Hotel Provincial in New Orleans, Louisiana
Who said sleep is for the weak? A night at this hair-raising hotel requires nerves of steel, but at least you'll check out with a good scary story for your friends. The hotel has a long, dramatic history: It stands on land that was part of a grant from Louis XV in 1725.
flickr.com via w4nd3rl0st
Hotel Provincial: Civil War Chills
A portion of the hotel sits on the site of a former military hospital, and some of the hotel's buildings probably served as medical facilities for Confederate soldiers—some of whom, if reports are to be believed, never checked out. Many guests have seen Civil War soldiers and surgeons and heard cries of pain. They've even watched blood stains appear and disappear on bed sheets or floors, so when you hop into bed, you may want to pull up the covers a little higher than usual!
Related: Peek Inside the Most Expensive Hotels in America
flickr.com via carlfbagge
The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Built in 1886, the Crescent Hotel was a originally a grand destination near the area's famed hot springs. By 1908 it had become a women's college.
The Crescent Hotel: Creaky Spirits
Then, in 1937, it was purchased by Norman Baker, an inventor and medical charlatan who turned the building into a hospital that promised cures for various ailments, including cancer. Victims of his ineffective "treatments" ended up in the basement, where the mortuary was located. Spirit sightings have been reported there as well as in Rooms 202, 419, and 424. It’s said that you can even hear the ghosts of former nurses pushing wheelchairs through the hallways.
flickr.com via s1cell
The Equinox Hotel in Manchester, Vermont
In the early 1860s, Mary Todd Lincoln and her sons stayed at this Greek Revival hotel, which was built in 1769. In fact, she is thought to have been so besotted with it that she never left.
Wikimedia Commons via Rolf Müller
The Equinox Hotel: Presidential Poltergeist
Guests and staff have caught sight of the hotel’s most loyal lodger traipsing through the halls, either alone or with one of her children in tow. If you’re dead set on taking a photograph of the former first lady, snap fast; she reportedly vanishes almost as quickly as she appears.
The Adolphus in Dallas, Texas
With musical greats the likes of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller once having played at this Beaux Arts-style hotel, you might assume that a wedding held at the venue would be a real swingin’ affair. Yet one former guest never even got to dance at her wedding.
Related: 12 Things to Do As Soon As You Check Into a Hotel
Wikimedia Commons via Carol M. Highsmith
The Adolphus: Ghost Bride
When her fiance became a no-show at the nuptials, the jilted bride is rumored to have hanged herself at the hotel, just a few feet from where the vows were to be exchanged. To this day, her spirit is said to stalk the hotel hallways, searching for her groom-to-be. Pray she doesn’t find you instead!
flickr.com via scutter
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado
The inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s “The Shining,” this Colonial Revival hotel may not be able to claim Jack Torrance, the deranged caretaker of the book, but it does have its own cast of creepy characters. The dignified resort was built in 1909 by F.O. Stanley, the inventor of the Stanley Steamer, an early steam-powered automobile.
flickr.com via rcsaxon
The Stanley Hotel: Everything Eerie
Today, visitors report a variety of paranormal events: Ghostly music emanates from the grand piano that Stanley bought for his wife Flora, Room 418 is home to a small specter calling out for his nanny, and a face looks out from the window of Room 407.
flickr.com via kkanouse
Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, Massachusetts
Situated in the city made infamous for the Salem witch trials in the 17th century, this stately Federal-style building that dates back to 1925 is said to have been built on an apple orchard once owned by Bridget Bishop, the first person to be hanged for witchcraft as part of the trials.
flickr.com via salemstatearchives
Hawthorne Hotel: Supernatural Smells
Evidently unhappy with her sentence, Bishop’s ghost has been spotted lurking outside Room 612. As if that weren't sinister enough, guests have reported the sweet scent of apples wafting through the corridors.
