Dr. Holms Hotel, Geilo, Norway

Hotels (and motels and other lodging places) seem to be a magnet for suicides. A person who decides to end his/her life will often leave home, check into a hotel, and do the deed. This ensures that the body will be found relatively quickly, and that the suicide's loved ones won't have to clean up the mess (though they'll be stuck with the hotel bill and cleanup costs).

Dr. Holms Hotel in Geilo, Norway, has a tale to tell that is found in other hotels, in other countries. A married couple came to the hotel to spend their honeymoon, and all seemed well - until the bride found her new husband in bed with another woman. Distraught, the bride disappeared. When she was found three days later, she had hanged herself in the attic.

She is still in the hotel, particularly in Room 320.

Hotel Chelsea, New York City, New York, USA

The Hotel Chelsea is virtually a Who's Who of artists. Past guests include Allan Ginsberg, Brendan Behan, William S. Burroughs, Mark Twain, Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Tennessee Williams, and Andy Warhol.

Two infamous guests were Sid Vicious, of Sex Pistols fame, and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Their violent relationship culminated in murder, when Sid allegedly stabbed Nancy to death. She was all of 20 years old when she died. (There are theories that Nancy was killed by a drug dealer while Sid was zonked out on drugs.) Vicious is believed to haunt the Chelsea; evidently, Sid (who died of a drug overdose in 1979, just a few months after Nancy) makes his presence known in the elevator, as well as in Room 100, where Nancy died. Oddly enough, for someone who in life was so self-destructive, Sid is very helpful in the elevator, pushing buttons and opening and closing the doors. Room 100 is a different story; guests have reported sounds of a couple arguing in there.

On November 4, 1953, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas walked into the Chelsea and announced, "I've had 18 straight whiskies. I think that's the record!" Five days later, he was dead of bronchial disease. His presence is particularly eerie; he is said to haunt Room 206, where he stayed before his fatal illness, and his disembodied head has been seen at the ends of guests' beds.

Eugene O'Neill has appeared at the Chelsea, as has Thomas Wolfe. Both of them have been seen in the hallways.

A less-famous ghost is that of a woman named Mary, who survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Her husband was among those who went down with the ship. Overwhelmed with grief over her loss, Mary hanged herself in her fifth-floor room at the Chelsea. She is seen gazing at her reflection in the mirror.

Hotel Bela Vista, Portimão, Portugal

Now a luxury hotel and spa overlooking the ocean, Hotel Bela Vista was once a private home. Evidently, the daughter of the former owner died in the house, and remains there. Screams and moans have been reported, and Room 108 is supposed to be the room where the unfortunate girl died.

The Farnsworth House Inn, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

This inn, located in a building dating from 1810, should be haunted simply due to its location. Gettysburg is the site of one of the most famous battles of the U.S. Civil War; the fighting raged for three days in July, 1863. The Farnsworth House was occupied by Confederate sharpshooters during this time, and one of these men may have been responsible for the shooting death of Mary Virginia Wade (known as "Jennie"), the sole civilian to die during the battle. They took aim at Union soldiers from an attic window, but occasionally, one of the Confederates took a bullet from the Union side. His body was then unceremoniously dumped into a corner of the attic.

Gettysburg itself is said to be badly haunted - the battlefield itself, of course, as well as many buildings that were turned into makeshift hospitals. The Farnsworth House was one such hospital. Mary, a nurse who treated the wounded there, is still on duty, it seems. She is the blue-clad ghost seen occasionally on the lower level of the house. Other ghosts include some of the above-mentioned Confederate sharpshooters. (The inn's walls still bear marks left by Civil War bullets.)

The Sara Black room is supposed to be one of the most haunted rooms; the adjoining bathroom was once a bedroom, when a young boy named Jeremy died after a carriage hit him outside the house. The ghost of Jeremy's father is alleged to hammer fruitlessly on the door of the bathroom, anxious to hear whether his son will live or die. Pictures of the room on the house's website show a dressmaker's dummy wearing a white dress - certainly enough to freak out most guests who wake in the middle of the night.


Speaking of freaking out in the middle of the night, the Inn has an interesting condition noted on the website. It reads: "If guests wish to stay in different Bed & Breakfast rooms while they visit with us,  guests are subject to a $50 room switching fee, per day, per room."

Maybe the hauntings have been a bit much for some guests.

