I recently stayed in Room 35 of the Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming. Prior guests reported lights going on and off, being touched by an unseen hand, etc. Some claimed they saw the ghost of a Civil War soldier in dress uniform--but only half of him! Creepy. I didn't get to find out which half. It occurred to me the next morning that, had I seen a ghost, I would have had to change my entire belief system. So it was probably a good thing nothing happened.
But staying in a "haunted" room got me wondering what other scary places might be out there, waiting for a skeptic like me. You know, the one who laughs at her cringing friend as she opens a door and gets an axe in her head. These three places fit the bill and would make for unsettling lodging even without the promise of paranormal activity.
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At the top of my list is the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts. I remember skipping rope to this rhyme:
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- Lizzie Borden took an axe
- And gave her mother forty whacks.
- When she saw what she had done
- She gave her father forty-one.
According to Wikipedia, "In reality Lizzie's stepmother suffered 18 or 19 blows and her father just 11 blows." Still effective, but not as catchy. (A child reciting a ditty about parricide in this day and age would be whisked away to specialists, medicated and denied cutlery till she left for college.)
The house is now a bed and breakfast. Cuddle up on the sofa in the sitting room where Lizzy's father met his end. Take a nap in the John Morse guestroom, where Lizzie's stepmother was discovered. Play CSI, bring your Luminol and look for any blood that might have been missed. Of course, they've cleaned up the place since then but hatchet deaths are pretty messy....
Or stay in Lizzie's room. She continued to live at home after her acquittal but, shunned by the locals, I imagine she didn't get many trick-or-treaters at her door. It's worth noting that tours are conducted every day through most of the rooms. If you sleep in, it would be wise not to do so in the nude. You will be part of the show.
Why not wake early, hide your unmentionables and head downstairs for breakfast? You'll be treated to the same meal that Abby and Andrew enjoyed before being hacked to death: bananas, sugar cookies and jonny-cakes, flatbread made of cornmeal. Yum.
If it seems like the owners are cashing in on a gruesome double murder, it's because they are. They're in the process now of setting up the Ghost Cam Project, in which online subscribers pay to conduct "paranormal investigations" over web cams placed in the guest rooms. Hopefully, this will only go on when there are no corporeal guests in them.
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This is a popular one. Even Fox News recommended it as a Halloween getaway. The website mentions that it was built in 1851, served as a hospital for Civil War soldiers and later for victims of yellow fever. That alone might make it a repository of ghosts.
It's also quite posh and doesn't have shared bathrooms, web cams or tours popping in, unlike the Borden B&B. It's a nice place to kick back, enjoy some room service and order up a scary movie on pay-per-view.
Guests have claimed to hear children's laughter in empty hallways or woken up feeling pressure on their wrists as if someone is taking their pulse. That's nothing compared to what actually happened. During renovation, workers found the bones of amputated limbs hidden underneath the floorboards and in the back yard. Eek, am I right? I guarantee you will not find that in the promotional literature.
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This last place qualifies as a hotel only because you can rent a room there. Or, more specifically, a cell.
Karosta Prison in Latvia was built in 1900 and functioned as a military detention and torture center until 1997. Officers held here included tsarists, enemies of Stalin and deserters from the German Wehrmacht.
For only $16.00, "spend the night in a prison which is considered to be even more impressive than the Alcatraz in the USA, to sleep on a prison bunk or an iron bed, and to have a prison meal." Better than Alcatraz? Fancy!
If that sounds a little tame, book the Extreme Night. It'll cost you a little more, but for less than $25.00, you'll be treated as a prisoner all night--once you sign the waiver, of course. There are special rates for schoolchildren and seniors. They also do weddings. No, I'm not kidding.
Did I mention it's haunted?
Labels: ghosts, Halloween, Haunted Houses, Irma Hotel, Karosta Prison, Lizzie Borden
