Looking for haunted hotels that serve equal parts luxury and spine-tingling chills? These twelve spectral stays prove that checking in doesn’t always mean the previous guests checked out.
Some hotels are famous for their thread count; others for impeccable concierge service. But these twelve have earned their notoriety from guests who’ve lingered for decades… or even centuries… without ever officially leaving.
Paranormal enthusiasts and casual ghost-story fans alike will find that these haunted hotels offer a thrill that’s often as memorable as the beds themselves.
Dare to Check Into These Twelve Haunted Hotels?
Skeptic or true believer, you’ll discover that these haunted hotels deliver more than just cozy accommodations. Footsteps in empty halls, whispers in the corridors, mysterious pearls on your pillow. It’s all part of the experience. Sleep tight (if you can).
1. Crescent Hotel & Spa — Eureka Springs, Arkansas
The Crescent’s darkest chapter was when the 1886 luxury resort was transformed into a fraudulent cancer hospital. Norman Baker, a millionaire inventor (with zero medical training), painted much of the hotel bright purple in 1937 and began luring desperate cancer patients with promises of cures.
He was later convicted of mail fraud in 1940. His spirit allegedly returned after his death, perhaps drawn back by the hotel’s morgue, autopsy table and cadaver cooler from his era—all of which remain on the property.
But Baker isn’t alone among the Crescent’s eight documented spirits. An Irish stonemason who fell to his death during construction haunts what’s now Room 218. There’s also a five-year-old girl and a bearded Victorian gentleman.
The hotel bills itself as “America’s Most Haunted Hotel” and offers nightly ghost tours that explore the underground tunnel system, where limestone and quartz supposedly capture paranormal energy.
2. The Marshall House — Savannah, Georgia
When The Marshall House underwent restoration in the late 1990s, workers made a disturbing discovery: human remains beneath the old floorboards. Built in 1851, the hotel served as a Union hospital during the final days of the Civil War, and the presence of soldiers’ bones explained decades of ghostly military sightings.
But the adult spirits aren’t the only presence that makes this place particularly unsettling. Guests consistently report hearing phantom children laughing, running and bouncing balls in empty hallways.
There are also reports of babies crying, along with doorknobs jiggling on their own, faucets turning themselves on and toilets overflowing without being flushed. Located in one of America’s most haunted cities, The Marshall House has both the historical credentials and the paranormal activity to back up its reputation.
3. The Stanley Hotel — Estes Park, Colorado
Room 217 changed horror literature forever. When author Stephen King stayed there in October 1974, he and his wife were the hotel’s only guests—and the property was closing for the season the next day. After dinner in an empty dining room, King had a nightmare about his son being chased through the corridors by a fire hose. He woke up with the entire framework for The Shining already formed in his mind.
But the room was already haunted long before King arrived. In 1911, head housekeeper Elizabeth Wilson was lighting lanterns during a storm when an explosion blasted her through the floor into the dining room below. She survived with only broken ankles, but her spirit apparently never clocked out.
Guests report having their luggage unpacked by invisible hands and unmarried couples sometimes wake to find the man’s belongings packed by the door (Mrs. Wilson was quite traditional in her views).
Built in 1909 by inventor F.O. Stanley, who came to Colorado dying of tuberculosis and miraculously lived to age 91, the hotel leans into its haunted reputation with nightly ghost tours and consultations with in-house psychic Madame Vera. Stanley’s wife, Flora, is particularly fond of the concert hall he built for her, where she plays phantom piano concerts late into the night.
4. Hotel Del Coronado — San Diego, California
Kate Morgan arrived on Thanksgiving Day 1892, alone and telling staff she was waiting for someone. The 24-year-old woman, who had worked as a domestic servant in Los Angeles, appeared ill and despondent as she wandered the hotel for five days. She ended up taking her own life from a broken heart.
The hotel’s gift shop regularly experiences merchandise flying off shelves, and Kate has been spotted walking the beach. Paranormal investigators have also documented activity in her room using infrared cameras and high-frequency sound detectors.
Despite the flickering lights, self-operating television, mysterious breezes and temperature fluctuations, her original third-floor room is the most requested accommodation in the entire resort.
5. The Hollywood Roosevelt — Los Angeles, California
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held here in 1929, and the hotel essentially functioned as long-term housing for old Hollywood royalty. This means the Roosevelt’s ghosts aren’t just any spirits, they’re celebrities.
Marilyn Monroe’s spirit is said to linger near a specific mirror (she stayed at the hotel frequently during her lifetime), while Montgomery Clift’s voice echoes through his former suite. Even if you’re skeptical about celebrity ghosts, the Roosevelt’s dramatic lobby and views of the Hollywood sign are worth the visit.
The ghosts are just a bonus, though there’s something appropriate about film legends refusing to leave a hotel where cinema history was made. Even in death, they’re not ready for their close-up to end.
6. Bourbon Orleans Hotel — New Orleans, Louisiana
Over 300 years of history means this French Quarter beauty has accumulated spirits from wildly different eras. The building served as a grand ballroom, theater and for many decades, both a convent and an orphanage. This layered past creates some spooky history.
