America’s 10 Most Haunted Luxury Hotels — Where Some Guests Never Checked Out

America’s most haunted luxury hotels also happen to be some of its most beautiful, which feels less like a coincidence than a business model. There’s the 1888 Hotel del Coronado and its woman in black; The Stanley and its Room 217 (yes, that Room 217); Princess Carolyn’s four-poster at the Omni Mount Washington; Austin’s 1886 Driskill; Milwaukee’s Pfister, which has spooked more than a few professional ballplayers; the Bourbon Orleans and Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans; Boston’s Omni Parker House, open since 1855; Savannah’s Kehoe House, a former funeral parlor with 13 very nice rooms; and Jekyll Island Club Resort, where J.P. Morgan’s cigar smoke allegedly still lingers. Ten hotels. Centuries of guests. A few who never quite settled the bill.

Luxury hotels are built to make guests want to stay forever. At a select few of America’s most storied properties, legend has it that some guests have taken that invitation quite literally.

Across the country, grand Victorian resorts, Gilded Age retreats and centuries-old city hotels have accumulated histories almost as compelling as their guest books. Presidents have slept beneath their roofs, society figures have danced in their ballrooms and generations of travelers have passed through their doors. Along the way have come other stories: unexplained footsteps in empty corridors, elevators stopping on unoccupied floors, apparitions glimpsed beside beds and former proprietors who, according to generations of guests and employees, still seem determined to keep an eye on their hotels.

Whether one believes in ghosts or simply appreciates a great story, these properties offer something increasingly rare: hotels where the past feels remarkably present.

Hotel del Coronado

Coronado, California

Few American hotels possess the visual drama of Hotel del Coronado, the sprawling red-roofed Victorian landmark that has presided over the Pacific since 1888. A National Historic Landmark that has hosted presidents, royalty and generations of Hollywood stars, The Del also happens to possess one of America’s most famous hotel ghost stories.

In November 1892, a young woman named Kate Morgan checked into the hotel under an assumed name and was found dead five days later on an exterior staircase leading toward the beach. More than a century later, Morgan remains inextricably linked to the property. Guests and employees have reported flickering lights, unexplained footsteps and voices, doors opening and closing, sudden changes in temperature and sightings of a woman in black. Her former third-floor guestroom became so sought-after that it has long ranked among the resort’s most requested accommodations.

The Del has taken its supernatural reputation unusually seriously. In 1992, the resort commissioned a year-long investigation encompassing nearly 10,000 hours of on-site assessment and interviews with 1,100 people. Whatever one makes of the results, it adds another fascinating chapter to the mythology of one of America’s great seaside hotels.

Haute Living Verdict: Fresh off a six-year restoration, the rooms have never looked better. Kate, one assumes, approves.

Book Now

The Stanley Hotel

Estes Park, Colorado

Long before it became synonymous with The Shining, The Stanley Hotel was one of Colorado’s great mountain escapes. Set against the Rocky Mountains above Estes Park, the historic property opened in 1909 and eventually acquired another distinction: a reputation as one of America’s best-known haunted hotels.

Its place in horror history was cemented in 1974, when Stephen King and his wife stayed at the nearly empty hotel shortly before it closed for the season. The experience helped inspire King’s The Shining, forever linking the elegant white hotel to the fictional Overlook Hotel. The Stanley itself continues to acknowledge that connection as a central part of its history.

Over the decades, tales of unexplained piano music, children’s laughter, footsteps and apparitions have become part of Stanley lore. Room 217—the room in which King stayed—has become particularly legendary. The combination of its remote mountain setting, early-20th-century architecture and literary pedigree makes The Stanley perhaps the rare hotel where the ghost story has become nearly as famous as the property itself.

Haute Living Verdict: Book Room 217 if you’ve never read the book. Especially if you have.

Book Now

Omni Mount Washington Resort

Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

With its vast white façade, red roof and sweeping views of New Hampshire’s Presidential Range, Omni Mount Washington Resort looks like the sort of grand hotel that should have a resident ghost. According to more than a century of lore, it does.

