35 Haunted Inns, Hotels, and Airbnbs You Can Book for a Spooky Halloween

True crime buffs can spend the final hours of October at this bed-and-breakfast where Lizzie Borden infamously inflicted "forty whacks" on her father and stepmother in 1892. Borden was acquitted of the grisly double murder and vacated the home shortly thereafter, but those who have explored the stately sitting room where Andrew Borden met his end or stayed overnight in the guest bedroom where Abby Borden was found have reported shadowy figures, tousled bed linens, and other surreal sightings that they swear were Borden herself.

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It took Augustine A. Cooper only 17 years to ascend from steamship crewmate to proprietor of Cooper Wagon Works and owner of this imposing brick and sandstone Victorian (one of his three mansions). A series of fires, coupled with the decline in importance of the wagon, led to the downfall of his business. But Cooper still makes his presence felt at the 15-room Redstone Inn, in the form of a gentlemanly apparition whose soft footsteps can be heard throughout the property.

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Its tragic past as much as its enigmatic Art Deco architecture has made the oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi the talk of the town in Kansas City. Thrill-seekers throng the Savoy Hotel on All Hallow's Eve, searching for signs of former residents like Betsy Ward, who died in the bathtub of Room 505, and a girl in Victorian clothing on the fourth floor.

This two-and-a-half-story brick beauty has played host to not one but two distinguished families: the original owners, Dr. Smith and his family, and later, their daughter Eugenia and her husband, glassmaker Charles Ely. These residents and their staff are rumored to haunt the stairway, halls, and kitchen of the Classical Revival abode. But the most sought-after specter is undoubtedly that of a headless kitchen staff member who is said to have been murdered at the mansion.

This hotel on the National Register of Historic Places is rumored to have a number of resident ghosts, including a cowhand who rode his horse up the main staircase and was then shot and killed by the hotel's bar manager. Keep your eyes and ears open, and you might detect the shadow of a man donning a long coat and hear the faint hoofbeats of a phantom horse stampeding through the halls.

In a routine that dates back to the 1930s, the "Peabody Ducks" leave their rooftop "duck palace" and waddle over a red carpet to the hotel lobby fountain every day at 11 a.m. to the strains of John Phillip Sousa's "King Cotton March." At 5 p.m., they march back to their quarters. Yet the ducks aren't the only unusual fixtures of this 464-room hotel. The 11th floor is said to be a hotbed of paranormal activity, including a whispering ghost, unexplained noises, and cold spots that would give even lionhearted lodgers the goosebumps.

Rarely, if ever, do ordinary hotels furnish their rooms with the design tastes of a particular guest in mind. But then again, Union Station is anything but ordinary. The hotel has furnished Room 711 in honor of Abigail, a young woman who bid farewell to her soldier beau at Union Station (then a train station) during World War II. When she returned to the station after the war to meet her beloved, she threw herself in front of a speeding train when she learned that he was never coming home. Although the ghost continues to make her presence known in the room through flickering lights and loud noises, the hotel insists she's a harmless soul searching for her lost love.

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Serving at various points as a saloon and a bordello as well as a hotel, the Occidental once witnessed the tragic death of a young woman on one of the upper floors. If you feel a tap on your shoulder, hear the creaking of furniture, or see the full-bodied specter of a woman with long dark hair and a white dress during your stay, you can be sure it's not the hotel's receptionist!

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The Crystal Ballroom of this historic haunt hosts annual seances, ghost talking sessions, and live hypnosis events in memory of Anna Eva Fay, a famous vaudeville spiritualist, and "Dr." Norman Baker, one of her great admirers. Baker, himself once a vaudeville performer, was also a quack who opened a cancer hospital on the hotel's premises in the 1930s. While visitors do report Victorian ghosts, many of the spirits believed to haunt the edifice date back to Baker's era. You can search them out by taking a ghost tour of the hotel, which includes a stop at a room above a morgue where some visitors swoon or grow mysteriously pale.

After a fortuitous flat tire led New York City dancer Marta Becket to this down-on-its-luck hotel and opera house, she abandoned the Big Apple to restore the building and turn it into a vibrant performance venue for herself and other local artists. But evidently, it's not only the living denizens of Death Valley who have descended on the Amargosa. A menacing miner skulks in Room 32, a crying child reportedly haunts Room 24, and a ghost cat has been known to prowl around the opera house.

