Summary

  • The Bellhurst Castle in Upstate New York is known for its paranormal activity, with ghosts such as Isabella the opera singer and the old caretaker, Dick O'Brien.
  • The Savoy Hotel in India has a dark history that has led to supernatural occurrences, with guests hearing strange noises and witnessing ghostly apparitions.
  • Male guests at Hotel Monte Vista in Arizona are most susceptible to encounters with ghosts, including a man who hangs raw meat from the chandelier. Actor John Wayne also believed the hotel was haunted.

By staying at hotels plagued by legends of hauntings and possessions, some guests get more than they bargained for. The following hotels from around the world are believed to be home to spirits that emerged from tragic events that took place there. With some folktales even scarier than ghosts blossoming after people stay at these hotels, the world can be a creepy place. Some things and occurrences are beyond explanation, too, so this could happen to anybody in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Read on to learn about the ghosts guests claimed to have seen in these famous hotels.

UPDATE: 2023/11/25 19:05 EST BY NOAH STAATS

There Are More Spooky Hotels Offering Haunts Across The Globe

This article has been refreshed with a new haunted hotel, the Bellhurst Castle, in Upstate New York. Close to the infamous tunnel system, this estate is worth booking if you like dead opera singers, lakeside horror, and the old caretaker watching your every move.

The Bellhurst Castle In Upstate New York Has Creeped Plenty Of Guests Out

Belhurst Castle and Winery on Seneca Lake, New York, USA
PQK via Shutterstock
Belhurst Castle and Winery on Seneca Lake, New York, USA

One of the spookier hotels in the Upstate New York area is in Geneva, the Bellhurt Castle. This property was built in the 1880s and remains a paranormal hot spot in the Finger Lakes. Moreover, one of the ghosts who makes herself most obvious is Isabella, an opera singer who roams the halls of the hotel and winery. Sometimes, people hear her singing, and others hear more of a cry or wail. It's also worth mentioning that this hotel is so haunted it recently got added to the New York State’s Haunted History Trail, an annual Halloween tour of spooky properties in the Empire State.

Dick O'Brien, an old caretaker that passed away in 1972, is another frequented of the hotel, often watching over guests at the Bellhurst estate. There are secret tunnels in and around the Finger Lakes, with many people suspecting ghosts stay below ground during the day and come out at night to wreak havoc. Regardless, it's rather unsettling.

  • The Bellhurst Castle is in the Finger Lakes, near underground tunnel systems.

The Ghosts At The Savoy Hotel In India Inspired An Agatha Christie Novel

The_White_Bullock.
Archis KulkarniCC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Savoy Hotel in India

India is home to some prestigious and world-renowned hotels, but the Savoy in Uttarakhand is famous for another reason. The hotel's dark history has led to a possible haunting, with several guests claiming to have seen and heard supernatural phenomena within the hotel’s walls.

The creepy occurrences date back to a British clairvoyant who was poisoned with cyanide while staying at the hotel. The murderer was never discovered, but the clairvoyant’s doctor also died of poisoning not long after. The unsolved murder inspired the 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

Since the poisoning, guests have reported hearing and seeing ghosts. The most common claim is strange noises from rooms where nobody is staying. A prominent Indian author even recounted the ghosts that he came face to face within his room.

  • This Indian hotel is known for its beauty, charm, and elegance, plus being incredibly haunted.

Male Guests Are Most At-Risk At Hotel Monte Vista, Arizona

Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, AZ
Image by KCB1805 from Pixabay
Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, AZ

Thanks to the haunted sightings at Hotel Monte Vista, the Arizona hotel now has a reputation of being one of the most haunted in the state. Guests who stay at the hotel often claim that they’ve spotted the ghost of a man who used to board in Room 210. He can still be seen hanging raw meat from the chandelier (because ghosts aren’t scary enough, even without hanging raw meat from the light fittings!).

In particular, male guests at the Hotel Monte Vista, which has been standing since 1927, are thought to be targeted by the spirits that possess the hotel. There have been a few claims of male guests who have been nearly suffocated in their sleep by two female ghosts. Even the actor John Wayne visited the hotel and left with the unshakeable belief that it was haunted.

  • Male guests of the Monte Vista are often bothered the most.

Related: The 10 Most Haunted Spots In California

The Lady In Red Haunts Vancouver's Fairmont Hotel

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Canada
Photo by Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock 
Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Canada 

Regarding creepy hotels, the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver doesn’t seem especially spooky. From looking at it, you wouldn’t think this regal building was home to ghosts and ghouls. But local legends speak of a spirit that has settled right into this stunning hotel: The Lady in Red.

In 1944, Jennie Pearl Cox was killed in a car accident. Before she lost her life, she was a frequent visitor to the Fairmont Hotel, so it makes sense that she’d want to stick around the grounds for eternity. Guests have claimed they’ve seen here between the first and fourteenth floors of the hotel. It is said that those staying on the fourteenth floor have the best chance of spotting her.

Unlike other spirits, the Lady in Red is said to be a friendly ghost who doesn’t cause any harm to the guests. She doesn’t even want to frighten them. She’s just content to roam around the hotel's corridors, enjoying the building she loved so much.

  • The Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver has been known to see paranormal activity on guest floors. The 14th floor is the most active.

Related: The 10 Most Haunted Locations In Italy

The Ghosts Of Children Can Be Seen At The Q Station Hotel In Sydney

Sydney opera house
Photo by Johnny Bhalla on Unsplash
Sydney opera house

Any hotel that is built on the site of such sadness and misery is bound to attract a few unhappy spirits. Where Sydney’s Q Station Hotel now stands on the shore of the world-famous harbor was once a quarantine station. The station confined people with diseases such as Spanish influenza, the bubonic plague, scarlet fever, yellow fever, typhus, and smallpox between 1833 and 1984.

In total, more than 500 people died on the grounds, often in pain and surrounded by sickness. The spirits of some of the people who lost their lives at the quarantine station are thought to live on in the hotel today.

Guests report seeing the ghosts of children, in particular, not realizing that they’re ghosts until after they’ve interacted with them. One of the most common reports is of a little girl with blonde hair who holds hands with the guests and shows them around the premises. Many hotel ghost stories send shivers down our spines, with this being one.

  • This hotel was a quarantine location for those during the Spanish influenza, bubonic plague, scarlet fever, yellow fever, typhus, and smallpox.

Spirits Walk The Corridors At The Swisshotel The Stamford, Singapore

Business Bay In Singapore
Via ShutterStock
The cityscape of Singapore 

The Swisshotel in Singapore is another hotel that harbors a dark past. During World War Two, the hotel land was actually used as an execution ground. Japanese soldiers executed their prisoners of war here, which has led to the legend that the hotel is now haunted by the spirits of prisoners of war, still in despair after all these years.

In 2015, two people committed suicide at the hotel, further fueling the rumors that there’s dark energy on the grounds. Guests have reported seeing ghosts walking through the corridors. The spirits are most often in distress and pleading for mercy, just as the prisoners of war would have eighty years ago.

  • This hotel was used as an execution ground during World War Two.