• From restored ancient castles to a former military prison with history, we count fifteen
of the world’s most haunted hotels! 15 – Cassadaga Hotel,
• Cassadaga is a Spiritualist camp in Florida that is today recognised as the ‘Psychic
Capital of the World’. The community was established in 1894 and is known for its amazing
Energy Vortex and psychic mediums. • According to its website, Cassadaga Hotel
is a charming and mysterious inn, and the destination of choice for those interested
in the paranormal, the timeless grace of early 20th Century buildings, and those wanting
a truly unique holiday experience. • The hotel proudly advertises that it is
haunted by friendly spirits. The staff invites you to bring your camera along for a slow,
restorative evening stroll. Many guests have taken unbelievable photos of sprit energies
in and around the hotel. 14 – Russell Hotel, Sydney,
• The Rocks, Sydney’s oldest neighbourhood, has a history of crime and debauchery, and
is home to the famously haunted Russell Hotel. • The hotel once served as a hospital during
deadly outbreaks of smallpox and bubonic plague, and later became a sailor’s hostel. It is
said to be frequented by the spirits of colonial-era sailors and prostitutes.
• Guests of Room 8 have reportedly woken to a dark presence looming over their bed,
peering down at them. Others claim to have seen the ghosts of prostitutes wandering the
hall, or doors opening and closing on their own. Reportedly, recent renovations on the
old sandstone building have riled up the old spirits, with paranormal activity rising.
• The establishment celebrates its chequered past by running ghost tours.
13 – RMS Queen Mary, • Built by the Cunard Line, The Queen Mary
was the premier ocean liner for transatlantic travel, carrying celebrities and dignitaries.
It was also used as a troopship during World War II.
• In 1967, world-famous cruise ship The Queen Mary officially retired from ocean travel
to become a floating Californian hotel. • Many aboard have died over the years,
and these spirits are thought to roam the ship. Telephones ring at random, spectral
women in 1930s-style bathing suits are seen around the swimming pool, and crying children
are often heard in the night. 12 – Langham Hotel,
• Said to be England’s first ‘grand hotel’, the Langham Hotel was built in 1865
and has hosted distinguished guests like Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde.
• Despite its prestigious reputation, the hotel was immune to neither tragedy nor controversy
in its 150 years of operation. This list of macabre occurrences includes a German prince
leaping to his death from a window before World War I, and a man who killed himself
and his wife on their honeymoon. • Other reported spirits include Emperor
Louis Napoleon III, who spent some of his exile in the Langham; a man with a gashed
and bloodied face; various butlers and footmen; a spirit in the basement; and a man in Victorian
evening wear who only appears in October. • Room 333 is infamous for its spine-tingling
supernatural activity. 11 – Myrtles Plantation,
• Located in St. Francisville, Los Angeles, this regal property was built on ancient Native
American burial grounds. • At least ten murders have been committed
in this hotel since the 1700s – including the infamous murder of William Drew Winter,
who was shot on the porch and dragged his dying body up seventeen stairs before finally
slipping away. According to legend, his apparition can still be seen.
• Today, twelve ghosts call this B&B home. These otherworldly guests include a lady with
curly hair; a Native American woman; children who like to play on the porch; a girl who
always makes an appearance before thunderstorms; and Chloe, the slave girl who was hanged by
fellow slaves after poisoning the house mistress and her two children.
• There are also strange noises, blood stains that can't be removed, cold spots, mysterious
footsteps in the night, and handprints that appear at random.
10 – Akasaka Weekly Mansion, • Tokyo is Japan’s supernatural epicentre,
and is home to spirits like the Noppera-bō, a blank-faced changeling known to terrorise
humans. • Akasaka Weekly Mansion is one of the most
haunted places in Tokyo. It’s an extended-stay apartment where guests have reported all sorts
of goings-ons. • Over the years, many guests have reported
apparitions, ghostly mists and the sensation of disembodied hands stroking their hair and
touching their private parts of people who sleep at night . Men reported the sensation
of female hands touching them, while female guests reported strong, rough hands holding
them down while they slept. • One female resident even made the claim
that an unseen entity threw her out of bed and dragged her across her room by her hair.
