Get Spooked At America's 10 Most Haunted Bed And Breakfasts Slideshow
We've rounded up 10 of the most haunted bed and breakfasts in America for your enjoyment this Halloween season. Take your significant other, your best friends or your family on a spooky adventure they'll never forget.
Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast (Fall River, Mass.)
This inn is named after Lizzie Borden, who was involved in perhaps the most notorious patricide in American history. In 1892, according to the morbid doggerel: "Lizzie Borden took an ax / And gave her mother forty whacks / When she saw what she had done / She gave her father forty-one." Borden and her murders were real, and today you can sleep in the room her parents died in and sup at the Borden dining room table. The entire house can be rented for $1,500 per night
Magnolia Mansion (New Orleans)
New Orleans' sordid history makes it one of the most haunted cities in America. It's no wonder there are spirited hotels, bed and breakfasts, and restaurants to explore here. Built in 1857, the Magnolia Mansion is said to be haunted by "friendly" ghosts – specifically "The Caretaker," who pulls blankets up over guests while they sleep, and a few younger spirits who leave handprints in the bathroom. The mansion's past was filled with inexplicable and untimely deaths of its inhabitants, which may explain the hauntings.
Pine Bush House (Pine Bush, N.Y.)
After investigating this haunted bed and breakfast, noted ghost chaser and author Linda Zimmerman proclaimed, "We were not alone." Zimmerman and owner Barbara Grey have discovered more than one spirit – friendly ones – that may accompany guests during their stay. For Halloween, the Pine Bush House is offering special "ghost investigations" by psychic Barbara Roth. For $20, guests are given tours of the space along with explanations behind the hauntings.
The Red Garter Inn (Williams, Ariz.)
The site now occupied by The Red Garter Inn has been host to a number of businesses throughout its existence, including a saloon, a general store, an opium den, and by some accounts a brothel. Though no murders have been proven to have taken place at the inn, the sheriff was often called to investigate crimes here only to discover nothing out of the ordinary once he showed up. Today, guests have been said to see a young girl standing at the top of the stairs and to hear mysterious clunking and footsteps when no one was around.
The Myrtles Plantation (St. Francisville, La.)
This antebellum plantation was established around 1796, and its most famous legend concerns "Chloe," purportedly a slave girl from the early nineteenth century, whose image was captured in a photograph in 1992. The proprietress of the plantation was taking photos of the land for the insurance company, and one photograph showed a young woman standing between two buildings, with the exterior boards of one building visible through her form. With restaurant choices like fried green tomatoes and chicken and sausage gumbo, you'll be well fed before you run into any otherworldly guests.
Historic Farnsworth House Inn (Gettysburg, Pa.)
Established in 1810, this bed and breakfast is steeped in Civil War history. When it housed Confederate soldiers during a three-day battle, one of them accidentally shot Mary Virginia "Jennie" Wade, a 20-year-old civilian, whose spirit is now said to haunt the place. Take advantage of ghost stories in the cellar, ghost walks in the cemetery, and even a ghost hunt with professional equipment in a haunted Gettysburg battlefield. The inn also offers an outdoor beer garden for guests.
National Hotel & Restaurant (Jamestown, Calif.)
Legend has it that a young woman named Flo haunts the second story of this hotel as the result of a tragic love story. In the late 1800s, she and her beloved, Henry, were planning to wed at the National – but one morning as he came down to meet her for breakfast, a shot rang out and Henry died in a pool of blood. No one knows for sure who was responsible, but the tragedy broke Flo's heart and she was found dead in her room a few days later. The spirit of Flo likes to turn lights on and off and dump out suitcases, and many guests have reported cold spots in their otherwise warm rooms.
Foley House Inn (Savannah)
This Savannah inn stands on the very spot where a home was destroyed by the Great Savannah Fire of 1889 and a new one was built in 1896. About 90 years later, a renovation revealed human skeletal remains in the walls, believed to be those of a boarder who had gone missing many years before. Ever since, guests have reported seeing a man wearing a top hat in the garden at night, hearing strange noises, and feeling sudden rushes of air.
Marrero’s Guest Mansion (Key West)
Francisco Marrero, a cigar maker, built this Victorian home in 1889 to woo his love, Enriquetta. It worked, and legend has it that she spends nights moving through the house making sure everything is as it should be. Guests in room 18 have reported the most experiences with Enriquetta, sometimes seeing her enter the room looking for a hairbrush or smelling her perfume wafting through the air.