Spooks Will Scare You

Halloween is almost here so pick a state and a haunted hotel and enjoy meeting a spirit or two.

Alabama

The action is at the Malaga Inn in Mobile, Alabama. The inn is in the historic district with 39 rooms and a beautiful courtyard.

History

Beneath the property are tunnels from the time of the Civil War where Confederate soldiers hid. It is possible that now these soldiers are haunting the inn.

Paranormal Activity

You can see chandeliers swinging and lights flickering even though there is no problem with the electricity. If there are Civil War soldiers around it seems they’re having a good time letting guests know they are around. Meanwhile, in Room 7, a woman dressed in white has been seen pacing on the balcony.

Alaska

There appear to be several ghosts at the Historic Anchorage Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska.

History

During Prohibition, the first chief of police in Anchorage was shot with his own gun. After he was treated at the hotel and after passing on he just never seems to have left the premises.

Paranormal Activity

Guests staying at the hotel have seen a thin woman in a wedding gown reflected in the mirrors and windows. A young boy who apparently is not there has been heard giggling. That chief of police is around somewhere also, and sightings of ghosts have been so frequent that there is an official log in which guests can write down their paranormal experiences. In fact, Historic Anchorage Hotel has become so popular it is one of the attractions on the Ghost Tour of Anchorage. Of course, you can always choose to book a room and see who you might bump into.

Arizona

When a hotel was once a hospital like the Jerome Grand Hotel in Jerome, Arizona I have always thought that with all the suffering people go through at hospitals there have to be some spirits still lingering about.

History

The hospital was built in 1926 and appeared to be a spooky place overlooking the Verde Valley. Jerome became a mining town and later a ghost town when over 9,000 patients died in the hospital. The place was closed in 1950 and left abandoned until it was turned into a hotel in the early 1990s. Along with the hospital elevators, a good deal of the original structure of the building remained.

Paranormal Activity

Guests and staff have heard the squeaking of the wheels of a hospital gurney in the hallways. There is much ghostly activity on the third floor where the operating room used to be. Apparently, a man was crushed beneath the oldest self-service elevator and now in spirit can be seen around the hotel, particularly in the basement where his body was found in the 1930s crushed by the elevator. For those who are fearless tell the hotel staff, you want to book Room 32 where death appeared to be a frequent visitor. One man wheeled himself off the balcony while another shot himself in the head. Within the room doors open and close by themselves, faucets start running, and you can hear the noises of spirits who are very unhappy.

Arkansas

The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas is the place to stay if you want to be in the self-declared “America’s Most Haunted Hotel.”

History

The hotel first opened in 1886 for the rich to be able to come for an Ozarks getaway. It closed during the Depression and became a hospital, where a fraudulent doctor said he could cure cancer. Once again many spirits of patients were left behind.

Paranormal Activity

There are plenty of things to see and ghostly encounters here at the hotel. Guests frequently seem to see something or someone, and you can imagine that you’ll bump into someone in the hallways. Due to the haunted reputation of the Crescent Hotel ghost tours are welcome, and there is a Spirits of the Crescent hotel package available.

California

The Brookdale Lodge in Brookdale, California was once a 19th- century logging mill that was turned into a resort in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

History

The niece of the former resort owner, Sara Logan, drowned in the creek running through the lodge’s main building. She never left the premises.

Paranormal Activity

At this lodge, Sara and about a hundred other spirits are haunting the premises. The ghosts are more active after a fire damaged the lodge and it reopened in 2017. As the lodge continues to make renovations ghostly activity is more noticeable. Spirits prefer to go about their business but do not like to be disturbed while the work on Brookdale Lodge continues.

Colorado

The Stanley in Estes Park, Colorado with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains has become a spooky place.

History

While the popular author of horror novels Stephen King stayed at the hotel in Room 217 he had such scary dreams he was inspired to write “The Shining.” Most likely you might picture some of the scenes from the movie as you walk about the hotel. However, it all began in 1911 when the hotel was lit by gas lighting. A maid entered Room 217 to see what happened to the power when it went off during a storm. Elizabeth entered the room with a candle, and there was an explosion. That area of the hotel was damaged, and the maid crashed through the floor, landing on the floor below but survived it all with a broken ankle.

Paranormal Activity

It is thought that the founder Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife Flora are among the spirits haunting this hotel. Flora can be heard playing the hotel piano. Of the most activity is what is found in Room 217 and you might like to also know that it appears Elizabeth has returned to haunt the room. Guests find their belongings unpacked, objects moving about, and the voice of an unseen woman in the night. Some say she walks through the room and through the wall where once a door had been. However, the most haunted part of the hotel is the fourth floor where the maid’s quarters once were, and children can be heard laughing, playing, and running through the hallways. On this floor, the rooms to find spirits are Room 401 which is haunted by the former owner of the land, Lord Dunraven, and Room 428 where furniture moves about by itself, and in the night a cowboy watches you sleep. The Stanley offers Spirited Night Tours where you can learn about its history and hauntings.

Connecticut

Captain Grant’s Inn in Preston, Connecticut is surrounded by the dead.

History

The inn is found beside a cemetery. The present owner Carol Matsumoto, bought the property in 1994. She never wanted to say it was haunted, but people started talking. Finally, she wrote a book about the property and believes there are many spirits floating about as well as those that haunt her house next door.

Paranormal Activity

To spend a night at this inn is to spend it with a ghost or two. There are seven rooms, and supposedly they are haunted.

Delaware

Addy Sea in Bethany Beach, Delaware is an oceanfront vacation spot with beautiful views of the water. This bed and breakfast is a nice place to stay but appears to be haunted.