Related: The Best Small-Town Inns in All 50 States
flickr.com via mr_t_in_dc
Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California
When Kate Morgan checked into this late-19th-century Victorian beach resort under the name of “Mrs. Lottie A. Bernard, Detroit,” staff described her as “troubled and very melancholy.” Days later, she was found dead of a gunshot wound on the hotel steps, and to this day the room she is rumored to haunt is the most requested in the hotel.
flickr.com via alanenglish
Hotel del Coronado: Weird and Windy
In Room 3327, paranormal investigators have reported doors opening and shutting, mysterious breezes, sounds, and even sightings of a figure they believe is Morgan herself.
flickr.com via juhansonin
The Benson in Portland, Oregon
While many teetotalers are comfortable with others drinking in their presence, this isn’t so with the founding owner of this Second Empire-style hotel, built in 1912, who is said to haunt it.
flickr.com via dog97209
The Benson: Drinkers Beware
The ghost of Mr. Benson, who was in life a staunch prohibitionist, has been known to knock over visitors’ drinks—so swig swiftly!
flickr.com via urbanbamboo
Bourbon Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana
The apparitions at this hotel, built in 1817, hark back to its earlier incarnations, first as a theater, then, in succession, as a ballroom, convent, and orphanage. Don’t be alarmed if you hear the disembodied laughter of children in hallways or feel a tug on your shirt—it’s only the young poltergeists up to their usual pranks.
flickr.com via Mark Souther
Bourbon Orleans Hotel: Otherworldly Voyeur
For serious scares, check into Room 644, rumored to be home to the ghost of a nurse who committed suicide at the hotel. She has been heard crying out while the room is unoccupied and has even been seen standing at the foot of the bed as guests sleep!
flickr.com via miguel_discart_vrac_3
The Flanders Hotel in Ocean City, New Jersey
This Spanish Mission Revival-style hotel, built in 1923, was named after Flanders Fields, the World War I battlefields in Belgium where so many soldiers lie at rest. Mob bosses allegedly used to congregate in the hotel's basement, known as "The Catacombs."
flickr.com via boston_public_library
The Flanders Hotel: Ghostly Guests
Not surprisingly given its colorful past, the hotel is packed with poltergeists. Guests have heard disembodied laughter and seen the shades of a red-haired woman, a middle-aged man, and Emily, a dark-haired woman in white who has been known to disappear into walls, tamper with door locks, and unscrew light bulbs.
Wikimedia Commons via Library of Congress
Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
The lives of some of the guests of this rustic, resort-style hotel built in 1904 were even more turbulent than the waters of the geyser after which it was named.
flickr.com via captbunzo
Old Faithful Inn: Headless Sightings
Following a rumored violent argument in Room 127 between newlyweds on their honeymoon, the bride was found decapitated in the bath; her head was found days later, high up on a platform in the lobby. The headless bride has since been seen floating down the staircase at the inn, holding her head in her arms.
Wikimedia Commons via Acroterion
Logan Inn in New Hope, Pennsylvania
At this former tavern built in 1722, even if you check into Room 6 all alone, you might end up with company. The restless ghost of Emily, the mother of the inn’s former owner, has been known to float across the room as a white specter, pull pillows out from beneath guests’ heads, and wail into the wee hours of the night.
flickr.com via wallyg
Logan Inn: Scented Specter
If you can’t sleep, roam the halls to search for the seven other ghostly apparitions that have been spotted at Logan Inn, including that of a little girl who drowned near the inn and now haunts the parking lot, a Civil War soldier marching to an audible drumbeat, and a portrait of a couple in the lobby that smells of lavender, thought to be the favorite scent of the woman pictured.
flickr.com via mojorider2
The Hollywood Roosevelt in Hollywood, California
You don’t have to stream classic old films to see your favorite, long-gone Hollywood icons up close. This Spanish Colonial Revival-style Hollywood haunt, built in 1926, hosted greats like Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, and Carole Lombard, and some of its famous guests live on as apparitions.
flickr.com via jpellgen
The Hollywood Roosevelt: A-List Hauntings
The ghost of Marilyn Monroe is said to haunt Suite 1200; her radiant reflection has been spotted in the lobby mirror. And if you’ve ever fancied acting opposite Montgomery Clift, book Room 928, where he has been heard running lines.
flickr.com via thomashawk
Omni Parker House in Boston, Massachusetts
Built in 1855, the Omni Parker House is not only the longest continuously operating hotel in the country, but also one of the most haunted. Founder and hotelier Harvey D. Parker was known for being a perfectionist, a trait he evidently retained even after his death in 1884.
flickr.com via Sean
Omni Parker House: Overbearing Apparition
Parker’s shade is said to prowl the property, ensuring everything is in its proper place. You’re most likely to face the finicky founder on the 10th floor. He was once seen in Room 1012, sitting on the edge of the bed staring at a guest as if to inquire whether all was well with his stay.
