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Is The Skirvin Hilton and Its Crying Baby Really the Only Option in Oklahoma City?

Lest we get carried away by new hotels and fun in-room amenities, let's revisit the scary side of hotels for a hot minute. Because we all need a downer to start of the New Year, right? (Ugh.)

Barb Delollis at USA Today picked up on ESPN Columnist Bill Simmon's recent stay at the haunted Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City. You know the hotel that last year's Knicks blamed for a poor performance when playing The OKC Thunder.

When Simmons was in town, he actually asked to stay on one of the hotel's haunted floors but didn't really expect to get spooked. Then the Skirvin Crying Baby made an appearance. He writes:

I decided to turn on the light. Stretching to my right for the switch, out of nowhere, I heard the sound of (what sure as hell sounded like) a baby crying urgently to my far left (right near the window). Wahhhhhhh. Wahhhhhh. Wahhhhhh. Wahhhhhhh. The urgency freaked me out just as much as the crying itself.

I fumbled for the switch, couldn't find it, fumbled, fumbled some more, then finally turned the light on. The crying sound stopped. I hopped out of bed and turned on every other light in the room. I turned on the television and jacked up the volume. Then I grabbed my BlackBerry and Googled "Skirvin crying baby. A slew of results came up."

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The Stanley Hotel is a Shining Example of A Good Ghost Tour

With Halloween coming up there was one place we had to go during our stay in Denver last week: the Stanley Hotel up in Estes Park.

The Stanley, of course, is where Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining and is known as one of the most haunted hotels in America. Obviously, we took the ghost tour – they run on the hour and cost $15. You can add in a tour of the haunted Concert Hall for $5 but they only run on certain days.

You definitely get bang for your buck, even if you don’t see any spooks – our tour ran for two hours thanks to our guide, Kevin, who was one of the most sweetly enthusiastic tour guides we’ve had before. He was funny, interesting and even knew how to deal with some annoying brats who kept saying like a broken record “that’s not scary” until we were itching to show them what is scary.

What surprised us most was that it wasn’t a gratuitously spooky ghost tour – about half of it was taken up with genuine hotel history (FO Stanley and his brother, who built the hotel, also invented the first hybrid car, made violins and all sorts – clever gents).

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The 5 Best Hotels for Halloween Happenings

Halloween may be several weeks away, but now's the time to start planning that killer costume and how you'll celebrate. All Saint's Day falls on a Sunday this year, which means that you can make it a weekend-long bash. We'll tell you the best ways to party at a hotel, whether you want a place that's family- or pet-friendly, that'll give you lots of treats or will make you wet your pants because you're so spooked.

Check out our top five Halloween hotels after the jump.

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What Would Jimi Think of The Cumberland's New Thanatouristic Hendrix Suite?

Tasteful

The new Jimi Hendrix suite at the Cumberland Hotel sounds nice, doesn’t it? And it’s a good time to unveil it, with the 40th anniversary of his death, right?

Erm, maybe not, as our favorite mailout Popbitch pointed out this morning. Given that Hendrix died in a hotel (the Samarkand, not the Cumberland – he just used to live in the Cumberland) – it’s actually a little bit distasteful, no?

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Who's Haunting The Hotel Bethlehem?

We always love a good hotel ghost story here at HotelChatter so on this cold day, kick back and get spooked.

Four ghosts have reportedly taken up residence at the historic Hotel Bethlehem but instead of conducting exorcisms or ghost evictions, the hotel has embraced these "guests" by offering up a special hotel room that's supposed to witness all the paranormal activity.

So who's haunting this place? The most well-known guest during the days of the Eagle Hotel, Hotel Bethlehem's predecessor, was May Yohe. The actress/singer was born in the hotel, which her grandpa owned, in April 1866. As a child, Yohe would sing and dance for guests in the lobby.

Even though she ended up performing in Europe in her later life and subsequently married and left Lord Francis Clinton (the owner of the Hope Diamond), Yohe was supposedly most happiest in life at The Eagle. So she may have chose to return there in the afterlife as people say they hear her singing in the lobby.

And randomly, she's been seen chilling in the exercise room. Ghosts need to work on their fitness, who knew?

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"Haunted" Inn Victim of Mysterious Fire

Have you ever stayed at a haunted hotel, or had a paranormal travel experience? Comment below and share your story.

Northern California's Brookdale Inn & Spa, nestled amongst redwood trees in between Saratoga and Santa Cruz, has a rich legacy attached to its name. Famous formers guests include Marilyn Monroe and President Herbert Hoover, and in recent years, it has served as a music venue in addition to a conventional inn and providing apartment housing. Interest in the Brookdale, especially from a contingent of would-be ghost hunters and believers in the afterlife, remains high, as it's also said to be haunted.

Considering its past—which is equal parts nefarious and revered—speculation about the cause of a recent fire began to fly after the ashes had settled. The Silicon Valley Mercury News reports that flames began to consume the property late Tuesday afternoon, though the guest portion of the inn and its restaurant were seemingly not affected. Apartments on site, however, fell victim to the fire. Regarding the cause of the unfortunate events, the Mercury had this to say:

A maintenance worker at the inn speculated the fire could have been electrical because it appeared to start in a vacant room filled with mattresses. Some of the apartments behind the inn also burned in 2005.

