Note: Apparitions and ghouls need not apply.
At the splendid The Hermosa Inn, pocketed in a residential neighborhood in the Sonora Desert’s Paradise Valley near Scottsdale, I feel a presence that raises a few hairs. “Oh, that’s Lon,” says a member of the hotel team, referring to the former owner of the outpost, who had built the hacienda with handmade adobe bricks in the 1930s, complete with a tunnel escape route for those prohibition-era raids. A renowned cowboy artist and notorious gadabout to boot, Lon was a bigger-than-life character who surely resented the fact that he was forced to sell his ranch due to gambling debts. He left everything behind, including tons of his original artwork, so famous it appeared as the trademark inside of Stetson hats. No wonder he feels the propensity to come back, to provoke the guests and haunt the workers – generally just make himself a veritable nuisance.
“Oh, Lon’s everywhere,” says a waitperson, who has worked at the hotel for years. She soon relates her personal encounter with him, a saga in which she and the chef stand in the kitchen, transfixed in awe as each of the kitchen knives prise themselves from the wall and dance through the air toward them. As they watch, the knives land alarmingly close (mischievously close?) to their feet as she recalls. “The joke was on us.” She grins, noticing how I relish the story. She leans in: “Lon loved a good joke.”
If you have a penchant for phantoms as I do, head to The Hermosa Inn – or try these other haunted spots, each one eerie enough to beleaguer your sound mind and make you question your mortal faculties.
Isn’t that what Halloween is all about?
Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado
It’s said the Stanley Hotel, a turn-of-the-century grand dame in Estes Park, inspired Stephen King to write The Shining. So haunted it will test your tolerance for the terrifying, The Stanley has been refurbished — yet the long dead live on, nightly walking its halls. You’ll find most of them on the fourth floor, home to the former servants’ quarters. In room 418, Flora Stanley, the first owner’s wife, continues to play the piano — though it’s been nearly a century since her passing. Do gather the courage to sleep in room 217, where King stayed, and where guests have returned from dinner to find their suitcases packed or unpacked by an unknown source. King himself reported seeing a child walking the hallways calling for his nanny.
The Langham, London
More daunting than securing tickets to an anticipated West End show is room 333 at the swanky Langham in the heart of London’s theater district. Its most famous spectre purports to be a Victorian doctor who never checked out after unceremoniously murdering his wife on their wedding night. He continues to idle in the hallway, his cravat still intact, along with other third-floor phantoms. If you dare, seek out the ghost of Napoleon III who sequestered here during his final days or the restless, unnamed German prince who perpetually walks the halls, reliving his fatal jump from a window. Expect bed shaking and fluorescent lights with vaguely human shapes — among other eerie phenomena.
Ashford Castle, and Dromoland Castle, Ireland
Who wouldn’t want to stay at Ashford Castle for eternity. The 800-year old estate in County Mayo was built for the Guinness family on the shores of Lough Corrib. It offers a range of activities from horseback riding to fly fishing to falconing — not to mention ghost spotting. Guests have reported midnight door knocking, banshees wailing at night and vexatious cackling. Look for the little girl, her face frozen in a serious expression, her arms outstretched, who lingers in windows before becoming eerily evanescent. Two hours away in County Clare at Dromoland Castle, guests continue to be startled by the Lady in the dark blue gown. You’ll likely see her descending the grand staircase, though she never makes it to the bottom. Some say she’s the spirit of a past resident unwilling to depart; others claim she’s a woman accused of witchcraft, caught between words.
Hotel Congress, Tucson, Arizona
Choose your ghost at Tucson’s Hotel Congress, located in the heart of downtown. Here, outlaws and gangsters galore gathered and hid away from the law. A cultural hub of the city for more than a century, Hotel Congress, now a vintage-style boutique hotel, seems to be a safe harbor for wraithlike beings. Choose from four distinctly haunted havens. Room 242 ’s ghost sits on the bed’s edge in a white dress emanating a ponderous heaviness of mood. She might snuggle you seeking comfort…Room 220 holds an apparition said to be a WWII veteran who moved into the hotel in 1965. His passion was hoarding the hotel’s butter knives. Today, staff sometimes find knives in the oddest places. Look for the debonair gentleman wearing a neat seersucker suit, who watches from the window of 214. Don’t worry: he dematerializes in an instant when caught in the act. Finally, a naughty, long dead locksmith lingers in 212, ever tinkering with the keyholes, his tools clicking and tapping throughout the night. Beware lest he lock you in (or out).
