In the woodlands outside of Castle Durrow in Ireland it is said that the ghost of a highwayman is still guarding his treasure. Inside of the old castle turned hotel, it is said friendly ghosts are haunting.
The regal Castle Durrow stands today as an elegant four-star hotel, exuding timeless charm and a storied history that stretches back to the 18th century. Castle Durrow overlooks the River Erkina in County Laois with over 30 acres of forest and gardens to explore.
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This magnificent fortress of pre-Palladian design built from 1712 was once the abode of esteemed barons and viscounts, echoing with the grandeur of bygone eras and the whispers of ghostly secrets.
The village of Durrow takes from the Irish Darmhagh Ua nDuach, meaning ‘the oak plain’, and there is in these woods the ghost of a highwayman guarding his treasure.
The Ruthless Highwayman
Behind the opulent facade of Castle Durrow lies a tale veiled in darkness. Ruthless thieves terrorized the local community in the early years of the 19th century in the dense forest of Durrow. The highwaymen was led by none other than the notorious highwayman, Captain Jeremiah Grant as he was called and his thieving gang left a trail of fear in their wake.
Captain Grant’s gang was a relentless force of malevolence, robbing carriages, and striking fear into the hearts of all who crossed their path.
However, as fate would have it, the reign of terror orchestrated by Captain Grant and his gang would ultimately meet its end. Justice prevailed, and the nefarious highwaymen were apprehended, their fate sealed by the hangman’s noose in 1816. But before facing their final judgment, they harbored a secret—a stolen treasure, buried deep within the ancient forests surrounding Durrow and Dunmore Wood.
The specters of Captain Grant and his malevolent gang are rumored to still haunt the woods, their spectral presence serving as an ominous warning to would-be treasure seekers, still guarding it all these years later.
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Although with this reputation, it is also said that Jeremiah Grant was kind to animals and hurt no man as he robbed them. When looking into history, an orphaned boy that was evicted from his farm from a greedy landlord, one can wonder if it really is more of a tragic story about what poverty can do to a man rather than greed for endless treasures. This gives a stark contrast to the luxury within the huge castle.
The Friendly Ghosts
The ruthless highwaymen protecting their treasure is not the only ghost said to reside around the old castle. After Castle Durrow opened as a hotel in the 1990s, there have been stories about friendly ghosts that haunt the hotel and are more of a help than anything.
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There is also a legend about a woman that died when she fell off her horse close to the castle and is said to be haunting her place of death. This spot is marked with an obelisk in a field near the hotel and many claim to have seen her ghost around the spot.
The Haunted Castle Durrow
The chilling tales of Castle Durrow and its spectral guardians serve as a haunting reminder that history’s echoes are not always confined to the pages of time. Even amidst the elegance and refinement of a four-star hotel, the ghostly whispers of the past persist, weaving an intricate tapestry of intrigue and trepidation.
A once glorious and state of the art hotel in the Black Forest in Germany, the Schlosshotel Waldlust is now an empty shell of what it used to be. Old and abandoned, the place is now known as a haunted hotel after the manager was killed in one of the rooms.
Schlosshotel Waldlust is a haunted and abandoned hotel in Freudenstadt in the middle of the Black Forest in Germany. It certainly looks like a dark fairy tale building now, all dusty with decaying wallpaper and rustling in the old pipes.
But it used to be a state of the art hotel of 140 rooms where celebrity guests, writers, actors and royals alike came to spend time in the fresh mountain air. It opened in 1902 with Art Nouveau decor specialized for spa and relaxing atmospheres and entertained guests for decades.
The Murder in the Hotel
The one running the show at Schlosshotel Waldlust was Adele, or known as Adi who brought the guests to the hotel by throwing lavish and exclusive events. She is also a victim of the hotel and thought to haunt the place.
After the war the family run hotel of Schlosshotel Waldlust saw a rapid decline in guests and revenue. The hotel had already fallen from its heyday earlier in the century.
Grand Hotel: When it opened it was a luxury hotel. Now there is only ruins and damp empty rooms of it left.
The exact details about what happened to Adi is unclear as there never were a record of an Adele as a hotel owner or as a guest, but she was brutally murdered in the world famous hotel in 1949, and the hotel was never the same as she would never check out and leave.
The Haunted Hotel
After Adi died, the Schlosshotel Waldlust was used as a military hospital for years and many met their end in the former hotel. In the 1960s they tried to open the hotel again as a guesthouse with all the former glory, but something had changed.
The hotel staff started to notice strange things, the glass was shaking as if it was an earthquake, and they saw a woman with a white veil wandering the halls. They also heard a baby crying in the night, even though there was no one there.
Schlosshotel Waldlust finally closed in 2005, and is now almost only used for those that want to take a peek at what a haunted and abandoned hotel looks like.
In the old classic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver a certain Lady in Red is said to haunt the upper floors of the place she used to go ballroom dancing in the 1940s. Still to this day guests report seeing her in the lobby as well as their rooms and she has even been seen passing through walls and locked doors.
The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is located in downtown Vancouver, and this haunted hotel is not to be mixed up with the haunted hotel in Ottawa bearing the same name. The place on West Georgia Street opened in May 1939 after being delayed for many years because of the Great Depression.
