People forget all kinds of things on vacation: phone chargers, wallets, pillows. But if there’s one thing the cleaning lady doesn’t like to find, it’s the hovering, shrieking, undead soul of a former human being. It’s entirely inconvenient; for one, you never know when they’re going to make a mess of themselves. They’re just so temperamental! Plus, they usually only whisper one or two phrases over and over again, acting like nagging, needy children. Despite our best wishes, these unwelcome guests have been making residency in some of the otherwise finest vacation escapes for many years, and it’s probably best to survey the worst ones before you book your next trip. Like a picturesque, Victorian getaway in California, where possibly suicidal former guest Kate Morgan likes to flick on lights and open drawers in room 3312. Or the ultimate haunt in Cimarron, New Mexico, at a former outlaw cowboy hotel where restless spirits avenge fatal poker games by pushing over room intruders and smoking cigars in non-smoking halls. Whether you want to avoid spirits that don’t involve alcohol or you simply like the surprise of unexpected company, check out our listing of the five most ghastly resorts.
5. Rosarios Resort, Orcas Island, WA
Sometimes swagger can’t be contained by the bounds of human life alone. Fans of Tupac Shakur might agree. So might those who have experienced the hard-drinkin’, Harley-ridin’, high-heel-stompin’ ghost of Alice Rheem, wife of Donald, who owned the famed Rosarios Resort in San Juan Islands, Washington.
In the roaring, Prohibition-era twenties, high-strung locals often chafed at the flamboyance of Alice Rheem. While living in San Francisco, she’d frequent every speakeasy and have her fill until she got absolutely schnockered. It’s believed that her husband tried to rein in her flamboyant lifestyle upon purchasing property on the quiet Orcas Island. But Alice, ever the juggernaut, would sport her fiery red dress before hopping on her motorcycle, drinking, and playing cards with younger men at the area general store, and returning home a sloppy mess. She died in 1930 due to complications from her alcoholism, but her spirit never left. Patrons of Rosarios Resort have repeatedly heard clunking high heels in the night. Visitors who sleep in Alice’s old room—where she was believed to have brought back some of the aforementioned young men for questionable dalliances—have been known to hear soft groans and felt fingers run across their heads. The afterlife must be too boring for Alice Rheem.
4. Hotel del Coronado, San Diego, CA
At the end of the nineteenth century, the newly wealthy masses of the West had plenty of money to burn, but little spark to do so. Thus, the construction of the fantastical Victorian beachside Hotel del Coronado in San Diego was met with much fanfare, and twenty-four-year-old Kate Morgan hoped that at some point her husband, Thomas, would meet her there. The wealthy couple frequently checked into hotels under fake names in the early 1890s. Kate would lure ogling male guests into high-stakes poker games with her husband, who was able to defeat them consistently enough to make a living for the couple. However, prior to her arrival at the Coronado, Kate had learned she was pregnant, and Thomas quarreled with her before leaving her alone at the hotel and resuming his lifestyle as a traveling gambler, promising his return to her in San Diego on Thanksgiving.
When Thanksgiving passed without his return, Kate was infused with worry and paranoia. She often appeared in front of hotel employees pale and sickly, apparently affected by ingesting large amounts of quinine, a substance used to perform abortion. One day, she traveled into San Diego and purchased a gun. The following morning, at the front steps of the beach, she was found dead with a bullet wound to the head. It was immediately ruled suicide and quickly covered up; however, it was later discovered that the bullet caliber did not match the gun she had purchased, leading many to believe she was murdered. Whatever the case, shortly after her death, many employees reported odd activity in and around her room, 3312. Apparitions of a lovely female figure appeared next to windows. Lights continued to flicker despite constant replacement. Murmurs were frequently audible. Objects were found in different places. Could the disturbed soul of Kate Morgan be urging guests to re-investigate her untimely death? Whatever the case, the spooked may want to steer clear of room 3312.
