WASHINGTON, DC—Halloween 2019 – Just in time for Halloween 2019, Historic Hotels of America has released its list of Most Haunted Historic Hotels. A membership organization of more than 300 hotels with long and storied histories, some hotels have reported ghosts and paranormal activity throughout the halls and in guestrooms giving those who stay a fright – and they don’t just come out at Halloween. From ghosts who have been around since the Revolutionary War to jilted lovers, heartbroken, there are an abundance of ghostly sightings in historic hotels.
Here is a listing of the Top 25 Most Haunted Hotels:
Concord’s Colonial Inn (1716)
Concord, Massachusetts
The original part of the Inn was built in the early 1700s before the
Revolutionary War. With such a long and robust history, it’s no wonder there
are spirits that still wander the halls of this historic hotel. One of the most
famous, haunted and sought-after guestrooms is room 24. During the
Revolutionary War, the right side of the Inn was privately owned by Dr. Timothy
Minot. When patriot soldiers were injured at the Battles of Lexington and
Concord at the North Bridge, they were brought to his home to be cared for. Dr.
Minot used what is now the Liberty Room as a hospital and room 24 as an
operating room. Several soldiers who were operated on in room 24 died during
surgery. They were then carried directly downstairs into room 27, which was
used as a morgue. It’s no wonder then that guests have reported lights
flickering in room 27 or turning on and off completely. One guest woke up in
the middle of the night and every light was on in the room, including the
television! Others have heard hushed whispers coming from the closet and have
seen the door to the room slamming shut on its own.
The Red Lion Inn (1773)
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Ghostly rumors continue to swirl at the inn which has seen the likes of many
paranormal investigators and mediums. The fourth floor, in particular, has been
said to have the most activity. Both cleaning staff and guests have claimed to
see a “ghostly young girl carrying flowers” and “a man in a top
hat.” It has been said that guests have awoken to the feeling of someone
standing over them at the foot of the bed. Cold spots, unexplained knocks, and
electrical disturbances have all been reported. Guestroom 301 is also known to
be a haunted hot spot.
Omni Parker House, Boston (1855)
Boston, Massachusetts
This hotel was opened by Harvey Parker and he was involved with the operations
of the building until his death in 1884. Over the years, many guests have
reported seeing him inquiring about their stay—a true “spirited” hotelier even
after his death.
The Sagamore (1883)
Bolton Landing, New York
The Sagamore has its own American ghost story. Opened in 1883 as a
playground resort for summer residents of Millionaire’s Row, this rambling
historic hotel sits in a 6 million-acre state park and is rumored to
accommodate a ghost or two. Stories persist of the ghost of a silver-haired
woman wearing a blue polka-dot dress descending from the second floor to the
Trillium, the hotel’s fine dining restaurant.
1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa (1886)
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
The 1886 Crescent Hotel, well known today as being a mountaintop spa resort in
the Arkansas Ozarks, was once used as a Cancer Curing Hospital which was under
the control of the hospital’s owner, reported charlatan Norman Baker from
Muscatine, Iowa. Baker operated his Eureka Springs’ facility from 1937
until December 1940. There are many paranormal patrons with terrifying tales to
tell. Among those are Michael, the Irish stonemason who, while constructing the
building back in 1885, fell to his death in the footprint of what is now Room
218. He has thought to be a frequent visitor to the room since the day of
his death. There’s also Theodora – a patient and helper during the days when
the hotel was owned Norman Baker, resides in Room 419. Guests have
reported that she will put bags in front of the door from the inside making it
hard for guests to open their door upon their return. Dozens and dozens of
ghost like encounters, and creepy, unexplained occurrences happen at this hotel
on a regular basis.
Jekyll Island Club Resort (1887)
Jekyll Island, Georgia
Over the years, the Jekyll Island Club Resort has seen many families come and
go since it opened in 1887. With all that time, comes the stories and
mysteries, the staff, as well as guests have encountered firsthand. One such
encounter involves the family of J.P. Morgan. Sans Souci, one of the buildings
at the Jekyll Island Club Resort, is a handsome four-story structure erected in
1896 as one of the first condominiums to ever be built. It was built originally
for families to use, including the family of J. Pierpont Morgan. His family
rooms were located on the third floor, north end of the property facing the
Jekyll River. He was particularly fond of the large porch which graced the
front of his apartment allowing him a beautiful view of the river. Mr. Morgan
was a lover of cigars. As the story goes, one could tell where he was by following
the trail of smoke. In order to avoid criticisms for his favorite hobby, he
would rise early every morning by 5 am to have a smoke on the porch. While most
contemporary guests are not rising at such an early hour for a cigar, those who
have stayed in the Morgan’s old apartment swear they have awakened to the faint
smell of cigar smoke wafting about when there is absolutely no one else awake.