Once a Japanese family called up the front desk and asked if they had double booked the room. When they had entered their room on the 14th floor. The front desk said they had not, probably well knowing that the woman dressed in a red dress was not a living guest at the hotel.
The hotel is known as the Castle in the City because of the modern fairy tale-like tower and is also the home of the Lady in Red said to haunt the hotel.
The Legend of the Lady in Red
The story of the ghost of The Lady in Red is that a woman dressed in a long and fancy red dress is supposedly haunting the 14th floor of the hotel, although she has also been seen in other places of the hotel.
Today, most of the staff at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver know of her and in the hotel bar they even have named a drink after her, at least around Halloween season.
The Dancing Socialite with a Tragic Death
In life she went by the name Jennie Pearl Cox and she stayed at the hotel many times with her husband Harold according to the stories. She was a Vancouver socialite that attended hotel events and dances in the 1940s when the hotel was new and fresh.
Her stay at the hotel ended abruptly though when she was 25 years old and she got into a car accident in 1944 at the corner of Burrard and Georgia and died, but never really checked out from her favorite hotel.
The Haunted Hotel
Soon after her death the ghost of the Lady in Red started appearing in the lobby in the stairway and dancing in the ballrooms, especially on the 14th floor as many guests learned of the hard way according to the stories.
She can be seen walking through walls and locked doors as well and has become a well known ghost in residence at the hotel.
Not everyone is as used to seeing her as the senior staff at the hotel and when the tv-series X-Files were filming in Vancouver, one of the crew even claimed to have seen the ghost of a woman wearing a red dress.
The Ghost Captured on Camera
A couple of years ago, the legend got another boost when one of the upper floors’ windows got covered in red, but it was perhaps not the most convincing evidence, even if it made the news.
But was she even real like Jennie Cox? Or was she as real as the red dress that turned out to just be a tarp covering the window?
Some say she is just a figment of the hotel’s imagination, imagined to help promote the hotel and it is just an urban myth as there are no grave stones, birth certificate or even pictures from this socialite to claim she actually existed.
Checking into the Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel in Chengde, China? According to legend, this is a haunted hotel, and the ghost in question is none else than the former Empress Dowager Cixi.
In the mountains to the northeast, three hours from Beijing is the city of Chengde in Hebei province, home to the Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel (承德云山饭店) situated by the Yangtze River and was built as the modern pride of the city to welcome guests.
The Hotel has around 220 rooms and is the old imperial resort destination of Chengde and was the first four star hotel in the city meant to cater to foreign tourists as well as locals. The hotel is also known as one of the more haunted hotels in the country.
The Ghost of The Empress Dowager Cixi
Yehe Nara Xingzhen: (29.11 1835 – 15.11 1908), a Chinese noblewoman of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan who controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager. Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856 and controlled until her death.
The Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel overlooks the Yangtze River and is said to be the haunting grounds of Empress Dowager Cixi (慈禧太后) from the Qing Dynasty, the last empress of China.
Empress Dowager Cixi governed the country for 47 years until her death in 1861 after working her way from the position as a concubine and was a highly controversial figure, often depicted as a ruthless despot that was a big reason for China’s corruption problem, anarchy and revolution that came in the following years.
Although in recent years, other perspectives on her have emerged as well as many, this meant that the problems in China at the time were much more deep rooted to blame on just one regent.
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The Empress is said to watch over her former gardens which the site where Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel is built on used to be a part of. The Empress Dowager Cixi is said to be appearing at the end of the hallway on the 8th floor dressed in the traditional Chinese clothes from the late 1800s.
For what reason The Empress Dowager Cixi is said to be haunting this exact hotel is uncertain and in no sources found do they state a connection to the place other than the gardens.
The Man in Western Clothes
The Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel is not a hotel with just one ghost if we are to believe the legend though. The Hotel is also said to be haunted by a man wearing western style clothes who also hangs around on the same floor as well as the ghost of the The Empress Dowager Cixi.
Whether this particular ghost actually was a western visitor or just wearing the clothes are never really made clear. Although the female ghost both has a name and a history, the ghost of the man is for now nameless and no one knows who it can be.
Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel: Supposedly one of the more haunted hotels in China. // Source
The Legends of the Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel
The one problem encountered with this story of a haunted hotel though is the lack of Chinese sources for it. Why are they all seemingly just speaking in English? Have the ghosts just been seen by foreign tourists? Did the haunted rumors just happen to be jotted down in English on English sites or are the ghost stories about the former dowagers thinner than the top haunted lists would have it?
The question remains, is there actually a more deep rooted ghost story in The Yun Shan Fan Dian Hotel?
In this luxury hotel in London, there have been talks about ghosts for many decades now. From a murderous doctor, a German Prince and even Napoleon III himself, there are many guests at the hotel who never checked out from The Langham Hotel in London.
For over 150 years, The Langham Hotel in London has been a beacon of luxury and elegance, hosting some of the world’s most famous guests. However, behind the glamorous façade lies a darker side to the hotel’s past, one that is shrouded in mystery and intrigue.
From unexplained sightings to eerie noises and unexplained occurrences, The Langham’s reputation as a paranormal hotspot has grown over the years, attracting thrill-seekers and ghost hunters from all corners of the world. Join us as we delve into The Langham’s mysterious past and uncover the secrets that lie within its walls.
The History of The Langham Hotel
The Langham Hotel is an iconic hotel located in the heart of London. Built in 1865, it was the largest and most luxurious hotel in the city at the time with its Florentine palace style with over 500 rooms.
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The Langham Hotel was the first hotel to have hydraulic lifts, air conditioning, and hot and cold running water in every room. It was also the first hotel to offer a full-service restaurant, which quickly became one of the most popular dining spots in London.
The Langham Hotel: The old hotel in London houses some very famous ghosts, and especially the room 333 is said to be the most haunted and both guests and staff tries to avoid to stay in the room.//Source: Wikimedia
It used to be owned by the BBC after it was damaged after WW2 and many of the ghostly sightings were done by some of the broadcaster and company staff.
Over the years, The Langham Hotel has hosted some of the world’s most famous guests, including royalty, celebrities, and politicians. However, behind the hotel’s grandeur lies a darker side to its history. The Langham Hotel has been the site of numerous paranormal incidents over the years, with many guests and staff members reporting unexplained sightings, eerie noises, and unexplained occurrences.
When the Cricket Team Fled the Hotel
It was so bad that in 2014 there were reports that the British National Cricket Team refused to stay in the rooms with their partners they were given at the hotel, because it was supposedly so haunted. As they told the Daily Mail:
“It was so hot in the room I just couldn’t sleep. All of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off. Then when I turned the lights off again the taps came on. It was very weird.
It really freaked me out. I ended up asking to move rooms. Bealey (Broad’s girlfriend) was pretty spooked, too, and I know Moeen Ali’s other half won’t stay there because she’s so frightened of the ghosts.
Ben Stokes has had some problems sleeping as well. He’s on the third floor, which is where a lot of the issues are. I’m telling you, something weird is going on.”
The Haunted Room – Room 333
Room 333 is one of the most famous rooms at The Langham Hotel, with many guests and staff members reporting unexplained occurrences in the room and is a place said people try to avoid. The room is said to be haunted by a Victorian doctor who murdered his wife before killing himself in the room.
Guests staying in Room 333 have reported hearing unexplained noises, feeling a cold breeze, and seeing ghostly figures throughout the night. Some guests have even reported waking up to find their belongings moved or the room rearranged.
The Langham Hotel has embraced the room’s haunted reputation and now offers ghost tours and paranormal investigations for guests who want to experience the room’s paranormal activities for themselves.
The Famous Paranormal Incidents at The Langham Hotel
One of the most famous paranormal incidents at The Langham Hotel occurred in 1973 when a BBC radio producer, James Alexander Gordon, was staying in Room 333. He reported seeing a ghostly figure of a man standing at the foot of his bed. The figure was wearing Victorian evening dress and had no face. According to Gordon, the figure disappeared as soon as he turned on the light.
Another famous incident occurred in 2014 when a guest staying in Room 333 reported seeing a ghostly figure standing at the foot of her bed. She described the figure as a man wearing a top hat and Victorian clothing. The guest also reported feeling a cold breeze and hearing unexplained noises throughout the night.
These are just two of the many paranormal incidents that have occurred at The Langham Hotel over the years, with guests and staff members reporting unexplained sightings and eerie noises throughout the hotel.
The Ghostly Sightings of Famous Guests
The Langham Hotel has hosted some of the world’s most famous guests over the years, including Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, and Princess Diana stayed there several times.
Napoleon III: Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 1808 – 1873 is said to haunt Room 312.
Dickens claimed in 1879 in his guide book that it was the most expensive hotel meal in London that charged 14/6d (or 72½p) for a bedroom, breakfast with coffee and cold meat, and dinner with soup and meat. But for large dinner parties, there was nowhere else to go.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was also one of the frequent hotel guest, and Doyle used the hotel as the setting for several Sherlock Holmes stories.
However, some of these guests have reportedly never left the hotel and are said to haunt its halls to this day.
One of the most famous ghostly sightings at The Langham Hotel is that of Emperor Napoleon III, who is said to haunt Room 312. According to legend, Napoleon III stayed at The Langham Hotel in 1870 while in exile.
He died in 1873, but his spirit is said to have never left the hotel. Guests staying in Room 312 have reported seeing his ghostly figure standing at the foot of their bed as well as loitering down in the basement area.
The German Prince by the Window
Another high ranking ghost said to haunt the hotel is said to be of a German prince who jumped from a window on the 4th floor.
This ghost is said to have been seen by the BBC announcer, Ray Moor. He described the ghost as a big guy with short hair and a military jacket that was buttoned up to the neck.
This ghost is said to also be the most active ghost at Langham Hotel and is seen walking in the early morning through the doors. It is also said that he enjoys hanging out in Room 333.
The Other Ghosts Haunting
But there are not only high ranking military or royals or murderous doctors said to haunt the hotel. There are also seen a butler wandering around in the corridors wearing holey socks as well as a man with a gaping wound on his face.
There is also said a footman in blue with a powdered wig is roaming in the halls that creates a sudden drop in temperature.
A Stay at the Most Haunted Hotel
The Langham Hotel has been the site of numerous paranormal investigations over the years, with ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts flocking to the hotel to experience its haunted reputation for themselves.
The hotel has even been featured on numerous TV shows, including Most Haunted and Ghost Adventures, which have documented the hotel’s paranormal activities.
