Monday newsletters always feature top 10 travel lists to inspire.
Today (October 31, 2016): Top 10 world’s most haunted luxury hotels.
Happy Halloween! If trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, or carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns are too tame for your Halloween, consider booking a stay at one of the most haunted hotels in the world. The following 10 luxurious establishments are teeming with spirits and ghosts to test your nerves during your stay.
There is more information below the slide show. Ever experienced paranormal activity at a hotel? Leave a comment or take my poll below!
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10. HOTEL DEL CORONADO, SAN DIEGO, USA
Hotel del Coronado is an iconic destination at the Pacific’s edge just minutes from downtown San Diego. Its Coronado Island setting captures the relaxed beauty and seaside charms of the quintessential Southern California coastal lifestyle. However, if you consider a booking here, you want to steer clear of the areas of the hotel said to be haunted by one Ms. Kate Morgan, a woman who died under mysterious circumstances in the hotel in 1892. Guest who stayed in her room (#3327) have reported unusual observations, such as the tv turning on by itself and flickering lights.
- Hotel website: Hotel Del Coronado
9. GRAND HYATT TAIPEI, TAIWAN
Grand Hyatt Taipei is located directly adjacent to Taipei 101, the landmark supertall skyscraper. The 853 newly renovated rooms and suites combine east and west cultural influences with a grand residential touch. However, the hotel was constructed atop a World War II prison camp and execution grounds, and hotel guests have allegedly seen ghosts in the corridors and heard strange noises from unoccupied rooms. Paranormal activities regarding the hotel have so negatively affected the business that Feng shui experts were consulted, and numerous decorative details such as wind chimes and calligraphy scrolls have been installed to ward off disconsolate spirits.
- Hotel website: Grand Hyatt Taipei
8. QUEEN MARY, LONG BEACH, USA
Once a world-class ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean, the Queen Mary left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she remains permanently moored. The ship now offers guests unique accommodations and a wide array of attractions that simply cannot be found anywhere else. With such a varied and intriguing past it’s not surprising that the Queen Mary has been voted one of the most haunted places in America by Time magazine. Among the ghosts reportedly still hanging around are a sailor who died in the ship’s engine room, a ‘lady in white’, and children who drowned in the ship’s pool.
- Hotel website: Queen Mary
7. TAJ MAHAL PALACE, MUMBAI, INDIA
The 550-room Taj Mahal Palace opened in Mumbai, then Bombay, in 1903, giving birth to the country’s first harbour landmark. This legendary luxury hotel has played host to kings, dignitaries and eminent personalities from across the globe. The hotel bore the brunt of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, yet reemerged gallantly renovated. As rumour has it, some believe that the hotel’s architect W. A. Chambers killed himself in the building as the design for the place did not go according to the plan. Hotel staff and guests claim that his ghost roams the old wing of the hotel obviously still lamenting his design gone bad.
- Hotel website: Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai
- Tip: Enjoy free VIP amenities when booking via Virtuoso (e.g. room upgrade, early check-in, late check-out, daily breakfast, and $100 USD hotel credit).
6. THE WESTIN EXCELSIOR, FLORENCE, ITALY
5. THE MAJESTIC YOSEMITE HOTEL, CALIFORNIA, USA
The Majestic Yosemite Hotel, previously known as the Ahwahnee Hotel, was built in the 1920s with the specific goal of attracting well-to-do clientele and it is an architectural gem, combining grandness and intimacy. With breathtaking views of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome and Glacier Point, the hotel brings the outdoors in, inviting you to feel right at home surrounded by unsurpassed natural beauty. Legend says that the ghost of Mary Curry Tressider, a woman instrumental in the hotel’s development who passed in 1970, haunts her old apartment on the sixth floor. People believe to see her ghost roaming throughout the floor to this day.
- Hotel website: The Majestic Yosemite Hotel
4. THE STANLEY HOTEL, COLORADO, USA
The 420-room Stanley Hotel, known for its architecture, magnificent setting, and famous visitors, may possibly be best known today for its inspirational role in the Stephen King’s novel, “The Shining”. Room 217 features prominently in the novel, having been the room at the Stanley where King spent one night during a short vacation. Sixty-two years before he arrived, a housekeeper in the hotel was struck by lightning in the same room. This Colorado hotel has been featured as one of America’s most haunted hotels and with the numerous stories from visitors and staff, The Stanley Hotel continues to “shine” today, as it did in 1909 when it first opened.
- Hotel website: The Stanley Hotel
3. THE RITZ-CARLTON NEW ORLEANS, USA
Set within the historic 1908 Beaux Arts Maison Blanche building, The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans retains the grace and charm of an antebellum mansion. Accommodations capture the essence of the city, bridging the gap between the desires for exploration and relaxation with thoughtful amenities that indulge your penchant for the finer things. Several ghosts supposedly haunt the hotel, including an older gentlemen sometimes seen quietly reading in the library and two young girls who routinely run up and down the hallways.
- Hotel website: The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans
2. THE LANGHAM LONDON, UK
Renowned for its impeccable service, The Langham London was Europe’s first “Grand Hotel” and continues to reign from the British capital’s West End. However, in the hotel’s sumptuous rooms lies a darker secret since the property has the reputation of being the most haunted hotel in all of London. The most active of the ghosts at the hotel is said to be that of a German prince who was thought to have met his death when he threw himself out of the window of an upper-storey room. Guests have seen his ghostly form moving through walls and closed doors and he is often accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature.
- Hotel website: The Langham London
- Other accolades: The Langham London features in my top 10 list of the best luxury hotels in London.
- Review: Read here my review of The Langham London.
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