Haunted Hotels

The Alta Cienega Motel

Tucked into the hills of Hollywood, the seemingly ordinary Alta Cienega Motel resides. Built in 1948, the building itself is quite unimpressive, seeming like any other old motel. It doesn’t even have a pool. However, the motel has a history involving the famous Jim Morrison, lead singer of the psychedelic rock band, The Doors.

Room 32 – Jim Morrison’s Favorite Room

Image Courtesy of TripAdvisor

Between 1968 and 1970, Jim Morrison lived in room 32 after being evicted from his former residence for hanging from a balcony by his hands. At the time, Morrison struggled with alcoholism, which eventually led to his death in 1971. Since then, his favorite room at the Alta Cienega has been visited by fans all over the world.

The room is very unique compared to the rest of the hotel, which is pretty simple. The walls and ceiling of room 32 are covered in graffiti from fans, along with some pictures of Morrison. Even the bathroom, furniture, and T.V. are inscribed with drawings, The Doors’ lyrics, and messages from loving fans who wish to memorialize the room. It’s quite an impressive sight, especially compared to the rest of the motel, which is quite bland. It’s worth checking out, although we advise not bringing young children to visit, unless you want to have to explain the numerous male genitalia drawings throughout the room. It’s your funeral.

Unfortunately, it appears that the motel has been closed since 2021. We hope the motel will open back up in the future, but who knows?

The Ghost of Jim Morrison

Rumor has it that since his death, Morrison’s ghost still lingers in room 32. Since the motel shut down, we wonder if Morrison’s spirit will go somewhere else or stay in his favorite room. Only time will tell.

The Haunted Magnolia Hotel, Bed and Breakfast, & Ghost Tour in Sequin, Texas

Want to explore one of the most historic haunted hotels in Texas? Go on a chilling tour of the place? Or, if you’re really bold, you can stay the night. You just might encounter something beyond this world…

The Story of the Haunted Magnolia Hotel

What once began as a small, two-bedroom log cabin is now one of the most famous haunted hotels in all of Texas. The hotel was built in 1840 by James Campbell, who was an original Texas Ranger and co-founder of Seguin, Texas. Underneath the cabin, the large basement was used as a Native American jail cell, and is known as one of the worst jails in all of Texas’ history. Unfortunately, later Campbell was murdered by Comanche Natives, and the cabin was sold to Joseph F. Johnson, who expanded the hotel and added a stagecoach station.

For years, the hotel remained abandoned. It wasn’t until the new owners, Jim and Erin Ghedi, saw the Magnolia’s potential and restored it to its current state. Now, you can visit the hotel at any time and take a ghost tour, or stay the night.

The Haunted Magnolia Hotel Murders

This hotel has quite the history. In 1874, an unsuccessful bank robber committed what is known as the most horrific murders in the New Braunfels area. The man attempted to rob a local pharmacy but didn’t find any valuables. He then proceeded to the back of the building, where the pharmacist and his family lived. The robber came across some gold jewelry and then continued to poke around the place. A family friend named Helene was woken by the noise and went out to investigate, where she was met by the robber with a hatchet in hand. He slashed both of her eyes so she couldn’t identify him, and he proceeded to strike a 12-year-old girl in the head, killing her. After his crimes, the man returned to the hotel and was never convicted of any wrongdoing.

It wasn’t until years later that the man confessed on his deathbed to his crimes, but by then it was too late. Now, it’s rumored that the murderer still makes his presence known at the hotel. Reports say his room becomes unbearably hot and uncomfortable, and that he does not like to be antagonized.

Ghost Tours of the Magnolia Hotel

Want to go on a thrilling adventure? At the Magnolia, you have two options for ghost tours:

• VIP Night Ghost Tour: This spooky two-hour tour is led by the hotel owners, Erin and Jim Ghedi. They will take you to every room throughout the hotel, where you will encounter spirits and learn about the history of this famous hotel. It is noted that this tour takes place at night and is not for the faint of heart.
• History and Mystery Day Tours: This tour is a little less daunting. You must arrive at 1:00 pm sharp on your tour date, and the guide, Shauna, will take you throughout the premises. You will see the entire building, and may run into some ghosts. There is also a gift shop after the tour.

The choice is yours. Which tour do you dare to take?

Ghosts of the Magnolia Hotel

It’s been reported that 13 ghosts have been identified at the Magnolia. These spirits are deemed mostly pleasant, which may be disappointing to some thrill seekers. To name a few of these ghosts, there are:

• A Squatter – during the period that the hotel remained vacant, a squatter passed away, allegedly from suffocation.
• Itsy – a young girl who sadly passed from yellow fever.
• James Campbell – the founder of the hotel.
• Sara – a lady who died of a broken heart after her lover did not return.

Where is the Haunted Magnolia Hotel

If you’re in Texas, you’re in luck. The Haunted Magnolia Hotel is located in the historical city of Seguin. We suggest that you check this place out, especially if you’re in the area.

Address: 203 S Crockett St, Seguin, TX 78155

In need of a location for your haunted house? Please email [email protected] or text (725)290-8607.

Despite its charming yellow walls and well-kept garden, this Kota attraction called Brijraj Bhawan Palace Hotel holds a haunting secret. During the British rule of India, Major Charles Burton visited the palace with his family. As the Sepoy Mutiny broke out, the palace was attacked by natives, and the Major was murdered alongside his children. It is rumored that after the attack, the king of Kota at the time recovered the bodies of the English and buried them in the central hall of the palace. If you dare, this hotel is available for booking. Along with its luxury experience, it also comes with spooky roommates, as the spirits of the Burtons are told to roam the palace halls.

Visitors to the Bhawan Palace Hotel enjoy the old-world charm and learn about the property’s history. It has been a hotel for over 180 years, which means it has seen its fair share of haunts and legends. The rooms are incredibly spacious, and guests feel like they live in a palace. The decor is made for royalty, and the lawns and gardens are part of what draws guests in. It was once the mansion of the former Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi.

Is The Brijraj Bhawan Palace Hotel Haunted?

This hotel has been part of many rumors for decades. One of the stories is that there was a British officer who was killed here in 1857. Apparently, when he lived here, a group of Indian soldiers broke in and attacked the palace. They killed the officer and all of his children, burying them all in the central hall.

As soon as locals heard this legend, they were quick to share lore and ghost stories about the hotel. Many of them claim to have seen and heard this officer now that he is living there as a ghost. This officer isn’t the only ghost that locals and visitors have claimed to see, though.

More Ghosts in the Brijraj Bhawan Hotel

The British officer isn’t the only ghost visitors have claimed to see. In one of the rooms, visitors have claimed to see an older man with white hair and a cane. He wanders through the hotel and seems pretty harmless, but he still spooks some of the guests who don’t warm up to ghosts very well.

Guests of the hotel have mentioned that there are areas where they feel extremely uncomfortable. In the central hall area, where there are bodies allegedly buried, guests have admitted to feeling scared or as if someone else is with them even when no one is there. The guests have been asked to stay indoors at night and not walk around the gardens just in case there is some paranormal activity around.

The ghosts here do not seem to bother any of the guests, but for some who are skeptical about the paranormal, this may not be the place they want to stay.

What Else Will You See on Your Charleston Ghost Adventure?

Shhhh. It’s a secret. 

There are two more spectral stops on our standard Charleston Ghost Adventure. 

For an even spookier experience — join our extended tour and visit nine haunted Charleston locations in total.  

Find out the secrets behind the most haunted locations in Charleston. 

