Top 10 Haunted Hotels

Some people collect souvenirs. Other people collect… “Why did the hallway just sigh?” memories.
If you’re in the second group (or you’re traveling with someone who is), haunted hotels are the perfect
blend of history, hospitality, and the occasional “Nope, I’m sleeping with the lights on.”

This list focuses on famous haunted hotels in the United States that you can actually book, plus what makes each place
spooky, what’s historically grounded, and what’s folklore. Think of it as a travel guide with one foot in reality and one
toe in the mysterious cold spot by the elevator.

Why do hotels get “haunted” so often?

A hotel is basically a story factory: it’s old (sometimes very old), it hosts thousands of strangers, and it has long corridors that
amplify every sound like an unpaid horror movie intern. Add in tragedies from past eras, a rotating cast of guests with vivid imaginations,
and the fact that you’re sleeping somewhere unfamiliar… and suddenly that normal plumbing noise becomes “Victorian ghost tap-dancing.”

• Age + history: Older buildings tend to have more recorded deaths, accidents, and dramatic eventsfacts that fuel legends.
• Ambience: Dim lighting, tall ceilings, and creaky floors are romantic… and also excellent for terrifying your nervous system.
• Expectation effects: If you check in already convinced Room 217 is haunted, your brain becomes a very dedicated paranormal intern.
• Commercial myth-making: Ghost tours and stories keep historic properties relevantsometimes with a wink, sometimes with full commitment.

Table of Contents

1. The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado)
2. Hotel del Coronado (Coronado, California)
3. The Queen Mary (Long Beach, California)
4. The Driskill (Austin, Texas)
5. The Emily Morgan Hotel (San Antonio, Texas)
6. 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)
7. Bourbon Orleans Hotel (New Orleans, Louisiana)
8. Omni Parker House (Boston, Massachusetts)
9. Congress Plaza Hotel (Chicago, Illinois)
10. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (Los Angeles, California)

Top 10 Haunted Hotels You Can Actually Stay In

1) The Stanley Hotel (Estes Park, Colorado)

If haunted hotels had a celebrity wing, The Stanley would have its own red carpetmostly because it’s famously tied to
The Shining. The lore centers on Stephen King staying here in 1974, in a nearly empty hotel, and leaving with
enough eerie inspiration to fuel generations of nervous laughter.

Reported activity includes phantom music, footsteps, and the “someone is behind me” feeling that’s hard to rate on a
travel site. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, it’s also simply a gorgeous historic property with dramatic mountain
views that make your camera roll feel haunted (by beauty).

• Best for: Horror fans, history lovers, and anyone who enjoys scenic dread.
• Try this: Take a guided tour, then walk the public areas at night and note how your brain narrates every sound.

2) Hotel del Coronado (Coronado, California)

This iconic seaside resort is famous for vintage glamourand for one of America’s most enduring ghost legends. The story most often
told involves a guest, Kate Morgan, who died in 1892 under mysterious circumstances and is said to linger in the hotel’s Victorian-era
spaces. The legend has become part of the property’s cultural identity, complete with documented historical interest and decades of sightings
reported by guests.

Even if you never encounter anything paranormal, the setting sells itself: salty air, historic architecture, and the kind of hallways that
make you slow down because you swear you just heard a dress brush past.

• Best for: Beach travelers who want their sunsets with a side of legend.
• Try this: Ask about the hotel’s historical exhibits and lore-focused programming (it’s often more fun than pure jump-scares).

3) The Queen Mary (Long Beach, California)

A haunted hotel that’s also a retired ocean liner is basically cheatingin the best way. The Queen Mary’s stories are tied to its
long life: luxury ship, wartime service, and decades of docked-afterlife fame in Long Beach. The ship’s reputation concentrates around
specific areas, like certain staterooms and the first-class pool, where guests and tour guides trade tales like they’re swapping baseball cards
for the undead.

The best part? Even skeptics tend to feel something aboard: the scale, the echo, the metal corridors, and the quiet that feels different from
a normal hotel’s quiet. It’s less “boo!” and more “this place has memory.”

• Best for: People who want spooky atmosphere with maritime history.
• Try this: Do an evening tour first, then decide if you truly want to sleep on a ship that creaks on purpose.

4) The Driskill (Austin, Texas)

The Driskill is a Texas legend: grand, historic, and frequently described as one of Austin’s most haunted addresses. Stories often include
the spirit of the hotel’s founder (sometimes announced by a whiff of “old cigar energy”), plus tales of a child on the staircase and
various “unhappy bride” legends that drift through the halls like perfume you didn’t pack.

