Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast, Anamoose, North Dakota, United States

The tiny town of Anamoose (population less than 300) boasts the Sage Hill Bed and Breakfast, located in a former schoolhouse.

The schoolhouse, known as the White School, was well ahead of its time. It was built in 1928, and had a wind generator to provide power. Hot lunches were provided, as well as hot showers for the students (most of the houses in the area had no indoor plumbing).

The school even had six school buses, all horse-drawn, and a garage to keep them. For forty years, it taught the children in the area, but the number of students never exceeded 100. White School closed in 1968.

Rumor has it that a fire killed the superintendent of the school, along with a young boy. Be that as it may, when the current owners began renovating the former school into a B&B, odd things occurred.  Lights flickered on and off. The sound of moaning was heard. A light in the cellar remained lit, despite all efforts to turn it off. Cigar smoke was noticed, though no smokers of any kind were in the building. Upon investigating, workers saw smoke hovering in the air of the cellar, and a cigar was found.

Cold spots and a feeling of being watched have also been reported. For such a small town, Anamoose has some interesting activities on offer.

Casablanca Inn on the Bay, Saint Augustine, Florida, United States

Almost one hundred years ago, the Casablanca Inn (then known as the Matanzas Hotel) was a hotbed of smuggling activity. In the 1920s, Prohibition was the law of the land, and illegal activities abounded. The female proprietor of the hotel would let rumrunners know whether or not it was safe to come ashore by standing on the roof and swinging a lantern.

The woman fell in love with one of the smugglers, and one night, unable to come ashore due to the presence of government officers, he was lost at sea in a hurricane.

The Lady with the Lantern still signals to him; a ghostly light has often been seen on the roof of the Inn.

The White Eagle Saloon, Portland, Oregon, United States

The White Eagle Saloon was built in 1905. At that time, the surrounding neighborhood consisted largely of immigrants, and the area was working-class; indeed, the place was established by two Poles who wanted a place for their fellow immigrants to spend some leisure time.
 
In those days, streetcars were the mode of public transportation in Portland, and one of the stops was located almost directly in front of the White Eagle (popularly known as "Bucket of Blood", due to the frequent fights occurring there). Things haven't changed much; the White Eagle is now only a block from Portland's MAX line.


In those days, Portland was still involved in the practice of "crimping", or shanghaiing. The city had a network of tunnels running beneath the streets - and more to the point, beneath various drinking establishments. Unlucky male patrons of these watering holes could be knocked out, either physically or by drugs, and awake to find themselves at sea.

The top floor seems to be the epicenter of the hauntings. Sounds of a woman crying have often been heard, and noises of people walking back and forth. During the saloon's "glory" days, the upstairs was a "white" brothel, and the basement was a "black and Chinese" brothel. A young prostitute named Rose had a client who fell in love with her, and begged her to let him take her away from the saloon. Rose was too frightened of the owner (who considered her his "property") to leave, and when the man attempted to persuade the owner to let Rose go, he was beaten terribly. He made one more effort to convince Rose to leave with him. When she refused again, he stabbed her to death. Thus, Rose has never left the premises.

The former owner was offered $200 to allow two men with a video camera to stay overnight in one of the upstairs room. The answer was a flat refusal.

As for the basement, noises have often been heard from it. Coins have fallen from the ceiling. A waitress descending the staircase was shoved violently, falling the rest of the way.

Now? The saloon is owned by the McMenamin brothers (who also own the Edgefield in Troutdale), who, evidently, love to buy haunted properties. The saloon is open for (legal) business, and the bar area has hosted many a famous band. Previous guests warn that this is not a place for light sleepers, since the rooms are directly above the bar. Each room contains a sink, with the bathrooms located down the hall.

Ghosts apart, some potential guests may be interested in this review, from Yelp:

"You'll inevitably run into some of the lodgers in the hall, preferably the way I did when I came out of the shower and faced a man in a coconut bra and pirate hat."

