Real Haunts

The Haunted Mohonk Mountain House

The Mohonk Mountain House is a Victorian-Style resort hotel located in Ulster County, New York. With 259 guest rooms, a spa, pool, outdoor ice-skating rink, and many other features, this is one of the larger resort hotels in the United States. It was added as a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and has both a rich history as well as a commanding view of the New York countryside, making this a popular vacation destination.

The Smiley Family, Presidents, and a Little Dirty Dancing?

The Mohonk Mountain House stands tall above Mohonk Lake and was built in 1869 by the Smiley family. The family sought to create a place that allowed its visitors to feel at home in nature. Over the years, the original structure has been renovated and added onto many times, turning what started as a small guest house into a structure resembling nothing less than a castle, with turrets and ramparts to boot. The 6th generation of the Smiley family continues to run the hotel today.

Over the years, many important dignitaries have stayed at the Mohonk Mountain House, including five presidents (Chester A. Arthur, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Howard Taft, Teddy Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton) and many famous entertainers.

The Mohonk also has a small claim to fame as a “Dirty Dancing” family vacation. While the hotel wasn’t featured in the film, the resort experience reminds you of the movie. People will come just for the “Dirty Dancing experience,” however I don’t believe Patrick Swayze’s ghost is making any appearances.

Is the Mohonk Mountain House Hotel Haunted?

While actual reports of ghostly activity are mostly unsubstantiated, hotel employees have long told stories of a “ghostly giggler” that likes to go between empty rooms, laughing as it travels through the Mohonk. Most employees say that the giggles sound like they are coming from a small child.

Guests have also commented they’ve seen rocking chairs inexplicably start rocking, packs of dogs disappearing into thin air, eerie feelings, and visions of people who suddenly disappear. The Mohonk area has a lot of history and does have ties to the Revolutionary War so it’s possible that the ghosts go back quite a ways. With such a rich history and so many great places to investigate, we would say there is a good chance that there is some sort of paranormal activity at play from time to time. We wouldn’t call it one of the most haunted places in America.

Is the Mohonk Mountain House the hotel that inspired The Shining?

In addition to presidents and the like, one of the Mohonk’s claims to fame is that it has been a regular haunt of none other than famed horror novelist Stephen King. Because of this, the Mohonk is thought to be one of the possible inspirations for King’s classic work The Shining, a story that just happens to be about a haunted hotel. While the haunted Stanley Hotel in Colorado is usually credited as “The Shining Hotel” — and has done everything it possibly can to capitalize on this legend — fans have conflicting opinions. And while the Stanley Hotel may or may not have been the start of the “official” story, it’s hard to imagine that so many frequent trips to the Mohonk wouldn’t have made some sort of lasting impression on King’s mind as he wrote his famous novel.

The Mohonk even has a hedge maze of sorts.

As a side note, Mohonk Mountain House stationery was featured in Stephen King’s novel, The Regulators, in 1996. He wrote it under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

Spooky Stays at the Mohonk Mountain House Hotel

Credit: Decaseconds

The Mohonk is a great place to go if you’re looking looking to get away from it all, or possibly encounter a spirit. The stories of the child-like giggler still circulate among the many employees, and if that’s not enough, the 1,200-acre estate, the 30,000-square foot spa, and the commanding view of the countryside can make the trip worthwhile. There are also plenty of great haunted and/or spooky places to visit nearby the Mohonk area.

Additional spooky places of note near the Mohonk Mountain House

• The 145-year-old Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, NY is about a 12-minute drive and many have claimed to see the ghost of Widow Jane wandering the mine. The spectral vision of the young Widow in a long white dress has been witnessed in the cavernous mine among the stone columns.  The old cement mine has a lot of history and several paranormal sightings have been reported over the years.
• Energy Vortex. The Hungry Ghost Guest House has no haunted happenings, but the owners confirmed that it sits on the edge of an energy vortex. In fact, the Northeast end of the Mohonk Preserve is supposed to be an energy vortex. They say that people will come up for the overwhelming peaceful feeling and energy.
• Alien sightings. There is a 50-mile wedge shaped cliff that runs along the Catskills. In the town of Pine Bush, and along that wedged cliff, several alien sightings have been reported. The town is famous for its Pine Bush UFO Fair. It’s about a 30-minute jaunt over to Pine Bush from Mohonk Lake.

Halloween at Mohonk Mountain House

The Mohonk features several activities and events during Halloween including a haunted house, a costume ball, trick-or-treating, and more. The haunted house is typically for guests over age 7. You can check out the Mohonk events calendar for updated information.

New Orleans has a colorful past and hundreds of ghosts. The Bourbon Orleans was a convent in the 1800s when yellow fever struck the city. Many of the ghosts that walk the halls of the hotel are those of children and young women who died during the epidemic. One of the spirits is a Confederate soldier.

Many elaborate social events took place in the Grand Ballroom. People see the apparition of a woman dancing under the chandelier in the ballroom. People have heard draperies in the room rustling as though someone was behind them.

The host of the show Psychic Kids conducted a reading in the hotel and was able to communicate with several spirits, including two children who apparently died suddenly.

New York City’s Hotel Chelsea is one of the most haunted hotels in the world, and it is a storied location as well due to the many artists, writers and musicians who have passed through its doors. From Jimi Hendrix to Eugene O’Neill to Andy Warhol, Janis Joplin and dozens of others, the hotel, originally built in the late 19th century, was long a center for bohemian culture. The hotel has seen its share of deaths as well including the murder of Nancy Spungeon by her boyfriend, Sid Vicious of the punk band the Sex Pistols; the alcohol-induced death of poet Dylan Thomas; and the suicide of writer Charles Jackson.

These former residents are among its most famous ghosts, and visitors report seeing the spirits of Sid and Nancy haunting the corridors and the room where she died. Although Sid died elsewhere several months later, it was said that he never wanted to be separated from his true love.

More gruesome reports include a woman who reported a disembodied head appearing in midair during a sleepless night that included footsteps in the room behind her and being gripped by an almost unbearable sense of fear. On later seeing a photo of Dylan Thomas, she identified the head as his. Some report that spirits mingle in the lobby on their way to another realm, and at least one resident says that the elevator is as likely to deposit its riders in a bygone era as to open on the floor they intended to visit.

Haunted Hotels: Royal Hotel
When hearing news of the Royal Hotel in Yampa, CO, burning down and considering its haunted history, it causes one to wonder whether or not the fire had anything to do with any of the spirits that allegedly haunt the hotel. According to ABC News who obtained word from the lieutenant of the Yampa Fire Department, a coal stoker malfunctioned. Although everyone was evacuated from the building, the structure was completely lost. What many wonder after the hotel burned down in January 2015 is what happened to the hotel’s well-known ghost, Rufus.

Rufus

“Rufus” was the named given by patrons of the Royal Hotel to the ghost who was reportedly responsible for turning lights on and off, moving furniture around and flushing toilets throughout the facility. Much of his phenomena as well as other ghostly occurrences were reported to have occurred in Rooms 6 and 7.

Rufus’s story is unclear. Although some say that he is the spirit of one of the hospital residents who died in the building from the flu back in 1919, others argue that he was a gambler who was murdered after cheating at a poker game. Regardless, the ghost, fondly dubbed “Rufus” haunted the establishment for more than a century.

Other Paranormal Activity

Another spirit who supposedly haunts the hotel is that of a young woman who is seen rushing through the hallways of the hotel. In addition to seeing her running apparition, people report hearing her disembodied footsteps throughout the hotel as well. Also, some people have mentioned hearing a dog barking and running through the hotel hallways.