Circus Circus

Nevada · United States · Haunted site

The Strip's oldest family casino, open since 1968, and the floor nobody wants the night shift on.

Circus Circus opened on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip in 1968, the first casino to build its whole identity around families rather than high rollers, with a big top over the gaming floor and trapeze acts working above the tables. It has been running continuously ever since, which on the Strip makes it ancient. Very few Las Vegas buildings from that era are still standing, let alone still open, and Circus Circus has accumulated more than half a century of stories with nobody ever clearing the building to start over.

Staff accounts are the ones worth having, because staff are here every night. Housekeeping and security describe voices calling for help in areas closed for the night, most persistently in the older tower and around the poker rooms, clear enough that people have searched for a guest in distress and found the floor empty. Long serving employees speak of a woman and a small boy on one of the guest floors, described the same way by people who worked decades apart and never met.

The wilder versions of the story, involving specific room numbers and a string of murders, do not survive contact with the record and we leave them out. What is left is simpler and holds up better: a very large, very old building that has never once been quiet, and a night shift that would rather work any other floor.

FAQ

Where is Circus Circus located?

Circus Circus is in Nevada, United States.

Image: Rob Young from United Kingdom / cc by 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons