Halloween is a great time to take the kids trick-or-treating and visit houses bedecked with spooky trappings—cobwebs, tombstones and ghosts, galore.
If you’re someone who prefers more tricks than treats, then spend a whole night, if you can, at a haunted hotel, where objects levitate, electronics go berserk, doorknobs rattle, nearly sub-audible voices resound, and ghosts reflect in your bathroom mirror.
Check out these hotels where you’re likely to get plenty of ghostly tricks along with your hotel treats.
Ivy House Inn Bed and Breakfast—Casper, Wyoming
If you love cats to death—and beyond—stay a night at the Ivy House Inn in Casper, Wyoming. Tom Johnson, the inn’s owner, first noticed the inn might be haunted when he was remodeling parts of the property and his hammer conveniently flew out the door and he personally saw two-by-fourteens levitated. The ghost soon received the name Mrs. White. Although her real name is unknown, she’s thought to have once been the matriarch in a Mormon house, a descendant of the Mayflower and a daughter of the Revolution.
Check out more creepy, spooky, ooky places with Frightful Destinations for the Spooky-Starved Travelers.
Mrs. White is spotted more than once a year, and she has appeared to guests in a bathroom and hallway. She also knocks on the guests’ doors. When nobody answers, she knocks again, and then she tries to turn the doorknob. The owners and guests will sometimes catch whiffs of a vintage fragrance: a mixture between what Tom says is “Dove soap perfume and old lady smell.”
Perhaps the most famous ghosts at this inn, however, are Mrs. White’s two Siamese cats. The last time these ghosts were spotted was earlier this year at a scrapbooking event, and the entire group of women saw the cats. The cats occasionally scamper throughout the building, and once one of the cats slept on a guest’s bed, and the guest thought it was the owner’s cat. 307-265-0974, www.ivyhouseinn.com
Beaumont Hotel—Beaumont, Kansas
Once a stagecoach and railroad stop in 1879, the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont, Kansas in the Flint Hills was run by a husband and wife. Legend has it that the owner would provide the patrons food and drink downstairs, and his wife would provide “other needs” upstairs.
A cowboy named Zeke frequented the hotel and became a little too familiar with the owner’s wife, and she became attached to him. The affair enraged her husband; he grabbed a shotgun and killed Zeke.
Zeke has haunted the hotel ever since and remains very active. He often moves a chair behind the door to one the hotel’s suites. When someone enters the room, the door, therefore, will strike the chair. Sometimes the hotel’s electronics go nuts. Zeke likes to turn the radio on in the middle of the night and push chairs in front of doors. Sometimes, hotel staffers have seen a cowboy walking down hall, and many guests claim to hear the sound of spurs jangling, or a loud thumping. Zeke also seems to like to turn on clock radios and alarms in the dead of night around 2 or 3 a.m. 620-843-2422, www.hotelbeaumontks.com
The Lemp Mansion—St. Louis, Missouri
With a son locked in the attic for a lifetime, suicides, unexpected deaths by heart attacks, scandals, and more, the Lemp family history harbors tragedy still felt at The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri. John Adam Lemp arrived in St. Louis from Eschwege, Germany in 1838 and established a very successful brewery. John Lemp made use of the natural cave system under St. Louis, which provided the perfect temperature for aging beer. William J. Lemp succeeded his father as the brewery’s head and created it into the largest brewery in St. Louis.
Tragedy struck the Lemp family when Frederick Lemp, William’s favorite son died under mysterious causes in 1901. William shot himself in the head three years later, most likely due to the grief of losing Frederick. William J. Lemp, Jr. succeeded his father as head of the brewery. His sister Elsa, considered to be the wealthiest heiress in St. Louis, committed suicide in 1920. William, Jr. eventually sold the brewery and soon after shot himself in the same building where his father died 18 years prior.
The Lemp family also had a son, whose name is unknown, who was supposedly illegitimate and was challenged with mild retardation. The family kept him locked in the eves of the 4th floor. Neighbors who grew up as kids near the house report that the boy was nicknamed as “the monkey boy,” and they occasionally would see his face in the window when they walked past the house to school. The boy supposedly died at a young age, and in the Lemp crypt—the largest in the Bellefontaine Cemetery—there is one unmarked tomb.
Guests occasionally have called the front desk reporting hearing a child knock on their room door and tiny footsteps running away, but then the hotel staff check, they realize that they have no child guests staying that evening. Tours of the property are available to the public on Monday nights from 7-10 p.m. and cost $15. 314-664-8024, www.lempmansion.com.
Anchorage Hotel—Anchorage, Alaska
Because so many ghostly visits occur at Anchorage Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, the hotel has replaced the traditional guestbook log with a guest ghost log, in which guests share their creepy adventures and tangles with ghosts.
Guests have reported seeing the curtains quiver, a silhouette of a woman, and much, much more. The ghost who visits the hotel most often is John J. Sturgus, Anchorage’s first chief of police. He was shot in the alleyway in 1921, and he died before he could reach a hospital. According to hotel staff, Sturgus is the one responsible for tossing a bottle of Scotch over the bar.
Another ghost is suspected to haunt the hotel. In the 1920s, a lady was planning on marrying her fiancé; however, he became rich in the gold rush and jilted her on their wedding day. In the depths of grief, she hung herself while wearing her wedding dress.
A shaman once stayed at the hotel and told the front desk that he sensed restless spirits occupying the hotel, particularly an insane old woman and a happy little boy, and some guests have claimed to hear children running through the halls, but when the hotel staff checked their reservations, no children were staying at the hotel. 800-544-0988, www.historicanchoragehotel.com.
The Stone Lion Inn—Guthrie, Oklahoma
If you’re lucky, a gentlemanly ghost may just doff his derby hat to you, because at The Stone Lion Inn in Guthrie, Oklahoma, guests have seen a ghost dressed in formal attire and recognized by the scent of his cigar smoke. This inn was built in 1907 by F.E. Houghton, the founder of Cotton Oil Company and owner of the first car dealership in Oklahoma. At one point in the 1920s, the house was leased to Smith’s Funeral Home and was used as a mortuary. The Smiths lived upstairs, and the embalming occurred in what is now the kitchen of the Inn. Today, the current owner uses the porcelain-embalming table as a hallway buffet, where guests can enjoy refreshments.
Besides the unknown gentleman, the Houghton daughter also haunts the Inn. At eight, she died of whooping cough; the family’s maid supposedly overmedicated her with cough syrup, which had the then-common ingredients codeine and opium. The ghost girl will creep into guest rooms between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. and pats them on the cheek. She disappears soon after they awake. 405-282-0012, www.stonelioninn.com.
Can’t get enough hauntings? Check out BedandBreakfast.com for Great Places to Sleep With a Ghost, an extensive listings of haunted B&Bs and inns.
By Monique-Marie DeJong for PeterGreenberg.com.
Check out more creepy, spooky, ooky places with Frightful Destinations for the Spooky-Starved Travelers.
Previously by Monique-Marie DeJong:
