6 Of Boston’s Most Haunted Luxury Hotels
Nobody can argue that Boston’s history is both revolutionary and proud, as well as dark and violent. Being one of the oldest cities in the United States, you’ll find that almost every building has a story.
What better way to visit Boston and immerse yourself in its shadowy past than to stay in a haunted hotel? In this article, I’ll show you six of the city’s most notoriously haunted hotels where you can spend the night!
1. The Eliot Hotel
One of the lesser-known ghostly Boston hotels, The Eliot was built in 1927 and currently sits at 370 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215. According to the hotel’s website, it feels like a touch of Paris within Boston. It might be a little tough to envision yourself in Paris while an Italian and an Irishman get into a fistfight outside your window, but that’s Boston for you. At the time of writing, a night at The Eliot can cost you anywhere from $300 to over $700 a night. While that may be a hefty price tag for some, this hotel is beautiful, often winning prestigious awards locally and worldwide. You can book a room here.
The Hauntings
There aren’t too many ghost stories from The Elliot that I could find in my research. The prominent source is from a 2012 article by CBS Boston claiming that the front desk often gets complainants of “flickering lights and strange noises at night.” Strange noises at night in a hotel? I probably wouldn’t investigate those noises too hard if it were me. Is this hotel actually haunted, or was it just a slow news day? Let me know if you’ve stayed here and had an experience in the comment section below.
2. Hotel Buckminster
Although the pandemic led to this hotel’s permanent closure in 2020, it’s packed so full to the brim with history that I had to include it in the list. Plus, it closed so recently that its memory remains fresh in many Bostonians’ and tourists’ minds. I could write a whole separate article about this place (and I just might), so to avoid me typing away forever, I’m just going to list some of this hotel’s fascinating facts.
Having opened in 1897, it has a colorful past. The “Black Sox Scandal”‘ took place here, the world’s first network radio broadcast took place here, it had a speakeasy in its basement, and Italian prisoners of war were held here during World War II. It also hosted a jazz club in the 1950s where names such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Drew Brubeck played regularly.
It’s also said that the hotel is cursed! Due to its proximity to Fenway Park and its playing host to the black sox scandal, many believe it has something to do with the Red Sox world championship drought of 86 years.
A vintage Hotel Buckminster postcard
The Hauntings
Over the years, a mysterious figure creepily similar to the infamous “Hat Man” has been spotted roaming the hallways by hotel staff and guests alike. According to two separate general managers, Jackson Slomiak and John Pollard, it’s always a man wearing a dark overcoat with a fedora on his head. The figure is often spotted in areas off-limits to guests and even occupied rooms!
With the Buckminster’s riveting history, you’d think its haunting comes from a violent mob hit or some terrible accident. But in my research, I’ve only been able to find a single death that took place at the hotel. A man on Facebook claims that his Grandmother died in her top-floor room sometime in the ’50s; that’s it. Unless the woman who passed there (if it’s true) found a new sense of fashion and changed genders in the afterlife, I doubt it’s her.
There’s always the possibility that something else did happen at the Buckminster that was never documented. Some even believe it to be one of the conspirators of the Black Sox Scandal, Joseph “Sport” Sullivan. The truth is we’ll probably never know, and only the future residents of the property, whoever they may be, can tell us if the mysterious dark figure is still roaming the halls of the former Hotel Buckminster.
3. Fairmont Copley Plaza
Probably the most luxurious (and expensive) entry on our list is the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel. Situated next to 200 Clarendon Street (better known as the former John Hancock Tower), this place resembles Buckingham Palace mixed with The White House! A night here can set you back anywhere from $600 a night up to over $1200 if you want a suite. That’s a far cry from when the hotel opened in 1912, and rooms only cost about $3.50. This isn’t a hotel for the budget traveler, but if you’re looking to spend some cash and enjoy the finer things in life, it’ll be a great experience.
Courtesy of Fairmount Hotels and Resorts
The Hauntings
It’s accepted that the sixth floor of the Fairmont is the most active area at the hotel. Like The Eliot Hotel earlier in the article, the only real ghost stories I could find involved “strange noises and whispers” coming from unoccupied rooms. Some guests claim they’ve also heard the noises in the room they’re staying in.
If you haven’t gathered it by now, I’m not the type to instantly believe a ghost story when I hear one. I believe ghosts are real, but I’m also highly skeptical by nature. Strange noises in a hotel that’s over one hundred years old? To me, not that uncommon, but if you’d like to see it for yourself, you can book a room here.
4. The Lenox
The Lenox is truly a gem in Boston’s Back Bay with functioning wood-burning fireplaces in corner rooms, views of the Boston Marathon finish line, and a recent 35 million dollar renovation making it even more beautiful. A standard room will cost you about $300; if you want to go all out and stay in the Judy Garland suite, that’ll run you about $1,100 a night. This room is named after the famous “Wizard of Oz” actress who made this room her home for about three months in 1965. You can book a night here.
The Hauntings
Room 300 is said to be haunted by a spirit named Red, who is particularly fond of cigars and poker. No one seems to know precisely who Red is (or who he was), but if you stay in this room and want an experience, bring some cards and a cigar to see what happens.
On a darker tone, an unsolved murder occurred in room 624 on June 1st, 1989. An attorney named Karen Edwards was stabbed to death in her room mere minutes after checking in. A lawsuit ensued, claiming the hotel’s lack of security was to blame for the murder. Is her spirit still lurking in her room after her sudden death?
