Legend has it that the spirit of a prostitute who died at Niles Hotel in Modoc County still lives in the building and crawls in bed with gentlemen guests.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
‘I hear a little baby’: We’re rattled after visiting these 13 haunted hotels in California
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If you check into an old, remote hotel on a dark and moonless night and the desk clerk makes a joke about haunted rooms and resident ghosts, would you:
A) Be horrified.
B) Grab your room key with excitement.
For all those who answered B, this guide is for you.
California, land of tech and Hollywood, of glittering cities, gorgeous beaches, stark snowy peaks and remote deserts, is also home to a striking number of haunted hotels.
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There are graceful old buildings in tiny mountain towns, erected during the Gold Rush, with original wood flooring and ghost stories just as old. There are big city grande dames, updated with all the state-of-the-art modern amenities and lingering tales of haunting from historical misfortunes. And there are hotels in between, creaky lodges with hidden histories that evoke the dramas, intrigue and tragedies of times past.
As reporters assigned to roam the state for stories, we have stayed in a lot of them, oftentimes unaware of their spine-tingling lore until arriving. We have listened to the whine of a strange floorboard in the night. We have talked to the housekeepers and bartenders who swear they’ve seen cutlery fly through the air and doors slam with no warning. We’ve briefly lain awake, wondering: What are we doing here?
Just in time for spooky season, we offer you a guide to some of our most memorable haunted hotels in California. Will you have a paranormal encounter? We can’t say. But staying at one of these spots may bring you, at the very least, a rush of adrenaline and interesting stories to tell. — Jessica Garrison
About This Guide
Our journalists independently visited every spot recommended in this guide. We do not accept free meals or experiences. What should we check out next? Send ideas to guides@latimes.com.
Niles Hotel
Modoc County Historic Hotel
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The dour baby freaked me out.
The Victorian-era portrait of a sullen-faced infant in a frilly smock hung right outside my door the last time I stayed at the Niles Hotel in Modoc County. I swear, the kid’s eyes followed me as I dragged my suitcase down the long hallway with its blood-red carpet.
In Alturas, a cattle-ranching town of 2,600 people in California’s remote northeast corner, the Niles leans into its creepy reputation. I have stayed several times, and getting spooked is part of the fun. The three-story hotel — built in 1908 to cater to cattlemen, loggers and businessmen — is said to be haunted by the ghost of a prostitute who died there decades ago. I have never felt her presence because, well, I’m a woman. Legend has it that her spirit crawls in bed with gentlemen guests, scratches the walls and stomps around at night.
A bartender in the Niles’ cozy downstairs saloon once told me about a freaked-out male guest who said he woke up to something tugging his pillow, then pushing him down in bed. As he told the story, the bartender said, the hair stood up on his arms.
Decades-old bullet holes still pock the tin ceiling by the downstairs saloon — a nod to the hotel’s wild old days. Victorian-era black-and-white portraits line the walls: Staring from gilded frames alongside that cursed baby are women in stiff-necked dresses and frowning, mustachioed men.
When Jim and Elizabeth Cavasso bought the then-closed hotel in 2011, it had been neglected for more than a decade, Jim told me a few years back. It had busted windows, a caving roof and broken pipes. There were pigeons and bats and bees that had made a giant honeycomb between the walls. Townsfolk helped fix the place up, one room at a time.
The Victorian-era portrait of a sullen-faced infant in a frilly smock hung right outside my door the last time I stayed at the Niles Hotel in Modoc County. I swear, the kid’s eyes followed me as I dragged my suitcase down the long hallway with its blood-red carpet.
In Alturas, a cattle-ranching town of 2,600 people in California’s remote northeast corner, the Niles leans into its creepy reputation. I have stayed several times, and getting spooked is part of the fun. The three-story hotel — built in 1908 to cater to cattlemen, loggers and businessmen — is said to be haunted by the ghost of a prostitute who died there decades ago. I have never felt her presence because, well, I’m a woman. Legend has it that her spirit crawls in bed with gentlemen guests, scratches the walls and stomps around at night.
A bartender in the Niles’ cozy downstairs saloon once told me about a freaked-out male guest who said he woke up to something tugging his pillow, then pushing him down in bed. As he told the story, the bartender said, the hair stood up on his arms.
Decades-old bullet holes still pock the tin ceiling by the downstairs saloon — a nod to the hotel’s wild old days. Victorian-era black-and-white portraits line the walls: Staring from gilded frames alongside that cursed baby are women in stiff-necked dresses and frowning, mustachioed men.
When Jim and Elizabeth Cavasso bought the then-closed hotel in 2011, it had been neglected for more than a decade, Jim told me a few years back. It had busted windows, a caving roof and broken pipes. There were pigeons and bats and bees that had made a giant honeycomb between the walls. Townsfolk helped fix the place up, one room at a time.
