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Bed down with spirits that still call some inns and hotels home

New England has its fair share of inns and hotels where the spirits of deceased residents are said to hang around, even to the present day. Many have stories associated with them – some tales of heroism, some tales of violence and trauma. Most often, the spirits are simply bumping around, watching present-day goings-on, sometimes pulling silly pranks. Below are some New England hostelries said to be inhabited by ghostly presences.

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Three Chimneys Inn
Durham, New Hampshire 03824
The inn’s resident ghost is Hannah, believed to be a descendant of Valentine Hill, who built the house in 1694. Hannah does not like change and she is believed to take out her frustration on new electronic equipment. For example, numbers have appeared backwards on calculators. After a command to print a single page, computers sometimes have printed many pages, even after the computer and printer were turned off and unplugged. The Inn is staffed 24 hours a day and an employee always stays overnight. On one occasion, an employee was sleeping and was awakened by someone playing with her hair. She simply told Hannah to go to bed. On another occasion another employee was awakened by the sound of someone walking around the front parlor. Quickly the employee went downstairs and found every drawer in the armoire, desk, and filing cabinet pulled out exactly one inch. On occasion Hanna has shown herself. One evening a chef was working in the food and beverage office late into the evening. Shortly after 1 a.m. the chef locked the office headed up the stairs to leave. The chef noticed a movement was shocked to see Hannah standing behind the bar area.

Eagle Mountain House
Jackson
Eagle Mountain House has two ghosts, a Lady in Red who walks along the hallways of the third floor. She is benign. Also, people have heard the voice of – but not seen – a small boy. He laughs and giggles and he is mischievous. An employee of the hotel was working in his office one night, and he watched, dumbfounded, as a pile of files levitated off his desk, moved across the room, and dropped to the floor. He heard giggling and felt a blast of cool air move through the room and then suddenly go away.

Inn at Jackson
Jackson
A previous owner of the inn says “something is going on there” in connection with the spiritual world. One unexplained incident occurred on a night years ago during a power failure. The inn owners and guests were gathered in the living room around the fireplace, when they discovered that the faucet in the bathtub of an unoccupied guest room upstairs kept turning itself on, over and over, with no logical explanation. People have heard the sounds of movement from the third floor when the place was unoccupied, and seen unexplainable, brilliant flashes of light move through the house. Also, a series of photos taken years ago show orbs moving up a staircase.

Mount Washington Hotel
Bretton Woods
The Mount Washington Hotel’s resident specter is a benign entity known as “the Princess,” a nickname the hotel personnel have adopted for Carolyn Foster Stickney, wife of Joseph Stickney, who built the Mount Washington and opened it in 1903. The couple’s love for each other is legendary. In 1903, Joseph left Carolyn a young widow. Visions of a woman dressed in Victorian elegance – Princess Carolyn -- are occasionally reported in the hotel. She is seen in the hallways on the guestroom levels. Visitors report the sound of a light knock on their doors, only to discover no one there. One of the few items of the hotel’s original furnishings is the four-poster bed used by the Stickneys, now located in room 314. Several guests in that room have been awakened during the night by the sensation of someone sitting on the bed. Many report seeing a woman sitting there, brushing her hair as she looks into the darkness of the room. Also, the chief of security recalls walking across the hotel’s ballroom one moonlit night. “I got about halfway across the ballroom floor when every hair on my body tingled,” he reported. “I had the strangest feeling of a presence.”