Key takeaways
- Haunted hotels worldwide accept loyalty bookings, allowing rewards members to experience paranormal activity ranging from peaceful hauntings to violent poltergeist phenomena.
- The Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King's 'The Shining,' explicitly marks its 13 most haunted rooms, including Room 217 where a former housekeeper's spirit works.
- From New Orleans' complex history of slavery and disease to a Canadian mountain resort's violent poltergeists, each hotel's hauntings reflect past trauma and prominent former residents.
Travelers interested in paranormal experiences have numerous options worldwide. According to The Points Guy Articles, dozens of hotels openly acknowledge their supernatural residents—and several accept bookings through loyalty programs. From Colorado peaks to New Orleans ballrooms, these properties offer documented hauntings alongside conventional amenities.
The Stanley Hotel: Where Stephen King Found Inspiration
Estes Park, Colorado’s Stanley Hotel opened in 1909 as a retreat for America’s wealthiest visitors, though by the 1970s disrepair threatened its future. When novelist Stephen King arrived during a winter storm in 1974, he encountered not just the building’s faded grandeur but the atmosphere that would become “The Shining.”
The 140-room hotel openly identifies which spaces harbor the strongest paranormal activity. Room 217—the same number that appears in King’s novel—draws attention from those seeking encounters with Elizabeth Wilson, the head housekeeper who died in a gas explosion within those walls. Rather than depart after her death, Wilson apparently continues her duties, tidying guest possessions and arranging shoes in the hallways.
Guests less interested in such housekeeping supervision can reserve Lucy’s Spirited Grand King, named for a playful young spirit. The property’s famous hedge maze also appears on the grounds, though it concludes far more pleasantly than the film version.
East Coast Grand Hotels with Historic Residents
The Equinox Golf Resort & Spa
Vermont’s Equinox dates to 1769 and has sheltered presidents William Howard Taft, Ulysses S. Grant, and Theodore Roosevelt. The property also hosts Mary Todd Lincoln, who visited in 1864 with her two sons. Witnesses describe a sorrowful woman moving through the grounds, occasionally repositioning rocking chairs and household items without explanation.
Beyond this presidential widow, the hotel harbors additional spirits. A female phantom frequents the grand staircase. The Marsh Tavern, a gathering space for 250 years, resonates with presences from the Revolutionary War era. George, a former bellhop, continues his rounds even in death.
Omni Parker House
Boston’s Omni Parker House, opening in 1855, holds the distinction of being America’s oldest continuously operating hotel. Charles Dickens performed his first American reading of “A Christmas Carol” within its walls. Harvey Parker, the founder, apparently never completed his checkout. His presence manifests on the 10th floor, while guests encounter unexplained whispers in empty corridors and hear distinct sounds emanating from unoccupied rooms.
Elevators present another mystery, repeatedly traveling to the third floor without being summoned.
The Langham, London
London’s Langham, established in 1865, counts the England cricket team among those disturbed by its paranormal activity. A doctor who murdered his wife during their honeymoon haunts the property in full Victorian attire, with October being his most active month. Napoleon III, who favored the basement, has been sighted there. A German prince who jumped from a window before World War I appears primarily in mornings, manifesting in military dress.
Room 333 earns recognition as the hotel’s most haunted space, where a mischievous spirit tosses guests from bed.
Southern Histories: Ghosts of Slavery, War, and Epidemic
Bourbon Orleans Hotel
New Orleans’ Bourbon Orleans Building opened in 1815 as a ballroom and theater before fires in 1816 and 1866 devastated it. The Sisters of the Holy Family—the first African American religious order in the United States—purchased the property and converted it into a school for Black girls, an orphanage, and convent. During the Civil War, the building served briefly as a hospital.
The structure’s layered past produces multiple manifestations. Children who died from yellow fever during the orphanage years make their presence known. A Confederate soldier paces the hallways. A phantom emerges from behind ballroom drapes.
The Marshall House
Savannah’s Marshall House, built in 1851, served as a hospital during the yellow fever epidemic and again as a Union hospital near the Civil War’s conclusion. The spirits remaining include soldiers with missing limbs and children playing marbles in corridors. Joel Chandler Harris, a journalist and folklorist who stayed at the hotel, continues to haunt his favorite room, where guests report hearing typewriter keys.
Visitors describe phantom odors with no source and encounters with a cat that belongs neither to the living nor to the physical world.
The Emily Morgan Hotel
San Antonio’s Emily Morgan Hotel, named for the Yellow Rose of Texas, occupies space that functioned as the Medical Arts Building and hospital from 1924 through 1976. The basement, seventh floor, and 14th floor—buildings of this era often skip the 13th—experience the most intense activity. The elevator behaves unpredictably, descending to the basement without being summoned.
Local ghost tours feature the property regularly, providing context for the experiences visitors report there.
Celebrity Spirits: Stars Who Never Left
The Hollywood Roosevelt
Hollywood Boulevard’s Roosevelt, built in 1926, became home to Marilyn Monroe, who occupied a room above the Tropicana Pool for two years. The hotel facilitated Shirley Temple’s tap-dancing lessons with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and hosted an affair between Clark Gable and Carole Lombard while Gable remained married to actress Maria Langham.
Monroe’s spirit apparently remains on property. Guests report encountering her reflection in bathroom mirrors. Some describe a young girl in a blue dress moving through the hotel, though whether this represents Temple’s phantom or another child remains unclear.
The Shelbourne
Dublin’s 200-year-old Shelbourne, an Autograph Collection property, received attention when actor Lily Collins shared her paranormal encounter during her stay with Jimmy Fallon in 2013. Other guests have reported taps turning on without cause, strange giggling, slamming doors, and a girl’s shadow drifting through the building, particularly on the sixth floor.
The presence is believed to be Mary Masters, a 7-year-old who died of cholera in the building centuries ago. Paranormal reports proved so consistent that hotel management assigned a staff member to sleep in the supposedly haunted room—the employee fled in terror after the first night.
Violent Manifestations: The Most Physically Active Hauntings
Fairmont Banff Springs
Canada’s Fairmont Banff Springs has operated for more than 130 years while hosting multiple spirits with aggressive behaviors. A bride who died falling down the marble staircase before reaching the altar appears as a veiled woman in the grand ballroom and throughout the property. The hotel’s former head bellman continues his work, maintaining order even from beyond death.
Specific rooms concentrate particularly intense activity. Pillows disappear from beneath sleeping guests. Bloody handprints materialize on bathroom mirrors. Patrons report being shoved from bed by invisible forces.
Source: The Points Guy Articles
Frequently Asked Questions
What rooms are considered the most haunted at The Stanley Hotel?
Room 217, which inspired Stephen King's 'The Shining,' is haunted by Elizabeth Wilson, the former head housekeeper who died in a gas explosion. Guests also report activity in the room called 'Lucy's Spirited Grand King.'
Can you book haunted hotels with loyalty points?
According to The Points Guy Articles, some haunted hotels accept bookings through loyalty programs, though specific properties and point values vary by hotel and program.
Which haunted hotel has the most violent paranormal activity?
The Fairmont Banff Springs in Canada reports the most aggressive phenomena, including pillows being pulled from beneath guests' heads, bloody handprints on bathroom mirrors, and guests being shoved out of bed by unseen forces.
