Some Guests Apparently Never Check Out
Plenty of historic hotels have creaky floors and strange noises after midnight. These places have something more: guests who swear someone stood beside their bed, elevators that choose their own floors, phantom children running through hallways, and figures that disappear the moment they're approached. Some stories have real tragedies behind them, while others are pure hotel folklore. Either way, would you actually turn off the lights and spend the night?
Andrey Kiselev, Adobe Stock/Kidfly182, Wikimedia Commons
New York City — The Hotel Chelsea
The Chelsea has been home to so many artists, musicians, writers, and eccentrics that its ghost stories can be difficult to separate from the mythology surrounding the building itself. One recurring legend involves a woman usually called Mary, supposedly connected to the Titanic disaster, who has been described standing near the western end of a hallway or staring into a mirror before disappearing. Actor Michael Imperioli has also publicly recalled seeing a woman dressed in old-fashioned clothing near a stairway while he lived at the Chelsea.
Other stories involve unfamiliar faces appearing in mirrors and figures glimpsed around corridors, while tragic deaths associated with the property have only encouraged more ghost stories. Some identities attached to these apparitions haven't been historically verified, which perhaps makes the encounters even stranger.
Boston — Omni Parker House
Harvey Parker opened his Boston hotel in 1855 and apparently hasn't stopped checking on it, at least according to the property's most enduring legend. One woman reportedly saw a misty shape near Room 1078 that gradually formed into a heavyset older man with a black mustache before fading away. She later recognized him from a portrait as Parker. In Room 1012, another guest awoke to find a similarly dressed man smiling at the end of the bed before disappearing.
Elsewhere, visitors have reported a rocking chair creaking despite the hotel having no rocking chair nearby, glowing balls of light moving through tenth-floor corridors, and elevators inexplicably stopping on the third floor. Former Room 303 also became notorious for unexplained smells of whiskey and cigars.
Storage0769, Wikimedia Commons
Washington, DC — The Hay-Adams
The Hay-Adams' best-known ghost story centers on Marian "Clover" Adams, even though the current hotel wasn't standing when she met her end. Her home once occupied the site, and staff stories have long connected her with the fourth floor. Locked doors have reportedly opened without anyone touching them, radios have switched on inside unoccupied rooms, and employees have heard a woman crying from apparently empty spaces. One housekeeper allegedly heard a woman's voice directly ask what she wanted.
Most unsettling is the recurring smell of bitter almonds, especially around the anniversary of Adams' passing. That detail matters because she perished after ingesting potassium cyanide, a chemical famously associated with an almond-like odor.
Chicago — The Congress Plaza Hotel
Room 441 has developed one of the nastiest reputations in Chicago hotel folklore. Guests have reportedly awakened to see a woman standing or hovering near the bed, while others describe something tugging at blankets, shaking the mattress, or appearing near the bathroom. Some accounts claim the figure actively wakes sleepers by pulling at the covers. Elsewhere in the Congress, a wandering figure nicknamed Peg Leg Johnny supposedly moves through corridors, while other stories involve appliances switching on and off.
One particularly bizarre legend describes a ghostly hand apparently protruding from a wall in the Gold Room. With that many competing stories, simply hearing the plumbing after midnight might be enough to ruin someone's sleep.
Los Angeles — The Hollywood Roosevelt
Montgomery Clift's Room 928 may have the most specific celebrity ghost stories in Hollywood. Clift stayed there while preparing for From Here to Eternity, repeatedly practicing the bugle required for his role. Later guests have reported hearing faint bugle notes and footsteps pacing the ninth-floor hallway when nobody is there. Others claim they've felt taps on their shoulders while lying in bed.
Marilyn Monroe's legend centers on a full-length mirror formerly connected to her suite. People have described looking into it and seeing the reflection of a blonde woman standing behind them, only to turn around and find nobody there. Reports also include unexplained conversations in empty rooms, phantom phone calls, cold spots, and a mysterious man in a white suit in the ballroom.
New Orleans — Bourbon Orleans Hotel
The Bourbon Orleans has enough alleged residents to populate its own supernatural guest registry. A Confederate soldier nicknamed "The Man" has reportedly appeared on multiple floors, while guests have heard children's footsteps racing through sixth-floor corridors. Some describe a little girl rolling or chasing a ball down the hallway before vanishing. Female apparitions, sometimes interpreted as nuns from the building's convent period, have also been reported.
The ballroom has perhaps the most cinematic story. A solitary female figure has supposedly been seen dancing alone beneath the crystal chandelier. People have also reported hearing fabric rustling behind the ballroom draperies or seeing movement there, only to discover nobody hiding behind them.
