Some travelers pick a hotel for the pool, the free breakfast, or the view. Others pick one because a Civil War soldier might knock on the door at 3 a.m. If you’re the second kind, this list is for you. From a Colorado mountain lodge that inspired a Stephen King classic to a Victorian murder house where you can sleep in the room where it happened, these ten historic hotels have been collecting ghost stories for over a century, and they’re all still taking reservations. Pack a flashlight, charge your phone for EVP recordings, and maybe don’t turn off the bathroom light.
1) The Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, Colorado
No haunted hotel list is complete without the Stanley. In 1974 Stephen King and his wife were among the last guests before the hotel closed for the season, and a restless night in Room 217 gave him the idea for The Shining. Guests today report phantom piano music drifting from the empty music room, children laughing in the fourth-floor hallways, and luggage that unpacks itself. Founder F.O. Stanley, co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer, is said to still appear in the billiard room.
The hotel leans into its reputation with nightly ghost tours, a hedge maze on the front lawn, and a spooky Halloween masquerade ball. With Rocky Mountain National Park minutes away, you can spend the day watching elk bugle and the night listening for footsteps overhead.
Address: 333 E Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
Website: https://www.stanleyhotel.com
2) 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa – Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Billed as “America’s Most Haunted Hotel,” the Crescent has a backstory stranger than fiction. In the 1930s a con man named Norman Baker turned it into a “cancer hospital” where he peddled fake cures to desperate patients. Staff and guests have reported sightings of a nurse pushing a gurney, a stonemason named Michael who fell during construction and still haunts Room 218, and a Victorian gentleman who hangs around the lobby bar.
The nightly ghost tour ends in the old morgue in the basement, which is exactly as creepy as it sounds. By day, the hotel’s mountaintop perch offers gorgeous Ozark views over the quirky Victorian town of Eureka Springs.
Address: 75 Prospect Ave, Eureka Springs, AR 72632
Website: https://www.crescent-hotel.com
3) Hotel del Coronado – Coronado, California
The red-roofed “Hotel Del” is one of the most famous beach resorts in America, and one of its most famous guests never checked out. In 1892 a young woman named Kate Morgan checked in alone, waiting for a man who never came. Five days later she was found dead on the steps leading to the beach. Guests in her former room (now Room 3327)report flickering lights, sudden cold spots, and a woman in a black lace dress walking the hallways and the shoreline.
Marilyn Monroe filmed Some Like It Hot here, and eleven presidents have stayed at the Del. The gift shop has had its own ghostly activity, with souvenirs reportedly flying off the shelves.
Address: 1500 Orange Ave, Coronado, CA 92118
Website: https://www.hoteldel.com
4) The Queen Mary – Long Beach, California
This retired 1936 ocean liner carried movie stars, royalty, and more than 800,000 troops during World War II, earning the nickname “The Grey Ghost.” Today it’s a floating hotel docked in Long Beach, and paranormal fans say dozens of spirits are still aboard. The most famous is a young crewman crushed by a watertight door in the engine room, where visitors report knocking sounds near Door 13.
Other hot spots include the first-class swimming pool, where ghostly wet footprints appear on the deck, and Stateroom B340, once closed to guests for years because of the activity. The ship offers paranormal tours and overnight ghost-hunting experiences.
Address: 1126 Queens Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90802
Website: https://www.queenmary.com
5) The Myrtles – St. Francisville, Louisiana
Built in 1796, the Myrtles is often called one of the most haunted homes in America, with legends of as many as a dozen ghosts. The most famous is Chloe, an enslaved woman said to wander the grounds in a green headscarf. Guests also report a mysterious mirror in the main hall that supposedly holds the spirits of a mother and two children, with handprints that reappear no matter how many times it’s cleaned.
Surrounded by moss-draped oaks in Louisiana’s plantation country, the Myrtles offers overnight stays, a restaurant, and Friday and Saturday night mystery tours. It’s about 30 minutes north of Baton Rouge.