Needless to say, she departed the building quickly, screaming into the night.
9 – Le Pavillon Hotel, • New Orleans’ Le Pavillon Hotel, built
in 1907, has been described as ‘A place where guests can instantly conjure the days
of genteel luxury and glittering nights.’ Guests can also expect to have brushes with
the dead. • Le Pavillon is reportedly haunted by at
least five ghosts. The most famous of these is Adda, a melancholic teen who was killed
by a runaway carriage sometime in the mid 1800s. Adda has been known to bump into people
in the lobby, claiming to be lost, then vanishing. • There have also been reports of a grey-haired
woman in black and a spectral couple holding hands. Some have also claimed to smell phantom
cigar smoke and lady’s perfume. • The most amusing reported sighting is
of the hotel’s resident spectral hippie. Apparently, a young shoeless man in psychedelic
clothing and bell bottoms has been seen running around and disappearing through walls. The
hippie ghost is a prankster, often charged with hiding objects and yanking blankets off
unsuspecting guests. 8 – Talbot Hotel,
• England’s Fotheringay Castle was built circa 1100. It was the birthplace of Richard
III (whose remains were found recently beneath a parking lot) and was where Mary Queen of
Scots was tried and beheaded. • The castle fell into ruin and was demolished,
but parts of it were salvaged. Notably, the castle’s oak staircase found its way into
the nearby Talbot Hotel of Oundle, Northamptonshire. • Legend has it that Mary walked down those
very stairs on the way to her execution. The mark of the crown, which was on Mary’s ring,
was found on the staircase’s wooden banister. Mary has been dead for over four hundred years,
but has not been at rest. Her ghost has been seen walking down the staircase, furniture
has been moved around, and her portrait has been known to leap from the wall.
7 – Grand Hyatt, Taipei, • Most haunted hotels are centuries old
and have some history behind them, but Taipei’s 852-room Grand Hyatt hotel was only built
in 1989. Just because the building is relatively new, though, doesn’t mean the land is without
an unsettling history. • The luxurious Grand Hyatt was built on
the site of a World War II Japanese prison camp and execution ground. The earth was so
poisoned by death and despair that paranormal experiences abounded in the modern hotel.
• Locals shun the place, believing that it is haunted by the ghosts of several executed
inmates. Even action star Jackie Chan reported feeling disturbances and stormed out of his
suite in the middle of the night. • At a loss, the hotel’s management turned
to feng shui experts, who installed wind chimes, amulets, and Buddhist scrolls in the lobby
to frighten away spirits. 6 – Fairmont Banff Springs Hotels,
• Located high in the Canadian Rockies, the chateau-style Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
is a beautiful medieval castle in the wilderness. It was built to encourage western tourism
and sell train tickets back in 1888, and is dwarfed by the adjacent Rocky Mountains in
Banff National Park. • Although management firmly denies any
paranormal activity, guest accounts tell a different story.
• One frequently witnessed spirit is that of a young bride who allegedly died in a tragic
accident right before walking down the aisle. She fell down a stone staircase during her
wedding and caught fire from a torch as she tumbled. Guests have reportedly felt a draft
along the hotel's marble stairwell where she tumbled to her death.
• The other, nicer sighting involves the spirit of an elderly bellhop named Sam McAuley.
Sam died in 1967 following the announcement of his retirement. He so adored the hotel
that, after he passed, he reportedly continued to work there. Ninth floor guests report the
white-haired bellhop helping them and vanishing before they have a chance to tip him.
5 – Karosta Prison Hotel, • Originally intended as an infirmary, Latvia’s
Karosta Prison was used as a Nazi and Soviet military prison for most of the 20th Century.