Elisa.rolle, Wikimedia Commons
Austin — The Driskill
Jesse Driskill is supposedly announced before he appears. Guests have long reported unexpectedly smelling cigar smoke in parts of the hotel, which folklore attributes to the cigar-loving founder checking on his property. A ghostly child has allegedly been seen around the staircase, sometimes accompanied by what sounds like bouncing or running.
Room 525 has a darker reputation. Legends claim two brides met their end there decades apart, although researchers have struggled to verify the most dramatic versions of that story. What visitors continue reporting, however, are unexplained voices, odd leaks, unsettling sensations, and occasional apparitions. The Driskill is a perfect example of a hotel where the ghost stories are culturally real even when some of the supposed history underneath them remains questionable.
ajay_suresh, Wikimedia Commons
San Antonio — Emily Morgan Hotel
The Emily Morgan's own account of its ghost stories is unusually specific. Guests have received telephone calls in the middle of the night only to hear nobody on the other end. One room attendant reportedly returned from cleaning a bathroom to find the bed's pillows thrown onto the floor. A manager came back from dinner to discover her bathtub mysteriously filled with blue water.
Guests have described hearing what sounds like hospital carts rolling through empty corridors, while the fourteenth floor has sometimes carried an unexplained antiseptic or bandage-like smell. Other reports involve faucets turning themselves on, doors closing, elevators stopping unexpectedly, shadowy figures, and the sensation of someone brushing past when nobody else is visible.
Alexander Friedman, Shutterstock
Seattle — Hotel Sorrento
The Sorrento's alleged ghost has a particularly shaky connection to the hotel. Alice B Toklas grew up nearby but apparently moved away before the hotel even opened. Nevertheless, she has somehow become associated with Room 408 and the fourth floor. Guests have described a woman in white or black clothing appearing in hallways before disappearing, along with lights flickering as though something were moving past them. Others have reported the sensation of someone sitting down on the edge of the bed. Downstairs, glasses or drinks have supposedly shifted without explanation in the Dunbar Room.
The historical connection may be thin, but after decades of repetition, Toklas has effectively become the Sorrento's unofficial permanent guest.
Visitor7, Wikimedia Commons, Enhanced
San Diego — Horton Grand Hotel
Room 309 anchors most of the Horton Grand's ghost stories. According to hotel folklore, a gambler named Roger Whittaker hid inside an armoire before being discovered and slain, although different versions of the tale contradict one another. Modern guests have attributed flickering lights, inexplicably opening doors, sudden cold spots, and moving objects to his spirit. Some claim to hear footsteps pacing the room or feel the bed move when nobody is nearby.
The wardrobe itself naturally features prominently in retellings. Historical documentation for Whittaker is considerably weaker than the legend suggests, but Room 309's reputation has become so established that visitors sometimes book it specifically hoping something happens.
Houston — Hotel ICON
Hotel ICON's former life as the Union National Bank gives its haunting stories a slightly different flavor. Guests and local ghost tours have reported unexplained footsteps, shadowy people in corridors, strange voices, and uncomfortable sensations inside rooms. One recurring idea is that former bankers or people associated with the building's financial past still wander the property, although attempts to attach specific identities to them quickly drift into folklore. Other accounts involve doors apparently moving without explanation and figures glimpsed only briefly before disappearing.
This is one of the weaker documented hauntings on the list, but its century-old architecture and massive former-bank spaces make it exceptionally easy to understand how the stories took hold.
Farragutful, Wikimedia Commons
Baltimore — Lord Baltimore Hotel
Molly may be one of the most frequently described child ghosts on this list. Guests and employees have reported seeing a little girl in a cream or white dress with dark shoes wandering the nineteenth floor, often accompanied by a red ball. Some witnesses say she simply plays quietly, while others describe her crying, screaming, or rocking back and forth as though searching for someone. Hotel staff have reported receiving calls from confused guests asking why a child was running through the hallway late at night.
Elevators have supposedly traveled to the nineteenth floor without being called, televisions switch themselves on, and objects disappear. A child's handprint found on a wall during a paranormal investigation added another unsettling detail to the legend.
Baltimore Heritage from Baltimore, MD, USA, Wikimedia Commons
Charleston — Francis Marion Hotel
The Francis Marion's main ghost is usually identified as Ned Cohen, a man whose demise after falling from the hotel became the foundation for its best-known legend. Staff and guests have described windows rattling violently when there is no wind outside and heavy curtains rustling even though no air appears to be moving. Others claim they've seen a male figure late at night or felt someone lightly touch their cheek. Particularly strange reports describe a man who appears to be talking quietly to himself before disappearing.