Book your Charleston Ghost Adventure today.

http://usghostadventures.com/savannah/

The Haunted De Soto Hotel

Hotels provide lodging for untold numbers of travelers across the world every single day. They range in providing sometimes dated, albeit homey accommodations to make people feel as comfortable as possible all the way up to the most modern and hi-tech amenities one has ever experienced. For such a wide spectrum, how do some of them get a reputation for being haunted? The De Soto Hotel in El Paso, Texas has one such notorious reputation and some claim it’s because Satan himself lives in the basement.

Is the Desoto House Hotel Haunted?

Built in 1905, the De Soto started off like any other hotel in the El Paso area, providing a downtown place to stay for weary travelers. With Juarez, Mexico just over the border, more and more people became regulars at the De Soto, so often that throughout the decades it has also offered its rooms in short-term rental style. Today the De Soto still has both overnight and short-term rental rooms available, however, guests and tenants alike both refrain from doing one thing…..entering the basement.

The spirit of a young girl dressed in black named Sara is the ghostly entity haunting the De Soto. People claimed to have seen the spirit of a young girl in a slightly early 20th Century dress, running up and down the hallways at very odd hours. Sometimes laughing and sometimes running, guests and tenants have opened their doors hoping to catch her in the act, but when they do she simply disappears. Her laughter and amusements are also reported to come from the basement area of the hotel.

Over the decades there have been incidents of reported Satanic rituals being performed in the basement by travelers coming from the Juarez area. At one time Juarez was labeled the “Murder Capital of the World” as it racked up a dozen confirmed murders every day. Paranormal theorists believe that whatever demonic energy on the Juarez/El Paso border has likely been opened up in the basement of the De Soto. Occultists have claimed to at one point discovered not only a pentagram on the floor but a Leviathan Cross as well. In Satanism, a Leviathan Cross is made from sulfur and shaped like an infinity symbol stacked upon two crosses. This symbol is said to be the sigil of Lucifer himself. People who have dared to enter the basement, claim that a near paralyzing sense of dread and the feeling of being watched accompany them the entire way down. Others have said they feel physically threatened as sometimes rocks have been thrown at them by unseen forces. Do they come from the spirit known as Sara? Or something far more demonic?

Today the De Soto remains as one of downtown El Paso’s most lasting hotels. At one point informal paranormal investigation groups were allowed in the basement, but due to the demonic activity there, no more groups have entered. From everything known about the De Soto, it not only lies on the Mexico border but also lies on the very border to Hell itself!

St. Petersburg, Florida is an idyllic seaside community on the enormous fringe of Tampa Bay. The weather is so favorable for this area that it’s called the “Sunshine City” as it’s reported to average nearly 361 days of constant year-round sunshine. St. Petersburg has consistently been one of the top-ranked beach areas as it bustles with tourism no matter the season. However, at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort, no amount of sunshine outdoors can ward off the paranormal activity that is contained deep inside, to the point that even major league sportsmen do their best to avoid it.

Is the Vinoy Renaissance Resort Haunted?

The Vinoy Renaissance was started as a project by a Pennsylvania entrepreneur named Aymer Vinoy Laughner. Looking to capitalize on the picturesque seascape and ever-increasing tourism, Laughner poured in over three million dollars to have the 375-room Vinoy Renaissance open for business. Named after himself, the Vinoy was constructed in a charming Mediterranean villa-style fashion, that copied the most luxurious amenities from European hotels. At a time when seasonal hotels were still a thing, celebrities and athletes descended upon the hotel in winter months to take advantage of the still-warm Florida weather. Baseball players in particular took a liking to the Vinoy including all-time great Babe Ruth. However, once World War II broke out, the United States military used it as a makeshift training school taking full advantage of the tides that no doubt helped with the invasion at Normandy. After the war ended, the hotel was sold and resold as renovations naturally came along the way refining the hotel until it became listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Baseball and Ghosts

Given the ideal weather, baseball teams take full advantage of spring training in the Tampa Bay area and naturally play games against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Scott Williamson had a particularly difficult evening in his room. Lying in bed trying to sleep, he recalled an eerie-looking light emerging from the pool area until it faded and passed through his body. A spine-chilling cold hit him and he had difficulty breathing as he later recounted that it was as if someone were actually sitting on top of him. Turning over seemed to shift the invisible force off of him until he glanced across the room and noticed a man in 1930s period dress complete with a top hat and suit coat staring back at him.

