Scarecation! These ‘Haunted’ Hotels Across America Are Sure to Conjure Up Some Scares if You Dare to Stay

Remind Staff October 9, 2023

Do you scare easily? If so, you might want to scratch these hotels off your bucket list when planning your next vacation. Many of these hotels were built around 100 years ago, giving ghosts plenty of time to haunt each location and scare patrons. From flickering lights to creepy noises or apparitions, these are some of the hotels believed to be the most haunted around the United States. Learn more about each one and let us know if you’ve ever dared to stay there, or hope to someday!

The Stanley Hotel

Estes Park, Colorado

Stanley Hotel Colorado

This 140-room hotel opened in 1909 and offers picturesque views of the Rocky Mountains. It also served as inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s masterpiece The Shining, though the movie was not filmed there. Since the publication of King’s work, the hotel has developed a reputation as a site for paranormal activity, and ghost tours of spaces reputed to be exceptionally “active” are offered to guests and visitors. Room 217, where King and his wife Tabitha once spent the night, is the one most often requested.

Hollywood Roosevelt

Los Angeles, California

Dick Whittington Studio/Corbis via Getty Images

Built in 1927, a group of Hollywood notables financed this hotel, including Louis B. Mayer, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. The hotel hosted numerous well-known guests over the years, from Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard to Prince, Angelina Jolie and Marilyn Monroe — who lived at the hotel for two years. In fact, the hotel is rumored to be haunted by ghosts of Monroe, Clift and Errol Flynn.

Bourbon Orleans Hotel

New Orleans, Louisiana

Bourbon hotel New Orleans

The Bourbon Orleans was first under construction in 1806, however the opening was delayed due to the war of 1812. It officially opened in 1816 and 1 year later it was ravaged by fire and then again in 1866. In 1881 it was sold to the Sisters Of The Holy Family and was used an orphanage until they sold it and it became a hotel again in 1964. The hotel is reportedly home to three ghosts: a Civil War-era soldier, a little girl playing with her ball, and a dancer – perhaps the mistress of a wealthy gentleman visitor from the early days of the hotel. Of course this isn’t the only haunted hotel in the Crescent city, its notorious for the paranormal activity throughout the French Quarter. A bonus creepy spot to check out: Nicolas Cage’s gold pyramid tomb in the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, on the north edge of the French Quarter. Cage bought two plots in 2010 and had the nine-foot mausoleum built there, apparently for future use.

Hotel Del Coronado

San Diego, California

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Built in 1888, this beachfront hotel has hosted everyone from presidents (William Taft, FDR, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, among others) to princes (Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales) to many of Hollywood’s elite: Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin and Mae West, to name a few from an earlier era. The popular 1958 Marilyn Monroe comedy Some Like it Hot used the hotel for its exterior shots. The hotel supposedly houses the ghost of one Kate Morgan, who checked into her room in 1892 and never checked out. She was found dead on the stairs leading to the beach five days after her arrival. Her death was ruled a suicide.

The Chelsea Hotel

New York City, New York

Scott Gries/Getty Images

This New York landmark since it opened in 1885 has been home to a number of famous artists, musicians and writers, including Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, Andy Warhol, Jane Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Ethan Hawke, Jim Morrison, Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Janis Joplin and Leonard Cohen. As far as ghosts go, a number of notable deaths would suggest the possibility of some haunted happenings: Writer Dylan Thomas drank himself to death in the hotel, and Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols was suspected of murdering girlfriend Nancy Spungen there before he died of a heroin overdose.

The Pfister

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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Another luxurious and historic hotel that is supposedly haunted. The Pfister opened in 1893 and quickly became one of the finest hotels in the area. The hotel was the dream of Guido Pfister, who sadly died before the hotel was finished. However, his son Charles took over and finished the hotel. Big celebrities including Elvis Presley have stayed there and it was often the spot for visiting baseball teams to stay if they were playing the Milwaukee Brewers. These days, many of these baseball players refuse to stay there after experiencing some strange occurrences. For instance, Carlos Martinez said that the Pfister ghost touched him in the middle of the night and he blamed his terrible playing the next day on the encounter. Most believe that Charles Pfister is the ghost that haunts the place, making sure that it is still in tip-top shape and apparently ensuring a Brewers win.

Have you stayed at any of these or have more for this list? Let us know in the comments!