Overview
Is the Yosemite View Lodge Haunted?
One of Yosemite’s most haunted locations is the Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal, California. The rustic hotel sits at the edge of the Merced River, near the entrance to the park where guests have reported a real haunt and ghostly happenings.
The River People of Yosemite
The Lodge on the Merced River is in a peaceful setting, but looks can be deceiving. One guest at the Yosemite View Lodge was traveling with a friend. Their first night at the lodge was quiet, and they weren’t prepared for what happened the second night. One of the guests awoke in a terrified state after seeing a shadow person standing near the bed. The figure had no discernible features, didn’t speak, and appeared to be approximately five feet tall.
The guest was so horrified that she called to her friend to witness the apparition. She wasn’t able to sleep for over an hour after the encounter. She referred to the apparition as one of the river people because she wondered if it was a native spirit and felt that the river may have been responsible for the phenomenon. The guest possesses psychic abilities, but it’s unusual for her to see spirits. When doing an internet search, the psychic found that other people have had similar experiences.
Midnight Visitors
Shadow people have appeared numerous times in guest rooms at the lodge. Most of the guests aren’t aware of the hotel’s haunted reputation and aren’t provoking the spirits. The apparitions usually disappear when they realize that guests are aware of their presence. On an April day, three friends checked into the lodge. When they entered their room, two of the guests felt a presence that was most powerful in the bathroom. During the night one of the guests awoke to see a shadowy apparition standing at the foot of the bed. Upon checking, found that both of her friends were asleep. When the friends talked in the morning, one of the trio reported seeing a shadow person standing near the fireplace. All three feel that the hotel is haunted and get chills thinking about their experience.
Family Hauntings
One woman has stayed at the lodge with her family on four occasions. One night she heard someone walking around the room, but her husband and daughter were asleep. She had similar experiences in other rooms at the lodge. One night she was tapped on the shoulder. Thinking it was her daughter, she checked to find her sleeping peacefully. She had the sensation that there was a presence in the room and remained awake all night. In the morning, she did an Internet search and found that several guests had similar experiences. Even though the family planned to stay another night, they packed and left the hotel.
One family from Australia was unaware of the haunted reputation of the hotel. The first night, the six-year old daughter complained that someone was pinching her. No one was near her. During the night, a man described as creepy knocked on their door and said he was looking for someone. Later, the husband opened their door and saw the man down the hall staring at their door. Was he a ghost?
His wife had the sensation that there was a spirit in their room. During the night, a loud crash woke them. One of their bags that had been in the center of the table was across the room. After their experience, the woman Googled the hotel and learned that numerous guests have had similar experiences at the haunted hotel.
I had stayed in a room at the Yosemite View Lodge this past April with my boyfriend and another friend of ours. Immediately upon entering the room I felt the sensation of being surrounded by a presence (in particular in the bathroom), and put friend felt the same. During the night, I saw a shadowy figure at the foot of our friend’s bed and assumed it was my boyfriend, although as I turned in bed I saw my boyfriend was still laying next to me, asleep. In the morning, our friend reported seeing a shadowy figure near the fireplace during the night. This place is certainly haunted, I still get chills thinking about it!
Okay so I’ve stayed at the Yosemite View Lodge about 4 times. The last time we stayed on the bottom level next to the river. All the other times we had stayed on upper floors or in the buildings away from the river. I was there with my husband and daughter. We had 2 beds. I slept with my husband on the bed nearest the sliding glass doors. In the middle of the night I woke up and thought my husband had gotten up and was walking around. I was half asleep and something similar had happened recently in another hotel room where he actually was up in the middle of the night. But when I looked over, he was still in bed. I really didn’t think much about it. After waking up I was facing the wall and sliding glass door. I had a strange feeling that something was over in the area where the table was next to the wall. I have NEVER had these thoughts or feelings before. My family was sleeping away peacefully. The next day I really forgot all about it. I didn’t say anything about it because it could all be attributed to being half asleep and imagination. We went to bed that night and I felt uncomfortable facing the wall so I faced the other way. I woke up when it felt like someone tap me on the shoulder twice. I couldn’t decide if I dreamed it or maybe my daughter had gotten up and was waking me up. I decided not to ignore it when I thought it may be her. I turned around and no one was there. I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. I remember thinking about the possibility that it could be haunted, but I dismissed it as being half asleep and my imagination. The rest of the night I kept getting closer and closer to my husband in bed, who had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t wait for morning. The next morning when he got up I was already awake. I told him that tonight I would absolutely NOT be sleeping by the wall. I told him what happened. I told him as soon as I got internet signal I was going to look up the hotel for paranormal activity. I told him that I bet I would find it. After that we packed up and left early. As soon I got cell phone service I looked it up and sure enough I found that some other people had experienced things too.