On another occasion, a strength coach was in his room and turned to see the same suited man sitting at the desk in his very room. As the coach opened his mouth to speak, the man disappeared right in front of his very eyes. Many other players as well as hotel guests’ experiences at the Vinoy have all claimed to see this suited man with a hat in period clothing traipsing around the many floors of the hotel. The one paranormal takeaway from encounters with this entity is that whenever he is spoken to by someone, he disappears. However, if someone doesn’t speak or approach him, then his spirit has been known to linger in the vicinity for some time.

World Series Champion manager for the Toronto Blue Jays, Cito Gaston had a terrifying experience in an undisclosed room at the Vinoy. In bed sleeping after a game against the Devil Rays, Gaston was woken up in the middle of the night by the security chain on his room door. At first, the chain innocuously rattled, and Gaston thought nothing of it as possibly more than a heavy-footed guest walking past his door or perhaps a bellboy pushing a loaded trolley past. But then things passed into the realm of the paranormally unexplained when the security chain was unlocked by a pair of unseen hands and then re-lock itself over and over again for several minutes.

Due to the voluminous amounts of baseball games played in a season, lots of teams have had games to play in Tampa Bay over the years and the sheer amount of major league baseball players that have recounted paranormal experiences at the Vinoy is absolutely staggering. In fact, so many have been frightened that a large portion of them have spoken about their experiences to sportswriters over the years and have stayed anonymous. One mysterious pitcher from a National League team wanted to treat his family and let them stay at the luxurious Vinoy while he engaged in some spring training. The wife of the pitcher has reservations as stories of the paranormal even reached her and the other player’s wives, but he reassured her and she stayed with her kids. Off during spring training, the pitcher got a frantic call from his wife who cried that the water faucets inside the room would slowly turn themselves on to full blast and then suddenly snap off. Worse yet the lights in the room would flicker madly and the television would turn on and off without provocation. The woman and her children fled the hotel in fear.

Stay With The Ghosts at the Vinoy Renaissance Resort

Today the Vinoy Renaissance remains the premier luxury hotel in the St. Petersburg area. Recently the hotel was purchased by the elite hotel chain Marriott, which has made even more luxurious upgrades to the hotel. As for the ghost, whoever it may be that haunts the Vinoy is a total mystery, as no foul play or sinister deaths have revealed anything. With all the activity and witness accounts, the spirit comes across as benevolent as no malicious activity has occurred. In terms of origin, the spirit here will just have to remain a total supernatural mystery for now.

Mineral Wells is considered by many to be a sleepy, small-sized Texas city that sits just an hour due west of Dallas. With a population barely at sixteen thousand people, this unassuming location has managed to go through American history with virtually nothing groundbreaking to happen other than it was the site of spring training for the infamous 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” World Series scandal.  However, with the uptick in people who are becoming more and more curious about paranormal and supernatural activity in general, Mineral Springs is in fact hiding one of the more chilling surprises in Texas.  The Baker Hotel right there in the heart of Mineral Springs has endured the ages, and there are ghosts inside providing proof of just exactly that.

Is the Baker Hotel in Texas Haunted?

The Baker Hotel was first conceived as an idea for locals all the way back in 1890 as a way to make a handsome profit off the recent mineral water boom.  For many years, profiteers were coming in and making small fortunes on the rich mineral water deposits of the area.  The locals seized the momentum and asked reputed hotel architect, Theodore Baker to come in and design a hotel that would help capture profits for the burgeoning city.  Construction was completed in over a year and the finished product resulted in a magnificently sized hotel at fourteen stories tall, over four hundred guest rooms, and even two ballrooms for societal events.

