You can read about haunted places anywhere on the internet. But what if you could actually sleep in one tonight? These are not abandoned ruins or off-limits historical sites. These are operating hotels with front desks, room service, and online booking. They also happen to have guest lists that include the dead.
The Stanley Hotel: Where Stephen King Checked In and Never Really Left
The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, is the hotel that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining. King and his wife Tabitha stayed in Room 217 on October 30, 1974, when they were the only guests in the hotel before it closed for winter. That night, King had a nightmare about his young son being chased through the hotel’s corridors. He woke up, walked to the window, lit a cigarette, and had the entire plot mapped out before he finished smoking.
Room 217 remains the most requested room in the hotel, and guests regularly report lights flickering, luggage being unpacked by invisible hands, and the sound of children playing in empty hallways. The hotel leans into its reputation, offering nightly ghost tours and a horror film screening series. You can book a stay anytime, though Room 217 often has a waiting list months long.
Has Anyone Survived a Night in Room 333 at the Langham Hotel?
The Langham Hotel in London, opened in 1865, is one of the most elegant hotels in the world. It is also one of the most haunted. Room 333 is ground zero for paranormal reports, with a Victorian-era doctor among the most frequently sighted apparitions. He is described as appearing with his legs visible from the shins down, consistent with the floor level being lower in the 1800s than it is today.
In 1973, a BBC journalist and crew staying at the hotel during an assignment reported seeing a fluorescent ball of light in Room 333 that materialized into the figure of a man before disappearing. Multiple staff members have requested transfers away from the floor, and the hotel’s concierge team reportedly maintains an informal list of incidents they do not advertise but will discuss if asked.
The Crescent Hotel: America’s Most Haunted Hotel Has a Truly Dark Past
The 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, earned its reputation honestly. In the 1930s, a man named Norman Baker purchased the building and converted it into a hospital where he claimed to cure cancer with a secret formula. He had no medical training. Patients paid Baker thousands of dollars for treatments that did nothing, and many died in the building. Baker was eventually convicted of mail fraud and sent to Leavenworth.
Today, the hotel operates guided ghost tours that take visitors through the basement morgue where Baker stored bodies and the upper floors where guests report encountering a woman in Victorian dress and a man in a top hat. A 2019 renovation uncovered jars of preserved biological specimens hidden in the walls, remnants of Baker’s fraudulent medical operation.
The Queen Mary: 150 Ghosts on a Permanently Docked Ship
The RMS Queen Mary, permanently docked in Long Beach, California, served as a luxury ocean liner and a World War II troop transport before being converted into a floating hotel. Over 150 paranormal incidents have been documented on board, making it one of the most active haunted locations in the United States.
The most frequently reported activity occurs in the first-class swimming pool area, which has been closed to swimmers since the 1990s but remains accessible on ghost tours. Visitors report seeing the apparition of a young girl in the pool area and hearing splashing sounds when the pool is empty. The engine room, where a crew member was crushed by a watertight door during the ship’s service years, is another hotspot for reported encounters.
NBA Players Refuse to Stay at the Skirvin Hilton
The Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City, built in 1911, has become famous not just for its ghost but for the professional athletes who refuse to sleep there. The hotel’s resident spirit is said to be a woman named Effie, allegedly a former employee who fell from an upper floor in the early 20th century. Her ghost is blamed for everything from moving furniture to pulling sheets off sleeping guests.
Multiple NBA teams visiting Oklahoma City to play the Thunder have reported disturbances at the Skirvin. Players from the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, and Chicago Bulls have publicly discussed hearing unexplained sounds, seeing lights flicker, and feeling someone sit on their bed while they were trying to sleep. Some teams now arrange alternative accommodations entirely.
More Haunted Hotels That Accept Reservations Right Now
The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada, built in 1888, is home to the ghost bride, a woman reportedly seen descending the stone staircase in a wedding dress. Room 873 was allegedly bricked up after repeated paranormal incidents, though the hotel neither confirms nor denies its existence. The Hotel del Coronado in San Diego has been haunted by the spirit of Kate Morgan since her mysterious death in Room 3327 on November 24, 1892. Her death was ruled a suicide, but inconsistencies in the evidence have fueled speculation for over a century.
Each of these hotels is fully operational, fully bookable, and fully aware of its reputation. Most have embraced their haunted status as a selling point, offering ghost tours, paranormal packages, and rooms specifically marketed to thrill-seekers. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, spending a night in one of these rooms is an experience you will not forget.
Would you actually book a room in one of these haunted hotels? Tell us which one and whether you would dare go alone in the comments.