Guests report encounters with ghosts from different centuries wandering the halls and lobby. But the most poignant spirit is a solitary dancer who appears in the ballroom, dancing alone beneath the crystal chandelier at night. In a city where the supernatural is woven into daily life, the Bourbon Orleans fits right into New Orleans’ complex relationship with the afterlife.
7. Mizpah Hotel — Tonopah, Nevada
When this luxury hotel opened in 1907, it was among Nevada’s first truly grand accommodations. After a complete restoration in 2011, the Mizpah returned to its former glory along with its most famous guest.
The “Lady in Red” died on the fifth floor under mysterious circumstances and apparently decided the Mizpah was too lovely to leave. Her manifestations are oddly intimate: she whispers in men’s ears and leaves individual pearls from her broken necklace on guests’ pillows.
It’s unclear whether this is romantic, threatening or simply her way of making her presence known. The hotel has embraced its crimson-clad spirit with a dedicated Lady in Red suite and a Red Lady Bloody Mary on the restaurant menu, transforming a ghost story into brand identity.
8. The Hawthorne Hotel — Salem, Massachusetts
When your town is synonymous with witch trials and hangings, supernatural street cred comes with the territory. The Hawthorne Hotel has attracted attention from Ghost Hunters and even served as a filming location for Bewitched, cementing its place in Salem’s paranormal landscape.
Guests report classic haunting phenomena: sheets being tugged at night and furniture mysteriously rearranging itself. But Room 612 has its own particular resident—a female ghost who spends her afterlife staring into the mirror. In 1990, the hotel went all-in by hosting a séance in the Grand Ballroom. In Salem, acknowledging your haunted status isn’t just good business—it’s practically required.
9. Hotel Alex Johnson — Rapid City, South Dakota
Open since 1928 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this hotel has accumulated nine decades’ worth of paranormal reports. The “Lady in White” haunts the eighth floor, while the hotel’s founder, Alex Johnson himself, apparently couldn’t stay away from his namesake property even in death.
What sets the Alex Johnson apart is how thoroughly it has embraced the interactive ghost-hunting experience. They offer a “Ghost Adventure Package” that includes accommodations in a haunted room and a K2 meter for DIY paranormal investigation.
The hotel’s website even has a dedicated section where guests can submit their own supernatural encounter stories, casting them into paranormal researchers and creating a living archive of the hotel’s ongoing spectral activity.
10. The Black Monarch Hotel — Victor, Colorado
During the Gold Rush boom, this building operated as a brothel and saloon. It burned down in 1899 and was rebuilt as The Black Monarch Hotel, but some spirits from the original structure apparently stuck around. Staff report hearing women’s laughter echoing through empty spaces and seeing silhouettes in windows when no one else is present.
Rather than downplay this seedy history, The Black Monarch has turned it into their entire aesthetic. The hotel features all-black walls, gothic decor and themed accommodations, including “Bela Lugosi’s Dracula Room” and the “Jack the Ripper Room.” They also share ghost stories on their website.
11. Henderson Castle Inn — Kalamazoo, Michigan
Frank Henderson spent the better part of a decade working with surveyors, engineers and landscape architects to build his dream Queen Anne-style mansion in 1895. Tragically, he only lived in the finished 25-room house for four years before his death. Clearly feeling cheated by fate, Frank’s ghost has been spotted around the property numerous times by visitors.
The castle opened to the public in 2011 and now offers ghost-themed cocktails at its aptly named Spirits Lounge and hosts monthly murder mystery dinners. Overlooking downtown Kalamazoo, the property is as famous for its exquisite architecture as its supernatural activity. Henderson may have been shortchanged in life, but at least his afterlife includes watching visitors appreciate his architectural vision.
12. The Omni Mount Washington — Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
Built in 1902, this grand resort has hosted Thomas Edison and three U.S. presidents over the decades. But its most persistent guest is Carolyn Stickney, the widow of the hotel’s original owner. Her four-poster bed remains in a third-floor guest room, where multiple travelers have reported waking to find Stickney’s ghost sitting at the foot of the bed, calmly brushing her hair.
As paranormal encounters go, it’s remarkably domestic. Stickney apparently just wants to maintain her nightly routine in the home her late husband built. The good news? The hotel’s famous sprawling wraparound porch offers such spectacular mountain views that most guests are too busy enjoying the scenery to worry about ghostly hair-brushing sessions.
Snapshot Summary
America’s most haunted hotels blend history with paranormal activity. The Crescent Hotel’s fraudulent cancer hospital past leaves eight documented spirits. Stanley Hotel’s Room 217 inspired Stephen King’s “The Shining.” Hotel Del Coronado hosts Kate Morgan since 1892, while Hollywood Roosevelt features celebrity ghosts like Marilyn Monroe. From New Orleans’ Bourbon Orleans to Nevada’s pearl-dropping Lady in Red at Mizpah Hotel, these properties offer ghost tours, paranormal investigation packages and supernatural encounters alongside luxurious accommodations.
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