Over the next forty years, the Baker Hotel was the top go-to spa destination for wealthy Texas families looking to vacation.  The local mineral springs provided water for the curing and healing spa pools, plus one of the largest hotel air conditioning systems was installed, thus making the hotel a major draw for people against the sun-scorched Texas heat.  Success was fleeting for the hotel as the nearby Army base of Fort Wolters had closed down, and with more people moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the hotel declined rapidly.  In fact, the hotel fell on such hard times, that it was officially shuttered in 1972.  For the next thirty-five years, the Baker began to suffer from break-ins and routine vandalism.  But it’s the haunting stories and eye-witnesses reports as of late that have begun to surface which have this one of the most haunted places in north Texas.

The amount of paranormal activity believed to be going on inside the hotel is absolutely staggering.  First, there are rather substantial amounts of unexplained physical activity that go on inside there. Since being abandoned all these years, paranormal groups who have gained access inside first hear the thunderous sound of hotel room doors opening and closing without anyone inside them.  Closer examinations by some investigators about these mysterious doors opening and closing, and they find themselves being touched or even shoved by unseen forces away from the doorways.

The Baker Hotel’s Lady in White

One doorway in particular that seems to be active more than others, is up on the seventh floor and is a suite that was said to belong to Earl Baker’s (Theodore’s nephew) mistress named Virginia Brown.  The exact date isn’t truly known, but what is known is that when caught in a torrid affair with Earl, Virginia committed suicide.  Decades later, the spirit which paranormal investigators label, the Lady In White, is spotted most often on this seventh floor wearing a period white dress with flowing spectral light.  Vicious cold spots, along with a mysterious perfume scent that comes out of nowhere from a room with a most active door, has this being one of the more haunted spots in the entire hotel.  However, Virginia’s hallway isn’t necessarily exclusive to just her wandering spirit.  There’s also the spirit of a small boy that people have claimed to spot peeking out from behind many doorways and hallway corners of the hotel.  His origin is totally unexplained, but his presence is thought to be that of a mischievous yet genial spirit.

Haunted as the seventh floor is, the most terrifying area is thought to belong to the basement area.  In the summer of 1948, a teenaged elevator operator was engaging in horseplay with the manually controlled elevator in the basement area.  One thing led to another, and a slip while the elevator was engaged, led to his body being cut in half. Hideous and awful as his death was, you can imagine the pure terror of investigators who have claimed to see the young man’s ghost in the basement.  How do they know it’s him?  Because whenever the ghost is spotted, it is just his upper torso only drifting across the floor.  The absolute fear of seeing this has caused many if not all paranormal investigators to immediately flee the basement in sheer terror.

In 2010, restoration plans were being outlined by the city of Mineral Wells to try and bring about a complete construction overhaul of the Baker Hotel.  An estimated sixty-five million dollar contract has been laid out in which owners of the hotel hope to have it fully reopened in 2022.  For now, the site is under construction and off-limits to the public unless explicit consent has been given.  But with pushy spirits and a torso ghost in the basement, that should be enough to keep the living away from the Baker Hotel for now.

The Midwestern United States has a long history of bizarre killing sprees, with the most infamous being the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas. The murder was aptly documented by author Truman Capote in his book In Cold Blood. Years before the 1959 slaying was another, one that had double the body count and was so gruesome that it knocked the sinking of the Titanic off the front-page headlines.

Murder comes to Villisca, Iowa

Villisca, Iowa in 1912 was home to a quiet and small corn farming community. Favorite among the residents were the Moore family, led by parents Josiah and Sarah. The two had four children in Herman, Mary Katherine, Arthur, and Paul. On a sleepy summer night in June of 1912, the Moores invited their daughters two friends, Ina, and Lena Stillinger, to go with them to a late-night church retreat which was a popular activity in the smaller community.