Related: 11 "Real" Haunted Houses to Visit—If You Dare!
flickr.com via dog97209
Union Station Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee
Have a few hours to kill in downtown Nashville? Rest in peace at this haunted hotel. Built as a railroad terminal in 1900 in the Romanesque Revival style, it was transformed into a hotel in the 1980s and is now a popular stopover—for both the living and the dead.
flickr.com via thomashawk
Union Station Hotel: Off-Track Travelers
Guests have heard the chugging of locomotives and spotted specters of travelers waiting for a train that never arrives. Paranormal aficionados should book Room 711 to glimpse the ghost of Abigail, a woman who threw herself in front of a speeding train during World War II upon learning that her soldier beau wasn’t returning home.
Wikimedia Commons via Union Station Hotel - Nashville
Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky
Fans of the macabre flock to this 114-year-old hotel in hopes of solving the cold case of Patricia Wilson, a guest who was found at the bottom of the hotel’s elevator shaft in 1936 after learning that her husband had died in a car accident. No one knows whether the death was an accident or suicide or even foul play.
Wikimedia Commons via Detroit Publishing Co.
Seelbach Hotel: Heartbroken Haunts
The only one to ask is Wilson herself, the "Lady in Blue,” who is said to wander the French Renaissance-style hotel.
flickr.com via Jessica Dillree
Hotel Savoy in Kansas City, Missouri
Though your instinct might be to call the front desk when you hear the inexplicable sound of water running while you're trying to sleep in Room 505, blame the resident poltergeist, not the pipes.
flickr.com via chrism70
Hotel Savoy: Phantom Child
The ghost of Betsy Ward, a guest who died in the bath during her stay at the hotel in the late 1800s, has made her presence known through the sound of taps turning off and on and music playing in the unoccupied room. Heading downstairs to escape the ghoulish antics is of no avail; the fourth floor is said to be haunted by a little girl cloaked in Victorian garb.
Wikimedia Commons via Mwkruse
Miami Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida
A posh retreat for A-list stars including Bing Crosby and Judy Garland, this Mediterranean Revival hotel, built in 1926, was converted into a hospital during World War II, and then served as a VA hospital and medical school until it again became a luxury hotel.
Wikimedia Commons via State Library and Archives of Florida
Miami Biltmore Hotel: Plenty Paranormal
Guests have observed a spike in paranormal activity since its relaunch in 1987, reporting lights turning off and on, doors opening and shutting by themselves, a woman in white skulking in the guest rooms, and sightings of the infamous gangster Thomas “Fatty” Walsh, who was shot and killed in 1929 during a gambling-related incident and is now said to lurk in the lobby.
flickr.com via prayitnophotography
Golden North Hotel in Skagway, Alaska
Built in 1898, this hotel with a distinctive golden dome offered food and board to the more than 1,000 prospectors who passed through Skagway every week at the peak of the Klondike Gold Rush. Some, however, checked in and never left.
Wikimedia Commons via Library of Congress
Golden North Hotel: Gold-Digging Ghosts
Local lore has it that a prospector called “Klondike Ike” booked Room 23 at the hotel for him and his fiancée, Mary. He then went off gold-hunting while she took up shelter in the room. While awaiting his return, either worry or pneumonia is said to have killed her, and “Scary Mary,” as her ghost is known, has since been seen looking out the window for her betrothed.
flickr.com via auvet
La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico
A salesman who lost his money at a nearby gambling hall reportedly leaped to his death into a well that once stood in the courtyard of this hotel. Guests at La Fonda, which opened in 1922, have since observed a ghost jumping through the floor as if reenacting the death, and he's not the only ghostly apparition at this Pueblo Revival hotel.
flickr.com via auvet
La Fonda on the Plaza: Ghoulish History
Guests have also recoiled at the revenant of a murdered bride and the ghost of Judge John P. Slough, who was shot to death in the hotel’s lobby; ironically, an earlier incarnation of the inn once served as both a courthouse and a place of execution.
flickr.com via Angi English
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