The hotel's own retelling emphasizes the sadness surrounding Cohen rather than portraying him as a threat, which may be reassuring until something starts moving beside your bed.
Warren LeMay from Covington, KY, United States, Wikimedia Commons
Savannah — The Marshall House
Children dominate the Marshall House's ghost stories. Guests have reported hearing small feet racing along upstairs corridors late at night, along with laughter or voices when no children appear to be nearby. Room 414 is frequently singled out for strange noises and doors that seem to lock or unlock themselves. Faucets reportedly turn on in otherwise empty bathrooms. Another legend involves a one-armed soldier who supposedly appears inside the building, presumably inspired by its genuine history as a Civil War hospital.
The frequently repeated story that amputated limbs were later discovered beneath the floorboards is much harder to verify, but the property's documented hospital use provides plenty of unsettling history without requiring embellishment.
San Francisco — Queen Anne Hotel
Mary Lake is probably the most helpful ghost in American hotel folklore. Room 410, formerly associated with her work as a headmistress when the building housed a girls' school, receives most of the reports. Guests have claimed their luggage was unpacked while they were away, clothes mysteriously appeared in closets, and beds were turned down without explanation. Some sleepers have even described waking with their blankets tucked more snugly around them than when they went to bed.
Other tales involve flowers or champagne appearing unexpectedly. Whether any of it is paranormal is impossible to establish, but compared with ghosts that tug off blankets or loom at the foot of the bed, an invisible hotel employee doing extra housekeeping feels almost luxurious.
Phoenix — Hotel San Carlos
The Hotel San Carlos is usually associated with the ghost of Leone Jensen, who perished after falling from the hotel's roof. Visitors and employees have reported seeing a female apparition moving through the building, sometimes near stairways or upper floors, before disappearing. Unexplained footsteps are another common part of the hotel's lore.
The site adds another layer because Phoenix's first dedicated school building once stood on the property, which eventually inspired additional tales about children laughing or playing where no children can be found. Those stories are much less historically grounded than Jensen's demise, but together they've made the San Carlos one of Phoenix's most persistent haunted landmarks.
Milwaukee — The Pfister Hotel
The Pfister's ghost stories are unusual because Major League Baseball players have repeatedly gone on record about them. Carlos Gómez said he heard static coming from his iPod after showering, switched it off, then heard it start again before the device apparently changed songs in his hand. He fled the room before even finishing getting dressed. Adrián Beltré reported knocking, pounding behind his headboard, and a television and air conditioner repeatedly switching themselves on and off.
Bryce Harper said he left clothes neatly arranged on a table and woke to find them scattered while the table itself had moved. Pitcher Colby Lewis reportedly saw a skeletal-looking apparition around 1:30am and was shaken enough to visit the team chaplain the next day.
Michael Barera, Wikimedia Commons
Denver — The Brown Palace Hotel And Spa
One Brown Palace story sounds almost too perfectly designed for a ghost legend. Denver socialite Louise Crawford Hill lived in Room 904 for years. Decades later, during renovations, employees said the hotel switchboard began receiving calls from 904. Every time somebody answered, there was only static. The problem was that the room had been stripped of its furniture, wallpaper, lights, and telephone.
Other stories involve an old-fashioned railway worker appearing inside the hotel, unexplained lights switching on and off in the former Brown Palace Club, and carpet seeming to move beneath people's feet. Additional folklore describes ghostly musicians and figures in period clothing, making the hotel feel less haunted by one resident than by an entire vanished era.
Onetwo1 at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons
Miami — Biltmore Hotel Miami Coral Gables
Thomas "Fatty" Walsh gives the Biltmore's most famous ghost story an unusually concrete beginning. Walsh really was shot during a 1929 dispute inside the hotel. Later stories claim he never completely left the thirteenth-floor tower suite. Guests and employees have reported smelling cigar smoke, hearing unexplained sounds, and experiencing elevators behaving strangely.
One frequently repeated story involves guests pressing the button for the fourth floor only to have the elevator carry them directly to the restricted thirteenth instead. A writer who stayed in the suite later described hearing something like a cane tapping across the floor and seeing a curtain rod swinging without an obvious cause. The actual slaying makes those stories particularly effective once the elevator doors close.
Daniel Korzeniewski, Shutterstock
Portland — The Benson Portland
Simon Benson himself supposedly patrols the hotel he helped create. Witnesses have described a man in formal clothing moving down the grand staircase before disappearing, sometimes appearing strangely incomplete below the waist. Another account describes a man dressed more like a lumberman entering the dining area and walking toward a former storage space, only to vanish before an employee could follow him. Reports also involve unexplained footsteps and activity on several guest floors.
