Instead of staying home this Halloween, handing out trick-or-treats to all the little Elsas and Annas and Star War warriors or Mario Bros in the neighborhood, why not hit the road and enjoy a pleasant haunted night or two in a haunted hotel?
This country is filled with inns and hotels brimming with ghostly spirits and paranormal activity to help you celebrate the season. Happy Hallowed-eve can become a memorable, fright-less experience with the help of GO Airport Shuttle.
Warning: Most haunted places are typically visited by former occupants who may have suffered untimely or suspicious final moments. Some of their stories can get pretty scary. But, heck, you made it through “Ghost Busters” and “The Shining.” What could go wrong? And besides, wouldn’t it be fun to be like Sam and Jay from the CBS-TV series “Ghosts” for a night or two?
So enter, if you dare. By the way, these hotels aren’t in the “Bates Motel” category, from the movie Psycho. You’ll see some of the nicest rest stops in the country. No wonder the ghosts never like to leave.
Let’s start in California and work our way east. The Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island near San Diego is a wonderful place to rest and relax. Close to the beach, too. That’s what Kate Morgan felt back in 1892 before despair took her life on the 3rd floor, some folks say, because she was jilted by her lover. Many guests say spectral figures in white still roams the halls near Room 3327. Flickering lights appear, too. And strange happenings even occur in the gift shop.
North in Los Angeles brings in a different dimension: famous film and TV stars. Hollywood offers The Hollywood Roosevelt, with famous former residents like Marilyn Monroe (Room 1200) and Montgomery Clift (Room 928). Errol Flynn is supposed to haunt the hotel bar. Check out the Gable Lombard Penthouse. Not too far away in West Hollywood is Chateau Marmont, unfortunately made famous for the last days of John Belushi.
Before leaving LA, we hope you had a chance to go onboard The Queen Mary back in Long Beach for their annual holiday-themed ship-of-Halloween-horrors festival. There’s been quite a bit of paranormal activity over the years on the boat. Be on the lookout for Room B340 and Shafts Alley, if you go on one of their tours.
Located near Union Station in San Francisco is the Queen Anne Hotel, once a boarding school, now a boutique hotel, and haunted by the former headmistress Mary Lake. She probably didn’t leave her office on the fourth floor much, but still roams the building in charge. With the grandeur of the Victorian and Edwardian Ages; you’ll feel the spirit of the times.
And, If you like the Number 3, and aren’t afraid of old wives’ tales, pay a visit to the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon. It seems all the rooms that end in “3” experience some odd instances of paranormal activity; 703, 603, 503, keep going down, apparently following the downward glide path of something that happened years ago.
Not to be outdone, Seattle offers the Hotel Sorrento. Some people even think the exterior looks kind of scary. Inside, the spirit of Alice Toklas (the partner of Gertrude Stein) holds fort. She appears a lot on the fourth floor, and every once in awhile drinks get moved around magically down in the Dunbar Room.
Arizona offers several ghostly choices. As is the case throughout the Western states, there are many hotels with wild cowboy stories about gunslingers and loose women that still linger in the halls. In Phoenix, Hotel San Carlos is built on Native American worshipping grounds as well as an elementary school. Marilyn Monroe and Gene Autry used to visit. But, it’s lovely Leone Jensen who appears as a white apparition now and then who will greet you. Then Hotel Congress in Tucson, a favorite hideout for John Dillinger, seems to present a “space-time vortex” for guests who claim to see old-time Tucson, complete with horse and buggy traffic, outside their hotel windows. Check it out for yourself on one of their Haunted Hotel Tours.
Next up, Denver. While everyone’s racing over to the traditional paranormal favorite Brown Palace, or the recent ‘Hotel of the Year’ Populus, you should definitely plan a small excursion out of town and head for Estes Park a short 2-hour ride away. And here’s why:
Room 237. Here’s Johnny! Creepy, right. Everyone knows that room number from Stephen King’s The Shining. It was really “217” that he and his wife actually stayed in one winter evening, actually the only guests in the place, that prompted the idea for his book. (They changed the room number for the movie.) But the Stanley Hotel is also haunted by F.O. Stanley and his charming wife, always dressed in formal attire, hanging around the main staircase. If you’re anywhere near Denver, it’s a must.
Flying down to Dallas/Fort Worth, and you’ll have to choose your haunting. The Stockyards Hotel used to be a favorite with Bonnie & Clyde (Room 305) and several ghosts like to play around with the water in the bathtubs when you’re not looking. Over in Dallas, The Adolphus used to be the biggest building on the skyline for years. Originally built by the Anheuser-Busch owner, it’s foremost guest, besides Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, is another jilted bride who apparently never left her wedding site.
Chicago is no stranger to poltergeists. There are ghost tours all over town. Two hotels most visited by the supernatural are the Congress Plaza Hotel and the Drake. Some folks believe Stephen King’s “1408” stems from the Congress Plaza. But on the 12th floor, there was a room that was so active with strange occurrences that they actually wallpapered over the door. A few miles up Michigan Avenue sits the proud majestic The Drake Hotel, which had its Grand Opening on New Years Eve in 1920 when a certain “Woman in Red” decided to remain a guest forever. Don’t ask.
Nearby Milwaukee offers the classic The Pfister Hotel, built in 1893, supposedly haunted by Charles Pfister, the son of the builder. However, many major league baseball players have sworn off staying here after too many scary evenings on the day before big games.
If your Fall travels take you to Cincinnati, Ohio, stop in at the aptly named Hotel Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. You might see the ‘Lady in Green,’ the wife of a construction worker who died while building the hotel in 1930 and was never found. She’s still looking for him, they say.
Of course, ghost-hunting experts know one of the best places to find heavy haunting Halloween action is New Orleans. Everywhere you look seems to be another Haunted House Tour starting point. One must-see stop is the Hotel Villa Convento, thought to be the original “house of the rising sun.” Being a former brothel feeds the imagination, and couples are often interrupted by a female interloper, perhaps the former Madame. Next would be the Hotel Monteleone, where 14-year old Maurice is said to roam the halls looking for his parents. And there are many many many more haunted places to see in town.
Go further south to Florida and head for The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Miami. Completely renovated in 1987, the hotel is considered more haunted now than it was when it first opened in the ‘20s. Leading the list of spiritual visitors would be Fatty Walsh, the mobster, who was shot dead in the hotel in the late 1920s. Guess he’s still angry.
Many Fall travelers return to New York City every year for the arts, the shows, or the fashion, but this year look into all the paranormal activity around town. A good start would be the Bowery Hotel, which looks imposing from the outside. Many people say it’s the proximity to the Marble Cemetery that keeps the hotel halls filled with varied spectral visitors. They say guests should also try to use the elevators before 1 am. Just sayin’.
Don’t forget old The Algonquin Hotel, near Times-Square. It was home for the famous ‘Algonquin Round Table,’ a group of writers, critics and actors during the 1920s that still seem to share their opinions and feelings throughout the hotel lobby and bar. (Think Dorothy Parker and George S. Kaufman.)
Our final haunted hotel suggestion has to be the infamous Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, just 53 miles north of Boston. Claimed to be America’s Most Haunted House, the building was the site of a terrible murder by Lizzie giving her parents quite a few whacks with an ax, supposedly, according to the nursery rhyme. But that happened so very long ago in 1892, that nothing unusual could be still going on, can it?
Have a great Fall travel adventure. GO Airport Shuttle can help you from start to finish for a non-ghost experience from airport to your hotel and back again. Check out our list of cities served. There are truly some haunted places along the way.