Château de Brissac, France

The Château de Brissac has a long and often violent history. It was built sometime in the 10th century by the Dukes of Anjou. Over the centuries, it was captured and ransacked time and again. Eventually, the Dukes of Brissac gained ownership over the castle in the 19th century; the family still owns it today.

The château is open for visits by the public, and it serves as a bed and breakfast - if you can put up with the Green Lady.

The Green Lady (La Dame Verte, in French) is said to be the daughter of King Charles VII and his mistress, Agnès Sorel. This made the Lady, Charlotte de Brézé, the half-sister of King Louis XI. However, being illegitimate, she was not "true" royalty. She married nobleman Jacques de Brézé - not of her own choosing. The marriage was made for political reasons, and the two had virtually nothing in common.

It wasn't long, of course, before Charlotte began to look elsewhere for companionship. This was made easier by the fact that Charlotte and Jacques didn't share a bedroom, let alone a bed. Charlotte started up an affair with a man named Pierre de Lavergne. Jacques was, at first, unaware, but the servants definitely knew.

On May 31, 1477, Jacques returned from one of his many hunting trips and, after dining with Charlotte, retired for the night. He was awakened by a servant, who informed him of the affair between Charlotte and Pierre. Enraged, Jacques hurried to Charlotte's room and murdered the two lovers.

It wasn't long before the ghosts made their appearance known by frequent moaning. Jacques was driven out of the castle by the noise.

Now, it appears that only Charlotte haunts the castle. Sounds of moaning are heard in the castle very early in the morning. She has also frequently been seen in the chapel, wearing a green dress (which is the source of her name). Worse, she appears with holes in her face where her eyes and nose should be.

NOTE: The link above leads to Booking.com. As of this writing, the website isn't taking bookings for the château. However, since this appears to be the only way to book, I've used the link for the time when it goes live again.

Mason House Inn, Bentonsport, Iowa, USA

Built in 1846, the Mason House Inn (then known as Ashland House) was originally an inn designated for serving passengers on steamboats traveling the Des Moines River. In the course of its existence, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad, a holding area for wounded Civil War soldiers awaiting transport to the hospital in Keokuk, and a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients.

The main building contains six rooms. A seventh is not exactly a room, but a converted train caboose near the main house. The caboose has its own kitchen.

Stories of the house are fascinating. According to legend, Room 7 was the site of a murder, and the ghost of the victim (a man named Knapp) still haunts it. The ghost of an elderly woman has appeared in more than one room. A little boy haunts Room 5, where he tugs on the clothing of whoever is staying there.

Room 8 is for the more intrepid. This one is haunted by a floating head.

The owners are open to ghost hunts, with very strict rules (no alcohol, no seances, no Ouija boards, etc.). Happy haunting!

Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Fort Garry Hotel is an impressive building dating from the early 20th century.

For those who want an added experience, Room 202 is said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman who hanged herself in the closet. Guests have reported sounds of (wet) footsteps coming from the bathroom, hangers moving in the infamous closet, the lights and TV turning on, footsteps around the bed at night, sounds of sobbing, and a cloaked figure hovering above the foot of the bed.

Canadian Liberal MP Brenda Chamberlain stayed in the room once, and claimed that the ghost actually got into her bed. "I actually felt the bed move," she claimed.

More disturbing is that some guests in 202 have reported seeing blood trickling down the walls. The unfortunate woman's ghost has been seen crying in a corner of the hotel lounge, as well as walking the corridors.

It seems that all the employees at the hotel know about the ghost - and that she may have no intention of ever leaving.

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.

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.

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.