The hotel opened in 1902 as the creation of industrialist Joseph Stickney, whose wife Carolyn later became Princess Carolyn after marrying French aristocrat Prince Jean Baptiste Marie de Faucigny Lucinge. Today, it is Carolyn who is most closely associated with the resort’s supernatural stories. Guests have reported seeing a woman believed to be the Princess sitting at the edge of a bed, brushing her hair and wandering the hotel; others have described mysterious knocks on doors. Room 314 is at the center of much of the mythology and still contains an ornate four-poster bed associated with Carolyn.

The setting only heightens the effect. Mount Washington is an unabashed throwback to the era of the great American resort, complete with grand public spaces and an original 1882 Steinway in its glass-walled Conservatory.

Haute Living Verdict: A princess who never checked out. With that view, who could blame her?

Book Now

The Driskill

Austin, Texas

Austin may have changed almost beyond recognition since The Driskill opened in 1886, but step inside its Romanesque façade and the Texas of cattle barons, politicians and larger-than-life fortunes suddenly feels much closer.

Cattleman Jesse Driskill conceived the property as far more than somewhere to sleep: it was to be one of the finest hotels in Texas, a social and political gathering place whose gilded interiors would eventually welcome presidents, artists and generations of Austin power players. Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson had their first date at the hotel, and it repeatedly served as a political campaign headquarters.

It has also accumulated a formidable collection of ghost stories. Guests over the years have reported unexplained sounds, scents and apparitions throughout the historic building, while legends surrounding former guests and Driskill himself have become part of the hotel’s mythology. The atmosphere helps: portraits, marble floors, ornate columns and elaborate period detailing give The Driskill the sense that its 19th-century past has never entirely disappeared.

Haute Living Verdict: Texas-sized history, Texas-sized ghost stories. Order a drink at the bar and let the building do the talking.

Book Now

Bourbon Orleans Hotel

New Orleans, Louisiana

In a city famous for its relationship with the supernatural, Bourbon Orleans Hotel has an unusually deep reservoir of history from which to draw.

The property’s story stretches back to the early 19th century, when the site housed the Orleans Theatre and Orleans Ballroom, a center of Creole society where European opera, masquerade balls and lavish social events unfolded. Beginning in 1881, the Sisters of the Holy Family used the property as a convent, school and orphanage before it ultimately became a hotel in the 1960s.

Each era seems to have contributed to its supernatural mythology. Reported apparitions include a Confederate soldier, children and nuns associated with the property’s convent years and, most evocatively, a solitary dancer said to appear beneath the crystal chandelier in the historic Orleans Ballroom. Guests have also described hearing children’s footsteps in corridors. The hotel embraces the stories, even offering guests access to experiences exploring its haunted history.

For anyone seeking a glamorous ghost story in the French Quarter, it is difficult to imagine a more atmospheric setting.

Haute Living Verdict: The ballroom alone is worth the booking. The dancer is a bonus.

Book Now

Hotel Monteleone

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans deserves two places on this list, and Hotel Monteleone offers a distinctly different version of the city’s haunted luxury.

The family-owned French Quarter grande dame dates to 1886 and is best known today for its literary heritage, Beaux-Arts elegance and legendary Carousel Bar. But behind the polished façade lies another body of lore involving former guests and employees who are said to have never entirely left.

Among the property’s best-known stories is that of a former maid whose apparition has reportedly been encountered inside the hotel; other accounts over the years have described unexplained activity throughout the property.

The supernatural stories are almost secondary to the pleasure of the setting itself. This is precisely what makes Monteleone right for the list: it is a serious luxury hotel with a history rich enough to have accumulated legends organically, rather than a haunted attraction masquerading as a hotel.

Haute Living Verdict: Carousel Bar first, ghost hunt second. The maid will wait.

Book Now

Omni Parker House

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston’s Omni Parker House has been welcoming guests since 1855, making it the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. Its guest list reads like an abbreviated history of American culture: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow gathered here as members of the Saturday Club; Charles Dickens stayed at the hotel; Babe Ruth dined here; and generations of political figures passed through its doors.

Apparently, founder Harvey Parker may still be making the rounds.

Employees and guests have long reported seeing an older, mustachioed gentleman resembling Parker wandering the hotel, particularly around the upper floors. One longtime bellman recalled a guest reporting an apparition outside Room 1078; another account involved guests waking to find a gentleman standing at the end of their bed, only to later recognize him from a portrait of Parker.

