Famous Hotel Haunts Across America

A stay at The Stanley Hotel offers guests a chance to walk through rooms and spaces that inspired The Shining. Photo courtesy SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/GLENN TAYLOR

Stephen King’s Colorado | The Stanley Hotel

Would you stay in one of horror’s creepiest haunted hotels? A stay at The Stanley Hotel inspired Stephen King to write the book the movie is based on. In late September 1974, King and his wife, Tabitha, arrived at The Stanley for a weekend getaway. They were the hotel’s only guests; it was set to close for the season the following day.

The plot of the movie closely mirrors King’s experience: Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance heads to the Rocky Mountains in the off-season to become the Overlook Hotel’s next caretaker and to use the solitude to work on his next book. Then, insanity ensues.

The original costume props from the film adaptation on display along with other pieces at the Design Museum in London. Photo courtesy SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/HETHERS

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, King thought the hotel “seemed the perfect—maybe the archetypical—setting for a ghost story.” After a lucid nightmare, the “bones of the book” were solidified. The Stanley is a stately property, with 14 buildings on 68 acres, which include amenities like a 1,400-bottle whiskey bar, patio dining amidst waterfalls, a wellness spa and a fitness center. It is less than two miles to Rocky Mountain National Park. Horror buffs and those who aren’t faint of heart should stay in the room the Kings did— Room 217—where paranormal happenings have been recorded as early as 1911. If it’s occupied, take heart, hauntings have also been noted in rooms 401, 407 and 428.

A wide view of Quebec City skyline and the towering Château Frontenac. Photo courtesy SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/RAVI PARDESI

Alfred Hitchcock’s Quebec | The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac

The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City, Quebec often tops the lists of the most haunted hotels in Canada. This grand structure, designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1980, was built in 1893 and now has more than 600 rooms across 18 floors. The landmark can be seen in 1953’s “I Confess,” Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller about a priest who’s suspected of murder but can’t save himself without the breaking the confidence of the confessional. Château Frontenac is the site where the real killer hides. Hauntedplaces.org reports that the hotel is haunted by a 17th-century governor who searches for his fiancé who was away in Europe at the time he died. He has been seen, in period dress, sitting on windowsills, walking in hallways or staring at sleeping guests. Another ghost, a long-haired woman in a nightgown, has been known to climb into bed with guests.

Savannah’s Notorious Haunt | Hamilton-Turner Inn

Immortalized in the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” Savannah’s Hamilton-Turner Inn was built by “The Lord of Lafayette Square,” Samuel Pugh Hamilton as a family residence in 1873. Because of Hamilton’s affiliation with the Brush Electric Light & Power Company, it was the first home in Savannah with electricity. The mansion was almost destroyed in the Great Savannah Fire of 1898, but thanks to its limestone roof, it was spared. After a series of unfortunate events, including the death of a guard hired to protect Hamilton’s art collection, Hamilton himself died in 1899. Since both died atop the building, there was speculation the rooftop was haunted. After Dr. Francis Turner purchased the home, the rumors continued, ramping up after claims of autopsies being done in the basement. In any case, the Hamilton-Turner Inn is one of the must-visit stops on any Savannah ghost tour worth its salt.

One more note: The house is rumored to be the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

The RMS Queen Mary ocean liner docked at Long Beach. Photo courtesy SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/RAW-FILMS

Ghost Ship in California | The Queen Mary

A shipbuilder industry giant, the Cunard Line was behind The Queen Mary, arguably the most opulent vessel of her day. Even though she was built during the Great Depression, Cunard spared no expense. The Queen Mary was launched in 1936 and boasted five dining areas and lounges, two cocktail bars and swimming pools, a grand ballroom, a squash court and a small hospital. She remains the largest ocean liner ever built, more than 1,000 feet long and with a gross tonnage of 81,237, almost double that of the Titanic.

Of course, The Queen Mary was the toast of celebrities and dignitaries, carrying the likes of Bob Hope, Clark Gable, Walt Disney, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Winston Churchill. During World War II, she became a troopship was nicknamed “The Grey Ghost,” perhaps a harbinger of future days.