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The Fairmont Hotel is an impressive building located in downtown Vancouver. Built in 1939, it would seem a bit, well, new to have a ghost, but it does.

A woman in a red dress wanders the corridors of the 14th floor. At times, the elevator will stop at that floor when nobody has pushed the button - on either side.

A more startling apparition is that of a former employee, a banquet porter who hanged himself in the stairwell of the 19th floor. When he appears, he isn't ... all there. Only the upper half of his body appears; not his legs. The meeting rooms are located on this floor, and on one occasion, an overnight chef went upstairs to get a few things from the kitchen.

The chef is no longer working at the Fairmont; the ghost of the porter appeared to him - looking straight at him - and then disappeared.

The Algonquin Hotel, New York City, United States

The Algonquin has a rich literary history. Famous wits of the post-World War I era used it as their stomping grounds - Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Harpo Marx, George S. Kaufman, Charles MacArthur, and more.

The hotel has another claim to fame in the fact that it is haunted. The Vicious Circle, as they called themselves, have been seen on more than one occasion in their favorite watering hole. Guests have experienced strange phenomena in the elevator, when the doors open at floors to reveal no one waiting for it. A photo of Dorothy Parker once fell to the floor, breaking the glass.

Non-guests can try their luck at ghost-spotting by taking one of the hotel's "Round Table" tours.

Kyteler's Inn, Kilkenny, Ireland

Kyteler's Inn is the former property of Alice de Kyteler, who was born in the house in 1280.

It seems that Alice was extremely unlucky in her choice of husbands. Her first was a banker with the interesting name of William Outlawe. They had a son named for his father. William Senior died a few years later; not long after this, Alice married Adam de Blund, also wealthy - and also to die suddenly, of unknown causes, within a few years of their marriage. Alice now had two fortunes at her disposal, so what did she do?

She married again. Her third husband, Richard de Valle, followed in the footsteps of his predecessors. She then married a fourth time, to Sir John de Poer. It seems that de Poer must have known of the tendency of Alice's husbands to die suddenly and unexpectedly; if he did, it didn't put him off. He became sick a few years after their marriage, with his hair and nails falling out. He held on long enough to change his will so that Alice and William, Jr. would receive his full estate, however. It was this act - not his death, evidently - that caused his other relatives to bring charges against Alice. She was accused of witchcraft, especially using this power to get Richard to change his will. According to them, Alice also headed a witches' coven and had sexual relations with a demon.

Richard de Lederer, the Bishop of Ossory, heard the charges against Alice, and tried in vain to have her arrested. Instead, he himself was arrested and incarcerated. Upon his release, he continued his campaign. Alice headed for England, but traveled to Dublin the following year, where she asked the Archbishop to take action against de Lederer for her excommunication. The two men had a confrontation in Dublin, ending in de Lederer's return to Kilkenny, still demanding the arrest of Alice. She then left for England again, this time for good (the year was 1324).

The Bishop got his pound of flesh and more, however; William Outlawe, Jr., was arrested and sentenced to give to the poor and attend three masses every day. Alice's maid, Petronella, on the other hand, was tortured and, finally, burned at the stake.

History does not record what happened to Alice after she fled to England the second time; she disappears from the records. She hasn't left her one-time home, however; the staff at Kyteler's Inn are ready to vouch for that.

Ben Lomond Suites, Ogden, Utah, USA

Ben Lomond Suites, the largest hotel in Ogden, is a lovely building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a hotel where pets of the four-legged variety are welcome, with an additional fee. What the pets think of the resident ghost, is open to speculation.

A guest at the hotel in the 1940s was a woman whose son was fighting in World War II. She had received word that he had been injured, and awaited further news of his condition. Upon hearing that he had died, she left the hotel for her home. It seems, though, that she can't stay away from the hotel. Room 1106 will call the front desk, even though the room is unoccupied. The elevator will stop at (for example) the fourth floor when nobody has pushed the button for that floor.

Harmless, certainly, though eerie for the desk staff to receive a call from an empty room.