It’s an oddly fitting legend. Parker was famously exacting about his hotel’s operations in life. In the stories told about him afterward, he appears simply to have continued checking that everything is running properly.

Haute Living Verdict: America’s longest-running hotel, with what may be its longest-serving manager.

Book Now

Photo Credit: Greg Powers

The Pfister Hotel

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Pfister Hotel offers perhaps the most unusual body of witnesses on this list: Major League Baseball players.

Opened in 1893, Milwaukee’s grand historic hotel has long been a preferred address for visiting professional sports teams. It has also developed such a reputation for paranormal activity that generations of baseball players have publicly recounted strange experiences there. Carlos Gómez reported hearing voices and experiencing inexplicable activity with an electronic device; Adrián Beltré described his television and air conditioner switching on and off; other players have reported footsteps, moving lights and objects apparently changing position. Some have even opted to stay elsewhere.

Hotel lore frequently identifies the resident spirit as original owner Charles Pfister. Whether he’s still inspecting his namesake property is a matter of belief, but the sheer number of independently told stories from visiting athletes has turned The Pfister into one of the country’s most entertaining—and unusual—haunted-hotel legends.

Haute Living Verdict: When professional athletes ask for a different hotel, you take notes.

Book Now

Kehoe House

Savannah, Georgia

Savannah hardly needs help cultivating atmosphere, but Kehoe House seems designed for a ghost story. The four-story Renaissance Revival mansion overlooking Columbia Square was completed in 1892 for Irish immigrant and successful iron foundry owner William Kehoe, who moved into the house with his wife, Anne, and their 10 children. Its elaborate cast-iron exterior detailing was itself a showcase for the Kehoe family’s foundry business.

Today, the adults-only property contains just 13 guest rooms and operates as an intimate luxury inn, with private and semi-private balconies, made-to-order breakfasts and the kind of personalized service only possible at this scale. But the mansion’s intervening history is where things get considerably darker: for much of the 20th century, the house served as a funeral parlor.

Ghost stories have followed. Guests have reported hearing children running and playing in hallways when no children were staying at the adults-only inn, while others have described being awakened by what felt like the touch of small hands. Apparitions attributed to Anne and William Kehoe have also become part of local lore, with Room 201 and the mansion’s cupola frequently mentioned in ghost-tour accounts.

One particularly famous tale claims that two Kehoe children died inside the mansion, but that story is best treated as Savannah folklore rather than established history. What is certain is that Kehoe House has become one of the city’s most popular ghost-tour stops—and arguably its most elegant place to test the stories for yourself.

Haute Living Verdict: Thirteen rooms, one former funeral parlor, no children officially in residence. Sleep tight.

Book Now

Jekyll Island Club Resort

Jekyll Island, Georgia

If any American resort seems likely to retain echoes of the Gilded Age, it is Jekyll Island Club Resort. Founded as an ultra-exclusive retreat for some of America’s richest families, its membership included names such as J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, Joseph Pulitzer and Marshall Field. The historic complex is now a National Historic Landmark, but its aura of old-money seclusion remains very much intact.

So, apparently, do some of its former inhabitants.

Reported encounters span several of the resort’s most famous residents. Guests staying in J.P. Morgan’s former Sans Souci accommodations have described waking to the smell of cigar smoke despite no obvious source—a particularly apt calling card for a man famously fond of cigars. Stories involving railroad magnate Samuel Spencer describe newspapers mysteriously disturbed and cups of coffee apparently sampled in his former room. Then there is the hotel’s most charming supernatural employee: an old-fashioned bellman who has reportedly appeared to bridegrooms carrying freshly pressed suits they never requested.

Even General Lloyd Aspinwall, a founding club member who died before the property officially opened, has reportedly been spotted walking the riverfront veranda around the anniversary of his death.

For a hotel once described as one of the most exclusive clubs in the world, perhaps it is appropriate that membership has proved difficult to relinquish—even in the afterlife.

Haute Living Verdict: Old money, older ghosts and a bellman who is still, apparently, working the wedding circuit.

Book Now

Read More

Prefer your historic hotels with the glamour and without the ghosts? See America’s 25 Most Glamorous Historic Hotels. And for a West Coast detour, check in with Los Angeles’ most haunted hotel, The Millennium Biltmore.