The Langham Hotel’s mysterious past and paranormal reputation add to its allure and make it one of London’s most fascinating and intriguing hotels.
The Hello Kitty Murder Case shocked Hong Kong and the world to the core when the skull of a woman was found sewn inside of a Hello Kitty Doll. One of the participant in the torture of the victim claimed that she was haunted by her and for years after the murder, the place itself was said to be haunted.
In 1999, a young girl walks into a Hong Kong police station alone, riddled with nightmares and guilt. The 14 year old teenager claims to be haunted by this dead woman for the last couple of weeks, and she truly believes she won’t be at peace until the girl confesses to what happened to the ghost that is haunting her.
At first the police disregards her statements, thinking she is delusional and making stuff up, but when she tells them about the horrible torture and murder she witness and even took part in, the police couldn’t ignore it.
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When the police started investigating the address the girl gave, they came to find something truly shocking and horrible. The apartment had been the sight of a crime were a woman had been held imprisoned, tortured and raped for over a month before she died. The body had been mostly disposed of, but stuffed inside of a huge Hello Kitty plush doll, they found the woman’s head. Therefore the murder case was called The Hello Kitty Murder Case.
Granville Road in 2016 in the Tsim Sha Tsui area were the gruesome Hello Kitty Murder took place.
The Harsh Life of the Kidnapped Hostess
The place of the Hello Kitty Murder was in a third-floor flat in the downtown area on No. 31 Granville Road (加連威老道) in Tsim Sha Tsui area in the Kowloon district. The inside of the apartment was filled with Hello Kitty memorabilia, including the big Hello Kitty Mermaid Plush Doll.
Fan Man-yee: The victim of the Hello Kitty Murder Case.
The victim was the 23 year old nightclub hostess and young mother, Fan Man-yee (樊敏儀)who had been missing for a month.
Her life had never been easy, and it ended in the most gruesome way imaginable. She had been abandoned as a child and grew up in an all girls orphanage in Hong Kong. When she got kicked out at 15 because she was too old to be there, she supported herself through sex work.
Over the years she turned into a drug addict and barely got by. She ended up marrying one of her clients who also were a drug addict, and lived with him despite their abusive relationship.
Then she got pregnant and had a child and decided to turn her life around. She got clean, left her husband and quit being a prostitute. Instead she started working as a nightclub hostess at the Romance Villa and hoped for a better future together with her son.
The Murderous Pimp and Drug Dealer
Her hopes got crushed fairly quickly however as bills were piling up and her nightclub was frequented by criminals, drug dealers and addicts as well as the Chinese crime syndicate, The Triads.
One of these seedy types she met was the 34-year old Chan Man-lok. He was both a drug dealer and a pimp and had a sexual relationship with Fan-Man. She once stole his wallet that had around $HK4,000 (roughly $500 USD) inside of it, but even if she gave it back at once Chan Man-lok realized she was the thief, he demanded more money from her that she was unable to pay. And because of this, he decided to kidnap her, thinking he would make money out of her by pimping her out.
A Month of Sadistic Torture
Instead he ended up rounding up his other accomplices, and ended up just torturing her in what seemed to be for no other reason than perverse and sadistic enjoyment.
The teenage girl given the cover name Ah Fong because of her young age testified that three men Chan Man-lok, Leung Shing-cho and Leung Wai-lun, all in their 30s and 20s abducted Fan Man-yee and tortured her until she died over the course of a month. She was the quote on quote: “girlfriend” of Chan Man-lok who also worked as a sex worker for him and she admitted that she even joined in on the beating on occasion.
Over the course of that month the men got high on drugs while they beating her with iron bars, raped her, burning her by dripping melting plastic on her, pouring chili oil on her wounds, stringing her up hanging from the ceiling for hours and other sadistic acts they came up with. She was even forced to smile and say she enjoyed the torture. If she didn’t it would only get worse.
The Horror of the Hello Kitty Murder
Hello Kitty: The Hello Kitty Murder got its nickname after where they placed some parts of the body.//Source
After she died they dismembered her body, boiled them and disposed of it as household trash or feeding it to stray dogs. Some of her internal organs were found in the refrigerator. The head they sew in the head of the Hello Kitty doll, although their motive for this is still unclear.
The exact cause of death is not known because of how little of her remains they found, and therefore there was also too little evidence to sentence the men for murder with intent, although it was clear she had died because of their abuse.
“Never in Hong Kong in recent years has a court heard of such cruelty, depravity, callousness, brutality, violence and viciousness,” said Hong Kong Justice Peter Nguyen after the trial, who sentenced the defendants to life imprisonment Wednesday after they were convicted of manslaughter. “The public is entitled to protection from people such as you.”
The three men were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole for 20 years. Hong Kong does not have the death penalty, but if it had happened on mainland China, they would have likely been executed.
The Ghost of Fan Man-yee at Court
Who really knew what would have happened to the case if the teenage girl known as Ah Fong hadn’t been convinced she was haunted by Fan Man-yee, and because of her torment and remorse, she ended up walking into the police station and at least helping to find the victim. Because of her young age and corporation she never received any punishment for her involvement in the Hello Kitty Murder case.
Many unusual events have occurred that are regarded as supernatural by the public. And rumors about something paranormal and strange going on started already during trial.