Notice for owners of haunted lodgings

Do you own or manage a haunted hotel, B&B, or other form of lodging?

Would you like me to blog about it?

Simply add a comment, and I'll get back to you.

The Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, Fall River, Massachusetts, USA

If the house isn't haunted, it should be. Granted, there are many places where more murders occurred - such as the dwellings of the late and unlamented John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer - but the Borden house is one that has gone down in history for the crimes committed there.

In the 19th century, the city of Fall River, Massachusetts was the center of the U.S. textile industry. The city was also known for the production of iron, twine, thread, and looms. Towards the end of the century, however, the city became infamous for a shocking double murder.

On August 4, 1892, leading citizens Andrew and Abby Borden were hacked to death with a hatchet. Abby was murdered first, struck down as she changed the sheets in the guest bedroom. Andrew was murdered while sleeping on a couch downstairs.

Andrew's 32-year-old daughter, Lizzie, and the maid, Bridget Sullivan, were the only ones who could have committed the murders - unless an extremely resourceful killer was able to gain access to the house, kill Abby, hide long enough for Andrew to come home and fall asleep in order to commit the second murder, then leave the house without being noticed by Lizzie, Bridget, or any of the neighbors.

Lizzie was accused, charged, and tried for the murders of her stepmother and father. Despite the fact that she kept changing her story, not to mention the fact that she hated her stepmother, she was found not guilty. The police investigation of the murders was, at best, slipshod, and the fact that Lizzie was a woman worked in her favor. Juries of the time still consisted entirely of men, and none of them could belief that Lizzie, member of a prominent family (and a woman!) could be capable of such a crime.

She most certainly could, and in my opinion, she was guilty of both murders.

Andrew and Abby Borden's former house, where they met such gruesome ends, is now a bed and breakfast. The house also serves as a museum, where guests can see photos of the crime scene. The whole house looks much as it did when the Bordens lived there.

The house is open for tours, including night tours. You can also take part in a Paranormal Night at the Borden house, as well as "A Night with Lizbeth Borden" at Lizzie's later residence, Maplecroft.

Stay on Main (formerly the Cecil Hotel), Los Angeles, California, USA

Constructed in 1927, when the neighborhood was in much better shape, Stay on Main/Hotel Cecil has a long and gruesome past.

In 1962, 27-year-old Pauline Otton, suicidal following an argument with her husband, threw herself from her window. Otton got her death, but so did an unlucky pedestrian after she landed on him.

In 1964, guest Goldie Osgood was both strangled and stabbed (in addition to being robbed and raped). Her murder is still unsolved.

Serial killer Richard Ramirez (aka "The Night Stalker") lived in the Cecil in 1984-85, during which time he murdered 13 women. Not to be outdone, copycat killer Jack Unterweger moved into the Cecil in 1991, prior to murdering 3 women.

On January 26, 2013, 21-year-old Elisa Lam, a Canadian student, checked into the hotel. She was visiting various cities along the West Coast, and planned to spend five days in L.A. before continuing to San Diego. She called her parents daily, but on the day she was supposed to leave L.A., no phone call came. Her parents promptly contacted the Los Angeles police and flew to the city to search for their daughter. The search was extensive and fruitless, until guests of the hotel began complaining of low water pressure and an odd taste to the tap water. On February 19, one of the water tanks on the roof of the hotel was opened, and found to contain Lam's naked body. The autopsy concluded that death was due to accidental drowning.

Questions surround her mysterious death. How did she access the roof, when the doors were locked and protected by an alarm? Why would she want to climb into one of the water tanks in the first place? Assuming that she climbed into it herself, how did she lift the heavy lid? Why was she naked, with her clothes in the tank with her? Why did police dogs, which were brought to the roof, fail to find her scent?

Furthermore, what caused Lam's bizarre behavior in the hotel elevator on the day after she had intended to check out of the Cecil and depart for San Diego? Video footage (released on February 14) shows Lam entering the elevator, making odd gestures, leaving the elevator, and re-entering it. However, the doors remain open for much longer than the usual time. Was someone outside the elevator, and outside the field of view of the elevator camera, pressing the button? Was Lam interacting with this person? The video is available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQcTuTXpj3c

This blog post differs from the others in that the hotel doesn't abound with ghost stories - but it is, by all accounts, a creepy place to stay.