9 Haunted Hotels for a Halloween Fright You’ll Want to Forget

Some people just can’t leave their work at work. Simon Benson, the original owner of the Benson Hotel in Portland put all his love and energy into turning the crumbling property into a world-class hotel back in the early 20th century. Following his death, he’s still at work showing up fully dressed in a dark suit at inopportune moments and frightening the hell out of guests. Drinks are known to get knocked over by invisible hands and an eerie presence is frequently felt by staff— just ole Benson making sure everything is up to snuff!

The story is a classic: A despaired bride checks into a hotel and never leaves. During the 1950’s, such events befell a local girl called Audra who hung herself in the west turret of the Galvez Hotel. She checked into room 501 following her assumption that her absent mariner fiance was dead after failing to return following a storm. Tragically, her fiancee returned several days later. Her ghost is said to flicker lights, mess with electronics, break dishes and generally make her presence largely felt by guests. Also sighted has been the ghost of a young girl bouncing a ball and a laundry room ghost who creeps out hotel staff.

The Cecil’s story might be the creepiest of them all: one of Los Angeles‘ most famous haunted hotels has a dark past still haunting it today and many believe the hotel to be cursed. In 1985, the hotel was home to serial killer Richard Ramirez as well as his serial killer copycat Jack Unterweger, but, even more recently the hotel, now re-branded as the Stay On Main made the news again. In February 2013, the body of a 21-year-old student was discovered two weeks after she disappeared in the water tank of the hotel following complaints that the water looked and tasted strange. A hotel security video was released showing the student entering an elevator and behaving very strangely–some say as if an unknown presence was taunting her. Following this incident, the student seemingly ended up in the water tank.

The jewel of the town of Deadwood is the Bullock Hotel, haunted by the town’s first Sheriff and namesake owner of the hotel, Seth Bullock. The Sheriff is rumored to have died on the property in room 211 but is still hard at work, keeping an eye on how things are running and on hotel staff to assure a job well done. While his ghost isn’t malicious, apparitions are frequent enough for the hotel to lead ghost tours to curious visitors. Dishes have been known to shake, rattle and even fly, shoulders are tapped when no one is behind you and your name is called from around corners, person unseen.

The Bourbon Orleans is housed in an old building in the historic and haunted French Quarter of New Orleans. It was previously used as a theater and grand ballroom, an orphanage, and a convent. Sounds like the recipe for a many haunted hotels stories — continuing on the trend of creepy hotel children, a ghost of a young girl is said to roam the staircases and sixth-floor corridors bouncing a ball. Phantom voices are heard and the footsteps of children are heard in unoccupied rooms. This hotel is one to avoid if you’re not ready to be accosted with paranormal experiences.

Opened in 1907, this paranormal paradigm of haunted hotels spooked author Stephen King so much that it spurred him to write The Shining. If you were at all creeped out by the movie, get ready for the real ghosts of The Stanley Hotel: piano notes in the music room play tunes without the presence of the living and former workers return to their posts for years following their deaths. The hotel has gone so far as to even hire a paranormal investigator who leads the monthly ghost hunts and eerily claims that the Stanley has, “more nights with activity than without.” Turn on the TV and tune into a 24 hour loop of The Shining on one of the cable channels if you’re not sufficiently weirded out.

The 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa is an opulent property in the Ozarks which has staked a claim as the most haunted hotel in America. When the original hotel went bankrupt, it became a college until 1908 when things took a dark turn and the hotel became a fake cancer hospital. Norman Baker tacked a Dr. in front of his name and used the hospital as a front for a variety of sick medical experiments while charging money for useless treatments to the ill. He was sent to jail when his plot was uncovered but his spirit remains on the ground, as does that of a stonemason who goes by the nickname “Michael,” according to staff. Other ghosts include students, nurses and patients — it’s hard to get away from the afterlife party happening at the hotel.

New Orleans likely takes the cake for having more ghosts than any other city in America — easy to understand when the dead buried here outnumber the living 10-1. The land on which the lovely Place D’Armes Hotel stands was, unfortunately, the site of a horrible school fire in the 1800s. The building may have been rebuilt to the structure which still stands today, but the spirits of several students and teachers who perished still linger. Phantom footsteps echo in the pretty courtyard and furniture moves around freely in unoccupied rooms.

A different sort of ghost haunts the Hollywood Roosevelt and it’s one you know by name: Marilyn Monroe. Many have reported that her spirit still lingers in her former home and glimpses of the blonde bombshell have appeared in her old full-length mirror, which is now located in the gift shop but used to stand in her favorite room, a second floor Cabana Room, #246. Room 928 has another member of Hollywood royalty sticking around–Montgomery Clift once stayed there while filming From Here to Eternity and guests have reported hearing someone moving around their room at night while they sleep.