Washington, DC — The Queen Mary in Long Beach, Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem are on the 2026 list of the 25 most haunted historic hotels in America, announced October 5 by Historic Hotels of America, the hotel program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. All 25 are working hotels, and several run ghost tours in October.
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The 2026 Top 25 Most Haunted Hotels
Historic Hotels of America lists the 25 hotels by the year each building was established, oldest first, and does not rank them. Each line has the ghost story the hotel tells and any October event it has announced.
- Colonial Williamsburg Resorts, Williamsburg, Virginia (1750 and 1937): guests at the Brick House Tavern, which is among the Colonial Houses you can book, report jangling keys, pipe tobacco, and a man in colonial clothes at a second-floor bedroom. The Haunted Williamsburg tour runs in October.
- Historic Inns of Annapolis, Annapolis, Maryland (1772): at the Maryland Inn, Navy Captain Charles Campbell is reported in the basement taproom and the woman known as The Bride on the fourth floor.
- The Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Massachusetts (1773): a girl carrying flowers and a man in a top hat are reported on the fourth floor, and Room 301 has a reputation too.
- Tubac Golf Resort and Spa, Tubac, Arizona (1789): a boy seen playing at the front door of the hacienda, cowboys in the old ranch stables, and voices in the Otero House.
- Omni Bedford Springs Resort & Spa, Bedford, Pennsylvania (1806): figures in Victorian and Edwardian dress at the indoor pool, and knocks in a room once used by President James Buchanan. Haunted History Tours run Wednesday through Sunday at 6 and 7:30 p.m., with a murder mystery dinner on October 24 and a costume party on October 31.
- River Street Inn, Savannah, Georgia (1817): built as a warehouse, and home to The Man in the Black Hat, who walks into closed-off corridors and disappears. A séance dinner in the inn’s speakeasy is held Fridays at 7 p.m.
- Omni Parker House, Boston, Massachusetts (1855): founder Harvey Parker, who ran the hotel until he died in 1884, is reported on the upper floors, and the third floor has stories of cigar smoke and elevators that stop without being called. The hotel’s historian adds the ghost stories to her history tours in the fall.
- The Sayre Mansion, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (1858): tugs on clothing and televisions that switch off, which staff put down to the ghosts of children. Ghost tours run Wednesdays at 7 p.m. in October.
- 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, Eureka Springs, Arkansas (1886): the hotel bills itself as the most haunted in America. In the 1930s a con man named Norman Baker ran it as a cancer hospital, and a patient named Theodora is said to fold guests’ clothes. Ghost tours run all year, including a midnight investigation.
- Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, Louisiana (1886): a boy named Maurice, who died at the hotel in the 1890s, is reported on the 14th floor, along with a housekeeper known as Mrs. Clean.
- Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, California (1888): Kate Morgan died at the hotel in 1892, and her room, Room 3327, is the most requested at the resort.
- Jekyll Island Club Resort, Jekyll Island, Georgia (1887): seven ghosts by the resort’s count, including a 1920s bellman who delivers pressed suits to grooms and the cigar smoke of J.P. Morgan in his old apartment. History tours add ghost stories in October.
- The Gunter Hotel San Antonio Riverwalk, San Antonio, Texas (1909): Room 636, where guests and staff have reported cold spots, flickering lights, and footsteps since the 1960s.
- The Lafayette Hotel, Marietta, Ohio (1918): footsteps and figures in period dress on the third floor, which paranormal investigators take over for an overnight hunt each January.
- The Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri (1922): The Bride, the ghost of a woman said to have died at the hotel on her wedding night, is reported on the third floor. The hotel’s cinema shows Poltergeist October 16 to 18, The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a shadow cast October 23 to 25, and Nosferatu with a live organ on October 30 and 31.
- The George Washington Hotel, Washington, Pennsylvania (1922): a lobby piano said to play by itself and children’s laughter on the fourth floor. The hotel gives ghost tours.
- Francis Marion Hotel, Charleston, South Carolina (1924): Ned Cohen, a New York businessman who died at the hotel in 1929, is said to haunt the tenth floor. The hotel’s Halloween package includes a haunted walking tour of Charleston.
- The Emily Morgan San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas (1924): a former hospital across from the Alamo, with reports on the floors that held the psychiatric ward, the surgery level, and the morgue.
- Hawthorne Hotel, Salem, Massachusetts (1925): Room 325, where guests report cold spots and the smell of flowers, and a woman seen walking the sixth floor. The hotel held a séance to reach Harry Houdini in 1990.