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Weaverville Hotel
Trinity County Historic Hotel
(Weaverville Hotel)
In Weaverville, an old Gold Rush town of 3,200 at the base of the majestic Trinity Alps Wilderness, the town’s eponymous hotel has elegant rooms with doilies, claw-foot bathtubs, fireplaces and black-and-white Victorian photos of long-dead, unsmiling people. Just try not to think about the ghost.
The Weaverville Hotel, last rebuilt in 1880 after a fire, is said to be haunted by the spirit of Mary A. Hayes, the 15-year-old granddaughter of its long-ago owners who died of typhoid in the hotel in 1893.
“She was a bright, intelligent girl, with a disposition that enable[d] her to win and hold friends,” read a September 1893 article in the Trinity Journal. The girl was ill for six weeks. A week later, the newspaper reported, Mary’s close friend, a 17-year-old girl named Alice who worked in the hotel, also died of typhoid.
The Weaverville Hotel’s former octogenarian owner, Jeanne Muir, did not like to discuss whether the hotel was haunted because she did not want to scare travelers — especially women, like myself, who stayed there alone — and told me she had shooed away ghost hunters.
During one off-season winter trip, Muir told me I was the only person in the hotel that night. It was a lovely stay. But I couldn’t help picturing the ghostly twins from “The Shining” at the end of the long hallway and made sure my door was locked.
The hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recently was purchased by three Northern California couples who, like Muir and her husband before them, completed extensive renovations and reopened in July 2024. On their website, the new owners acknowledge the ghostly presence of young Mary, as well as “probably a few” others.
The Weaverville Hotel, last rebuilt in 1880 after a fire, is said to be haunted by the spirit of Mary A. Hayes, the 15-year-old granddaughter of its long-ago owners who died of typhoid in the hotel in 1893.
“She was a bright, intelligent girl, with a disposition that enable[d] her to win and hold friends,” read a September 1893 article in the Trinity Journal. The girl was ill for six weeks. A week later, the newspaper reported, Mary’s close friend, a 17-year-old girl named Alice who worked in the hotel, also died of typhoid.
The Weaverville Hotel’s former octogenarian owner, Jeanne Muir, did not like to discuss whether the hotel was haunted because she did not want to scare travelers — especially women, like myself, who stayed there alone — and told me she had shooed away ghost hunters.
During one off-season winter trip, Muir told me I was the only person in the hotel that night. It was a lovely stay. But I couldn’t help picturing the ghostly twins from “The Shining” at the end of the long hallway and made sure my door was locked.
The hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, recently was purchased by three Northern California couples who, like Muir and her husband before them, completed extensive renovations and reopened in July 2024. On their website, the new owners acknowledge the ghostly presence of young Mary, as well as “probably a few” others.
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Scotia Lodge
Humboldt County Historic Hotel
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
When I first went to my room on the second floor of this grand old hotel, my key wouldn’t turn in the lock. “It must be the ghost,” the front desk clerk said with a laugh.
I was not amused, but it turns out that “Frank” — as almost everyone in the tiny town of Scotia calls the spirit — is generally thought to be friendly.
The historic building near the northern entrance of the redwood-lined Avenue of the Giants opened as the Mowatoc Hotel before becoming the Scotia Inn. For more than a century, it has loomed gracefully over the company town of Scotia, which was founded by a timber firm to provide homes to workers.
“I grew up in the town of Scotia and had, of course, heard the rumors since childhood. Everyone knew the inn was haunted,” one former hotel worker wrote on Reddit. According to some legends, Frank was a hotel worker. He is said to inhabit the third floor.
The run-down Scotia Inn closed its doors in 2018, but was resurrected as the Scotia Lodge in 2021. It features 22 comfortable rooms, and a downstairs bar that feels like an old-fashioned, elegant speakeasy. In addition to paranormal attractions, the lodge is a short drive to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Redwood National and State Parks.
I did not encounter Frank during a recent stay. But, feeling a bit creeped out, I had a very stiff drink and went to sleep.
I was not amused, but it turns out that “Frank” — as almost everyone in the tiny town of Scotia calls the spirit — is generally thought to be friendly.
The historic building near the northern entrance of the redwood-lined Avenue of the Giants opened as the Mowatoc Hotel before becoming the Scotia Inn. For more than a century, it has loomed gracefully over the company town of Scotia, which was founded by a timber firm to provide homes to workers.
“I grew up in the town of Scotia and had, of course, heard the rumors since childhood. Everyone knew the inn was haunted,” one former hotel worker wrote on Reddit. According to some legends, Frank was a hotel worker. He is said to inhabit the third floor.
The run-down Scotia Inn closed its doors in 2018, but was resurrected as the Scotia Lodge in 2021. It features 22 comfortable rooms, and a downstairs bar that feels like an old-fashioned, elegant speakeasy. In addition to paranormal attractions, the lodge is a short drive to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and Redwood National and State Parks.
