10 Most Haunted Hotels in the World

The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

This historic Rocky Mountains hotel is best known for inspiring Stephen King's novel 'The Shining.' In 1911, there was a gas leak in Room 217. After the hotel's chief maid, Elizabeth Wilson, walked in with a lit candle, the resulting explosion destroyed the entire west wing of the hotel. Although Elizabeth recovered, it's believed that after she died, her soul returned to live at the place she once tended. She is one of the many characters that still haunt the premises, along with the spirits of the Stanley Hotel's original owners, Flora and F.O. Stanley. You may hear Flora playing the antique Steinway in the Music Room, catch F.O. overseeing a game of billiards, or find your belongings mysteriously unpacked by Elizabeth.

Hotel Chelsea, New York City

Poets, writers, and bohemians – in both life and death – have long called at the historic Hotel Chelsea. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas first stayed there in June 1952. During a return visit in November 1953, he fell into a coma, dying days later at a nearby hospital. His ghost is said to frequent room 206, sometimes appearing as a disembodied head. In October 1978, police charged Sid Vicious, former bassist for the Sex Pistols, with stabbing his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, to death in Room 100. Ever since Vicious died the following February, several guests have claimed to have seen his ghost roaming the halls and riding the elevator. Others have reported seeing the ghost of Mary, a woman whose husband perished on the Titanic, grooming herself in front of a mirror.

The Langham, London

Many consider the Langham, built in 1865, to be the most haunted hotel in London, and most of the paranormal buzz comes from Room 333. Only the bravest (living) souls check in here, and they have seen the spirits of everyone from the Victorian-era doctor who allegedly killed his wife and himself while on their honeymoon to the German prince who jumped from the fourth floor and still dons his military-style jacket in death. A shoeless butler, a footman in a powdered wig, and emperor Napoleon III have also made ghostly appearances.

Russell Hotel, Sydney

Sydney's Russell Hotel sits in a part of town known simply as The Rocks, one of the city's most historic and storied neighborhoods. One of the spirits said to roam its halls is an unnamed colonial-era sailor who never made it back out to sea. Today, he lurks in some rooms — he's particularly fond of number 8, it seems — paying special attention to the female guests, according to the patrons who claimed to have seen him.

At the time of writing, the Russel Hotel is closed for renovations.

Dragsholm Castle, Hørve, Denmark

When the Norwegians (who ruled what was then Denmark-Norway) captured James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, in the mid-1500s, they imprisoned him at Dragsholm Castle. The isolation drove Hepburn mad, and he was ultimately tied to a pillar and left to die. To this day, his spirit cannot leave the estate. Guests sometimes see him riding horseback through the grounds at night. He is accompanied by the White Lady, believed to be the ghost of Celina Bovles, a young girl who was imprisoned by her father in the castle's dungeon after becoming pregnant before marriage. During a 1930s renovation, workers supposedly found a skeleton in a white dress within the castle's walls. Many believe it to have been the remains of Celina.

Nottingham Road Hotel, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Rumor has it that Charlotte, a sex worker who frequented Nottingham Road Hotel at the turn of the century, fell deeply for a British soldier passing through town. When she learned that her love was gone — either indifferent to her affections or killed in battle — she threw herself from the balcony of Room 10. Now, she passes the time of her afterlife by rearranging flowers, moving mirrors to catch her best angle, and folding guests' clothes.

The Bell Hotel, Norfolk, United Kingdom

This modest inn, which sits on the main square of a small village, is anything but sleepy. It's not uncommon to catch a glimpse of a hooded monk or the former landlady Betty Radcliffe, who was murdered in the hotel by her lover. She is most often seen in room 10, where guests sometimes get a whiff of a strange perfume. After more than six centuries in business, the tavern has racked up many spooky stories of these encounters.

Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, Los Angeles

In the City of Angels, a clutch of spectral celebrities refuses to leave the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Marilyn Monroe was a frequent guest, and she was especially fond of Suite 1200 and its full-length mirror. Now, guests gaze into the mirror for a glimpse of the superstar, whose reflection has been known to appear time and again.

Like Monroe, the ghosts of other celebrities such as Carole Lombard, Errol Flynn, and Montgomery Cliff, have also chosen to make the hotel their eternal residence, and they're rather protective of their hangout. They often make their presence known with playful hijinks like messing with phones and knocking on doors.

Hotel del Salto, San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia

Hotel del Salto, no longer a hotel but a museum of biodiversity and culture, is still best known for its past life as a luxury destination for Colombia's elite. Perched on the edge of a cliff, the hotel gave guests an unobstructed view of the over-400-foot-high Tequendama Falls. After the hotel was abandoned in the 1990s, it acquired a haunted reputation – partly from the property's history of suicides.

Countless individuals have thrown themselves into the ravine, but perhaps the most famous stories are those of the indigenous Muisca people, some of whom supposedly threw themselves into the falls to evade the Spanish conquistadors. They believed that the falls would transform their souls into eagles, allowing them escape a life of enslavement. There are even stories of former hotel guests hearing distant and disembodied voices speaking in the indigenous Chibcha language.

Ross Castle, Killarney, Ireland

One ghost in particular haunts this 16th-century castle. Sabina, the daughter of an English lord known as the Black Baron, fell in love with a young man named Orwin, the son of her father's rival. When the star-crossed lovers attempted to escape across a nearby lake, a storm capsized their boat and Orwin drowned. The distraught Sabina then locked herself away inside Ross Castle and soon perished herself – having refused in her grief to eat or drink anything. Now she is believed to haunt the castle alongside the ghost of her father, who was devastated by his daughter's death. Guests in the castle, now a bed-and-breakfast, often have run-ins with the phantom duo, reporting strange banging sounds in the middle of the night. Others say they have even spotted Sabina and the Black Baron roaming the grounds or showing up in photographs.