These Grand Hotels—Located All Across the Country—Are Allegedly Some of the Most Haunted Properties in America

Hotel del Coronado

Kate Morgan never checked out of Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California, in 1892. It is thought that Kate, who was married, but estranged, from her husband, had arrived at The Del (in hopes of a rendezvous) on Thanksgiving Day, lonely and sad following a dispute with a male companion who abandoned her on the way to their destination. After five days, Kate took her own life. In the many years since, guests and employees have reported flickering lights and inexplicable scents; TVs mysteriously turn on and doors randomly open and close—but only the ones in the late Kate's third-floor room.

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The Don CeSar

Situated on the shores of the Gulf on St. Pete Beach, Florida, The Don CeSar is hard to miss. Its vibrantly pink facade has earned it the nickname "Pink Palace." The story behind the hotel is one of love and loss and centers around an American, Thomas Rowe, who fell madly in love with a Spanish opera singer, Lucinda, while in London. Her parents forbade the relationship—so Thomas constructed and opened The Don CeSar in the height of the Jazz Age, in 1928, as a tribute to the love of his life. Guests claim they have seen the couple roaming the resort, hand in hand, having reunited in the afterlife, Thomas wearing a white suit and Lucinda in a traditional Spanish peasant dress.

Jekyll Island Club Resort

This grandiose Georgian resort, which is located in Jekyll Island, Georgia, dates back to 1886. It was once frequented by some of America's wealthiest, and most influential people, including the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Rockefellers. Legend has it that General Lloyd Aspinwall, a founding member of the resort who was to be its first president, died unexpectedly a year before the club opened. Years later, certain members wrote letters revealing they'd seen the ghost of the general walking the Riverfront Veranda around dusk. Another ghost on site is that of Samuel Spencer, the president of the Southern Railroad Company. Each morning, he requested the Wall Street Journal be delivered to his room while he sipped coffee. Since his tragic death in a train accident in 1906, club members and hotel guests staying in Spencer's room have found copies of their newspaper disturbed, and coffee mysteriously poured or sipped on.

Omni Shoreham Hotel

In addition to being one of the most historic resorts in Washington, D.C., the luxurious Omni Shoreham Hotel is also alive with paranormal activity. During The Great Depression, the hotel's minority shareholder, Henry Doherty, took up a suite of rooms with his wife to live. The hotel's executive housekeeper, Juliette Brown, also stayed in the large suite with the Dohertys. One morning, she woke up feeling unwell and died later of natural causes. After some time, the couple adopted a child named Helen, who later died in the very same suite. After the Dohertys moved out, the ghosts of Juliette and Helen began turning on the TVs and lights, moving housekeepers' carts, and more.

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The Hollywood Roosevelt

Named for President Theodore Roosevelt, the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles, California, has been a staple since 1927. During the golden age of cinema, the hotel was a fixture for the Hollywood elite, including Marilyn Monroe, who lived there for two years while her modeling career took off. The blonde bombshell is one of the ghosts thought to haunt the hotel, supposedly prowling around her old room (1200). Other reports take note of cold spots, photographic orbs, and mysterious phone calls to the hotel operator.

The Stanley Hotel

Located in Estes Park, Colorado, The Stanley Hotel spooked horror aficionado Stephen King so much that it actually inspired the setting of the movie adaptation of one of his most popular novels, The Shining. The Colonial Revival-style hotel is teeming with ghosts, including inventor Freelan Oscar (F.O.) Stanley, who built it. His spirit is said to roam the billiard room and bar, while his wife, Flora, reportedly still plays the piano. Meanwhile, the ghost of Elizabeth Wilson, a former housekeeper, frequents room 217, where she was seriously injured in an explosion while lighting lanterns.

Bourbon Orleans Hotel

This nearly two-century-old property, which is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, served as a ballroom and theater, and then a convent and orphanage before it was converted into a hotel in the 1960s. The haunted locale is home to an array of ghosts, including children and women from the Sisters of the Holy Family's convent, girls' school, medical ward, and orphanage; the ghost of a little girl allegedly rolls her ball and chases it down the sixth floor corridors. There have even been reports of a lonely ghost dancer seen swaying below the ballroom's crystal chandelier.

Hotel Chelsea

Since the late 19th century, Hotel Chelsea in New York, New York, has hosted many high-profile celebrities and artists, from Mark Twain to Andy Warhol to Ethan Hawke. It's perhaps most notable for the unsolved murder of Sid Viscious' girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. But its history is long, and the amount of ghosts plentiful. The hotel housed survivors from the Titanic, including a woman named Mary, who died there; she haunts the fifth floor to this day. A ghost named Nadia also frequents Hotel Chelsea. Ten years after Mary's, Nadia experienced a severe accident, which resulted in her falling out of a window. Nadia's ghost can be seen on the upper floors of the Chelsea Hotel on moonless nights, in particular.

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Hawthorne Hotel

Head to Salem, Massachusetts, to visit this nearly century-old New England hotel, which served as the site of the Salem Witch Trials. The property is teeming with paranormal activity, with guests reporting moving furniture, sightings of a ghostly woman, and unexplained noises. In the 1970s, the TV show Bewitched filmed an episode in one of the elevators there. In 1990, the hotel held a séance in the Grand Ballroom in an attempt to connect with Harry Houdini. Rooms 621 and 325 have had the most reports of ghostly goings-on.

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The Hay-Adams Hotel

Located in Washington, D.C., and only 1,000 feet from the White House, The Hays-Adams was built on the site of former mansions owned by John Hay and Henry Adams (a descendant of both Adams presidents). Adams' wife, Marian Hooper Adams, is thought to haunt the space. Marian fell into a depression after the death of her father, and potentially as a result of her husband's alleged affairs. She was discovered sprawled out on a rug, next to an open bottle of potassium cyanide. Some say she took her own life, while others claim murder. Staff say Marian is most often found on the fourth floor, and is known to whisper, "What do you want?" and call housekeepers by name.