Haunted Hotels

One of the deepest paranormal mysteries concerns attacks against the living. Paranormal researchers have long tried to find this answer and have different theories rooted across science, religion, and even a spirit’s former role in life on Earth. But sometimes there are spirits with no viable cause for malevolence. The St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico is one such place with these confounding entities.

Is the St. James Hotel in New Mexico Haunted?

The St. James Hotel was built in 1872 by a man named Henry Lambert. At one time, Lambert was Abraham Lincoln’s personal chef at the White House. After President Grant had taken office, he actually recommended to Lambert that he build a hotel, seeing as he had decided to leave his position as head chef and see prospects out West. The two-story, multi-room hotel quickly became a hot spot for the most notorious outlaws in the Old West lore. Jesse James, Buffalo Bill Cody, Clay Allison, Black Jack Ketchum, and Annie Oakley herself all stayed here and they all helped contribute to the multiple bullet holes that were shot into the ceiling of the hotel’s bar. Even today, there remains close to thirty bullet holes in the ceiling that serve as a reminder about the colorful past of the hotel. Once the railroad came through along with the disappearance of gold rushes in the area, the St. James began to fall into disrepair. Passed to Lambert’s sons and resold to different owners over the decades, it wasn’t until 1985 when the hotel was totally renovated and accepting of multitudes of reservations that the ghost stories began to emerge.

Bullet holes in the St. James bar

Ghosts of the St. James Hotel in Cimarron

Room 18 is completely locked up and off limits to guests. The spirit of a man from the Old West days named T.J. Wright is said to be haunting the room. According to oral legend, he was killed after a poker game in the hotel’s bar and he crawled into the room and died there. According to the hotel’s current general manager, a woman loudly claimed in the bar one evening she wasn’t scared of T.J. and cursed his spirit. While going to her room, a pair of hands came up underneath her arms on the staircase, lifted her four feet in the air and tossed her over the side of the banister! The woman was quickly tended to and was very quick to make a verbal apology out loud to onlookers that she was very sorry to have ever disrespected T.J.’s ghost.

Late one evening inside the hotel kitchen, a young chef was occupied with simple prep work, not near a stove. Suddenly he felt a very hot, burning sensation on his neck and back. Quickly he left to the washroom to look at what was happening.  In the mirror, he saw three deep red scratch marks that ran a length of eight inches that had been viciously raked across his back.

A hotel housekeeper was said to have been on routine maintenance call one afternoon and noticed that the padlock which keeps Room 18 chained up, was oddly swinging back and forth on the chain. The housekeeper went down the hall to tend to the maintenance call, and once finished passed back by the padlock that was still swinging. According to the worker, the padlock swung back and forth furiously on the chain for twenty minutes before suddenly stopping. This same worker, looking for a scientific explanation, found none and tested the swinging of the padlock himself and found it to stop swinging after five or six seconds.

Room 18 is not the only malevolent one. Room 17 next door is haunted as well and referred to as the Mary Lambert Room. Mary was the wife of the original builder Henry. Living at the hotel, Mary tragically had several miscarriages and later died in the room herself. Over the years guests have wished to stay in her room, due to it’s proximity to Room 18. However, in the Mary Lambert Room, the window is to be kept closed at all times. Why? Because if the window is opened, Mary’s spirit will bang and tap with authority on the window until the guest gets up and closes it.

The Mary Lambert Room 17

Today, the St. James Hotel is still the busiest and most popular hotel in Cimarron. Reservations and bookings are still taken, and management allows the limited exploration of paranormal research groups interested in the hotel’s ghosts. The mirror behind the bar on the first floor is the original. Many visitors who approach it for a drink have noticed a genuine cowboy sitting behind them in the reflection only to spin around and see nobody behind them at all!

The Redmont Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama first opened in 1925. At the time, it was unusual for a hotel to have private baths for every room, and the Redmont was ahead of the curve. It was acquired in 1938 by renowned businessman Clifford Stiles, who converted the top floor into a private apartment for himself and would become one of the hotel’s most notable ghosts.

Clifford Stiles wouldn’t be the only man to inhabit the penthouse and later haunt the hotel. Hank Williams spent the last night of his life in the old apartment before his tragic and unexpected death in a car accident while on tour in 1952. Guests report seeing his specter wandering through the upper floors of the hotel.

A woman in white also wanders through the hotel, and rumors hint that she may have died in one of the rooms. The spirit of a dog lingers on in the hallways, and strange orbs show up in photographs taken inside the hotel. Guests have reported feeling a strange presence, occasionally accompanied by the sound of disembodied footsteps through the corridors.

