Real Haunts

The Haunted Tokeland Hotel

Just off the oyster-consumed Willapa Bay stands the large and luxurious Tokeland Hotel. The estate was built by Elizabeth and William Kindred in 1885 and was opened as The Kindred Inn in 1889, making it the oldest resort in Washington state. The inn is settled close to the Pacific Ocean, making it quite cozy and relaxing for a guest to stay. The staff is friendly and the rooms are clean. The age of the hotel makes it a likely location for a haunting one might say. But almost every guest that has stepped through the doorway has a tale or two about their time there.

Ghosts of the Tokeland Hotel

Charly is the name most likely to come up when asking a guest about their ghostly Tokeland stay. Young Charly’s appearances seem to be quite friendly, nothing more than just mischievous fun. Back in the 1930s, the Tokeland Hotel regularly used a small hidden space behind the fireplace to smuggle Chinese immigrants into Washington. It is likely Charly suffocated in this cramped space. Disturbances such as hovering and wildly spinning plates in the dining room have been attributed to Charly. Although an appearance is rare, some have claimed to have seen his friendly spirit walking throughout the halls and grounds. Another reported spirit said to haunt the estate is a wildcat. It can be seen lurking around the outside of the hotel at night. Hotel owner Katherine White says she does not fear Charly or any other spirits, they just want to have a bit of fun.

The Tokeland Hotel early 1910s

Through the years, Katherine has experienced numerous unusual occurrences in the Tokeland Hotel. She recalls seeing a strange apparition resembling a cumulus cloud hanging in the air. It floated for a few minutes then disappeared without a trace. In another instance, Katherine was locked in an upstairs room for a time. The door swung shut behind her and was locked from the outside; she could see through the crack at the edge of the door where the latch had been thrown. As she fumbled for the light, she found it was not working. After a couple of minutes of groping in the dark, she heard the sound of the latch being unlocked and she was able to leave the small room. She assumes it was Charly, up to no good.

One guest reported that when she was four, she saw a ghostly apparition in the hotel. Years later, she returned and had a terrible feeling of unease when she’d seen the ghost all those years ago. However, no guest has reported any sort of attack so fans of mild ghost encounters will find the Tokeland Hotel an interesting and beautiful stay.

Haunted Rooms of the Tokeland Hotel

• Rooms #7 and #4 are the most haunted in the hotel. They are even called “haunted room #7” and “haunted room #4.”
• The sounds of scraping coat hangers and footsteps can be heard throughout the night on the third floor, a floor only used for storage, never guests. Lights have been known to flicker or go out completely on this floor as well.
• The restaurant has seen some creepy disturbances. Plates have reportedly flown into the air or across the room.

The Shining Hotel – AKA The Stanley Hotel

It takes a lot to scare legendary horror author Stephen King, but years ago his visit to the Stanley Hotel rattled his nerves enough to wake him in the middle of the night.  That’s when he began to conceive his masterpiece, The Shining. King’s experience at Colorado’s landmark Stanley Hotel served as the inspiration for the book which has many people dubbing it The Shining Hotel.

History of The Stanley Hotel

Built at the turn of the 20th century, the hotel was the brainchild of Freelan Oscar Stanley. After receiving a diagnosis of tuberculosis, Stanley’s doctor recommended that he travel west and get away from the city. He and his wife enjoyed Estes Park so much that he decided to build a hotel and hoped it would attract similar tuberculosis patients and those suffering from other medical conditions. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Stanley Hotel is easily one of the most haunted places in the country and maybe the world.

There are so many ghosts haunting the hotel that it’s sometimes hard to know where to start. Former owner Stanley and his wife occasionally make appearances on the main staircase, but others spotted them in the billiard room and lobby. They typically appear dressed in old-fashioned clothing dating back to the 1910s or 1920s. Others spotted the dapper man in the main offices.

Hauntings of the Stanley Hotel

Several rooms in the hotel are haunted as well. An older man, who many believe is the original owner of the land where the hotel sits, haunts room 407. Guests report smelling the scent of his pipe in the room, and visitors sometimes see his face staring back at them from the window. The ghost of Elizabeth Wilson haunts room 207. The young housekeeper died when a spark ignited a pocket of gas. Guests report seeing doors and windows open and close and seeing lights flickering.

Stanley Hotel Room 217

Other guests found themselves complaining about children running loose when there were no kids staying at the hotel. King himself heard kids laughing and playing in the hallway outside his room, but when he called the front desk, he discovered he and his wife were the only guests staying on that floor. Guests will sometimes hear tricycles racing through the halls, balls bouncing against their doors or the walls of the hallway and kids laughing and running. Those sounds led to more than one guest checking out in the middle of the night. While there are other haunted hotels in the U.S., few can beat the ghosts of the Stanley.

Haunted Rooms of the Stanley Hotel

• Room 401 is said to be the most haunted room in the house.
• Stephen King stayed in room 217, which is the focus haunted room in The Shining novel.
• Stanley Kubrick’s Shining infamously changed the haunted room in the movie to room 237.
• Room 407 is haunted by an older man smoking a pipe.
• Room 207 is haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Wilson.

