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This blog post is a guest post written by US Ghost Adventures. We encountered them on our drive through South Dakota. This quick guide gives you an idea of the tours they offer and is perfect for the Halloween season.
Hotels can be a hotbed for spectral activity. Consider the number of people who move through them, some leaving behind emotional baggage, others never leaving at all. Then there are locations of immense tragedy later converted into accommodations for the morbidly curious. Both offer a unique opportunity to lodge with the departed and try to make a connection in the dead of night. At America’s most haunted hotels, it’s definitely not about trying to get a peaceful night’s rest.
From the heart of Gettysburg to the quiet suburbs of Iowa, the nation is dotted with haunted accommodations, where a cozy night’s sleep is a fool’s errand. As tempting as it may sound to stay in locations known for their apparitions and pesky poltergeists, there’s a sort of playbook to follow to ensure you get the best experience and still score a few hours of sleep.
The Most Haunted Hotels in America
If you’re looking for accommodations known for their resident spirits, there are three very intimate locations to consider, and they’re probably not even on your radar yet. In Gettysburg, the Brickhouse Inn echoes with tales of the Civil War’s deadliest battle, while Fall River, Massachusetts, welcomes curious travelers to the murder site of Andrew and Abby Borden, now a bed and breakfast. Further west, in the small town of Villisca, Iowa, a once-isolated farmhouse replays the bloodied events that left eight people brutally murdered while guests try to sleep in the preserved rooms.
Brickhouse Inn
Though the main Victorian structure of the Brickhouse Inn was built after the Battle of Gettysburg, its connecting building, the old Welty House, sat right in the thick of it. When the Civil War came to Gettysburg, the namesake family and their neighbor hid in the basement of the Welty House while Confederates used its upper floor as a sniper’s nest. Gunfire pelted the small home, serving as a permanent reminder of the conflict. In the aftermath, fallen soldiers were buried on the property before being moved to the National Cemetery.
In 1898, the Victorian House was erected next to the Welty House, and by 1996, the two were lumped into what’s now known as the Brickhouse Inn. The inviting inn retains much of the original architecture and furnishings to allow guests to stay in a piece of American history.
Staying in the Brickhouse Inn
Between the Victorian home and the former Welty residence, there is no shortage of rooms to choose from. While many of the features in each room play to the 19th-century aesthetic, guests aren’t stuck sleeping on old bedding. Plush bedding, smart TVs, modern plumbing, and sometimes even an outdoor area lend to a comfortable historical retreat. While the inn is close to other haunted hotspots, like the Jennie Wade Museum, it’s also home to its own bounty of spirits.
Guests who have stayed overnight have spoken of uncomfortable sensations, as if being watched by unseen eyes. Don’t be too shocked if the sheets are pulled in the middle of the night or a hushed whisper breaks the deafening silence. Considering the grounds the Victorian house was built on and its connection to the Welty House, it’s widely believed that soldiers from the bloody battle haunt the inn.
The inn’s most infamous spectral tale is that of the shimmering red bell that once rang even when no person touched it. Some believe it’s a spirit trying to connect with the living, or perhaps a weary soldier in need of a harbor.
Lizzie Borden House
A twisted poem sensationalized the murders at the Borden household, depicting alleged killer Lizzie as some legendary villain of American history. However, within the Fall River home, the blood spilled that summer morning was grisly and tragic, leaving two dead and a killer free to roam. Whether Lizzie Borden actually killed her father and stepmother remains a matter of debate, though there’s one thing many can agree on: The souls within the murder house are not at peace.
Long after that grisly day in August 1892, the Lizzie Borden house was converted into a bed and breakfast. Rather than sweep the murders under the rug, the lodging puts them center stage, allowing guests to explore the gruesome history and try to reach out to the spirits of Andrew and Abby.
Staying in the Lizzie Borden House
While locals and visitors can book a tour of the Lizzie Borden House or partake in an evening ghost hunt, the building also offers four guestrooms and two suites for overnight guests. Each room preserves the energy of August 4, 1892, particularly the John V Morse Suite, where Abby was found lying lifeless in a pool of blood. The rooms are modestly decorated and come without the conveniences of a TV and, for five of the six options, a private bathroom, but staying in the Lizzie Borden House isn’t like booking a traditional hotel. It’s a purpose-driven stay, and that purpose is likely trying to solve the century-old murders by connecting with the resident apparitions.
From mist anomalies to disembodied voices, the bed and breakfast is riddled with evidence of a haunting. Speculation is that it’s Andrew and Abby trying to accuse their killer, or Lizzie returning to somewhere familiar and emotional. Visitors have also claimed to hear children laughing. It’s believed it’s the children of Lizzie’s great-aunt, Eliza Darling Borden, who drowned two of three before taking her own life 50 years earlier on a nearby property.
There’s a lot to watch for in the Lizzie Borden House, but guests should pay close attention to any rocking chairs that may move or objects that may fall from shelves.
Villisca Axe Murder House
In the evening of June 1912, shortly after returning from a church service, six members of the Moore family and the two visiting girls from the Stillinger household were viciously murdered at a farmhouse in Villisca, Iowa. Aptly named the Villisca Axe Murders, the incident remains one of the nation’s most heinous unsolved crimes, despite two trials and multiple credible suspects. The victims remain restless more than 100 years later, and the image of their brutalized bodies, all found covered in bedclothes and mutilated by up to 30 strikes from the blunt end of an axe, is forever imprinted on the old home.
Suspects of the Moore and Stillinger murders range from a mentally unwell reverend to a known killer suspected of murdering up to 25 people. It’s a case that’s still pondered today, especially by those who spend an evening in the restored Moore family home looking to connect with the six children.
Staying in the Villisca Axe Murder House
Shortly after its restoration to its original form in the 1990s, the Villisca Axe Murder House started welcoming overnight guests. Those brave enough have three rooms to choose from, each one a former crime scene. Keeping in mind that this used to be an old farmhouse, the accommodations are simple and with a few quirks. For example, the Stillinger Room requires guests to rent a cot, and the Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s Room is in an area of heavy foot traffic to the other rooms and the attic.
In the evening hours, the whistle of a train at 2 a.m. is said to signal when the spectral activity is heightened. TV shows like Ghost Adventures and Ghost Hunters have produced eerie evidence, such as disembodied voices and thumping footsteps. Guests may be privy to more of the home’s phantom activity, like random spots of chilled air and intense feelings of sadness. Former visitors have spoken of a toy ball that, when rolled along the floor in the Children’s Room, impossibly stopped and returned to them.
Reports of sudden scratch marks, unexplained light anomalies, and ethereal mists have been common over the years, corroborating claims that something simply isn’t normal about the Villisca Axe Murder House.
Advice for Your First Haunted Hotel
Each of these haunted venues offers an opportunity that often comes only once in a lifetime. If you’re considering taking advantage of it, and you’re looking at your first night in a haunted hotel, there is one bit of advice to remember: Don’t go to bed too early.
Let’s be honest, none of these locations are places you should expect a lot of sleep in. There are several reasons why you’ll want to stay up late, but chief among them is that ghosts are believed to be most active at night. Many state that between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. is “witching hour,” when the veil that separates the living and the dead is at its thinnest. If you’re going to catch any unexplainable activity, it will likely be after midnight. Without the light from the sun, you can snap purer photographs with a lower risk of sunspots and contamination. Additionally, late at night, the rest of the world is asleep, so you won’t have to be as mindful of outside noises.