Omni Austin Hotel Downtown

Posted: 03.07.2025 | Updated: 03.07.2025

It turns out Austin is full of surprises. But its lofty perch on the totem pole of bureaucracy is the least of them all. This is especially true at the Omni Hotel in downtown Austin. The haunted hotel is packed with skin-crawling stories that keep even the bravest souls awake at night. 

To those not familiar with the great state of Texas, it often comes as a surprise that the city of Austin is the state capital, surpassing the likes of Dallas and Houston in its significance. Known for its music, festivals, and even a hot spring right at its heart, Austin has a different kind of relationship with spooks and specters.

Find out for yourself on an Austin Ghost Tour with Austin Ghosts!

Who Haunts The Omni Hotel In Downtown Austin?

Austin maintains a certain alternative aura with its relationship to music and art, but good old ghost stories are abundant. The Omni Hotel in downtown Austin is testimony to that, with its own spectral figure and ghostly goings. Who is this figure, and what makes this particular tale a little odd? 

The story of Jack is heartbreaking, even more so when one realizes his poor soul is still haunting the Omni today. Read more to find out what lead to his demise.

The History Of The Omni Hotel, Downtown Austin

Basking in the afterglow of a multi-million dollar renovation, the Downtown Austin Omni is fresh and contemporary. Its vibrant colors and convenient location, mere blocks from Sixth Street, make it a smart and popular choice for travelers.

The downtown Austin hotel’s origins date back to the construction of the Austin Centre it resides within and the booming optimism of the 1980s. 

The Austin Center

Built on the site of the former home of politician, poet, and 2nd President Of The Republic Of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, this 16-story multi-use building was opened in 1986. The hotel component of this structure was originally a Radisson Hotel before becoming the more familiar Omni that exists today. 

A chemical reaction with exterior glass in 1988 sent panes crashing to the streets below, prompting a $2M refit. Despite this early issue, the hotel has gone from strength to strength. The center’s striking, vast glass exterior mirrors the age’s boldness.

The building was the vision of celebrated modernist architect Victor A. Lundy, who captured an almost futuristic feel that is at its best in the light, and for good reason. The structure consists of two separate high rises connected by a 200-foot atrium. It encompasses a staggering acre of glass. 

The building’s bold exterior matches its original purpose. The top five floors are now hotel suites but were originally condominiums. These residences were initially installed to cater to corporations that required ‘business entertainment headquarters.’ But, they became temporary living quarters for visiting executives and lobbyists while the Texas State Legislature was in session. 

Aside from being home to and an integral part of the Omni Hotel, the building is home to businesses such as the Capital Factory, a start-up company incubator. 

The sprawling lobby hosts SXSW’s ‘Startup Crawl,’ which sees 100 start-ups showcase their wares at the prodigious Austin festival each year. 

The Ghost Of Jack and The Downtown Omni

Ghost tales and spectral sightings often surround well-worn fixtures and weathered places from the past. This norm makes the ghostly goings-on within the Omni Hotel unique. 

This 1980s structure has never seemed newer, as its magnificent remodeling has propelled it upwards to symbolize the century to come and not the century past. Nonetheless, the tale of the Omni Austin ghost has now seared itself into local folklore. Ghost hunters come from across the nation to experience it.

The tragic figure of Jack is said to be from relatively recent times and not ancient history.

Jack is said to have been a member of a dying breed in the years following the Radisson Hotel’s transformation into the Omni that glitters today. 

As a traveling salesman, down on his luck and staring the harsh reality of the digital shopping age straight in the eyes, Jack would often set up temporary residence in an area as he moved door to door, business to business, hoping to secure sales. 

Jack was set to meet a client within the hotel, with the Omni as his temporary abode. This client promised sales that would end Jack’s woes. He hoped it would send him homeward to his wife, safe in the knowledge that their monetary troubles were over. 

With his credit card was maxed, and his debt up to his eyeballs, Jack waited for the client. But he never appeared. Then, at that moment, Jack knew that the sales had disappeared as quickly as the client had. 

Crestfallen, Jack returned to his room in the downtown Omni, only to be greeted by a ringing phone. At the end of the line, his wife explained that their marriage was over and she had fallen for another in his long absences. 

The Most Haunted Hotel In Austin

Every man has his limit, and it is said that this gut-wrenching phone call pushed Jack far beyond his. He lept from a high-floor balcony ending both his life and the trouble that he felt so consumed by.

Guests who have stayed in this room have called the front desk, fearing that they had just caught a shadowy glimpse of a man outside the window. Complaints have often been made of yelling and sobbing from the room when neither guests nor staff occupied the space. 

Curtains in the room are said to move when even a flutter of air is not detected, while others are frozen in fear as they swear they saw a man in the room from the corner of their eye. 

These claims have become so commonplace that the legend of Jack has drawn paranormal investigators to the hotel in the hope that they, too, might meet, if only for a fleeting second, the heartbroken figure of Jack. 

Haunted Austin

Over a quarter of a million people flood Austin each year for the SXSW festival, which showcases burgeoning musical acts and celebrated artists. The city’s 3-acre Barton Springs draws countless visitors to the hot springs’ reputed healing waters. 

If Austin takes pride in anything, it is a well-earned reputation for offering something different—an alternative. 

The ghost of Jack and the Omni Hotel certainly offer this, while the surprisingly haunted history of Austin suggests that there’s even more than meets the eye. Dive into alternative Texas on a Haunted Austin Ghost Tour. 

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for haunted stories from around the nation, and keep reading our blog for the best-haunted history in America.

Sources:

• https://www.austincentredowntown.com
• https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/love-robert-marshall
• https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/austin-downtown
• https://schedule.sxsw.com/2024/events/OE44475