The forensic doctor in charge of the case revealed that when the evidence including the skull of the deceased, the Hello Kitty doll, and the clay pot used to cook the body were presented to the court, the entire court was filled with the smell of the corpse. No matter where the Hello Kitty doll was presented, nearby lights would flicker. The same light disturbance happened when the defense lawyer argued that the only illegal thing happened when they were disposing of the body. An observer of the trial refused this rumor though and said it only happened when the police played the defendant’s confession.
The Haunted Building
The building where the murder happened had strange things going on. A woman rented a unit on the fourth floor without knowing about the murder. Her friend often heard women crying at night, and at that time, there were no people living downstairs. It’s worth noting that this woman had suffered from sleep paralysis while sleeping.
Granville Road: The building were the horror of the Hello Kitty Murders took place in 2010. The murder occurred in Block B on the third floor, which was demolished in 2012 and rebuilt into the Soravit on Granville in 2016.
The hair salons on the first and second floors of the building had discovered Hello Kitty dolls of unknown origin when they came to work in the morning. When looking at the CCTV footage, they even saw that after the salon closed at night, there were figures walking around in the salon. The manager of the hair salon denied that unusual incidents had occurred in the store.
The wife of Hong Kong metaphysician Chen Dingbang said that in 2013, when she was relaxing in a bar on Granville Road, she saw a woman’s head staring at her from the opposite building. Later she learned that the unit was where the case took place.
The apartment building where Fan was tortured has since been demolished as no one wanted to buy or rent the infamous apartment that everyone in Hong Kong knew the backstory behind. It was empty for years and eventually, no one wanted to live in the other apartments in the building either.
Some claimed that after the Hello Kitty Murder the building itself was haunted by Fan and there were many who claimed to have seen her haunting the area.
In the end someone bought the empty building and demolished it in 2012. Instead they built a hotel there in 2016 named Soravit. As a memorial to what happened there, they placed three Buddha portraits in the hotel.
The Ancient Ram Inn in England is said to be one of the most haunted places in the country as well as a quaint little resting place for travellers dating back centuries. Located in Gloucestershire, it is said to house the restless spirits of both witches, demons, ghosts and ghouls all gathered under the same roof.
The Ancient Ram Inn is a notoriously haunted building located in the small village of Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucestershire. Dating back to 1145 to house the workers and slaves building the church nearby, this centuries old inn and former pub has been the focus of hauntings, poltergeists and strange occurrences throughout its mysterious history.
There are many stories told about why the place is so haunted, is it because it is built at the intersection of 2 Ley Lines? Because it is built on a Pagan burial ground? After all this time it is difficult to pinpoint to just one thing, but the haunted rumors and ghosts roaming inside of the walls keep piling up as the history of the building just keeps getting longer.
The History of the Ancient Ram Inn
The Ancient Ram Inn has a long history that dates back to 1145, and it is believed that the building was originally constructed on the site of a pagan burial ground according to the legends.
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During its 600 year lifespan, this inn has been home to several owners and been frequented by travelers, locals and untold numbers of supernatural beings. Once serving as a monastery and later as a pub, this building has seen much tragedy in its time.
Ancient Ram Inn: The old and historic building is said to house more than just travelling guests. People that have stayed there, visited when it was a pub as well as the owners claim that as many as 20 ghosts is haunting the building. //Source: Brian Robert Marshall / Ram Inn, Potters Pond, Wotton under Edge / CC BY-SA 2.0
Wotton-under-Edge, in Gloucestershire UK, is an ancient market town and one of the primary locations in which The Ancient Ram Inn still stands even after most of it is built anew. As part of the Cotswolds, Wotton-under-Edge has a long and storied history – having been mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086!
Pagan Burial Ground and Ley Lines through the Ancient Ram Inn
Over the years many strange occurrences have occurred at The Ancient Ram Inn, stories of haunting and screaming in the night. Visitors have reported hearing children playing on the stairs while others have seen eerie shadows lurking in the corners. The room called the Men’s Kitchen is said to have been built on top of the pagan burial ground and the staircase is a place where people have claimed to have felt a push.
As with many haunted buildings in the UK, there are also talk about the Ancient Ram Inn being built on top of 2 ley lines, one of them coming directly from Stonehenge and the other from Glastonbury Tor. These types of lines are drawn between sites of spiritual importance like churches, burial grounds and the likes. Ley lines are thought by spiritualist to fuel paranormal sites like this one with some sort of energy.
The Owner Looking for Demonic Energy
One of the owners, John Humphries, who bought The Ancient Ram Inn in the late 1960s to save it from demolition after it closed down as a pub in 1968. Humphries was very interested in the haunted history of the Inn, or he certainly became a believer after staying there for many years. Already at the first day at his new home he claimed to have been thrown out from the bed by an unseen force.
This didn’t deter him from his mission though, and even when his wife and daughter left the place, he stayed on to preserve his life work.
He claimed to have found evidence that some were worshiping the Devil. He owned and lived in the building until his death in 2017 and many of the ghost stories comes from him when he run it as a guesthouse. Once he found the skeletal remains of children under the staircase he believed to have been stabbed with daggers and that they were actually ritual sacrifices.
The current owner, his daughter Caroline Humphries says that the place is now a haunting ground for paranormal investigators and that there is as many as 20 ghosts lingering in the little inn. With such a lengthy history, it’s no surprise that this mysterious inn continues to be surrounded by ghostly tales.
The Witch’s Room
One popular legend about The Ancient Ram Inn is the story about the supposed witch that was burned at the stake in the 1500s. The witch panic had taken England and she was fleeing from the mob that were after her to have her killed because of it.
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Many believe that it is the spirit of the woman that is haunting the place and people have claimed to have seen the ghost of a girl in the window, waving to the people passing by. According to the legend she was hiding in one of the rooms at the inn before getting caught and killed. Today the room is known as The Witch’s Room.
One detail about this legend though is that witches weren’t actually burned in England, they were hanged. So if there really was an alleged witch fleeing prosecution at the inn, her death would have been hanging, not burning.
There is also said that there is a black cat haunting the room, said to be the spirit of a 500 year old mummified cat John Humphries found in the wall. It is said they put animals in the walls as a sort of good luck charm.
The Incubus and Succubus at the Ancient Ram Inn
Although with a long story as an inn or a guesthouse, it seems to be a problem with the rooms and how private it is. People seem to not have a great night sleep and complain about succubus and incubus in several of the rooms at the Inn.
The latin word of Incubus means a nightmare induced by a demon. This is a female and male demon often said to seducing people in their sleep, disturbing them. There are parallels of this type of demon found in every religion and culture across the world. Today we often explain this type of demon as night terrors, or simply a disturbing erotic dream.
Humphries is said to have shared his bedroom at The Ancient Ram Inn with this type of demon until his death. This bedroom was called the Bishop’s Room and said to be one of the most haunted places in the inn.
The Incubus: In Mesopotamian history, dating back to 2400 BC, demons with incubus-like qualities were mentioned, such as Lilu, who disturbed and seduced women in their sleep. In Western Christian literature, Incubi were believed to engage in sexual relations with women to father children, as seen in the legend of Merlin, making it one of the earliest examples of demonic parentage. The Incubus is said to have been inspired by the feeling of sleep paralysis. Some authors speculate that rapists may have attributed the rapes of sleeping men and women to demons to escape punishment. // Source: The dream of Countess Marguerite of Flanders. Illustration after the ballet pantomime “Riccardo Cuor di Leone” by Salvatore Viganò.
The Bishop’s Inn
The room where most guests complained about in The Ancient Ram Inn something paranormal happening in there was in a room on the first floor called The Bishop’s Inn where as many as 9 ghosts are said to reside in. Even a roman centurion has been spotted riding his horse through the walls by some plumbers doing their work.
According to one story there once was a medium investigating the place and opened up the door. The medium was lifted off the floor and flung across the hallway, giving only bad energy from inside.
It is said that a ghost of a monk or in some versions, two, is haunting the place and that the ghost has scared more than one guest that fled in the night after being woken up.
By the door there have been more than one guests claiming to have seen a man that look like a shepherd with a dog. There have also been heard screams from a man that was murdered by someone casting his head into the fire.
Ghost Stories: The owners of the Inn has never shied away from the haunted rumours of the building. Here from the inside of the Ancient Ram Inn. There are several newspaper cuttings to be seen, mostly focusing on the various ghosts that reportedly inhabit the place. The owner was, it has been stated, yanked out of bed on his first night in residence by one of the incumbents wishing to make his or her presence known.//Source: Brian Robert Marshall / Ram Inn interior, Potter’s Pond, Wotton under Edge / CC BY-SA 2.0
The Innkeeper’s Daughter in the Attic
If you make your way up to the attic of The Ancient Ram Inn, it is said the room is filled with an intense feeling of sadness lingering in the old room that has become so unstable you can almost not walk all the way to the back because of the dangerous floor.
In the early 1500s, the innkeeper had a daughter working there with him at the inn. One night, she was lured up to the attic where she was killed. People that have been directly under the room have said to have heard the sound of something heavy being dragged over the floor.
There is also said to be a murdered woman named Elizabeth that were buried underneath the bar. She is often seen wandering the house together with all of her fellow spirits of the house.
The Ancient Ram Today
Today as the many years the Ancient Ram Inn has been operating, the Inn will house its ghosts for many years to come as well. After her father died, Caroline Humphries picked up her father’s legacy and continue to keep the old building standing and taking care of its spirits.
Take a closer look at the paranormal activity linked to Ottawa’s iconic Fairmont Chateau Laurier and the unique stories told about its hauntings.
For 100 years, the legendary Fairmont Chateau Laurier has been the site of strange and unexplained occurrences behind its Tiffany stained glass windows. The old hotel with over 400 rooms is said to have some guests that never really checked out.
From sightings of a ghostly woman in white to mysterious objects moving on their own, there are numerous tales of paranormal activity connected to one of Ottawa’s most iconic landmarks.
PS! It is not to be confused with the Fairmont hotel in Vancouver, which has its own haunted legend about the Lady in Red.
History of the Chateau Laurier
The Fairmont Chateau Laurier is a luxurious hotel built in the early 20th century as a symbol of Ottawa’s success and prosperity.
Grand Trunk Railway president Charles Melville Hays commissioned Château Laurier, and construction occurred between 1909 and 1912, but never got to live to see the opening himself as he died on the RMS Titanic on 15th of April when he was returning to Canada for the opening. Today it is said he is haunting the hotel that he never got to witness its opening of.