The owners were working to restore the hotel to its 1920s splendor, when it was one of the most popular lodges in the country. The lodging area where people can rent rooms for the night had been remodeled, she said. Workers' quarters and one other building had yet to be completed.

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MLB Players Insist Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee is Haunted

What causes a fully-grown (possibly even more than fully grown, *ahem*), athletic man (who has no problem with objects coming at him at 85 miles per hour) to sleep with a baseball bat beside him while he stays in an opulent, luxurious old hotel? Ghosties, of course.

Apparently, a bunch of ballplayers are going around claiming that the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee — where many, many pro baseball and basketball teams stay when they're in town to play the Milwaukee teams — is totes haunted.

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The Hotel Boulderado Turns 100

What’s not to love about Boulder, Colorado?This town of just over 100,000 people was the first in the country to tax itself to preserve open space. Its university, University of Colorado at Boulder, offers valet parking for bikes. Its eclectic roster of residents includes aerospace engineers, Buddhist practitioners, retired Olympians and culinary stars.

For weekend warriors, it’s less than an hour drive from Denver International Airport. If ever there was poster child for proving that having an eco mindset doesn’t mean having to sacrifice the finer things in life, Boulder would be it.

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Halloween Hotel Thrills Continue Through November

Over 50 years ago, the murder of the Black Dahlia froze Los Angeles, embroiling the whole city in a mystery so deep it was never solved and so controversial that it is still being retold through books, movies, music, and late-night ghost stories. And of course, like all good stories, it began at a hotel. Cue creepy music.

The Millenium Biltmore was the last place the victim, The Black Dahlia, was seen before she was seen dead, in lots of pieces and so it makes sense that her story be told starting in the same place.

If Halloween doesn't scare your socks off on Friday night, then sign up for the Black Dahlia Bus Tour on Saturday, Nov. 1 to really round out your terrifying weekend. The tour is part of Esotouric's Noir November Sampler:

The tour takes us from the human hustle of Main Street to the serene lobby of the Biltmore (the second-to-last place she was seen alive), to the newspaper offices and the Greyhound station where she checked her bags, and concludes at the site where her bisected body was found in Leimert Park and with a little known suspect who lived nearby.

Creepy, right? The deadly drive will cost you $58 per person. Register at the Esotouric site.

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Vampire Expert Alleges Haunted Happenings at the Bowery Hotel

We're well aware that the Bowery Hotel has questionable neighbors, but we're wondering if anyone has had any experience with the hotel's more ghastly guests?

We were geeky enough to take a walking ghost tour of the Lower East Side last week, when our guide (who specializes in vampires!) had us stop to check out a hidden marble cemetery just behind the Bowery Hotel on Second Avenue (not to be confused with the more conspicuous marble cemetery around the corner on Second Street).

Our guide then proceeded to tell us about how just about every night at 1 a.m., the hotel's elevators go haywire--an occurrence that allegedly happens often enough it no longer fazes the staff.

We thought about hanging around the Bowery Hotel to check out this purported paranormal activity, but we were scared off when told about the wait for a table at Gemma.

Got a Ghostbuster-like Bowery Hotel story? Let us know.

[Photo: Casey Kelbaugh for the NY Times]

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Fall Foliage Hotels :: Ohio's Granville Inn

Ask anyone where to see fall foliage, and they'll chime in the same answer: New England. But look, folks, wherever there are maples, elms, beeches, and hickories, there's gonna be foliage.

What about those buckeye trees? Yes, nobody ever thinks of Ohio when it comes to trees turning, but The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports that mid-October is going to be a choice time to see the colors change before the leaves drop.

There's no place better to snuggle up than in a picturesque, hilly college town, with peaceful sidewalks perfect for strolling, and one of the best beer bars in the entire state...

That place is Granville, Ohio, a half hour's drive from Columbus and home to Denison University.

The Granville Inn has 30 guest rooms, with deliciously low rates that start at $99. The rooms are equipped with free internet access, cable, and crammed with antiques. Although, we do admit it does give off a "night at Grandma's" sort of vibe.

But there's alcohol! Wine Spectator has given wine list an Award of Excellence for four years straight, and the hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places. It's also purported to be haunted. So you could have some ghost-hunting to go with your leaf-peeping too.

Hotel News / Bed and Breakfasts / Haunted Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Fights Museum Over Who Gets to Use Accused Murderer's Name

Oy. This world.

Lizzie Borden, the Massachusetts Sunday school teacher who was accused of murdering her mother and stepfather in 1892, committed her (alleged) famous crime in a home in Fall River, Mass.

That home is now a lucrative bed and breakfast (no, we don't know why anyone would want to stay there either) named after the lovely Lizzie herself! It features historical tours and a giftshop, essentially functioning like a museum. Unfortunately, someone up in Salem, Massachusetts wants to start up an official Lizzie Borden Museum (using her name and all)...and that's not gonna fly with the B&B owner.

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