I stayed at the Yosemite Lodge in 2014 with my family from Australia.
I’d never heard anything about the place being haunted.
The first evening we were just relaxing in our room. There were 2 double beds. I was on one and my 6 year old daughter was leaning over the other one in a bikini. She then yelled out to me to stop pinching her on the bottom cause it hurt.
There was no one even close to her.
I told her it wasn’t me cause I was sitting on the bed looking at my phone.
She still didn’t believe me and looked upset with me.
I had the eeriest feeling then that there could be a ghost in our room.
That night we had a creepy guy knocking on our door in the night and my husband answered the door and he said he was looking for someone.
My husband later opened the door and the guy was suspiciously looking up at us from downstairs near an ice machine, but his cup was empty.
Later that night we were all asleep, when we were awakened by the loudest crashing noise. It was so loud that my husband and I both sat up in bed, wondering what had caused the noise. A bag that was in the “middle of the table” was now on the floor.
I couldn’t wait to get out of that hotel!
Luckily we’d only booked one night there before moving on.
I was just talking to my son about how I thought it was haunted there.
I decided to Google Yosemite haunting because I’d forgotten the name of the hotel.
When I did, I saw there have been numerous experiences there and the pictures came up of the hotel and it was definitely Yosemite View Lodge, that I know now for sure!
I stayed in room 1048, I slept in the bed next to the sliding glass door, with my daughter. I felt a presence and woke up out of a dead sleep. I saw a man standing at the corner of the foot of my bed. He had rusty colored hair. Pants that looked like Levi’s that were dirty on. And a rusty colored long sleeve shirt. I looked over at my daughter to check on her and she was making weird signals with her fingers, however she was asleep. I tried to speak but it was hard to at first. Eventually the words Hello came out. I did not feel fearful of the presence ( this kind of stuff has happened to me throughout my life) and I went back to bed. I told my fiancé what had happened and decided to look up the hotels history, finding other individuals experiences.
Hello,
I am writing a review about my experience at the Yosemite View Lodge. For starters I had no idea that this place was haunted or honestly. I stayed there in December of 2022 in one of the river rooms on the second floor. I had several experiences and I will mention them all. My parents also experienced some paranormal activity & they stayed in the room right below us. The first event that occurred was early morning while I was getting ready for our wedding. It was myself and my 5 month old baby in the room. I was getting ready in the bathroom & my baby was fast asleep on the sofa. I would go back & forth to check in on her (from the bathroom to the sofa) to see if she was okay. I had placed a pillow on the floor for safety purposes just in case she would have fallen. Again like I said I was going back & forth, after every curl I did in my hair! About 15 minutes into curling my hair & on maybe the 10th time going on to check my baby, I walk over to the sofa & I see the pillow that I had placed on the floor, right on top of my baby’s face. Panicked I immediately take the pillow off her. (Again this was before I even knew this place was haunted) I was freaking out a bit cause there was no way a sleeping baby let alone a small 5 month old could lift the pillow off from the ground & put it on their head.
Second experience, was at night the same day. We had a few of our friends come over to our room to play board games. As we are playing the sound of the sink from the bathroom loudly turns on. We all turned our heads & looked towards the bathroom. My husband went to check and there was no running water. So we brushed it off and continued playing.
Third experience, after our guests left. It was just my husband and I about to go to sleep. Him & I are having a conversation & I bring up the 2 weird experiences from earlier. We kind of laugh it off, then out loud I say to him “I wonder if this place is haunted.” And as soon as I said that, I can see from the corner of my eye the closet door flinging right open. Usually I doubt my self but my husband had also just seen the same thing and he was looking directly at the closet. I could even feel his heart beating. We were both so scared. We slept with the lights on.
As soon as I got reception on our way home the next day, I googled if Yosemite view lodge is haunted & of course I found several websites claiming it was.
On to my parents experience:
After our stay, when we arrived back home in LA, I told my mom what we had experienced in our hotel room. After I shared with her our story. She told me she had experienced something as well but never mentioned it because she knew how much of a chicken I am.
On the first night while sleeping my mom said around midnight she felt as if someone lifted the corner of the bed & started shaking it. She said she thought it was an earthquake. Then around 4am she said she felt the shaking again but prayed. This occurred another time on the second night.
Minus the paranormal events, I’d loved to stay here again considering how close it is to the park. So convenient. I would totally recommend for any people who love this kind of stuff [paranomral stuff] 🙂