What makes The Driskill compelling is the blend of elegance and rumor. It’s not a gimmick-heavy haunted house; it’s a place where ghost
stories cling to chandeliers.

• Best for: Travelers who want luxury, live music nearby, and a sprinkle of “did you hear that?”
• Try this: Spend time in public spacesmany sightings and stories cluster around lobbies, bars, and staircases.

5) The Emily Morgan Hotel (San Antonio, Texas)

Across from the Alamo sits a Gothic building with carved figures that look like they’re guarding your sleep. It started life as the Medical Arts Building,
a place tied to doctors’ offices and medical historyfuel for modern paranormal reputation. Guests and staff stories often mention odd sounds,
unexplained door behavior, and that classic haunted-hotel vibe: “I’m alone, but my nervous system disagrees.”

The setting does a lot of work here. Even without anything supernatural, the architecture is theatricallike it’s auditioning to be the backdrop
of your next “I swear I didn’t imagine it” story.

• Best for: Architecture nerds, Alamo visitors, and people who enjoy gothic aesthetics.
• Try this: Look up at the exterior detailing in daylightthen see how your impressions change at night.

6) 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)

This is one of the most famous names in American haunted hospitality, often branded as “America’s most haunted hotel.”
Its long history includes eras as a luxury resort, a school, andmost notoriouslya 1930s period connected to “cancer hospital” claims and
the controversial figure Norman Baker. That history provides fertile ground for modern ghost stories, including reports tied to specific rooms
and named spirits that show up repeatedly in tours and guest accounts.

The Crescent is also a full-on experience: ghost tours, lore, and a town vibe that encourages you to lean in. Come for the spa, stay for the
“why did my phone battery die at 87% and then jump to 2%?” storytelling.

• Best for: People who want haunted-lore programming built into the stay.
• Try this: Pair the tour with a daytime history walkseeing the same place in sunlight changes the whole narrative.

7) Bourbon Orleans Hotel (New Orleans, Louisiana)

New Orleans doesn’t do “lightly haunted.” The Bourbon Orleans sits in the French Quarter with a past that includes its connection to the Orleans Ballroom and
later use by a religious order for school, convent, and orphanage purposeslayers of history that easily become layers of legend. The most repeated stories
feature spectral nuns, children, a Confederate soldier, and a mysterious dancer whose ballroom appearances feel like the city’s nightlife… continuing on a
different schedule.

Even if you experience exactly zero paranormal phenomena, you’ll still have the Quarter outside your door, which is basically a living museum of mood.

• Best for: Travelers who want haunted hotels plus unbeatable walkability.
• Try this: Listen at nightNew Orleans has a soundtrack, and it can make ghost stories feel oddly plausible.

8) Omni Parker House (Boston, Massachusetts)

Boston’s historic energy is practically a renewable resource, and the Omni Parker House is one of its most storied hotels. Founded in the mid-1800s,
it’s tangled up with famous guests, literary history, andaccording to long-running talesspirits that never checked out. Stories often point to the founder,
Harvey Parker, still “overseeing” the property, along with other reported presences tied to the hotel’s long timeline.

The Parker House is a great example of how haunted hotel stories often track with a place’s importance: the more famous the address, the more likely people
are to feel the weight of everything that happened there.

• Best for: History travelers who want their ghost stories with a side of classic Boston.
• Try this: Take a Freedom Trail-style day, then revisit the hotel at nightcontext changes the vibe.

9) Congress Plaza Hotel (Chicago, Illinois)

Opened in 1893, the Congress Plaza has the kind of age that naturally attracts haunted folklore. Stories often highlight a specific “most haunted”
room number and multiple reports tied to the building’s long, dramatic history. Media coverage and local storytelling have kept the Congress in the public
imagination, with tales involving tragic events and reported activity on certain floors.

What makes the Congress stand out is how widely it’s discussed in Chicago: it’s not just a tourist rumor; it’s a local “oh, that place” reference.

• Best for: Urban explorers who love historic buildings and big-city ghost lore.
• Try this: Journal what you experience (sounds, temperature shifts, sleep quality). It’s funand surprisingly clarifying.

10) Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (Los Angeles, California)

The Hollywood Roosevelt is where glamour and ghost stories hold hands and walk straight into your camera. Opened in 1927 and famous for hosting the first
Academy Awards in 1929, it’s also wrapped in legends about old Hollywood spiritsnames like Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift get mentioned often, along with
“haunted mirror” lore and strange reports around certain rooms and corridors.