5. The Liberty Hotel
The oldest entry on the list may also have the darkest past. Opening in 1851, the Charles Street Jail held everyone from bank robbers to murderers. Famous inmates include James “Whitey” Bulger, Malcolm X, and even Albert DeSalvo, better known as The Boston Strangler. A prisoner revolt in 1973 resulting from inhumane conditions was the beginning of the end for the Jail. In 1990 the last prisoners left, and in 2007, The Liberty Hotel opened to the public.
Many inmates died while serving their time here, including a German U-boat captain and a prisoner named John J. Divivo, who hung himself in his cell. With decades of pain and misery, multiple deaths, and horrid living conditions, is it any wonder why this place is haunted?
The Liberty Hotel is a must-stay if you’re a history buff or a paranormal enthusiast. Eat at the “Clink” restaurant, then return to your room lightly themed to its historical past. The cheapest rooms I could find went for around $400 a night. At the same time, the suits go for upwards of $1,000.
Courtesy of The Liberty Hotel.
The Hauntings
Prisons aren’t known as the happiest places, so it’s no surprise that this hotel has plenty of ghost stories coming out of it. Perhaps one of the creepiest things I’ve ever heard, guests often report seeing silhouettes peering into their room from outside through the window; if that isn’t bad enough, this is often reported by guests staying on the upper floors of the hotel. For this to be a real person, they’d have to be scaling the side of the building like Spider-Man.
The most active area in the hotel is supposedly the kitchen, where most of the reported apparitions are seen. Other kitchen activity includes pots and pans moving on their own, disembodied voices yelling orders, and phantom footsteps moving throughout the room. In other parts of the hotel, slamming cell doors, faint crying, and heavy boots on the former catwalks can be heard echoing through the hallways.
A transparent woman in white has even been spotted on occasion; no one seems to know who that could be. I also read that people have seen the ghosts of inmates roaming around. My question is how they can tell the difference between the ghost of an inmate and a weathered guest in an orange shirt.
With its infamous past and chilling hauntings, this is an excellent option for a spooky Boston getaway that won’t break the bank. You can book a room here.
6. The Omni Parker House
Being the oldest continually operated hotel in America and the most famously haunted hotel in Boston, it’s no surprise that the Omni Parker House is number one on our list. First opening its doors in 1855, this hotel was a central point for American literature with its famed “Saturday Club,” which found some of the greatest minds in writing meeting monthly. John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Richard Henry Dana Jr. were just some of the people you could find attending the club.
Charles Dickens lived in the hotel for five months in 1867 – 1868. He first recited and performed “A Christmas Carol” for the Saturday Club at the hotel and practiced his lines nightly in his mirror, which is still hanging in the hotel today. He is apparently one of the ghosts that haunt the hotel but more on that later. John Wilkes Booth stayed at the hotel mere days before assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. He was spotted practicing at a nearby shooting range during his stay in 1865.
Through the years, The Parker House (before OmntOmni purchased it) became a gathering place for Boston’s social elite. Celebrities and politicians frequented the hotel often. John F. Kennedy even proposed to his wife, Jackie, at table 40 of the hotel’s restaurant. The Omni Parker house has such an immaculate history I urge you to read more about it on their website’s history page. I was surprised to see a room here for a weekend can go for as little as $324 a night, but if you want to splurge on a suite, that’ll set you back around $1400.
Courtesy of Omni Hotels
The Hauntings
There’s a theory that spirits can return to a location after death if it’s somewhere they had happy and fond memories of during life. Many believe this is why the Omni Parker House is so haunted. Almost every type of activity has been reported here. Apparitions, footsteps, electrical disturbances, whispers, knocks, smells, you name it, and someone has experienced it here.
The prominent spirit that guests and employees report seeing here is the hotel’s founder, Harvey Parker. Guests report catching glimpses of a bearded man wearing late 1800s gentleman attire. A few have seen this figure and were mortified to see the same figure painted on a portrait in the dining room, the portrait of Harvey Parker. Guests staying on the tenth floor are the most common reporters of these strange shadows.
One elevator mysteriously seems to stop on the 3rd floor whether riders want it to or not. The third floor was occupied by Charles Dickens, who lived at the hotel for five months in the late 1860s. However, in 1876 an actress named Charlotte Cushman died in Charles Dickens’s room on the third floor, so perhaps it’s her that is roaming the third-floor corridors? The room is no longer at the hotel after the massive 1920s refurbishment, but the original door and mirror are, and some say the reflection of Dickins can be seen in the mirror if you stare long enough.
Room 1040 is known for loud bangs coming from within when no one is occupying it, while room 303 often smells of cigars and whiskey without explanation. After so many reports of shadows and appliances turning on by themselves, the hotel apparently turned the room into a broom closet. The 10th floor is famous for the sounds of squeaking rocking chairs through the night, even though there aren’t any rocking chairs in the hotel, at least not anymore. Orbs are sometimes seen whipping through the 10th-floor hallways only to disappear around corners.
It seems The Omni Parker house is alive with the energy of guests past and present. No matter which part of the hotel you’re staying at, there’s always the chance that you’ll run into Harvey Parker just checking in to make sure your stay is pleasant and comfortable.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that Boston has a plethora of haunted spots to stay in during your visit. The hotels on this list have a rich history and have served thousands of guests with their hospitality and friendly service. So much so that it seems many guests never left after their checkout time. To see where these hotels stand in Boston, check out the Destinations page, where you can see a map of all the locations I’ve ever written about. If you’ve had a paranormal experience in any of these hotels, leave a comment or message me telling the story, I’d love to hear it.
