Hysterical or his­tor­i­cal, ghostly spir­its make them­selves as com­fort­able in America’s B&Bs as liv­ing guests do, and not just in the dead of night. No one’s sure if it’s the great break­fasts, the warm hos­pi­tal­ity, or the atmos­phere of these his­toric homes, but the friendly spir­its sim­ply don’t want to leave. In a recent B&B sur­vey, con­ducted by BedandBreakfast.com, innkeep­ers revealed that nearly 20 per­cent (an esti­mated 3600) of the inns in the United States are haunted. This leaves ample oppor­tu­nity to sleep with a ghost for those who seek expe­ri­ences with the the world beyond. A September 2009 BedandBreakfast.com sur­vey of inn trav­el­ers revealed that an almost 64% of respon­dents either pre­ferred to stay at inns where ghosts have been seen or admit­ted it didn’t mat­ter if it was haunted or not haunted. Nearly all respon­dents’ answers indi­cated they believed in ghosts!

For the eighth time since 2002, www.BedandBreakfast.com, the largest online B&B direc­tory and reser­va­tion net­work world­wide, has com­piled the most com­pre­hen­sive list of B&Bs and inns where ghost seek­ers will enjoy spir­ited gath­er­ings, bed-and-breakfast style. Although innkeep­ers are often afraid to share sto­ries about host­ing ghosts for fear of scar­ing guests, more than 100 B&Bs dare to reveal their ghostly hap­pen­ings and haunted hos­pi­tal­ity here. Here is the com­plete list of the col­or­ful ghost sto­ries from America’s B&Bs, orga­nized region­ally, then alpha­bet­i­cally by state.

WEST & SOUTHWEST

Red Garter B&B,Williams, AZ: Owner-innkeeper John Holst describes him­self as a “hard­core skep­tic” when it comes to ghostly appari­tions. But he has come to terms with his B&B’s res­i­dent ghost, named Eve. This two-story 1897 Victorian Romanesque-style bed and break­fast, once con­sid­ered the row­di­est abode on Williams’ Saloon Row, oper­ated as a bar and bor­dello until the 1940s. A steep flight of steps known as the “Cowboy’s Endurance Test” led to the girls upstairs. Holst is pretty sure that one of the women of the night never left. While most guests have a good night’s sleep, a few have said they felt the bed shake, heard some­one going up and down the stairs or felt some­thing touch­ing their arms, accord­ing to Holst. Come expe­ri­ence it for your­self with nightly ‘Walking Ghost Tours’ until Halloween and ‘Ghost Tales of the Grand Canyon Area’ through the winter.

Brannan Cottage Inn, Calistoga, CA: Built in 1860, this inn offers two haunted rooms avail­able for the brave and curi­ous. Visit in October to enjoy plenty of lights and creepy Halloween fashion.

The Groveland Hotel, Groveland, CA: An old gold-miner named Lyle was found dead with a box of dyna­mite under his bed here yet still prefers to hang around. Spirited sto­ry­teller and innkeeper Peggy Mosley has a col­lec­tion of Lyle sto­ries com­piled from employ­ees and guests that she loves to tell. Although a recluse in life, Lyle’s spirit tends to the play­ful. He par­tic­u­larly dis­likes women’s cos­met­ics on ‘his’ dresser and has been known to move such items to a nearby sink. One Groveland Hotel guest watched as her new makeup ‘hopped’ over the back of the dresser and landed on the floor. Lyle is a great tease who likes to tin­ker with lights and water, and enjoys mov­ing items around desktops.

Strawberry Creek Inn B&B, Idyllwild, CA: According to a local clair­voy­ant, at least six spir­its haunt this house, which has been through many incar­na­tions as a den­tist office, restau­rant, and a home for trou­bled boys. On sev­eral occa­sions, guests com­plained that their rooms were freez­ing cold, yet when the innkeep­ers checked, the rooms actu­ally seemed warm. The clair­voy­ant explained that is the ghostly way of show­ing dis­plea­sure with a per­son. One per­snick­ety spirit is believed to be a house­wife who is quite pro­tec­tive of the house. Pictures have actu­ally flown from walls in the pri­vate cot­tage here too, and some­times doors are held shut. One guest saw the spirit of a lit­tle girl who asked “Are you my mommy?”

Gate House Inn, Jackson, CA: According to the innkeep­ers of this his­toric Queen Anne man­sion, a “Garden Ghost” appeared soon after the unruly over­growth around the man­sion was cleared away for new gar­dens. An innkeeper actu­ally reported a “tap” on his shoul­der while work­ing out­side. Although no para­nor­mal activ­ity has been reported within the inn, the sur­round­ing land has a ghostly presence.

MacCallum House Inn, Mendocino, CA: According to town lore, Donald MacCallum – born in 1880 as the only son of Daisy and Alexander MacCallum – never truly left the sec­ond floor. Many guests over the years have tes­ti­fied to strange and unex­plained hap­pen­ings in room 4, where Donald slept from the time he was an infant.

The Napa Inn B&B, Napa, CA:, Emma Krasov, writ­ing for RealTravelAdventures.com reveals that with the building’s many trans­for­ma­tions from a home for delin­quent boys to the city’s Police Station, it’s no sur­prise that spir­its are hang­ing on. Emma writes “Some friendly ghosts from the old pho­tographs on the wall next to a piano were watch­ing the ever chang­ing car­ni­val of strangers, now inhab­it­ing their for­mer fam­ily rooms.” Guests are assured that all ghosts are friendly and welcoming.