History

The former owner Kurt Addy, appears to be walking about the rooftop from which he fell off the edge and died. The spirits of others have also remained like some former employees.

Paranormal Activity

Strange things have been experienced like a shaking bathtub in Room 1. Staying in Room 6 people have heard organ music through the walls, but there is no organ on the premises. In Room 11 people have had encounters with a former employee who passed on years ago.

Idaho

The University Inn in Gooding, Idaho at one time housed students attending Gooding College back in 1917 and in 1946 became a tuberculosis hospital.

History

Legend has it that one of the nurses at the tuberculosis hospital committed suicide by jumping out of the attic and her spirit has remained to haunt the place. When the tuberculosis outbreak ended the building was abandoned.

Paranormal Activity

The present owner says she heard someone loudly telling her to shush while she was hanging up Christmas decorations. She has also heard a child calling for its mother when no children have been on the premises. Paranormal groups have investigated the University Inn and have experienced enough unexplainable occurrences to say there are more than a few former inhabitants haunting the premises.

Illinois

Hotel Baker in St. Charles, Illinois stands by the waterfront on the Fox River.

History

People have become interested in the hotel due to a tragedy that occurred in 1928. Legend has it that a hotel chambermaid was left at the altar and threw herself into the Fox River. Her spirit remains at the hotel.

Paranormal Activity

The chambermaid’s ghostly spirit has been seen in the sixth-floor penthouse, which at one time was the quarters for the chambermaids. Checking into the penthouse, you can expect to hear sobbing during the night, and your bed sheets could get ruffled.

Indiana

The Story Inn is a lovely bed and breakfast in Nashville, Indiana.

History

The main inn was once a general store. There are eight cottages, including one that was a former grain mill.

Paranormal Activity

Apparently, stories abound among hotel staff and guests of the “Blue Lady.” She is supposedly the spirit of the wife of Dr. George Story. She enjoys haunting the room that was once the Garden Room. People believe that by placing a blue light in the room, the Blue Lady will appear other times she appears on her own. The ghostly lady has blue eyes and is in the habit of leaving behind items that are blue in color. When she is around people can smell cherry tobacco, which was her favorite when she was living.

Iowa

Mason House Inn in Keosauqua, Iowa has a long history and spirits that have never left. The inn has eight antique-filled guest rooms and an old train caboose that is now a rentable cottage.

History

The inn was built in 1846 for steamboat travelers, so it is the oldest still-operational hotel on the Des Moines River. It has been used as a Civil War hospital, an Underground Railway stop, a tuberculosis sanitarium, and a boarding house for school teachers.

Paranormal Activity

Ghostly guests are felt most often on the second floor. These enjoy staying around the living.

Kentucky

Jailer’s Inn in Bardstown, Kentucky is a nine-room bed and breakfast.

History

In the late 1700s through the late 1900s, the building was a country jail. Unfortunately, some of those who were imprisoned are around in spirit form.

Paranormal Activity

Here the most notorious spirit is Martin Hill, who was a murderer and died in jail while waiting to be hanged. In the upstairs rooms, a young boy likes to move things around. Supposedly also one of the former jailers had been seen roaming about. The inn offers on-the- spot ghost tours. You can also opt to go to the Talbott Tavern next door which is also supposedly haunted and have a drink with Jesse James, who once stayed there and has been seen hanging around.

Maryland

Lord Baltimore Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland opened in 1928 and since then has been part of the skyline of Maryland’s largest city. It was built in the French Renaissance style.

History

Throughout the Great Depression, there were reports of people jumping to their death from the 19th-floor rooftop deck of the hotel. One couple even jumped with their little daughter.

Paranormal Activity

Today hotel guests say that they can hear the spirit of this little girl playing with a rubber ball or feeling the ball bounce on their beds. Occasionally the hotel elevator will travel up to the 19th floor when no button has been pressed.

Missouri

The Elms Hotel & Spa in Excelsior Springs, Missouri burnt to the ground twice once in 1898 and again in 1910. Today it is a luxury hotel.

History

During the Prohibition era, the hotel even had such notorious guests as Al Capone and others linked with crime.

Paranormal Activity

The ghost of a gambler is said to haunt the hotel pool. There has been a housekeeper in a 1920s-style uniform roaming about, and guests have seen a distressed woman looking for her child walking the halls. She has pulled at people’s hair and thrown objects across a room. Such has been the activity that Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel came to investigate. The Elms Hotel & Spa hosts paranormal tours.

Montana

Grand Union Hotel in Fort Benton, Montana opened in 1882, seven years before Montana became a state.

History

The hotel had a great location along a major highway that lead to Canada and could expect guests from steamboats traveling on the Mississippi. Then some strategic railroads were built, the highway became obsolete, and the Victorian-style hotel fell into disrepair. It has now gone through renovation.

Paranormal Activity

A drunk cowboy roams around, he was shot and killed by a manager in the lobby after trying to ride his horse up the stairs. There are some children roaming about, and guests who stayed in Room 202 say they have seen funny blue lights.

Ohio

Buxton Inn in Granville, Ohio has been around for over 200 years and is the oldest continuously operating inn and tavern in Ohio.

History

Major Buxton, named the hotel after himself and has chosen to remain at the inn.

Paranormal Activity

The silhouette of the ghost of Major Buxton has been seen in a Christmas photo. Guests can smell his pipe even though no smoking is allowed in the hotel. The scent of gardenias means the opera singer who died at the inn is around. In Room 9 where former innkeeper Ethel “Bonnie” Bounell died a lady in blue, her favorite color, has been seen. Shadowy figures have been present in Room 7 and in the basement. Guests have been surprised by a ghostly cat jumping on the beds. Ghost tours are popular in the fall and winter and special paranormal nights are held.