Address: 7747 US Hwy 61, St. Francisville, LA 70775
Website: https://www.myrtlesplantation.com
6) The Marshall House – Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is often called America’s most haunted city, and the Marshall House, which opened in 1851, is right in the middle of the action. During the Civil War it served as a Union hospital, and later as a hospital during two yellow fever epidemics. Renovation crews once found human bones under the floorboards, believed to be amputated limbs from the war years.
Guests report children running down the halls, faucets turning on by themselves, and doorknobs rattling in the middle of the night. It’s the oldest hotel in Savannah, and you’re a short walk from River Street and the city’s famous ghost-tour squares.
Address: 123 E Broughton St, Savannah, GA 31401
Website: https://www.marshallhouse.com
7) The Driskill – Austin, Texas
Cattle baron Jesse Driskill opened this grand hotel in 1886, and many believe he never left. Guests report the smell of cigar smoke in empty rooms and lights switching on and off, which staff blame on the old Colonel himself. The most famous spirit is a young girl, the daughter of a senator, who died after falling down the grand staircase while chasing a ball. Some guests still hear a ball bouncing on the stairs.
Rooms 525 and 29 have their own legends involving two brides, decades apart. Beyond the ghosts, the Driskill is a gorgeous Romanesque landmark just steps from Sixth Street’s live-music bars.
Address: 604 Brazos St, Austin, TX 78701
Website: https://www.driskillhotel.com
8) Jerome Grand Hotel – Jerome, Arizona
Perched on Cleopatra Hill above the old copper-mining town of Jerome, this Spanish Mission-style building opened in 1927 as the United Verde Hospital. Miners injured in accidents, flu victims, and patients who died under mysterious circumstances all passed through its halls. The most famous story involves a maintenance man found crushed under the elevator in 1935, and some say the old Otis elevator still moves on its own.
Jerome itself was once called “the wickedest town in the West” and is now a funky artists’ community that’s part ghost town, part wine-tasting stop. The hotel’s views across the Verde Valley toward Sedona are worth the trip even if you never see a ghost.
Address: 200 Hill St, Jerome, AZ 86331
Website: https://www.jeromegrandhotel.net
9) Lizzie Borden House – Fall River, Massachusetts
“Lizzie Borden took an axe…” In 1892 Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally murdered in this house, and daughter Lizzie was tried and acquitted in one of the most sensational trials in American history. Today the house is a bed and breakfast where you can sleep in the very room where Abby was killed, and guests regularly report footsteps, a woman crying, and beds that look like someone has been sitting on them.
The house has been restored to look much as it did in 1892, and daytime tours walk you through the crime scene and the evidence. Overnight guests get a ghost tour and, fittingly, a breakfast similar to the one the Bordens ate the morning of the murders.
Address: 230 Second St, Fall River, MA 02721
Website: https://www.lizzie-borden.com
10) Farnsworth House Inn – Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The brick walls of the Farnsworth House still carry more than 100 bullet holes from the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. Confederate sharpshooters used the attic as a sniper nest, and one is believed to have fired the stray shot that killed Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed in the battle. With more than 50,000 casualties in three days, it’s no surprise the whole town is considered deeply haunted.
Guests report a soldier’s figure in the attic, a midwife spirit who comforts people in the Sarah Black room, and a young boy named Jeremy who was killed by a carriage outside. The inn offers ghost walks and “Mourning Theatre” storytelling in the basement, and the battlefield is right outside the front door.
Address: 401 Baltimore St, Gettysburg, PA 17325
Website: https://www.farnsworthhouseinn.com
Ready to trade your usual hotel chain for a room with a restless roommate? Most of these historic hotels book up fast in October, so plan early if you want to be there for Halloween, and ask for the “most active” room when you call. Whether you’re a true believer or just love a good story and a great old building, a night at one of America’s most haunted hotels is a trip you’ll be talking about for years. Just don’t be surprised if something taps you on the shoulder on the way to the ice machine.
