Sleep Tight : 7 Hotel Rooms You Wouldn’t Want To Stay In
We’ve all seen The Shining at least once and if you haven’t watch it! There is nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night by children giggling or a floating dude at the end of your bed. Well, here’s some hotels where you can pay to do just that.
Room 217. The Stanley Hotel, Colorado.
Image via the Denver City Page
Speaking of The Shining, why not start with the very hotel that inspired Stephen King to write the story that rocked the world. The Stanley is considered one of the world’s most haunted hotels. It first opened its doors in 1909 and its reputation continued to grow until it caught the attention of Mr King who spend a night there. A night turned into a few months and what he experienced during his time in room 217 changed him forever.
On June 1911 a monstrous thunderstorm cut all of the power throughout the hotel. Chambermaids were then required to go up to each room and light them with candles whilst the guests waited down in the lobby in their dressing gowns with a hot cocoa in hand. A Miss Elizabeth Wilson was tasked with giving light back to room 217, little did they know there was a gas leak in there. The blast took out the entire east wing… It is thought the women seen moving around in room 217 is Elizabeth herself. Some guests have even reported waking up to find their bed sheets stolen from under them and neatly folded at the base of their beds. Stephen King never fully disclosed what he experienced during his stay, but you can imagine.
Room 333. The Langham, London
Image via NBT
The Langham Hotel, England’s first ” Grand Hotel ” was built in the style of a Florentine palace in 1865. To this day it still attracts hundreds of the world’s wealthiest men and women. However, floor 3 lies silent and room 333, empty.
There are a great many ghost stories at the Langham hotel, even Emporer Napolean II is said to roam the halls, reliving his last days of exile. However, the history of room 333 is a little darker. The first instance was that of a doctor staying in room 333 going mad and killing his wife then himself. Another thought to haunt the room is a German Prince who jumped out of the window from the floor above. The room is said to have a dark and oppressive atmosphere, more than once guests have fled after waking in the dead of night because of an old man has shaken them awake….
Room 324. Toftaholm Herrgard, Sweeden.
Image via Mapio
This 14th-century manor house on the banks of Lake Vidostern in southern Sweeden is iconic. However, guests have reported countless unexplained incidents, from strange noises to windows and doors opening and closing themselves.
The hotel is known for being haunted by a young farmer’s son who fell in love with the Baron’s daughter who owned the house. She was soon after forced into an arranged marriage to a wealthy young spice merchant. The boy was found hanging in room 324 on the morning of her wedding. Guests have reported what sounds like gasps for air and the thrashings of a dying man.
Cabin B340. The Queen Mary, Long Beach.
Image via the RMS Titanic
The once proud ocean liner, the Queen Mary sailed the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 – 1967. During WWII she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the entire war period. She was finally retired from service in 1967 and permanently docked in Long Beach Harbour. There were over 49 recorded deaths onboard during her time and the Queen Mary is widely acknowledged as the most haunted ship in the world. Despite just how haunted this ship is there is one room onboard even they try to keep secret.
Cabin B340 was the site of one of many murders committed onboard. One lunatic man was held captive here as punishment for fighting on the main deck. When his daughter and wife came to collect him from the ship, he killed them both in a state of delusion. So many guests have requested to be moved from this room to another, due to the sheer amount of vicious poltergeist attacks that the room had to be sealed and the room number was taken down. They refuse to let guests stay in there at any time. Some reported hearing a man telling them to ” Get Out “, whilst others have been terrified by the lights flicking on and off or the water turning its self on then off. Others had the bed sheets ripped from under them whilst they slept. Whatever is in there, it’s not friendly.
Room 302. Hotel Coronado, California.
Image via Wikipedia
The Hotel Coronado in California is nothing short of Mammoth. It was built in the late 1800’s for just $110,000 and boasted 750 rooms with a dining room that could seat over 1000. So yeah it’s big. But nowadays it is more famous for its longest inhabitant ” The Beautiful Stranger ” and her story begins in room 302.
In November of 1892, a beautiful young and well-educated women checked in at the front desk under the name of ” Miss Lottie A Bernard “, she was given the keys to the room 302. She appeared ill and depressed but refused to see the in-house doctor, insisting that her brother was a fine physician and would be along shortly. Days passed and she had not been able to pay her bill, when confronted she told the manager to call her accountant in Hamberg as he handled all of her finances. On November 4th she left her room and records showed her buying a handgun in the local town. After a strange and unexpected stormy night, the lifeless body of Miss Lottie Bernard was found on the beach with a single bullet wound to her head. There was a strange sequence of events that followed this, such as, the police not being able to find any document of identification on her body, stranger still is that it has been a thunderstorm which means heavy rain but her body was bone dry. For more information on this case check out The Occult Museum.
Room 302 has since had its number changed countless times due to the strange activity within and to discourage ghost busters. A beautiful stranger is frequently seen around the building, wandering the hall in her elegant Victorian dress and then vanishing at the blink of an eye.
Room 8. The Russel Hotel, Sydney.
Image via City Data
The Russel Hotel is known for having Australia’s most haunted hotel room, room 8. The Russel is located in the Rocks, which today is high-end commercial area but years ago it was a slum and the Russel was all too familiar with crime. The Hotel was a kind of safe haven for all of the criminals in the city. During the 19th century, the Rocks were home to one of Australia’s most notorious gangs called ” The Rock’s Push ” and the Russel was there hang out. The gang was constantly fighting with other gangs as well as robbing or assaulting policemen and citizens. The females of this gang would lure drunken sailors who were docking for the night at the local port, down into dark alleyways and then they would then be robbed and often killed by the male members of the gang who were waiting in the shadows. Then in the, 1900’s, there was a break out of bubonic plague and the Russel was transformed into a make-shift hosptial.
The Russel has a dark and brutal history with some hauntings to match. There is a lot of activity around the entire hotel, with most believing it to be the ghosts of all the angry sailors who were murdered and are pretty much pissed at how they met their end. One old seaman, however, is said to make room 8 his domain. He is normally seen standing, silent and staring into the eyes of whoever is trying to sleep in his room.
Room 14. The Cecil Hotel, LA
Image via Wtf Ghost Hunts
The Cecil Hotel was a live-in hotel in one of LA’s biggest slum areas. In its time it attracted some of modern history’s most evil and grotesque men. Only 4 years ago one of the biggest mysteries of our time, took place in the Cecil Hotel. The disappearance of Eliza Lam. All you have to do is google her name and you’ll find the video of her hiding in the elevator peering round the corner, this all happened moments before her disappearance. Her body was not discovered until the hotel guests complained of the water in their rooms having a strange taste, her corpse was later found in the hotel’s water tank. The Cecil’s past is so fucked up that it was the inspiration behind American Horror Story season 5, they loved it so much they filmed the entire season inside.
Richard Ramirez aka ” The Night Stalker ” was the Cecil’s most infamous resident. In 1984 he was convicted of 13 counts of murder, 5 continues of attempted murder, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries. He was well known to have an interest in Satanism from a young age and after his conviction, he yelled out ” Hail Satan ” for all to hear. Room 14 was the Nightstalker’s domain. Very few accounts of people staying in that room can be found online, but when they do, they describe a sense of unnatural fear and random smells of rotten eggs. Some staying there even claim to have seen Ramirez himself.