I did not encounter Frank during a recent stay. But, feeling a bit creeped out, I had a very stiff drink and went to sleep.
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Holbrooke Hotel
Nevada County Historic Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The ghost hunter crouches in a clawfoot bathtub in the Holbrooke Hotel, cameras rolling, and tries to communicate with the spirit of a long-ago, down-on-his-luck gambler who slit his throat in his room. “Mess,” the young paranormal investigator swears he heard the ghost say. A reference to all the blood.
In another video, more ghost hunters in the hotel’s old basement saloon plead with the undead to “tell us about yourself,” before their filming partner bursts in, freaked out about a knocking sound she heard in an empty upstairs bathroom.
Ghostly legends abound at the Gold Rush-era Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley. Guests have reported seeing the spirit of a cowboy missing the bottom half of his body. And in the basement bar — formerly a speakeasy, a brothel and, when the ground was too cold to dig graves, a morgue — visitors have seen a ghostly woman in a Victorian dress in the ladies’ bathroom.
Legend has it that the hotel, last rebuilt after a fire in 1862, was a stopover for infamous Northern California stagecoach robber Charles Earl Boles, known as Black Bart, and that his spirit haunts the place. According to the Calaveras Heritage Council, he left poems at some of his crime scenes, including one that read:
I’ve labored long and hard for bread, for honor, and for riches
But on my corns too long you’ve tread, you fine-haired sons of b—
The boutique hotel was meticulously renovated and reopened in 2020. Its elegant, high-ceilinged rooms feature exposed-brick walls, original claw-foot bathtubs and hexagonal-tile bathroom floors. The downstairs Golden Gate Saloon and the former basement speakeasy, now a warmly-lit bar called the Iron Door, have been restored to their 1800s-era glory.
In the daylight, it’s hard to be spooked in such a pretty place. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom of two young kids who tries to go to bed early when I’m traveling — I love a 9:30 p.m. bedtime! — but I did not traipse about the place late at night looking for ghosts. Still, the stories alone were enough to give me chills.
In another video, more ghost hunters in the hotel’s old basement saloon plead with the undead to “tell us about yourself,” before their filming partner bursts in, freaked out about a knocking sound she heard in an empty upstairs bathroom.
Ghostly legends abound at the Gold Rush-era Holbrooke Hotel in Grass Valley. Guests have reported seeing the spirit of a cowboy missing the bottom half of his body. And in the basement bar — formerly a speakeasy, a brothel and, when the ground was too cold to dig graves, a morgue — visitors have seen a ghostly woman in a Victorian dress in the ladies’ bathroom.
Legend has it that the hotel, last rebuilt after a fire in 1862, was a stopover for infamous Northern California stagecoach robber Charles Earl Boles, known as Black Bart, and that his spirit haunts the place. According to the Calaveras Heritage Council, he left poems at some of his crime scenes, including one that read:
I’ve labored long and hard for bread, for honor, and for riches
But on my corns too long you’ve tread, you fine-haired sons of b—
The boutique hotel was meticulously renovated and reopened in 2020. Its elegant, high-ceilinged rooms feature exposed-brick walls, original claw-foot bathtubs and hexagonal-tile bathroom floors. The downstairs Golden Gate Saloon and the former basement speakeasy, now a warmly-lit bar called the Iron Door, have been restored to their 1800s-era glory.
In the daylight, it’s hard to be spooked in such a pretty place. Maybe it’s because I’m a mom of two young kids who tries to go to bed early when I’m traveling — I love a 9:30 p.m. bedtime! — but I did not traipse about the place late at night looking for ghosts. Still, the stories alone were enough to give me chills.
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The Ahwahnee
Yosemite Valley Historic Hotel
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(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)
Built in 1927, the Ahwahnee in Yosemite Valley is arguably the most famous of the National Park Service’s majestic, beloved lodges, and over the years it has provided respite for all manner of presidents, movie stars and newlyweds.
It is also reputedly haunted by some friendly ghosts, including Donald Tressider and Mary Curry Tressider, a couple who met in Yosemite Valley and later lived at the Ahwahnee. “It’s said that she wakes people up in the middle of the night to dance, because she loves dancing,” a park service employee told SFGate in 2023 about Mary Curry Tressider.
But what really cemented the Ahwahnee’s reputation for hauntedness was its association with the 1980 movie “The Shining” starring Jack Nicholson. The Stanley Kubrick movie is based on a Stephen King book written after the author stayed at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. The hotel exterior shown in the film is the Timberline Lodge in Oregon. But the interior of the hotel in the movie — where many of the truly terrifying events take place — is modeled after the Ahwahnee.
It is also reputedly haunted by some friendly ghosts, including Donald Tressider and Mary Curry Tressider, a couple who met in Yosemite Valley and later lived at the Ahwahnee. “It’s said that she wakes people up in the middle of the night to dance, because she loves dancing,” a park service employee told SFGate in 2023 about Mary Curry Tressider.
But what really cemented the Ahwahnee’s reputation for hauntedness was its association with the 1980 movie “The Shining” starring Jack Nicholson. The Stanley Kubrick movie is based on a Stephen King book written after the author stayed at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado. The hotel exterior shown in the film is the Timberline Lodge in Oregon. But the interior of the hotel in the movie — where many of the truly terrifying events take place — is modeled after the Ahwahnee.
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Claremont Hotel Berkeley
Bay Area Historic Hotel
(East Bay Times / MediaNews Group / Getty Images)
The Claremont Hotel, a magnificent white Tudor Revival manor that rises above the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, has long been famous for its decadent spa, spellbinding views of San Francisco Bay — and its rumors of ghosts. Among them are a 6-year-old girl and a woman in a Victorian dress.
The San Francisco Standard reported in 2023 that longtime employees have “recounted all sorts of spooky tales,” including sudden drafts of chilled air, mysteriously summoned elevators, and people experiencing pokes or pushes from behind when no one appears to be there.
In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs stayed in the hotel while in town to play the Golden State Warriors. Former Spurs players Tim Duncan and Jeff Ayres, who were in adjacent rooms, were freaked out when, from the hallway, they heard voices and the sounds of a baby inside Ayres’ room. His key did not work. And the room was empty.
“I took my room key,” Ayres told the San Antonio Express News. “I could hear stuff in the hallway, like people in their rooms. So I’m thinking people are watching TV or whatever. So I get to my door, and my key doesn’t work, but it sounds like there’s somebody in my room. Like I hear a little baby, not crying but making noise. I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ ... I really heard voices and a baby in the room, and there wasn’t anybody in there.”
In recent years, the hotel has embraced its haunted lore, offering $50 haunted tours each October.
The San Francisco Standard reported in 2023 that longtime employees have “recounted all sorts of spooky tales,” including sudden drafts of chilled air, mysteriously summoned elevators, and people experiencing pokes or pushes from behind when no one appears to be there.
In 2014, the San Antonio Spurs stayed in the hotel while in town to play the Golden State Warriors. Former Spurs players Tim Duncan and Jeff Ayres, who were in adjacent rooms, were freaked out when, from the hallway, they heard voices and the sounds of a baby inside Ayres’ room. His key did not work. And the room was empty.
“I took my room key,” Ayres told the San Antonio Express News. “I could hear stuff in the hallway, like people in their rooms. So I’m thinking people are watching TV or whatever. So I get to my door, and my key doesn’t work, but it sounds like there’s somebody in my room. Like I hear a little baby, not crying but making noise. I’m like, ‘What the heck?’ ... I really heard voices and a baby in the room, and there wasn’t anybody in there.”
In recent years, the hotel has embraced its haunted lore, offering $50 haunted tours each October.
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Cary House Hotel
El Dorado County Historic Hotel
(Hailey Branson-Potts / Los Angeles Times)
The Cary House Hotel, a stately four-story brick building in downtown Placerville, is believed by many to be haunted by the mischievous ghost of Stan, described by the El Dorado County Visitors Authority as “a flirty front desk clerk who loved his liquor and had a penchant for pinching the bottoms of hotel guests.”
“Stan loved gossip and checking people out, and was known to be a bit mouthy and insulting when under the influence of the sauce,” according to the Visitors Authority.
Legend has it that, after hitting on someone who didn’t find it cute, Stan was stabbed in the chest and fell down the stairs. Some guests have said his ghostly hands are still pinching booties today. Others have said they have heard phantom piano music in the hotel.
The hotel, erected in 1857, was a social hub during the Gold Rush. So much gold dust was found in the hardwood floorboards that it financed the building of a fourth floor in 1908.
If you go, be sure and check out the hotel’s tiny but beautiful 1920s-era elevator, which is one of the state’s oldest. It has a sliding gate and may or may not exactly line up with each floor when it stops.
“Stan loved gossip and checking people out, and was known to be a bit mouthy and insulting when under the influence of the sauce,” according to the Visitors Authority.
Legend has it that, after hitting on someone who didn’t find it cute, Stan was stabbed in the chest and fell down the stairs. Some guests have said his ghostly hands are still pinching booties today. Others have said they have heard phantom piano music in the hotel.
The hotel, erected in 1857, was a social hub during the Gold Rush. So much gold dust was found in the hardwood floorboards that it financed the building of a fourth floor in 1908.
If you go, be sure and check out the hotel’s tiny but beautiful 1920s-era elevator, which is one of the state’s oldest. It has a sliding gate and may or may not exactly line up with each floor when it stops.
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Brookdale Lodge
Santa Cruz County Historic Hotel
(The Mercury News / MediaNews Group / Getty Images)
At first, the Brookdale Lodge looks like a thousand other highway motels. Long, low-slung building with hotel-room doors carved out at regular intervals? Check. Parking spaces full of cars lined up like sentries outside every room? Check. Rooms with nondescript art and forgettable bedspreads? Check.
But then you might notice the other building, the one that seems to loom up in the dark in an unusual shape. Though closed at the moment, that building houses a series of spaces that are so otherworldly and strange they would appear marvelous even if they weren’t said to be haunted.
It is the Brook Room, so called because the whole structure is constructed over a small stream that flows through the building. This room is reputed to be haunted by a young girl, Sarah Logan, who drowned in the creek in the 1800s. In the 1920s, during Prohibition, the hotel was rumored to be a gangster hangout for “Al Capone and his boys,” said owner Pravin Patel, who noted that tunnels extended from the Brook Room under the highway “to the brothel across the street.”
The hotel was also a hangout for the rich and famous. Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple and James Dean have all been guests. President Hoover stayed there, too.
“It’s a very magical place,” said Patel, who owns several hotels in Santa Cruz and bought this one in 2013 while his wife was on vacation and unavailable to stop him. The hotel had been shut down by the fire department and had been empty and pillaged by vandals. It partially reopened in 2016, but the reopening of the Brook Room, the pool and the so-called Mermaid Lounge is still at least a year away.
As for whether it is haunted? “Oh definitely,” Patel said. “The most active spirit is Sarah Logan. We’d see toys showing up in different places. You could hear little kids playing and laughing. It almost sounds like a schoolyard at times. In the beginning, I thought my staff was playing games with me.” But no, he said. “It’s real.”
But then you might notice the other building, the one that seems to loom up in the dark in an unusual shape. Though closed at the moment, that building houses a series of spaces that are so otherworldly and strange they would appear marvelous even if they weren’t said to be haunted.
It is the Brook Room, so called because the whole structure is constructed over a small stream that flows through the building. This room is reputed to be haunted by a young girl, Sarah Logan, who drowned in the creek in the 1800s. In the 1920s, during Prohibition, the hotel was rumored to be a gangster hangout for “Al Capone and his boys,” said owner Pravin Patel, who noted that tunnels extended from the Brook Room under the highway “to the brothel across the street.”
The hotel was also a hangout for the rich and famous. Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Shirley Temple and James Dean have all been guests. President Hoover stayed there, too.
“It’s a very magical place,” said Patel, who owns several hotels in Santa Cruz and bought this one in 2013 while his wife was on vacation and unavailable to stop him. The hotel had been shut down by the fire department and had been empty and pillaged by vandals. It partially reopened in 2016, but the reopening of the Brook Room, the pool and the so-called Mermaid Lounge is still at least a year away.
As for whether it is haunted? “Oh definitely,” Patel said. “The most active spirit is Sarah Logan. We’d see toys showing up in different places. You could hear little kids playing and laughing. It almost sounds like a schoolyard at times. In the beginning, I thought my staff was playing games with me.” But no, he said. “It’s real.”
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Joshua Tree Inn
Hotel
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
The Joshua Tree Inn is a desert-eclectic, 11-room hotel with a pool and a place in music infamy.
This 1949 building is where country-rock singer-songwriter Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose in 1973 in Room 8. Whether you believe in supernatural phenomena or not, the story of Parsons’ death and the aftermath is as spooky as they get.
Short version: He died at 26. After the death, Parsons’ friend and manager Phil Kaufman stole the body from authorities and took it out to Cap Rock in what is now Joshua Tree National Park. Then, in keeping with a request that Kaufman said he had heard Parsons make, Kaufman poured gasoline on the body and set it afire. But it only partially burned. Authorities arrived. Kaufman paid a fine. Parsons’ remains eventually went to New Orleans, as his family had originally intended.
Kaufman has co-written a memoir — “Road Mangler Deluxe” (2005) — and there is a movie: “Grand Theft Parsons” (2003), starring Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate.
Many guests request Room 8, which rents for $189 and up, and they often leave guitar picks in tribute. The hotel website notes that “some say his spirit still lives. Bring your guitar and write songs.” Various people, including country singer Kacey Musgraves, a Parsons admirer, have reported odd experiences at the inn.
By the way, Room 9 is named for Parsons’ friend Emmylou Harris and there are also suites named for Donovan, John Barrymore and Phil Kaufman.
This 1949 building is where country-rock singer-songwriter Gram Parsons died of a drug overdose in 1973 in Room 8. Whether you believe in supernatural phenomena or not, the story of Parsons’ death and the aftermath is as spooky as they get.
Short version: He died at 26. After the death, Parsons’ friend and manager Phil Kaufman stole the body from authorities and took it out to Cap Rock in what is now Joshua Tree National Park. Then, in keeping with a request that Kaufman said he had heard Parsons make, Kaufman poured gasoline on the body and set it afire. But it only partially burned. Authorities arrived. Kaufman paid a fine. Parsons’ remains eventually went to New Orleans, as his family had originally intended.
Kaufman has co-written a memoir — “Road Mangler Deluxe” (2005) — and there is a movie: “Grand Theft Parsons” (2003), starring Johnny Knoxville and Christina Applegate.
Many guests request Room 8, which rents for $189 and up, and they often leave guitar picks in tribute. The hotel website notes that “some say his spirit still lives. Bring your guitar and write songs.” Various people, including country singer Kacey Musgraves, a Parsons admirer, have reported odd experiences at the inn.
By the way, Room 9 is named for Parsons’ friend Emmylou Harris and there are also suites named for Donovan, John Barrymore and Phil Kaufman.
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Hotel del Coronado
San Diego County Historic Hotel
(Tom Courtney)
Here’s a red-roofed seaside hotel that doesn’t need much introduction. It’s one of the few grand resorts from the 19th century that didn’t burn down. In June, management completed a six-year, $550-million renovation, adding two restaurants and stressing Victorian details.
Of course The Del has a ghost story, based on a woman in her 20s named Kate Morgan, said to have checked in one day in 1892.
As the story goes, she left her job as a housekeeper in Los Angeles and stayed five days in a third-floor room, waiting for a gentleman who never came. She died by gunshot, apparently self-inflicted, on an exterior stairwell.
Over the years, according to “Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado” (published by the hotel), guests have reported flickering lights, opening and closing doors, glimpses of a woman in Victorian garb, mysterious sounds, scents and a ceiling fan spinning for no apparent reason. Hard evidence of anything unnatural: none.
Still, it’s a pretty sunny place. The hotel features a family-friendly beach, spa, grand lobby and two pools, one of them enormous. The resort property includes guestrooms, cottages and villas in several “neighborhoods” that have been added over the decades.
If you wanted more space, brighter rooms and better views, you might avoid the oldest rooms and explore the Cabanas and the Views. But if it’s spooky vibes you’re chasing, stick with the oldest rooms (which got a lot of attention in the recent renovation). Off-season rates begin around $600.
Of course The Del has a ghost story, based on a woman in her 20s named Kate Morgan, said to have checked in one day in 1892.
As the story goes, she left her job as a housekeeper in Los Angeles and stayed five days in a third-floor room, waiting for a gentleman who never came. She died by gunshot, apparently self-inflicted, on an exterior stairwell.
Over the years, according to “Beautiful Stranger: The Ghost of Kate Morgan and the Hotel del Coronado” (published by the hotel), guests have reported flickering lights, opening and closing doors, glimpses of a woman in Victorian garb, mysterious sounds, scents and a ceiling fan spinning for no apparent reason. Hard evidence of anything unnatural: none.
Still, it’s a pretty sunny place. The hotel features a family-friendly beach, spa, grand lobby and two pools, one of them enormous. The resort property includes guestrooms, cottages and villas in several “neighborhoods” that have been added over the decades.
If you wanted more space, brighter rooms and better views, you might avoid the oldest rooms and explore the Cabanas and the Views. But if it’s spooky vibes you’re chasing, stick with the oldest rooms (which got a lot of attention in the recent renovation). Off-season rates begin around $600.
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Cosmopolitan Hotel
San Diego Historic Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, a revived landmark in San Diego’s Old Town, has lived several lives. The one in progress now includes a ghostly rivalry.
The Cosmo, as it is often known, was born as an adobe home, built by Juan Bandini in the 1820s. In 1869, a new owner repurposed the building as a hotel and stagecoach stop, changing the architectural style, adding a second floor and a wraparound balcony.
Later the hotel faded and was redone and revived by entrepreneur Diane Powers as the Casa de Bandini restaurant, a centerpiece of Old Town State Historic Park from 1980 to 2005. But it was converted back into a hotel and restaurant in 2010.
Nowadays it’s a 10-room bed-and-breakfast operation with a special-events restaurant, a Victorian look and rates starting as low as $119 nightly.
And here’s a mysterious twist: For most of the last 50 years, the most famously “haunted” building in San Diego has been the Whaley House, an 1850s Greek Revival house museum that stands two blocks from the Cosmopolitan and bills itself as “America’s most haunted house.” Since 2010, however, talk of unexplainable events at the Cosmopolitan Hotel has multiplied, accelerated by a 2012 sleepver by hosts of the TV show “Ghost Adventures.”
Many YouTube ghost hunters have followed, and guide Michael Brown has been leading San Diego ghost tour groups through the hotel for years, claiming on his website that it’s “MORE HAUNTED than the Whaley House.”
Room 11 (said to be haunted by Bandini’s youngest daughter, Ysadora) gets a lot of attention. So does the saloon bar.
“We get a lot of people coming in to stay [in Room 11] because of that,” said hotel manger Dean Caray. (Note: Room 11 is one of the two that don’t have access to the wraparound balcony.)
Has Caray seen weird things? He said he has heard a guest complain about a phantom cat in her room, and he has seen mysterious silhouettes appear in cellphone photos.
The Cosmo, as it is often known, was born as an adobe home, built by Juan Bandini in the 1820s. In 1869, a new owner repurposed the building as a hotel and stagecoach stop, changing the architectural style, adding a second floor and a wraparound balcony.
Later the hotel faded and was redone and revived by entrepreneur Diane Powers as the Casa de Bandini restaurant, a centerpiece of Old Town State Historic Park from 1980 to 2005. But it was converted back into a hotel and restaurant in 2010.
Nowadays it’s a 10-room bed-and-breakfast operation with a special-events restaurant, a Victorian look and rates starting as low as $119 nightly.
And here’s a mysterious twist: For most of the last 50 years, the most famously “haunted” building in San Diego has been the Whaley House, an 1850s Greek Revival house museum that stands two blocks from the Cosmopolitan and bills itself as “America’s most haunted house.” Since 2010, however, talk of unexplainable events at the Cosmopolitan Hotel has multiplied, accelerated by a 2012 sleepver by hosts of the TV show “Ghost Adventures.”
Many YouTube ghost hunters have followed, and guide Michael Brown has been leading San Diego ghost tour groups through the hotel for years, claiming on his website that it’s “MORE HAUNTED than the Whaley House.”
Room 11 (said to be haunted by Bandini’s youngest daughter, Ysadora) gets a lot of attention. So does the saloon bar.
“We get a lot of people coming in to stay [in Room 11] because of that,” said hotel manger Dean Caray. (Note: Room 11 is one of the two that don’t have access to the wraparound balcony.)
Has Caray seen weird things? He said he has heard a guest complain about a phantom cat in her room, and he has seen mysterious silhouettes appear in cellphone photos.
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Queen Mary
Long Beach Weekend Escape
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
“Oh no, what are you doing?” was not the response I was looking for when I mentioned to a friend I was spending the night at Long Beach’s Queen Mary. “That place is haunted!” But ghosts? Don’t believe in them. I was seeking history, an opportunity to bask in the luxury of yesteryear — the Queen Mary first sailed in 1936. The ship, with its mini galleries, can feel like staying in a museum. And yet soon after checking in I was warned.
Sitting in the Observation Bar, a drinking hole once reserved for the first class — pay attention to the liquor barrels inscribed into pylons, and the original above-bar artwork from Alfred R. Thomson, a depiction of royalty and commoners mingling amid the democratization power of a party — the guest next to me told me of a late-night visit from an apparition. She was shook. I was skeptical and went exploring.
I booked two of the $48 tours, of which hotel guests receive a discount — the Glory Days, focusing on its pre-war history and Art Deco opulence, and Haunted Encounters, which delves into its spooky mythology. On select nights, experience a two hour midnight tour into rarely seen aspects of the ship while delving even deeper into its supernatural history. There’s plenty more for the ghost-seeking, including an actual paranormal investigation.
Staff are eager to share their stories. The most famous ghost who haunts the Queen Mary is supposedly a young girl. Depending on who is doing the telling she may or may not have drowned in one of the ship’s pools. Like many a ghost tale, details are scant (however, there is no official record of a drowning, the ship’s staff will also reveal when pressed).
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, stay in stateroom B340, said to be the most haunted room on the ship. How haunted? Tales stretch back to 1967 — lights flicking, unexplained knocking, closets opening and closing. It also happens to be one of the most elegantly arranged rooms on the ship, with Victorian-meets-Goth furnishings that give it a vintage, unearthly feel. Depending on the night, expect to pay $600 or more.
I am pleased to say that, as expected, there were no spectral intruders in my room; I sprung for a mini-suite (around $200 on weekdays, more on weekends), and though the shower, built for bathing, was a bit tight and the walls are famously thin, it was wood-adorned coziness. I did, however, sleep with the light on.
Sitting in the Observation Bar, a drinking hole once reserved for the first class — pay attention to the liquor barrels inscribed into pylons, and the original above-bar artwork from Alfred R. Thomson, a depiction of royalty and commoners mingling amid the democratization power of a party — the guest next to me told me of a late-night visit from an apparition. She was shook. I was skeptical and went exploring.
I booked two of the $48 tours, of which hotel guests receive a discount — the Glory Days, focusing on its pre-war history and Art Deco opulence, and Haunted Encounters, which delves into its spooky mythology. On select nights, experience a two hour midnight tour into rarely seen aspects of the ship while delving even deeper into its supernatural history. There’s plenty more for the ghost-seeking, including an actual paranormal investigation.
Staff are eager to share their stories. The most famous ghost who haunts the Queen Mary is supposedly a young girl. Depending on who is doing the telling she may or may not have drowned in one of the ship’s pools. Like many a ghost tale, details are scant (however, there is no official record of a drowning, the ship’s staff will also reveal when pressed).
If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, stay in stateroom B340, said to be the most haunted room on the ship. How haunted? Tales stretch back to 1967 — lights flicking, unexplained knocking, closets opening and closing. It also happens to be one of the most elegantly arranged rooms on the ship, with Victorian-meets-Goth furnishings that give it a vintage, unearthly feel. Depending on the night, expect to pay $600 or more.
I am pleased to say that, as expected, there were no spectral intruders in my room; I sprung for a mini-suite (around $200 on weekdays, more on weekends), and though the shower, built for bathing, was a bit tight and the walls are famously thin, it was wood-adorned coziness. I did, however, sleep with the light on.
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Clown Motel (it's in Nevada, but we couldn't help but include it)
Hotel
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
About halfway on the long, dusty drive from Las Vegas to Reno, there’s a wide spot in the road known as Tonopah. And along Main Street in Tonopah stands perhaps the creepiest overnight option in all Nevada.
Bold claim, I know. But the Clown Motel is special. Owner Vijay Mehar has taken an old motel and filled it with clowns. Paintings, murals, dools, ceramic figures. Many of them frowning or shrieking.
What guests love, Mehar has learned, is fear, loathing, painted faces, circus vibes and hints of paranormal activity. To be afraid, basically.
“America’s Scariest Motel,” say the brochures by the register. “Let fear run down your spine.”
The 31 guest rooms teem with enough clown imagery to eclipse a Ringling Brothers reunion. The gift shop is vast and troubling. (Clown knife, anyone?)
And then there are the neighbors. The motel stands next to the Old Tonopah Cemetery, most of whose residents perished between 1900 and 1911, often in mining accidents.
Some guests sign up for ghost hunt tours or explore the cemetery after dark. Others settle in with a horror movie, perhaps one of the several made on site, along with countless Youtube videos.
When I visited in late 2024, Mehar said hundreds of people stop by the motel on busy days, mostly focusing on the gift shop and the crowded, dusty shelves of the lobby-adjacent clown museum.
“When we came here, there were 800 or 850 clowns,” Mehar said. “Right now, we have close to 6,000.”
Throughout the motel’s corridors, walls and no-frills guest rooms (rated at 3.5 stars by Yelp and Trip Advisor), the clowns continue against a color scheme of purple, yellow and red, augmented by polka dots of blue and green. Rates start at $99.
If you book Room 222, which highlights Clownvis (Elvis as a clown, basically), the motel warns that you may be awakened in the wee hours by a mysterious “malevolent entity.”
The hotel also advises all guests that, despite monthly pest-control visits, they may encounter “UFI’s (Unwanted Flying Insects),” because rooms open to the outdoors. (This part of Nevada is known for its many Mormon crickets.)
Bold claim, I know. But the Clown Motel is special. Owner Vijay Mehar has taken an old motel and filled it with clowns. Paintings, murals, dools, ceramic figures. Many of them frowning or shrieking.
What guests love, Mehar has learned, is fear, loathing, painted faces, circus vibes and hints of paranormal activity. To be afraid, basically.
“America’s Scariest Motel,” say the brochures by the register. “Let fear run down your spine.”
The 31 guest rooms teem with enough clown imagery to eclipse a Ringling Brothers reunion. The gift shop is vast and troubling. (Clown knife, anyone?)
And then there are the neighbors. The motel stands next to the Old Tonopah Cemetery, most of whose residents perished between 1900 and 1911, often in mining accidents.
Some guests sign up for ghost hunt tours or explore the cemetery after dark. Others settle in with a horror movie, perhaps one of the several made on site, along with countless Youtube videos.
When I visited in late 2024, Mehar said hundreds of people stop by the motel on busy days, mostly focusing on the gift shop and the crowded, dusty shelves of the lobby-adjacent clown museum.
“When we came here, there were 800 or 850 clowns,” Mehar said. “Right now, we have close to 6,000.”
Throughout the motel’s corridors, walls and no-frills guest rooms (rated at 3.5 stars by Yelp and Trip Advisor), the clowns continue against a color scheme of purple, yellow and red, augmented by polka dots of blue and green. Rates start at $99.
If you book Room 222, which highlights Clownvis (Elvis as a clown, basically), the motel warns that you may be awakened in the wee hours by a mysterious “malevolent entity.”
The hotel also advises all guests that, despite monthly pest-control visits, they may encounter “UFI’s (Unwanted Flying Insects),” because rooms open to the outdoors. (This part of Nevada is known for its many Mormon crickets.)
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