After taking in the church retreat, the Moore’s and their daughter’s friends went home to retire for the evening. In the early morning hours, a mannerly neighbor named Mary Peckham discovered no activity in the normally chore busy home. Puzzled by the stillness she fetched Josiah’s brother Ross, who came with his spare key to the house.

Moore never stepped past the front of the house parlor as he laid eyes on the two bloodied bodies of Ina and Lena Stillinger, with a farming axe beside them. Immediately the local policeman Hank Horton was brought to the scene and he discovered one of the most bloody mass killings of a family the state of Iowa had ever seen.

In a scene that eerily preceded the murders Amityville, all six members of the Moore family were murdered in their sleep, with the majority of the killing blows committed to the heads. Josiah Moore’s face was so badly caved in his eyes were mushed to a pulp, while the other victims received minimal strikes.

Nothing was ever taken from the Moore house, but there were plenty of suspects with chief among them being a bizarre drifter named Andy Sawyer and a mass murder named Henry Lee Moore who had been accused in his life of murdering over twenty people with an axe in nearby states and areas, including Villisca.

Hard evidence and motive were fleeting along with the lack of forensic analysis in the 1910s. Sawyer all but confessed, but eventually claimed he didn’t commit the murders but had information on the true murderer that he never revealed. Henry Lee Moore was eventually sentenced to life in prison for other axe murders in nearby Missouri.

Is the Villisca Axe Murder House Haunted?

While the case of the Villisca Axe Murders remains unsolved to this day and the house is a true-crime attraction. The popular television series Ghost Adventures chronicled the crime in depth. Using electronic voice phenomena (EVP), the group asked the house who really killed the Moore family and the EVP picked up a singular reply, “Andy”.

Interested in a tour or even staying a night in the Villisca Axe Murder House? Book a night here.

Over the decade’s many hotels have both risen and fallen among all the countless stories of Sin City. However, one popular hotel mainstay seems to have a supernatural side that is starting to emerge, and for some, these ghost stories are rather intense. In the thick of them is the immediately recognizable and towering Luxor Hotel and Casino.

The Luxor is one of the newer hotels on the Strip, as it was constructed and opened in 1993, with a staggering cost of $375 million dollars. Housing well over two thousand rooms with an enormous casino floor spanning nearly 100,000 square feet, the Luxor opened with quite a bang. Slickly styled in an Egyptian motif complete with a replica Sphinx on-site, crowds flocked to this popular Strip destination to gamble the night away amidst all the oasis iconography it offered.

Is the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas Haunted?

To supernaturally kickstart the paranormal activities, there have been claims that a pair of workers died during the construction of the massive pyramid. Fast forward to 1996, an unknown woman leaped from the 26th-floor window to her grisly death below. Again in 2007, a man named Pilo Duarte-Herrera constructed and left a pipe bomb in the hotel’s parking garage that killed an employee. Duarte-Herrera received life in prison but to this day claims no motive in masterminding the attack. In 2010 a UNLV football player was in a physical altercation with a friend before dying of a drug overdose in a suite there. It is believed that such events have lead to the reports of ghostly hauntings in the Luxor.

Ghosts and Paranormal Activity at the Luxor

The 12th, 14th, and 26th floors, both guests and employees alike have claimed to see the apparition of a woman who appears lost. As they approach, vicious cold spots are physically felt and some who have attempted to assist the woman in finding her room have pursued her only to have her disappear. Some paranormal enthusiasts reckon that the spirit belongs to the suicidal woman from 1996. A few guests have claimed to have a sensation of dread or being followed by unseen presences as they go to their rooms. At other times, some have gone so far as to say that they have had awful nightmares and terrifying visions of spirits in the hotel after what would be considered a normal evening about the Vegas Strip.

Have the previous deaths at the Luxor somehow afflicted it? One of the most bizarre theories out there is not based on the deaths at the property, but with the appearance of the hotel itself. The black pyramid is thought to draw in some cosmic energy from the heavens down to the property’s location, thus creating a supernatural hotspot for the activity. Today the Luxor has remained unfazed by the events of the past. In fact, the Luxor is consistently ranked as one of the top hotels and casinos in all of Las Vegas, drawing tens of thousands of visitors a year who look to get away from it all and bask in this true desert oasis.