The fun twist here is that LA hauntings come dressed for the occasion. If you’re going to imagine a ghost, why not imagine one with impeccable lighting?

• Best for: Pop-culture travelers who want haunted hotels with star power.
• Try this: Treat it like a history stay first (architecture, film lore), then see if the ghost stories hit differently.

How to plan a haunted-hotel stay (without spiraling)

A haunted hotel vacation should be funspooky, not stressful. A few tips:

• Respect the place: Many legends involve real deaths and tragedies. Treat the history like history, not a prop.
• Bring sleep insurance: Eye mask, earplugs, and a “comfort show” downloaded. Nothing defeats a ghost vibe like a sitcom theme song.
• Do the tour early: Learn the stories while you’re still brave and hydrated, not at midnight when your brain is 90% imagination.
• Stay grounded: Old buildings have drafts, pipes, and settling noises. It’s okay to be thrilled and rational at the same time.

FAQ: Quick answers for nervous (but curious) travelers

Are haunted hotels safe?

Yesthese are functioning hospitality businesses. The “haunted” part is folklore and reported experiences, not a replacement for fire codes and
front-desk policies.

Should I request a famously haunted room?

If you want the full experience, surejust remember room availability and numbering can change over time. Also, requesting the “most haunted room” is like
ordering the spiciest wings: you don’t get to act shocked when it’s intense.

Experience section (extra 500+ words): What it’s actually like to stay in a haunted hotel

Here’s the honest truth: the scariest part of a haunted hotel isn’t a ghost. It’s your brain, doing overtime in a strange bed at 2:17 a.m.
The first night usually starts with confidence. You check in like, “I’m a modern adult. I pay taxes. Spirits fear me.” You take photos of the lobby,
admire the vintage chandeliers, and casually pretend you didn’t just speed-walk past the portrait that looked like it blinked.

Then comes the hallway moment. Haunted hotels are experts at hallwayslong, carpeted, softly lit corridors where every footstep sounds like it belongs to
someone else. You’ll notice how your sense of hearing sharpens. You’ll hear the elevator cables. You’ll hear water moving through pipes. You’ll hear a door
shut somewhere on another floor and think, “That was definitely the sound of a Victorian socialite judging my pajama shorts.”

The room itself is usually normalcomfortably normal, which is actually part of the suspense. You expect cobwebs and cursed music boxes. Instead, you get
crisp sheets and a keycard that works on the second try. You unpack, and the mundanity dares you to relax. That’s when the tiny quirks become huge.
The air conditioner clicks on: “Who turned that on?” The ice machine down the hall rumbles: “Why is it… approaching?”

If you do a ghost tour, your mind gets a script. You’re not just staying in a room; you’re staying in “the room where people report footsteps” or “the room
with the mirror” or “the room with a story that starts with ‘legend says’ and ends with you checking under the bed like you’re eight years old again.”
The tour makes the building feel alivenot necessarily haunted, but layered. You start noticing architectural details and imagining all the people who slept
there long before you. That’s a powerful feeling, and it can be mistaken for something supernatural.

The most memorable “haunted hotel” experiences are often the subtle ones. You wake up briefly and feel disorientednew city, different room, unfamiliar
sounds. You might swear you heard faint music, but it could be a wedding downstairs or a distant street musician. You might see a shadow in the corner,
but it’s the curtain shifting with a draft. Haunted hotels are mood amplifiers: whatever you bring emotionallystress, excitement, curiositygets turned up
like a dimmer switch.

And yet… there’s a reason people keep booking. Even the skeptics leave with a story. A weird coincidence. A dream that felt too specific. A moment where you
and your travel partner both looked up at the same time because the hallway got suddenly quiet. The thrill is real, even if the ghosts are optional.
It’s a special kind of travel: you’re not just visiting a placeyou’re letting it tell you a story while you sleep inside it.

If you go, go with the right mindset: be playful, be respectful, and don’t demand a ghost like you’re ordering room service. Sometimes the best souvenir is
simply the feeling of staying somewhere historic, dramatic, and just mysterious enough that you’ll still be talking about it on the ride home.

Conclusion

Haunted hotels sit at the intersection of history and imagination. Whether you’re chasing true paranormal activity or just love a good ghost story,
these ten properties offer something rare: a night where the destination doesn’t stop being interesting when you go to bed. Sleep wellunless you’re
hoping not to.