You won't find the occupants of Stateroom B340 on the manifesto of this 1,019-foot-long retired passenger liner, but you'll certainly feel their presence. Guests who have spent the night in the recently reopened room have reported lights turning on and off, bed linens being pulled off, and even a specter looming above them as they awoke—so you'd do well to sleep with one eye open!

The owner of this Airbnb once told Reader's Digest that an old barrette he found at the property years ago could be traced back to young Rosalia Fihn, a girl who died of typhoid fever in the home in the early 1900s. Residents and visitors have reported a supernatural force at The Manor ever since. Although the barrette is now nowhere to be seen, you'll find an abundance of other thoughtfully curated objects in the master bedroom that hint at Rosalia's eternal presence at the estate, including a teddy bear and a wall-mounted portrait of a cherubic child.

Whether the weeping heard within this chilling cabin emanates from the emotional resident ghost, Nancy, or merely the creaking floorboards boils down to whether you're a believer in or a skeptic about spirits. Either way, you're in for a memorable Halloween when you stay at the 3,500-square-foot lodge situated, in the owner's own words, "in the sticks," far away from the throngs of noisy trick-or-treaters.

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Mrs. Plumb, the wife of Mr. Charles H. Plumb and the original co-owner of this former saloon, helped assemble the vast collection of antiques that adorn the hotel to this day. But little did the Plumbs know that 245 years after the hotel's opening, its most impressive collection would be that of its ghosts. The fourth floor is credited with most of the paranormal action, which includes unexplained knocking, cold spots, and full-bodied apparitions of a girl with flowers and a man donning a stovepipe hat.

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Maurice Begere, a toddler on a mission to reconnect with his mother, and William “Red” Wildemere, a man who died of natural causes, are but a few of the ghosts who are said to call Hotel Monteleone home. In fact, the International Society of Paranormal Research identified at least 12 resident ghosts during a paranormal investigation of the property. Even if you don't come face-to-face with a phantom during your stay, you may notice haunted happenings, such as a restaurant door that occasionally opens after it's been locked and an elevator that drops guests off on abandoned floors.

While this private club off the coast of Georgia once catered exclusively to highfliers the likes of the Rockefellers and the Vanderbilts, it's an equal-opportunity haunt for its live-in spirits. Guests of the Sans Souci cottage can reportedly catch a whiff of cigar smoke from J.P. Morgan himself, while grooms-to-be who book the venue for a wedding have been known to be visited by the well-wishing ghost of a bellhop on their big day.

Known for his service-oriented mindset, businessman Guido Pfister never stopped overseeing the Romanesque Revival-style hotel that he opened with the help of his son, Charles, way back in 1893. Keep your eyes peeled on the ninth floor, in the Minstrel's Gallery, and at the top of the grand staircase for a glimpse of the friendly ghost of Guido keeping an ever-watchful eye on the crowds of hotel guests.

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More than a century after the death of her first and second husbands, a ghost named Carolyn continues to haunt this Renaissance Revival hotel where she lived with her first husband, businessman Joseph Stickney, until the early 1900s. Still determined to be the belle of the ball, the elegant apparition has been known to survey the guests from the balcony or gracefully descend the stairs at dinnertime.

Guests of this more than 100-year-old hotel have a ball at the murder mystery dinners regularly held around Halloween. But for real-life chills, head down to the basement of Boone Tavern to witness a flurry of paranormal activity. The hotel maintains that most of the ghosts down there are shy when it comes to meeting strangers, but you should prepare for at least a few jump scares if you stay long enough.

Local lore has it that this hotel is located on the former site of a courtroom and that hangings were conducted in what is now the lobby. Possibly as a result, it's believed that La Fonda continues to be haunted by a parade of poltergeists, from the Honorable Judge Slough to a sorrowful salesman who is rumored to have jumped into the well that was once located beneath the hotel after his finances took a dive.

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Frequented by the likes of Shirley Temple and Brad Pitt, the guest list—and the ghost list—of this hotel named after Teddy Roosevelt reads like a who's who of Hollywood elites. The specter of Marilyn Monroe is believed to linger in Suite 1200, and Montgomery Clift can be seen in the hallway outside Room 928. Others, like the spirits of two Oscar hopefuls that haunt the Blossom Ballroom, were never on the silver screen, but seem content to be in the midst of red-carpet royalty.