Southwestern Montana is not nearly as busy as it once was in the late 1800s. With the railroad, and gold rushes galore, the area was highly traveled by industrial workers, prospectors, businessmen, and even dangerous outlaws. For the Hotel Metlen and all its storied history and decorative stylings inside, just what exactly has caused this place to not only be haunted but also keep its entire top floor level of rooms locked and off-limits for nearly thirty years?

Is the Hotel Metlen Haunted?

The Hotel Metlen in Dillon, Montana, a three-story granite hotel capped with a Victorian style tower, was built in 1897 and by local businessman J.C. Metlen. He made sure that his hotel had the most luxurious accommodations for the bustling area which lies half an hour south of Butte. Having the most decorated hotel in town, it was natural that the saloon inside the hotel became the star attraction. As time has a way of doing, it brought about new ownership to the Metlen over the many decades as the population in Dillon began to dwindle. That’s when the first of many ghost stories related to the Metlen began to emerge.

The Ghosts of Hotel Metlen

It has been the hotel staff that has encountered the majority of the spirits over the years. A young female bartender that helped run the saloon downstairs was familiar with all the stories associated with the hotel, and even had seen an object or two levitate in midair. Unfazed by such paranormal activity, she received permission to hold a seance on the third floor, inside the Victorian tower. With her friends, they brought out a Ouija board to connect with whatever spirits were there. They never stayed in the tower and fled for their lives after the first sentence which spelled out from a spirit, “I don’t want you here”.

Oral legend here goes that a younger male had been murdered somewhere on the top floor and is haunting it. The most terrifying part of the hotel is without a doubt, the third floor. Hotel staff had multiple encounters with a dark, menacing shadow that has been spotted drifting down the hall. The cold spots and general scariness have led to it being indefinitely locked. Not all of the hotel has such a sinister presence as there have been reports of a younger female in a long flowing white dress that has been seen on the lower floors. Her ghostly spirit is said to smile at workers and visitors, giving them a certain feeling of peace upon coming in contact with her.

Today, the Hotel Metlen’s historic saloon is all that remains open at the moment to the public. As of press of time, the Metlen is actually for sale. With all it’s antique accommodations and history inside, the building’s owners hope that a new buyer with supernatural courage will come in and bring the Hotel Metlen back to life in the modern age.

Every year, thousands of visitors crowd the Niagara region of New York state and Canada for a glimpse at the absolutely breathtaking Niagara Falls. The majestic views of cascading water, which is said to course through the falls at a rate of thirty-one hundred tons of water per second, bring in an estimated thirty million visitors to the Niagara area each year. With so many visitors, hotels are a necessity. A couple of miles downstream is one of the more premier hotels, the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island and it is haunted in particular with the spirit of a young girl named Tanya.

Is the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island Haunted?

During the 1800s, the Whitehaven Settlement found its particular way around the Niagara Falls area. Settling in on the far eastern side of Grand Island, a wealthy man named John Nice colonized this particular part of the island, in fact, he was the first unofficial supervisor of the area. Along with his wife, he built an enormous mansion on the island and ended up having ten children by her. One fateful evening in 1848, a fire broke out and the mansion was fully consumed. According to local legend, the only casualty was a young daughter, presumably named Tanya.

Over the years, with the advent of tourism, the property was sold and owned at first by Holiday Inn and eventually purchased by what was to become the Radisson Hotel Niagara Falls Grand Island. Not long after the hotel’s construction in 1972, employees and visitors at the hotel began to experience unexplained things. The most troubling of these discovered was the issues with the elevator. It had a tendency to get stuck between floors and on floors themselves. The buttons would not work, or would somehow all be pressed at once. Repairmen are called and can never duplicate the malfunctions with the elevator, although an unnamed repairman claimed to be examining the button panel and saw the reflection of a young girl in the door only to turn around and find the elevator empty.