The Queen Mary was restored to her former glory after a 10-month retrofit in 1947, and docked in Long Beach, California, after her final cruise in 1967. She resides there today, a popular hotel and tourist attraction. There are not one but four haunted tours of the vessel, including a “paranormal investigation” and séances. According to the Travel Channel, as many as 150 different spirits may call The Queen Mary home, including a crew member who was crushed to death by a watertight door, a woman dressed in all white who dances by herself in a luxury suite and 1930s-era adults and children who roam the pool decks.

Hauntings Near the Alamo | The Emily Morgan & The Menger Hotel

Just steps from the Alamo are two of the country’s most haunted hotels. Before it became a hotel at the turn of the 20th century, the Emily Morgan was San Antonio’s Medical Arts Building. Its basement was the morgue, and the 14th floor, the psychiatric ward (in actuality, it was the 13th floor, but was changed due to superstition). The building’s medical history can even be seen in its gothic-style gargoyles, which depict various ailments and afflictions.

Even earlier, the Emily Morgan was the site where Mexican forces battled the Texans in the Long Barracks of the Alamo, where more than 600 men lost their lives. Among the mysterious occurrences reported at the hotel (you can find more on its website) are a guest returning to her room after dinner to find her bathtub filled with blue water, elevators stopping at various floors for no reason and a distinct smell of antiseptic on the 14th floor. Throughout the year, the hotel runs various “Room with a Boo” specials.

Also adjacent to The Alamo is the Menger Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi. It was also considered the most opulent and drew guests such as Theodore Roosevelt (who visited separately and with the Rough Riders), Babe Ruth, Mae West and Oscar Wilde, and was a home away from home for cattle barons. The land the Menger sits on was a battle site during the Alamo, and the hotel served as a hospital during the Civil War. It later saw a devastating fire, in 1924.

One of the most frequently reported ghosts seen at the Menger today is Teddy Roosevelt, evidently still a fan of the hotel’s bar. Sally White, a beloved chambermaid at the property in the late 19th century, is known to frequent the third floor, where she died at her husband’s hand. Guests have also seen the spirit of Captain Richard King, an entrepreneur and founder of the King Ranch. He’s been known to roam the walls near the King Ranch Suite, his old private suite on the second floor, where he passed away from stomach cancer. You can still book the suite today, if you dare.

Major League Haunt | The Pfister Hotel

A gracious and upscale hotel that’s the choice of visiting Major League Baseball teams in town to take on the Milwaukee Brewers, players who’ve visited The Pfister Hotel have plenty of ghost stories to tell—so many, in fact, that mlb.com did a special round-up a few years ago. Among the occurrences were footsteps stomping around in a closed room, clothes defying gravity against a wall, an occupied room with its door wide open in the middle of the night and a spirit clinging to a player in his bed.

The ghost stories began shortly after the hotel opened in 1893. That same year, a former resident of Milwaukee recounted that the land The Pfister was built on was once a private burial ground. The Pfister was constructed for $1 million and was billed as the “Grand Hotel of the West.” It houses the largest Victorian art collection of any hotel in the world, from the collection of Guido Pfister and his son, Charles, and has its own artist-in-residence.

COURTESY OF UNION STATION HOTEL

A SPIRITED MEETING | Union Station Hotel

Hearing a story is all well and good, but it’s hard to believe in the spirit world, at least for this reporter, without a true-life experience. With only a small amount of dread, I booked a stay in Room 711 at Nashville’s Union Station Hotel, purportedly home to a spirit named Abigail, who threw herself o­ the former train station’s top floor upon learning of her fiancé’s wartime death. I tried to limit my knowledge of Abigail going in, as to not skew my experience. I felt a sense of excitement upon check-in and had a great time exploring the hotel’s beautiful environs. I sampled the lounge’s delicious “Abigail” cocktail, then headed upstairs, admired the room’s pretty furnishings, and looked out the window over the train tracks. It had been a long day, so soon I was ready for bed. I was a bit apprehensive to fall asleep.

No sooner had I lied down in bed did I feel a comfortable presence. I felt light pressure around my calves, almost as if someone was hugging them. It was firm, but soothing. I didn’t want to move lest I disturb this presence.

Upon check out I told the sta­ff, un- prompted, about my experience. They regaled me with other stories about guests in Room 711, who reported that their legs had been massaged or toes had been tickled.

Do I believe that I had been visited by Abigail? Yes. And I come down on the Scully side of things far more often than the Mulder side. Is it possible that I imagined it or wanted to believe it? Yes. In any case, I’m glad it was a friendly ghost!