Since its opening in 1912, it has played an integral role in Ottawa’s social scene and political landscape, hosting many important figures from the past and present.
Sightings and Urban Legends Related to the Hotel
Even throughout its storied history, unusual and mysterious events have taken place in the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. Some of the rumors of paranormal activity are more mainstream and related to typical ghostly sightings, noises, and other phenomena.
Others appear to be grounded more in urban legend than founded fact—stories that could be attributed to the hotel’s romantic atmosphere or a bit of dramatism based upon its location near city cemeteries.
What is peculiar about this hotel though, is that there is a striking amount of vague feelings and senses rather than specific stories with not much details. Could it just be the atmosphere of the place that makes you feel so? Or perhaps there is something about the place or the building that plays a ghostly prank on your nerves?
The Strange Happenings on the 7th floor
But let us have a look at what the rumors are saying, and try to pinpoint the few clues that exist.
First, there have also been many deaths connected to the hotel, especially suicides of people that have jumped from the upper floor and many chalk up the strange happenings on the upper floors of the restless spirits of these people.
For many years the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CBC had a radio studio on the 7th and 8th floor of the hotel for more than 80 years. The people that were working there reported about strange things happening in the nearby suite.
The Ghost Child
Among a general uneasiness, the feeling of being watched and creepy sounds and shakings in the rooms there have been spotted things as well people believe to be ghosts.
There have also been reports about the ghost of a child still roaming the hall.
Canada’s iconic Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is known for its legendary haunted stories about the tragic end of a bride to be and a helpful staff, even after their deaths.
Two elderly women checked into the hotel and called the bell desk for assistance after their keys wouldn’t work. The bellman on duty had other things to do and wasn’t able to help them for another 15 minutes.
Another bellman in plaid jacked came and helped the two ladies inside, and when the bellman on duty finally managed to get to the two ladies, they had already unlocked the door. He asked them how they managed and the two ladies said that an old Scotsman in plaid had helped them. The bellman turned white as that description fit perfectly with Sam McCauley, the former head bellman in the sixties and seventies. Problem was though, he had been dead since 1975.
Step into the storied halls of The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and experience its mysterious history. The iconic establishment has been tantalizing travelers with tales of hauntings and long-forgotten ghost stories since 1888, making it one of Canada’s most interesting haunted hotspots.
Introducing the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is a historic hotel located in the Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. Built in 1888 by railway magnate William Cornelius Van Horne and designed by architect Walter S. Painter, the grand chateau-style building has been a Canadian landmark for more than 130 years.
Its picturesque setting in the Canadian Rockies at 1414 meters altitude makes it perfect for an unforgettable stay.
History of the Hotel
With its long and fascinating history, it’s no surprise the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is rumored to be haunted. Built in 1888 for pioneering Canadian Railway chief William Cornelius Van Horne, the hotel was originally used as a grand chateau-style residence for railway employees before becoming a popular tourist destination.
The hotel has seen many events over the years, from royal visits to mysterious disappearances – all of which have contributed to its reputation as one of Canada’s top haunted locations.
There are more than one ghosts supposedly haunting the hotel, like Sam the bellman who is mostly spotted at the 9th floor, helping guests, but vanishing into thin air if you try to strike up a conversation or try to tip him.
The Bride of The Hotel
The most famous ghost of the hotel is the story of the Ghosts Bride. She even dates back to the 1920s and got so famous she even appeared on her own stamp and coin.
According to the legend, she was walking down the hotel’s marbled staircases on her wedding day. She was dressed up in her wedding gown, a long ting that dragged along the staircases. Some say she got her heel on the dress and slipped, some say she brushed up against a candle and burst into flames.
No matter what caused it, it ended in the same way, she died on those step before she were able to get married.
After her death, guests have claimed to have seen a ghostly figure ascending from the stairs, still trying to reach the last step. Others have claimed to have seen a woman wearing a wedding dress in the ballroom upstairs, dancing alone while she is still waiting for the first dance with her husband.
Watch Out for Room 873 – The Haunted Suite
The Fairmont Banff Springs is home to many haunted stories, but none quite as spine-tingling and mysterious as that of Room 873. According to local folklore and anecdotes from guests, the room’s occupants often experience strange noises, sudden temperature drops, and even the feeling of being touched in the night.
Some have reported seeing apparitions walking up and down the halls outside – though no one knows what the specter could be. Despite these eerie tales, visitors still flock to the hotel each year for a chance to encounter its legendary hauntings.
One of the theories about who is haunting the premise is the old legend that once an entire family was murdered inside.
Today the door is bricked up and looks like the rest of the wall in the hallway, but according to the stories, the ghosts of the murdered family still get out late at night.
In the outskirts of the moors in Cornwall with a dark history of smugglers and gothic romances. The Jamaica Inn is a perfect setting for a british ghost story, and according to the legends, it has many.
“Dead men tell no tales, Mary.” ― Daphne duMaurier, Jamaica Inn
Located in the rugged landscape of Cornwall, England, Jamaica Inn is said to be one of the most haunted places in Britain. Its walls are steeped with stories of ghosts, dust and deep secrets of smugglers and stolen goods and murdered guests – it’s a place that has enticed many looking for paranormal activity.