Thousands of prisoners died on site. • Today, guards still walk Karosta's halls
and courageous people looking for an authentic jail experience pay to occupy its cells.
• Visitors can take a quick guided tour, or opt for the full Karosta experience, which
includes prisoner garb, interrogation, harassment and, finally, being locked in a cold cell
for a night literally in prison. • Before embarking on the full prison experience,
tourists are made aware that disobedience in the prison could result in insult or even
physical punishment. They are also required to sign a waiver.
• Karosta Prison also houses the spirits of the many who died within its walls. The
staff relay stories about lightbulbs that unscrew from their sockets, doors that open
by themselves and the ghost of a woman who hanged herself and now wanders the corridors.
4 – Hotel Chelsea, • New York bohemian landmark Hotel Chelsea
was built in 1885 and was the home of countless artists, authors, poets, and musicians. It’s
famous for its many celebrity deaths, but is probably best known as the place where
Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious stabbed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death.
• Andy Warhol, Janice Joplin, Eugene O’Neill, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain and more allegedly
haunt this red-brick Manhattan building. • Poet Dylan Thomas was staying at the Chelsea
when he fell into a fatal coma and later died in hospital.
• Guests have reported all manner of paranormal phenomena, from cold air to phantom footsteps,
to lights that turn on and off at random. 3 – Ballygally Castle Hotel,
• Built in 1625, Northern Ireland’s Ballygally Castle sounds placid, but has a lurid and
frightening history. • Former resider, Lady Isobella Shaw is
said to have been imprisoned in the turret room by her husband, Lord James Shaw, immediately
after she gave birth to their son. Starving to death, she attempted to escape out the
window and fell to her death. It’s believed her ghost has wandered the castle for more
than 400 years in search of the son who was taken from her.
• The property has since exchanged ownership and eventually became a hotel.
• Lady Isobel is still a very active presence in the castle, appearing frequently and knocking
on guests’ doors at odd hours. James might also be present, as it is rumoured he was
poisoned in the castle. • Another spirit, one Madame Nixon, has
been seen in an elegant dress, and the mischievous laughter of children can sometimes be heard
echoing through the hallways. 2 – The Crescent Hotel and Spa,
• Built in 1886, this extravagant property in Arkansas claims to be the most haunted
hotel in the United States. Originally a luxury hotel and spa, it went bankrupt and re-opened
as a conservatory for young women. It later became a fake cancer hospital.
• Founder Dr Norman Baker, a man with no medical training, used the hospital as a front
to experiment on humans – alive and dead. He dispensed useless treatments to the living
while raking in dough from their families. He was eventually jailed for fraud.
• Now, his experiments haunt the grounds, and the spirits include Dr Baker himself;
a stonemason that fell off the roof and died; a nurse pushing a gurney; Theodora, a cancer
patient; and a former student who committed suicide.
• A ghost tour includes a midnight visit to the morgue.
1 – Stanley Hotel, • Colorado's Stanley Hotel was opened by
F O Stanley, the inventor of America's Stanley Steamer automobiles in 1907. Paranormal activity
has been a part of the hotel's history ever since, and it is widely considered the most
haunted hotel in America. • The ghost of Elisabeth Wilson, a former
housekeeper who died at the hotel in 1911, is said to linger in Room 217, assisting guests
by unpacking and storing away their belongings. • The creepy sounds of children running
and giggling are also regularly reported on the fourth floor, especially around the dreaded
room 418. The ghosts of Mr Stanley and his wife are also said to pass through the lobby,
with Mrs Stanley sometimes playing her piano in the music room.
• Stephen King was so freaked out by this hotel that he wrote The Shining based on his
experience there. • The Stanley Hotel owns its infamy by offering
ghost tours and playing Kubrick’s film version of The Shining on an infinite loop. It also
has a resident psychic, Madame Vera.