Union Station Nashville, Autograph
Collection (1900) Nashville, Tennessee
One of Nashville’s most iconic landmarks, Union Station Hotel resides
in a building that previously served as the city’s buzzing
railway station. Guests are reminded of the building’s rich
history through another kind of encounter: with the hotel’s
resident ghost, Abigail. Legend has it that during World War
II a young woman, Abigail, said goodbye to her soldier
on the Union Station train platform before he shipped off to France.
When she arrived at that same spot to greet him on his return, she
was instead met with word that he was killed in action.
Distraught, Abigail threw herself in front of a passing
locomotive. The forlorn spirit of Abigail, still looking for her
lost love, can reportedly be seen wandering the main
terminal and her presence felt in Room 711. Now
known as the Abigail Room, guests can request to stay
in the haunted suite, which is decorated unlike any other room
in the hotel with antique
furnishings, a four-poster bed and artwork inspired by her
tale.
Moana Surfrider, A Westin
Resort & Spa (1901) Honolulu, Hawaii
On February 28, 1905, the untimely death of Jane Stanford, co-founder of
Stanford University, made headlines everywhere. Stanford, who was vacationing
in Hawaii following a strychnine poisoning attempt on her life, died in her
room at the Moana. There have been reports that the ghost of Stanford still frequents
the hotel, whose beautiful ocean vistas brought her short-lived peace. Guests
and hotel staff have said that they’ve seen her walking at night trying to find
her room.
Omni Mount Washington Resort,
Bretton Woods (1902) New Hampshire
Known affectionately by staff members as “the princess”, Caroline Foster, was a
long-time inhabitant of the hotel. Princess Caroline Foster’s ties to the
resort go back to its inception when her husband, railroad tycoon Joseph
Stickney, built the grand resort in 1902. Incorporating special accommodations
for his wife, construction of the resort included an indoor swimming pool and a
private dining room for Caroline known today as the “Princess Room.” A
prominent figure at the resort since its opening, many guests who have visited
continue to report sightings of the regal Caroline. Visions of an elegant woman
in Victorian dress are often spotted in the hallways of the hotel, there are
light taps on doors when no one is outside and items suddenly disappear and
then reappear in the exact place they were lost. But perhaps the most
common sighting of the beloved Caroline is in room 314, where guests report
seeing a vision of the woman sitting at the edge of their bed.
The Seelbach
Hilton Louisville (1905)
Louisville, Kentucky
Legend says two lovers were to be married at the hotel in 1907, but the groom
met an untimely death on his way to the wedding. His distraught bride threw
herself down the elevator shaft, falling ten stories to her death. The bride is
said to continue to haunt the halls of this historic hotel.
Mizpah Hotel (1907)
Tonopah, Nevada
Built in 1907 and beautifully restored to its former grandeur and glory. The
hotel is home to several ghostly figures. One of which is the former bellhops
has been seen roaming the halls of the hotel trying to give guests a hand with
their luggage. The town of Tonopah was well known for silver mining and just
beneath the Mizpah are old mining tunnels. The hotel had a run-in with a few
very greedy miners and lost out on a large sum of money. As legend is told,
three miners dug a hole into the old bank safe and robbed the hotel. One of the
men turned his back on his two accomplices and shot them. He left them for dead
and took off with the money and was never been caught. To this day, those two
miners still lurk in the basement of the Hotel.
The Omni Grove Park Inn (1913)
Asheville, North Carolina
There is a strange, but gentle spirit residing within the gray, granite walls
of Asheville’s historic Grove Park Inn. Known simply as the “Pink Lady”, she
has been seen, felt and experienced by hotel employees and guests for nearly a
century. Although the Pink Lady is believed to have met her demise on the Palm
Court floor after falling two stories from the fifth floor to the third floor,
she has been seen and experienced in a number of places throughout the resort.