The Jamaica inn is said to be haunted by small children being mischievous, old smugglers lurking in the corners, blacksmiths that burned to death but are still handsy with the female guests and mysterious Victorian women in the dark shadows. So let’s put on our tricorn hat and bring our smuggled rum for a stay at the haunted Jamaica Inn.
History of Jamaica Inn
Jamaica Inn was built in 1750 as a coaching inn and has a long history of being a hideout for smugglers during the 19th century. It was originally known as The Jamaica Arms, but underwent many changes over time, including the addition of drunkards’ dens and clandestine accommodation for smugglers.
Over the years, it has served several purposes, most notably a coaching inn for local travelers. But what really sets it apart is its mysterious stories of hauntings by spirits that lurk in its passageways and hidden doorways.
Jamaica Inn lies upon the ancient Bodmin Moor – a wild and untamed landscape which has held a certain allure for centuries. The moor is full of legends, myths, and stories from both ancient Britain and more recent times. It was once home to people living in remote settlements and Iron Age Hillforts, as well as a hideout for smugglers and pirates.
Jamaica Inn The Novel
Jamaica Inn is perhaps best known for its namesake novel, written by Daphne du Maurier in 1936. She was inspired by the real Inn when she was staying there in 1930. It is also a song by Tori Amos which she wrote when she was driving along the cliffs in Cornwall and was inspired by all the legends she had heard of at the inn.
The book is a classic example of gothic romance, and tells the story of a young woman called Mary Yellen, who moves to the Cornish inn and becomes involved in the murderous activities of its inhabitants.
While some argue that Jamaica Inn is purely a work of fiction, many locals have cited uncanny similarities between their own experiences at the inn, and Daphne’s descriptions of unexplained events and hauntings in her novel.
The Ghosts of Jamaica Inn
Many believe that Jamaica Inn still remains haunted, with multiple unexplained occurrences taking place in the inn over the years. There have been countless investigations, even TV shows about the Inn. Especially an episode of the TV show Most Haunted in 2004 sparked a new interest in the old inn.
Most of the ghosts and paranormal things that have been spotted have been at The Smugglers Bar, The Stable Bar, which now is a museum, in the old bedrooms upstairs as well as in the restaurant and gift shop area.
Some claim to have seen faceless figures wandering through the corridors, while others have heard strange noises coming from empty rooms. Staff and visitors have many times heard conversations in a completely different language than English, some speculating that it could be old Cornish, meaning that these spirits can be really old as the language became extinct for a long time at the end of 18th century.
Ghost Hunting at the Jamaica Inn
Now the Jamaica Inn has opened up for its own weekends and late nights for ghost hunting at the inn. Perhaps you as well can experience seeing the highwayman in the traditional three cornered hat often seen passing through the doors before vanishing into thin air. Or perhaps the young mother in distress with her crying baby that also has been seen.
One thing the ghost hunters got on tape was a strange thing that happened on a Sunday on October 23rd in 2017, when the CCTV camera picked up something strange when the wall phone hanging by the bar looked like it was lifted before dropping to the floor. The staff member April was startled, and had earlier heard the bar door open without anyone entering. Nobody alive at least.
Have a look at the footage and see for yourself. What do you think?
The Mother with her Crying Baby
As mentioned, one of many possible ghosts at the inn is the many reports about people having heard a baby crying at the inn. This has apparently mostly been close to room 3 and 7, and the baby has been heard even if it has been confirmed that no baby has been staying at the inn at the time.
Most often this ghost is linked to the tragic story of Mary Downing. She was young and single, but had an illegitimate son. In 1934 she sued the landlord at the time, Thomas Dunn to make him recognise their son. Thomas Dunn was a married man, but the son ended up being christened Thomas Downing Dunn at Altarnun Church.
Hannah the Child Ghost
The baby crying is not the only child haunting the inn if we are to believe the rumors. There is the ghost of a small girl that has been dubbed Hanna that is said to roam the inn barefoot. One guest that stayed in room 5 once woke up and saw her wet footprints in the carpet that led to the wardrobe where there used to be a bathroom.
People have heard her running around their bedrooms at night and even claim that their feet have been touched in their sleep as they see her transparent figure by the side of their bed. There is a story about a service man that was so frightened that he fled his room and spent the rest of the night in his car.
In the later years there seems to be a bigger interest for the ghost of Hannah and people have started to write her letters and send her toys. And even these toys are said to sometimes move on their own.
The Murdered Stranger
Perhaps the most talked about ghost is the stranger that ended up murdered in the moors by the inn. His apparition around 1911 were especially noticeable as many reported about seeing someone who shouldn’t be there on the walls by the inn.
The inn has become shrouded in myths and legends over the centuries, with tales of apparitions seen near hidden staircases and secret rooms, eerie noises coming from the old stables even though no horses were ever kept there, ghostly figures roaming the grounds at night, and strange sightings in each of its many otherworldly locations.
One of the tales is the ghost of the murdered stranger that passed through the inn. Once a man was in the bar having an ale before someone called him to come outside. The stranger didn’t even finish his drink, but went into the night and was never seen again.
The next morning they found his dead body in the moors, but how he died and murderer was never found.
There have been reports of a stranger by the wall outside the Inn that neither moved or responded when people greeted him. Sometimes when the bar is closed and the inn is empty, there have been footsteps heard towards the bar, but no one reaching it, and some have speculated that it is the man returning to finish his ale.
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