The Ghost of Tanya

The employees and locals chalk all this behavior up to Tanya. She’s often described as a small, pale-skinned girl, about six years old, with blonde hair and wearing a nightgown from an older period in time. Guests have seen her in their rooms at night. She has been known to shake the feet of a sleeping guest to wake them and alert them of trouble. While no trouble has been found, this appears to be an otherworldly cry no doubt originating from the night of her fateful death. Objects have been known to become rearranged in the room. Doors both lock and unlock for housekeeping.

If anything young Tanya’s has never been violent or destructive in any way. Few paranormal groups and researchers have examined the hotel and find that this ghost of a small child is exactly that….a child. There is no harm in her presence and many repeat visitors to the hotel have found her soul to be quite endearing and a testament as to her love for her home area.

The Salem Witch Trials are legendary among historians and horror fans alike in the United States. The seventeenth-century scandal started when the uncontrollable fits of a minister’s daughter and niece had no medical explanation. The extreme Puritan faithful reckoned the mannerisms were consistent with the devil and witchcraft. The only question was, who is a witch? What happened next was one of the most incredibly violent and accusatory purges in legal history. A modern-day Inquisition replete with conspiracy, torture, and death. The Salem Witch Trials had more questions than answers after ruining the lives of over two hundred people and executing nineteen. With so much purported witchcraft, the location begs the question of, are there any haunted places in Salem, Massachusetts? The Joshua Ward House is one such haunting location in Salem.

Is the Joshua Ward House Haunted?

George Corwin was the local sheriff in Salem during the witch hunts. He was a ruthless man who did not hesitate to torture suspected witches. In 1697, four years after the Salem Witch Trials had ended, Corwin died in his home of a suspected blood clot. Due to his notorious reputation during the trials, his family feared his body would be dismembered or stolen by victim’s families. To counter this, his body was entombed in the basement area of his home. Later in 1784, a builder named Joshua Ward constructed this home over the ground of the Corwin home. Renowned American architect, Samuel McIntire, designed the interior which is still present today.

The Ghosts of the Joshua Ward House

Historians who have held seances over the years conclude that there are three distinctively different spirits haunting the location. The first is that of George Corwin himself. Visitors report to have the feeling of someone or something, wrap what has been described as cold hands around their necks, and gently squeeze. Corwin was a brutal man who often resorted to strangling those of witchcraft into a confession. In fact, historical documents show he was nicknamed as, “The Strangler.”

The second spirit is said to be Giles Corey. A bullish farmer who was accused of being a witch during the trials, he was personally tortured by Corwin and his men by the method known as crushing. Corey was laid flat and heavy stones were placed upon his body, as the weight was to coerce him into confessing. A fighter to the end, Corey is famous for asking for “more weight” while being crushed to death. His ghost has been responsible for knocking various items off shelves throughout the house, as well as stacking up books that his spirit takes right off the shelves.

Image taken of the unknown ghost at the Joshua Ward House

The final ghost in the home is that of an unidentified and accused witch. Reputed to be a victim of Corwin’s own hand, the young woman has no formal identification or backstory. Adding to the supernatural mystery, the home was purchased in 1981 by a realty company looking to use it as a satellite office. At the employee Christmas party, many polaroids of the house were taken and one of them of an empty hallway showed something most shocking. A ghostly woman dressed completely in black. To this day it is thought that she is responsible for the crying sounds heard in the house, no doubt centuries old residual screams from the torture she endured at Corwin’s hands.

For the present day, the Joshua Ward house is something of a boutique hotel, now called The Merchant. It’s registered as a historical landmark there in Essex County and every year receives thousands of visitors. For many locals though, they say that there is something eerie and unsettling about the place, and all too many confess to taking other streets late at night and avoid having to pass by it whenever possible.