- Hassayampa Inn, Prescott, Arizona (1927): Faith, a bride who came on her honeymoon soon after the inn opened, is seen in a pink gown in the hallway.
- The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, Sonoma, California (1927): a woman named Victoria seen in the hallways in period clothing on foggy evenings, and the Round Room, where guests report flickering lights and running water.
- Hotel Saranac, Saranac Lake, New York (1927): built on the site of the town’s old high school, whose superintendent, Howard Littell, is said to walk the halls in a top hat and tails. The third floor has a ghost cat.
- Bolling Wilson Hotel, Wytheville, Virginia (1927): a former waiter who appears in the lobby late at night, and the sound of dishes in the empty restaurant.
- The Hermosa Inn, Paradise Valley, Arizona (1935): the adobe studio of cowboy artist Lon Megargee, who gets the blame when candlesticks tip over and pans fall. Ask for the self-guided ghost tour at check-in.
- The Queen Mary, Long Beach, California (1936): the retired ocean liner’s Stateroom B340, Watertight Door 13, and the Lady in White said to dance in its public rooms.
Selection Criteria for the List
Staff at Historic Hotels of America chose the 25 from more than 300 member hotels, based on the quality and quantity of each hotel’s ghost stories, how openly the hotel shares them with guests, and the Halloween experiences it has planned for 2026. A hotel has to be at least 50 years old to join the program.
The hotels on the list “embrace their ghost stories as a treasured feature of their hotels,” said Lawrence Horwitz, Executive Vice President of Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide.
12 Hotels Return From the 2025 List, and 13 Are Different
Twelve hotels return from the 2025 list: Historic Inns of Annapolis, Tubac Golf Resort and Spa, The Sayre Mansion, 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, Jekyll Island Club Resort, Hotel del Coronado, The Gunter Hotel, The George Washington Hotel, the Chase Park Plaza, Hassayampa Inn, The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, and Hotel Saranac.
The other 13 were not on last year’s list: Colonial Williamsburg Resorts, The Red Lion Inn, Omni Bedford Springs, River Street Inn, Omni Parker House, Hotel Monteleone, The Lafayette Hotel, Francis Marion Hotel, The Emily Morgan, Hawthorne Hotel, Bolling Wilson Hotel, The Hermosa Inn, and The Queen Mary. The Lafayette joined the program in 2026 and The Queen Mary in 2024.
The Queen Mary’s Haunted Rooms and Dark Harbor
The Queen Mary opened three more haunted staterooms in September, called Paranormal Passage, which start at $392 a night and sit near Stateroom B340, and I cover them in my Queen Mary haunted staterooms article. The ship’s Halloween event, Dark Harbor, runs on select nights through November 1 with six haunted mazes, and general admission starts at $47.99 with fees. Dates, prices, and parking are in my Dark Harbor guide.
Haunted Attractions in the Same Cities
San Diego, San Antonio, Williamsburg, and St. Louis each have a haunted attraction I cover, and Massachusetts has a haunted inn:
- San Diego: Howl-O-Scream San Diego
- San Antonio: Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld San Antonio
- Williamsburg: Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
- St. Louis: the Lemp Mansion, which runs its Spirits Tour on Wednesday nights at $44 and a Halloween Bash on October 31
- Massachusetts: the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, about an hour south of Boston, where you can book one of six rooms
Ghost Walking Tours in the Same Cities
Fever sells ghost walking tours in six of the cities on the list, one more thing to do there whether or not you stay at the hotel:
- New Orleans: the Ghost and Vampire Walking Tour of the French Quarter, which goes past the LaLaurie Mansion
- Savannah: The Grave Tales Ghost Tour, up to 90 minutes, starting at Johnson Square
- Charleston: the Ghosts of Charleston Night-Time Walking Tour, 90 minutes from Buxton Books at 160 King Street, with after-dark entry to the Unitarian Church graveyard
- Boston: the Ghosts of Boston Walking Ghost Tour, which meets at 58 Tremont Street
- San Diego: the Heritage Park and Old Town Walking Ghost Tour, one hour past the Whaley House and El Campo Santo Cemetery
- San Antonio: The San Antonio Ghost Walk, a 90-minute walking tour that meets at 507 E. Houston Street
Historic Hotels of America has each hotel’s full story at HistoricHotels.org.
