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Boo! Book a scary room for Halloween at these historical (and haunted?) hotels
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One of our Halloween pumpkins. Photo by Sue Frause.
It's no surprise that the Historic Hotels of America has a menu of spooky places to spend the night. If you delight in the supernatural or have a hankering for the haunted, there are plenty of places to spend Halloween -- with previous guests who have checked-in, but refused to check-out.
Here is a sampling:
The Sagamore, Bolton Landing, New York
Located on scenic Lake George in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, the the resort's fine dining restaurant Trillium is regularly visited by a couple who descend from the second floor and take a seat in the restaurant's reception room before departing. They are said to be among the hotel's first guests during the 1880’s. At Mr. Brown's, another of the resort's dining outlets, the restaurant has been visited by an apparition of a tall woman dressed in long, white evening attire with flowing sandy blond hair. One night the woman spoke to a prep cook, proceeded to walk toward him, then through him and disappeared. The cook abruptly packed his things, quit his job and never returned to the resort.
Paso Robles Inn, Paso Robles, California
The phone at the front desk of the Paso Robles Inn receives mysterious calls from Room 1007 on a regular basis. At first the Inn's management wrote the calls off as a glitch in the system. However, when a member of the maintenance staff inspected the phone line, he witnessed it light-up and call the front desk on its own. When he tried calling the front desk himself, the phone, which has two lines, cut him off and called the front desk from the second line. The spirit has even gone so far as to place a call to 911. When police responded to the call, they found the room unoccupied. Hotel staff attribute the calls to a story uncovered in a 1940 newspaper article. On December 19, 1940, night clerk J.H. Emsley discovered a fire on the second floor of the hotel. Panicked, Mr. Emsley rushed downstairs, sounded the fire alarm and died, on the spot, of a heart attack. Thanks to his quick response and actions all of the hotel's guests were evacuated. Unfortunately due to his sudden death, Mr. Emsley was never aware of his heroism which may be the reason he feels the need to continue to call for help.
The 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
It is said that after the skeleton frame of the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa had been erected in the 1880’s, one of the Irish stone masons plunged to his death in what is now Room 218. This may be the reason why this room proves to be the most spiritually active in the hotel. Throughout the history of the hotel, employees have referred to the entity as "Michael," classified a poltergeist due to the nature of the unexplained activity. For decades television and film crews have been attracted to the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa for the quantity, and quality, of reported sightings. Guests have witnessed hands coming out of the bathroom mirror, cries of a falling man in the ceiling, the door opening then slamming shut, unable to be opened again. The intrigue of this activity had drawn guests to specifically request Room 218 for the sheer chance of experiencing a visit from “Michael.”
Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa, St. Pete Beach, Florida
"Time is infinite. I wait for you by our fountain . . . to share our timeless love, our destiny is time." Thomas Rowe received this note upon the death of his beloved Lucinda. The two met in the 1890s when Rowe was studying in Europe. Lucinda's parents forbade the relationship and the forlorn Rowe returned to America. For years his letters to her were returned unopened. In 1925, Rowe built the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa and in the lobby of the hotel included a replica of the courtyard and fountain where Rowe and Lucinda used to meet. Although the fountain no longer exists, employees at the Don CeSar tell tales of seeing a couple who suddenly appear walking hand-in-hand into the hotel and then vanish.
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