Hotel staff won’t recommend any specific rooms for guests looking for a paranormal thrill, but something spooky is sure to happen during any stay with the plethora of extra inhabitants.

Is the Pickwick Hotel Haunted?

The Hotel Highland, formerly known as the Pickwick Hotel, was previously the Pickwick Club. Before that, it was a medical building that served surgeons and dentists from the early 1930’s to the 1980’s.

During the renovation, people began to see a ghostly nurse still making her rounds on the top floors. While the nurse keeps her rounds on the eighth floor, sometimes the elevator mysteriously moves to the eighth floor when no one has called for it. Reportedly, one guest on the eighth floor was told to leave the hotel by an unfriendly, disembodied male voice.

That’s not the only haunted floor in this hotel. Guests have reported many ghostly figures in their rooms. At the reservation desk, there’s been the sounds of a ball bouncing and small girl laughing. Often, people see her playing jacks near the desk. On the fourth and fifth floors, ghosts have been sighted. Two ghostly women were seen on the fourth floor while the fifth floor has, what’s been called, a friendly female spirit.

The basement of the medical building housed a morgue. In the hotel, this space is used for a gym, and guests have reported weird feelings while working out down there. The room would become freezing cold and a soft breeze would pass with the lingering scent of flowers.

Daytona Beach, Florida for many brings up thoughts of white sandy beaches, incredible waves, Spring Break trips, relaxation, and even delicious seafood. In such a warm, and fun loving seaside town there indeed lies one such resort hotel that is home to some rather chilling, yet to be explained, paranormal activity.

Is The Plaza Resort and Spa Haunted?

Just off Florida’s historic A1A route in Daytona Beach, is the historic Plaza Resort and Spa. Over a century old, the Plaza has gone through many changes and seen thousands of guests, some of which paranormal investigators think have never fully left. Opening after a fire destroyed the previous incarnation, the Plaza was opened in 1911. With grandiose ballrooms and a perfect view of the shoreline, the Plaza was host to many events catering to North Florida’s elite. The hotel has been in business for many years and while there have been accidental deaths on site, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until 2013, when a hotel surveillance video quickly went viral.

Ghost captured on hotel security camera?

The hotel’s chief security officer was watching routine surveillance camera footage of the property when something most unusual caught his eye. In the bar area, a misty white apparition began to float in and around the tables and chairs with precision, often starting and stopping. Alert to the footage, an officer was dispatched while the security chief watched in real time footage as the white apparition floated behind the bar and disappeared. The responding officer was so rattled by the experience that he not only claimed to have felt something but he also flat out refused to ever enter the bar area again.

The incident in the bar is not the only time the chief security officer has supposedly had a run in with something of a supernatural inclination. He has had personal encounters with the sometimes unseen apparition that chooses to loudly rattle keys, create vicious cold spots in the middle of known heat wave, and even repetitiously giggle.

Ghosts of the Plaza Resort and Spa

Throughout the hallways and ballrooms, both guests and hotel employees have had strange occurrences that none of them could ever explain. One of the most peculiar behaviors is the opening and closing of doors. Guests have reported being in their rooms and not only will the closet doors open and seemingly close at will, but the door to the room itself will as well. One guest even went so far as to report that his front door opened up on its own and he dashed into the hall to see a dark gray apparition floating down the hall. The chief security officer even went for a routine inspection to a room and unlocked it but the door would not budge as something violently resisted against him from the other side. After budging very hard, he gained entry only to discover the room completely empty inside.

The specter from the surveillance footage proves that there is, in fact, a bump in the night and then some at this beachfront resort. The Plaza Resort and Spa still does fantastic business on the Atlantic coast and reservations are highly encouraged if contemplating a potentially paranormal stay.

The Haunted Tutwiler Hotel

Guests of the Tutwiler Hotel have reported someone knocking on their door. When they open the door, there’s no one there or in the hall outside the door. The sixth floor seems to have more reported encounters with the ghost that the staff has dubbed “The Knocker.” The hotel’s bartender has had his own spooky experiences. One night, he turned off all the lights only to find that something quickly turned them on after him. After five attempts to turn off the lights, he gave up and went home. This happened for five nights in a row. One night, a full course meal and wine were found on a table that nobody claims to have served. It’s as if a ghostly guest did not want to leave.

One of the ghosts haunting the hotel is thought to be the original owner; Japeth Rawls. He seems to be hovering and overseeing the activities of the hotel’s employees. One employee said that he was supposed to hang window treatments, but one kept falling. When he tried to rehang it, he was hit with a board in the room. He decided that Mr. Rawls didn’t like that window treatment. Many of the spirits in the hotel seem to be children as reported by guests and staff. On the second and third floors, guests have heard doors opening and closing as well as footsteps in the corridor.