The Pink Lady has been described as a dense pinkish smoke with a presence that
can be felt by guests throughout the grounds of the Inn.
La Fonda (1922)
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Shot to death in 1867 in the hotel lobby, John P. Slough, Chief Justice of the
Territorial Supreme Court, is said to have never left. Meanwhile, a distraught
salesman, who jumped into the hotel well after losing a card game, has been
seen emerging from the fountain by visitors and guests alike.
The Emily Morgan San Antonio- a
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel (1924) San Antonio,
Texas
The Emily Morgan is known to be one of the most haunted hotels in all of Texas.
According to various reports, even some given by the hotel’s own management
team, the most haunted floors are the seventh, ninth and fourteenth floors in
addition to the basement.
It was these particular floors that at one time functioned as the psychiatric
ward, surgery level, waiting area and morgue, respectively. At the Emily
Morgan, almost all of the paranormal reports involve ghosts and spirits from
days gone by when the building was the medical building.
Guests have reported strange things occurring on these particular levels. Those
staying on the fourteenth level of the Emily Morgan generally have one thing to
say: that the smell is acutely reminiscent of a hospital. Guests have reported
to opening the doors to the hallways only to find a scene from a hospital
waiting right inside.
Francis Marion Hotel (1924)
Charleston, South Carolina
In the early 1930s, New Yorker Ned Cohen was visiting his Southern lady friend
in Charleston. Whatever happened was never clear, but he was found face down,
body smashed in the middle of King Street facing toward the old Citadel’s
parade grounds. Today, visitors hear eerie and unexplained sounds at night, all
too familiar to the bell staff and room attendants walking the halls. Sounds of
rustling silk drapes, rattling windows, and an unexplained vision of a man
questioning either himself or the witness. Some see the ghost in short
sleeves, others just feel his presence throughout the hotel.
Hawthorne Hotel (1925)
Salem, Massachusetts
The city of Salem is notorious for the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 and is prone
to hauntings and spirits of its own. The hotel has ghost stories, mostly
attributed to the sea captains who were returning to their gathering place. In
particular, guests staying in rooms 612 and 325 have reported of lights turning
off and on and experiencing a general uneasy feeling throughout the
rooms.
Hotel Viking (1926)
Newport, Rhode Island
Hotel Viking has had many guests and staff members come and go, reporting
stories of spirited guests. The story that has been reported repeatedly is of a
little boy is often seen cleaning the floors of the historic wing of the hotel.
There have been about 10 different guests regaling a similar story of a young
boy cleaning. This has also been confirmed by most of the housekeeping
staff.
Hotel Saranac, Curio Collection
by Hilton (1927) Saranac, New York
This historic hotel was built on foundation of a former High School. It is the
only hotel building remaining of 13 luxury hotels that once served this
community. While fires led to the downfall of some of the area’s hotels,
survived by design: made of steel and brick, Hotel Saranac was the area’s
first fireproof hotel. The hotel had a civil defense tower on top,
where it is said that Boy Scouts would wait to watch for Russian Bombers. Room
308 – Emily Balsam, was a guest at Hotel Saranac and worked at a local college.
She had a cat. The story is told that she was not feeling well for a while and
got tired of people checking on her and just wanted to be left alone. She had
her phone disconnected and stopped all housekeeping. She did not want to
be disturbed for any reason. No one saw much of her after that. At some point
the guest and staff started to complain about the smell coming from that room
and the cat always “crying” and Emily refused to answer the door. The
manager at the time went up to talk to her and found she had been dead for
weeks and the cat was still alive. The cat was taken to a shelter but it is
said that the ghost of Emily’s cat can still be heard crying or scratching at
the wall, perhaps wandering the hotel looking for her.
Hotel Monteleone (1886) New
Orleans, Louisiana
A maid, known as “Mrs. Clean” reputedly haunts the hotel. Paranormal
researchers once asked why she stayed, and the maid, whose mother, grandmother,
and great-grandmother also worked at the hotel, said she was picking up after
housekeeping to ensure high standards.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn
& Spa (1927) Sonoma, California
It is said that ghosts haunt where they were the happiest. Fairmont Sonoma
Mission Inn & Spa welcomes guests past and present and tells the tales of
guests who never wanted to leave. When the evenings are still and the fog rolls
in from the Bay, a hauntingly beautiful woman has been seen strolling the
hallways of the Inn in period dress. Victoria, as she is fondly referred to by
many of the Inn’s tenured employees and whose family traces back to the
founding fathers of Sonoma Valley, is said to have celebrated her wedding and
many anniversaries at the resort.