Benson was famously involved in Oregon's timber industry, so the different versions of his apparition conveniently mirror different parts of his life. Whether that's evidence of anything supernatural or simply storytelling becoming more elaborate over time is left to the guest.
Steve Morgan, Wikimedia Commons
Nashville — The Union Station Nashville Yards
Abigail is said to haunt the former railway station after losing a soldier she loved, although the historical evidence behind her tragic backstory is difficult to pin down. Her supposed home is Room 711, now openly marketed around the legend. Guests have attributed flickering lights, temperature changes, sounds with no visible source, and unsettling mirror experiences to her presence. Other stories place a female figure in the old station's grand public spaces, still apparently waiting for someone who will never arrive.
The setting does much of the work: the soaring former terminal was once filled with arrivals, departures, reunions, and farewells, making a ghost eternally waiting for a train almost too appropriate.
Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States, Wikimedia Commons
Atlanta — Ellis Hotel
The Ellis occupies the former Winecoff Hotel, where 119 people lost their lives in the catastrophic fire of December 7, 1946. Later paranormal stories draw directly from that tragedy. Guests and workers have claimed to hear screams in corridors when nobody is there, smell smoke without finding a source, and see frantic-looking figures vanish in hallways. One especially unsettling story says the fire alarm has occasionally sounded around 2:48am, a time associated in local retellings with the beginning of the disaster.
Whether those accounts represent anything supernatural can't be established, but this is one property where the real history is considerably more frightening than the ghost story built around it.
Warren LeMay from Cincinnati, OH, United States, Wikimedia Commons
St Louis — The Lemp Mansion
The Lemp Mansion has so many reported phenomena that visitors can practically choose a haunting. People have described footsteps on the main staircase when nobody is climbing it, shadowy figures crossing landings, and a woman in period clothing appearing near the top of the stairs. In the bar and dining areas, glasses have supposedly moved or fallen without anyone touching them, doors lock and unlock, lights switch themselves on, and a piano has reportedly played when nobody was sitting at it.
The basement is considered particularly unsettling because it once connected with caves beneath the property. The famous attic-child story is far less historically secure, but unexplained voices and movement there remain part of modern Lemp folklore.
Philadelphia — The Bellevue Hotel
The Bellevue's apparitions fit the building's grand early-twentieth century setting almost too well. Visitors have reported people dressed in period clothing appearing around the staircase and then vanishing before anyone can approach them. Other accounts describe sudden temperature drops inside otherwise comfortable rooms, an abrupt feeling of being watched, and bedcovers apparently being tugged or pulled during the night.
Some guests have described an overwhelming sensation or temporary inability to move shortly after entering certain rooms, although sleep paralysis and ordinary physiological explanations obviously complicate stories of that kind. Even without ghosts, the massive Beaux-Arts interiors are theatrical enough to make an unexpected figure on the stairs difficult to forget.
Jack Boucher, Wikimedia Commons
Minneapolis— Palmer House Hotel, Sauk Centre
The Palmer House practically invites guests to compare experiences. Room 17 receives frequent reports of furniture apparently shifting while occupants are away, along with figures near the bed. One couple described seeing a tall, thin man dressed as though he belonged to the 1920s or 1930s standing at the foot of the bed. Room 11 is known for unexplained cold and reports of people feeling touched while trying to sleep.
Guests below Room 18 have claimed to hear somebody walking around or sitting down on a bed even when the room above was empty. Elsewhere, toilets flush themselves, televisions switch on and off, silverware moves, glasses fall, and a child's apparition has supposedly been seen sitting on the stairs.
Would You Actually Spend The Night?
What makes these hotels so spoky isn't simply the claim that they're haunted. It's the specificity. The claims that these hotels are haunted make them spooky enough, but the specificity of the stories take the eeriness to a whole new level. A red ball rolling down the nineteenth floor. Bugle music outside Room 928. An elevator repeatedly opening on a floor nobody selected. A hotel room calling the switchboard despite not having a telephone.
Some stories have been told so many times that their origins are almost impossible to recover, while others come directly from hotel employees, journalists, athletes, and identifiable guests. While that may not actually prove the existence of ghosts, once you know exactly what you're supposed to hear in the hallway, ignoring that first unexplained noise becomes considerably harder.
Kurt Kaiser, Wikimedia Commons
You May Also Like:
The Most Haunted Road Trip Stop In Every U.S. State
Ranking The Most Haunted Cities In America—According To Paranormal Experts
.JPG){kind=link}