Hotel de Coronado, California
The Del (as those in the know call it) was the largest resort in the world when it was built in 1888, a feat of Queen-Anne-style glam on the beach. Over the years, its regulars included Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Walt Disney — even Prince Edward of Wales. But, there’s at least one guest who’s stayed for eternity. Blamed for bone-chilling wafts of air, flickering lights, a lingering scent of fresh flowers, flapping curtains, and disembodied footsteps, Kate Morgan lords incorporeally on the third floor. Sleep in the room where she was found mysteriously expired on an exterior staircase, a woman wronged — as the theory goes. Some say she checked in, desperately waiting at the elegant hotel for her erstwhile lover. Perhaps she’s still expecting him?
The Liberty Hotel, Boston
Boston bears the bedeviling reputation as one of the world’s most haunted cities. In Beacon Hill, The Liberty Hotel is built into the ominous bones (pun intended) of the more than a century-old Charles Street Jail. A Gothic Revival behemoth, it has a torturous history. Aptly, it serves as the eternal abode of a dreadful range of melancholic apparitions. You might hear the whisperings of famous inmates like Whithey Bulger or Sacco and Vanzetti when you sit in the original cells, now kitted out as conversation pieces. Just as likely, you may discern the faint screams of bygone bad guys in restaurant Alibi, the original location of the jail’s drunk tank. Perfectly sober guests have reported paranormal events as creepy as guards in old-time uniforms and prisoners clad in 19th-century detention garb restlessly treading along the extant, metal catwalks: clank, clank, clank. Look for a hazy woman in white, who flaps through the kitchen area. Feel the phantasmal watchers on the upper floors spying on you, though you turn to see no one at all. And, be moved by a sad girl who gazes meaningfully through windows when darkness falls.
Driskill Hotel, Austin
Locals flock to the Driskill for many reasons — its gorgeous Romanesque architecture, famous cheese soup, cozy bar filled with Texas-crafted furnishings — and the potential for ghost sightings only adds to the allure. Perpetual typewriter tapping, inexplicable whispers in the hallways, a child giggling, the undeniable perfume of cigar smoke, and distant arguments that waft like wind from afar are just some of the supernatural occurrences that you might experience during a staycation here. One guest reports seeing a waiter dressed in old-time clothing simply walk through a wall. The luxurious, 130-year-old hotel reportedly hosts a coterie of “earthbound spirits” (defined as those who died violently, but who don’t realize they’ve passed on). Consider the child who met her demise falling down the grand staircase while chasing a ball. Are you plucky enough to book Room 525, reputedly the most haunted room of all.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa and Fairmont San Francisco, California
The Fairmont Hotel group tends to operate in properties packed with gravitas — especially in California. History gives its resorts a texture that can’t help but attract phantoms and creatures from the other side. On that note, the round room at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa has hosted the ravishing Victoria for decades. Her family can be traced back to the founding fathers of Sonoma Valley. Most often, she strolls through the lobby in the wee hours of the night, sipping red wine from a fragile glass.
Fairmont San Francisco, which has crowned Nob Hill since 1907, survived the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and fire to welcome myriad presidents, dignitaries, and VIP guests from around the world. Naturally, its more than a century of history has prompted untold unexplained encounters, spooky tales, and late-night frights shared by guests and employees alike. When in residence, listen for unexplained footsteps and mysterious knocks; look for flickering lights; and tremble a bit when passing through a historic corridor or ballroom as you sense the presence of an otherworldly fellow occupant.
Featured image courtesy of The Liberty Hotel. Travel Curator may earn a commission from product or booking links on this page.