Story of the Stanley Hotel &amp: Stephen King

@frightfind Quick history of the Stanley Hotel! #fyp #frightfind #scary #spooky ♬ original sound – FrightFind

Is Salem’s Hawthorne Hotel haunted?

The Hawthorne Hotel is ranked as one of the most haunted hotels in America. Guests have frequently reported moving furniture, sightings of a ghostly woman, unexplained noises and crying and more. The show Bewitched even filmed an episode in one of the elevators during the 70s and in 1990 the hotel held a seance in the Grand Ballroom to try and contact Harry Houdini.

The Hawthorne Hotel was established in 1925 in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts. Frank Poor was the founder who created what he would call a “modern hotel for the business traveler” in the roaring 20s. Presidents and dignitaries have visited the hotel over the years and it holds a spot on the Historic Hotels of America national trust.

What rooms of the Hawthorne Hotel are haunted?

Room 325 is easily the most haunted room in the hotel and one of the most requested too. Many believe the room is home to the ghost of a baby or a toddler because they wake to hear the sounds of a child crying in the wee hours of the morning. Though some might scoff or find a reasonable explanation for the crying, most cannot explain why so many children who stayed in the room told their parents about hearing a baby’s cries waking them in the middle of the night. Guests also found that the faucet in the bathroom turned itself on and off, and other guests woke to the feeling of something abruptly pulling their sheets and blankets off the bed.

Guests and workers feel leery about room 612 at the hotel as well. A young woman staying at the hotel saw another woman in a long white dress wandering down the sixth-floor hallway with a disturbed look on her face before stopping at the door to room 612. After pausing to unlock her own door, she turned to offer the woman help and found the woman gone. Other guests have reported the same woman standing outside the door to 612. Multiple workers refused to clean the inside of the room because of the uncomfortable feeling they get while working in the spooky room.

Guests staying in room 612 often get the feeling of someone touching them. They feel an icy cold hand touch their shoulders or arms, and some guests even felt the spirit lightly tug on their hair or clothing.

Ghosts abound on the lower floors too. Workers sometimes find that someone or something moves the furniture around the lobby and other parts of the first floor. One worker, who was responsible for rearranging furniture in a first-floor room to make space for a group meeting, came back minutes later to find all the furniture back in the original places in the room.

Visitors often refer to Salem, Massachusetts as one of the most haunted places in the world, which might explain some of the ghosts walking the Hawthorne Hotel.

Haunted Rooms of the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA

• Room 325 is the most haunted room in the hotel
• Room 612 and the 6th floor have reports of a ghostly woman walking the halls
• The lobby and the 1st floor have things moved without explanation

Newbury Township, Ohio is a half hour drive east from the city of Cleveland. This small and rural hamlet contains some of the more amazing small town scenes that could only be imagined in the mind of Norman Rockwell. To the center of this sleepy little community lies the Punderson Manor, precisely on the edge of Punderson Lake. Set with English-Tudor style construction and rooms, the spacious manor is a magnificent architectural achievement. It is also magnificently haunted.

Is the Punderson Manor Haunted?

Lemuel Punderson originally purchased the land the manor now sits on back at the turn of the twentieth century. Punderson held onto the property for years before he died, and the land was sold to a man named Karl Long who in 1924 constructed the original manor.  However, Long died near the end of the process and the property became owned by the State who officially stepped up finishing the construction in 1956 which resulted in twenty-nine guest rooms with fourteen European style baths, twenty-six cabins, library, and a fully furnished dining and guest hall. The manor was being fashioned into a spacious getaway resort for area Clevelanders, who came away relaxed and refreshed, but also with tales of paranormal encounters.

The Ghosts of Punderson Manor

The most frightening story was reported by a trio of coworkers some years ago. Late one evening they had finished tending to their evening tasks and were going to pass through the empty dining hall and into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. On their way through to the kitchen, they all stopped short as a man was hanging from a noose in the middle of the dining room.  Paralyzed with fear, they watched as he twitched and swayed from the rope as if freshly hung. Minutes later as the sun began to come up, the trio watched in complete disbelief as the hanging man simply vanished before their eyes.

That’s not the only vanishing ghost, a woman in white Civil War-era attire has been seen going down hallways, and if approached, she is said to appear startled and floats frantically away to hide. The most popular ghost on the premises is named “Pundy” and is thought to be the spirit of the original property owner, Lemuel Punderson. He has been known to turn lights on and off in guest rooms as well as shutting doors or even pulling out bookshelves in the library. His spirit is not deemed malevolent at all by hotel staff and many are said to think of his presence as harmless.

Punderson Manor Lodge & Conference Center is currently a very popular and lasting luxury resort for travelers. Golfing and hiking courses have been allotted on its lake area which is also often the site of weddings and banquet events. Such unbridled success is possibly just one of the reasons why Punderson’s spirit hangs around to this very day, forever observing the happiness his property brings to others.