going on here?
The Excalibur Las Vegas first opened its doors in 1990. Not too surprising, the structural design was conceived by Circus Circus Enterprises, once more capitalizing on the popular “themed resort” movement has swept Las Vegas and other tourist meccas over the years. At that time, it was the largest hotel in the entire world by sum of accommodations, more than 4,000 all told.
In 2005, MGM Resorts International took over. Since then, so much of the King Arthur motif has been extricated. In the old days, an immense, animated figure of Merlin the Wizard stood upon the center turret, welcoming guests with intermittent chatter. That has since been replaced by a figure advertising one of the hotels restaurants, Dick’s Last Resort. The medieval statues, the archaic tapestries; four years of renovations and they are gone. Only a few murals remain of its former glory.
The Excalibur is one of few hotels that does not have a seedy background associated with organized crime and mafia outfits, then again it was only established in 1990 and just because it hasn’t been publicized doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. However, we certainly can’t link the ghosts of Excalibur to mob hits, as is probable in some older haunted Vegas casinos and hotels.
The purported paranormal activity at Excalibur Casino isn’t very prominent, which leads this writer to view it with some skepticism, but I’ll relate the tale anyhow. As the ghost story goes, the 10th floor of Excalibur is said to be haunted. While walking its halls, claims of being followed by an unseen specter have been told. Guests have an eerie feeling and are then able to hear a whispering voice, so close behind them that they can feel the breath on their necks.
Another guest of the hotel who chose not to reveal the room number in which they were in simply said that the room was “dark and gave out a haunted feeling”. They could not explain the feeling and had no preternatural experiences in the Excalibur aside from this uncanny sensation.
Last but not least, the urban legend known as the Megabucks Curse has supposedly befallen the Excalibur Casino as well. It all started when a cocktail waitress at the Desert Inn won the first ever Megabucks Jackpot worth $34.9 million and then got into a tragic car accident only a few weeks later that left her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Tales of a curse started immediately, and when the Excalibur Casino paid out the largest ever Megabucks Jackpot of $39.7 million in March of 2003, rumors erupted that the anonymous winner had met a tragic death; everything from a fatal overdose to a plane crash, even a gang fight on the streets of LA. In reality, he is alive and doing well, according to a spokesperson for the Megabucks creators. The same fictitious concoctions have been said of hence winners, like an elderly lady who won and supposedly died of a heart attack on the spot. Outside of the original winner’s tragic fate, none of these stories are true.