Hassayampa Inn (1927)
Prescott, Arizona
The year it opened, the Hassayampa Inn developed its most famous legend. A very
young bride named Faith Summers checked into a balcony suite with her much
older husband in 1927. According to the story, Faith’s husband went out to buy
cigarettes and never returned. Faith waited for three days and then took her
life in despair. Since then, countless hotel guests and employees have reported
encounters with a young woman throughout the hotel crying at the end of a bed,
dressed in a pink gown in the hallway, appearing and disappearing from rooms.
One housekeeper saw a woman by a bed, holding flowers and crying. When asked if
she needed help, the woman vanished. Kitchen staff have reported feeling
Faith’s presence in the kitchen, right before the burners on the stove suddenly
went out. Others have reported strange cold spots in Faith’s honeymoon suite.
The heartbroken ghost appears unable to move on from her anguish. Many think
that though Faith is heartbroken, she enjoys staying at the Hassayampa
Inn.
The Don CeSar (1928) St. Pete Beach, Florida
Over the years there have been a number of reported “sightings” and strange
occurrences at this historic hotel. Although there are various stories, the
most common presence felt through the building is that of Mr. Thomas
Rowe, the man who brought the Don CeSar to life and is the focal point of the
love story surrounding the hotel. It is rumored that people have reported
seeing Mr. Rowe throughout the hotel, on the beach, and even interacting
with guests and staff. In the evening it has been reported that from time to
time guests have looked up to the windows on the fifth floor and see the figure
of a man watching from above.
Lord Baltimore Hotel (1928)
Baltimore, Maryland
Over the course of its more then 90-year history, the Lord Baltimore Hotel has
had reports of paranormal activity. Built in 1928, the hotel was one of the
tallest building in the city (the Great Fire of 1904 destroyed Downtown
Baltimore) and around the time of the Great Depression, there were at least 20
documented reports of “jumpers” from the 19th floor rooftop
deck. The most spoken about is that of a couple who attended an event at the
hotel with their daughter – and then proceeded to jump off the building. Their
daughter, “Molly,” is typically seen in the halls wearing a white dress and
playing with a red ball. There has also been a lot of paranormal speculation
around a handprint of a child on a wall in one of the hotel’s penthouses that
won’t go away.
Omni Shoreham Hotel,
Washington, DC (1930) Washington, DC
During the Shoreham’s early years, three people died unexpectedly in suite 870.
At that time the apartment was occupied by one of the hotel’s owners, Henry
Doherty. Juliette Brown, the family’s housekeeper dropped dead mysteriously one
night at 4 am. Doherty’s daughter and wife also perished mysteriously in the
same suite. During its vacancy there were claims of mysterious noises, doors
slamming shut and furniture moving—many of which happened around 4 am, the time
of Juliette’s death.
Tubac Golf Resort and Spa (1959)
Tubac, Arizona
There have been hauntings throughout the resort that have been reported by
guests by at least four unique ghosts including a boy, a lady in gray, a very
active gentleman spirit, and a cowboy. Some of these spirits are believed to
date back to the early age of the resort when it was the Otero Ranch. The
haunts have been investigated by the Phoenix, Arizona Paranormal Society and
featured on the “Haunted Series, Arizona.”
“The spirits reported to reside within these Historic Hotels of America have
been described as sad to happy, shy to friendly, slowly meandering to in a
rush, in work clothes to elaborately dressed, and range from young to old,”
said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Director, Historic Hotels of America and
Historic Hotels Worldwide. “Some pre-date the construction of the hotel and
others figure prominently from the early years of the historic hotels.”
For a complete listing of haunted historic hotels, visit https://www.historichotels.org/MostHaunted.php.
Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest Historic Hotels. Historic Hotels of America has more than 300 historic hotel members. These historic hotels have all faithfully maintained their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity in the United States of America, including 44 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Historic Hotels of America is comprised of mostly independently owned and operated historic hotels. More than 30 of the world’s finest hospitality brands, chains, and collections are represented in Historic Hotels of America. To be nominated and selected for membership into this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; have been designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historic significance. For more information, visit HistoricHotels.org.
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