Albert Shafsky House B&B Inn, Placerville, CA: Albert Shafsky built his home in 1902 – and accord­ing to the innkeep­ers here, he’s still hang­ing around. Shafsky some­times locks guests out of their rooms and leaves pen­nies in strange places. An appari­tion fit­ting his descrip­tion has even been seen stand­ing at the foot of one guest’s bed.

Queen Anne Hotel, San Francisco, CA: Built as a girls’ fin­ish­ing school fol­low­ing the Gold Rush, the head­mistress appar­ently hasn’t given up her role of tend­ing to the needs of the building’s occu­pants. Dozens of accounts speak of “Miss Mary Lake” appear­ing briefly in a mir­ror or being noticed as a hot or cold spot in a room. There’s even an odd report of Mary tuck­ing in a nap­ping trav­eler with the blan­ket snugly tucked all the way around the bed. The occur­rences all hap­pen in what’s referred to as “Miss Mary Lake Suite” or “the haunted room” (No. 410). No won­der this is the hotel’s most pop­u­lar room among those seek­ing a chance at the third dimen­sion. Celebrity psy­chic Nancy Bradley and Paranormals “Gold Rush Ghosts” have ver­i­fied that the build­ing is haunted and con­firm the ghosts are friendly. It’s the first stop on the Pacific Heights Ghost Trek.

Santa Paula Inn, Santa Paula, CA: Built in 1912 as the town’s mor­tu­ary, this build­ing was destroyed when the St, Francis Dam broke and 900 build­ings were washed away. More than 200 bod­ies were stacked up here for loved ones to iden­tify. Most have moved on, but a few con­tinue to hang around remind­ing guests to “wash away” cares at this peace­ful inn.

Ghost Rails Inn, Alberton, MT: A cen­tury ago, the old Milwaukee Railroad paused here to take on water and change crews; the inn was built to house the rail­road work­ers. When the Milwaukee Road aban­doned ser­vices and pulled up the tracks in the 1970s, the town of Alberton nearly dis­ap­peared. It’s com­ing back to life today as a bed­room com­mu­nity for nearby Missoula, just 30 min­utes away. The rail­road­ing days live on in the form of a phan­tom brake­man, still await­ing his call upstairs in the old hotel, accord­ing to the tales of those who’ve seen him.

Bottger Mansion of Old Town, Albuquerque, NM: Resident ghosts sigh, pace, and some­times even dance. There are three con­firmed, and more likely six con­tented spir­its here, doc­u­mented by inves­ti­ga­tors of the para­nor­mal. Stay over Halloween or any other time of year, and you just might expe­ri­ence them.

Texas White House, Fort Worth, TX: The ghost here is believed to be the hus­band of the only fam­ily who ever lived in the house. He died here and now haunts his old bed­room (now the Lone Star Room). Interestingly, the ghost sight­ings occur when a sin­gle woman is stay­ing in the room. One woman awoke in the mid­dle of the night, feel­ing that some­one was lying on the bed beside her, back to back. She says that for sev­eral min­utes she lay per­fectly still, then she felt the “per­son” start to move off of the bed. At that point she turned over very quickly to see who it was, and no one was there. The over­head light then came on, even though no one had turned it on. Another woman awoke feel­ing some­one get­ting into bed with her. She turned over imme­di­ately to see who it was, but no one was there. Immediately after­wards, her cell phone, which was plugged in sev­eral feet away, began to beep and wouldn’t stop for sev­eral sec­onds. She says that her phone had never done that before. A third woman reported that she felt a pres­ence in the cor­ner. Later that night she felt the same pres­ence again on the other side of the bed. Thus far, all of the pres­ences have been “friendly.”

Prince Solms Inn Bed & Breakfast, New Braunfels, TX: In the early 1900s, a young woman clad in a lacy wed­ding dress waited for her hus­band to arrive for their wed­ding at this inn. He did not appear, and despite a thor­ough search, he was deemed to have dis­ap­peared. The woman vowed to reside at the inn until he came and stayed on the staff for the next 20 years until her death in the late 1920s, still await­ing her true love. In 1930, a man arrived by horse­back in search of a woman, and when he climbed the stairs to find her, innkeep­ers reported see­ing the woman wait­ing in her wed­ding dress. The cou­ple embraced then slowly dis­ap­peared. No one ever came to claim his horse, tied to the hitch­ing post. Since then, there have been numer­ous sight­ings of a woman in her wed­ding dress.

Thornewood Castle, Lakewood, WA: So ghostly is this B&B, it served as a set for Stephen King’s mini series Rose Red in 2002. In real life, while no scary haunt­ings have occurred, guests have reported their share of chills. Invisible pres­ences, the sound of foot­steps, and sto­ries of appari­tions have been told. The ghost of Chester Thorne has been seen on the grounds and pass­ing through his bed­room. According to lore, if you stay in Thorne’s old room and ask for his help with finan­cial mat­ters, he will give you a hand. Thorne’s daugh­ter Anna, is often seen sit­ting at her bed­room win­dows, look­ing out. The prop­erty has Native American lore — the house is said to sit atop a fairy mound — and fairies are often reported in the gar­dens. Plenty of orbs have also appeared in guests’ pho­tographs here.

MIDWEST & GREAT LAKES STATES

The Blue Belle Inn, Saint Ansgar, IA: The orig­i­nal floor plans to the house were mis­tak­enly taken to the dump, only to reap­pear later in the attic. A room was mys­te­ri­ously locked — but no one was inside to have locked it. Every pos­si­ble key was tried to no avail; finally, in des­per­a­tion, the innkeeper called out: “Will who­ever is in there please open the door?” where­upon the door imme­di­ately popped open.

Inn at 835, Springfield, IL: One guest reported hear­ing a warm and friendly voice say­ing “Well, hello there.” No one was around. Another event included a sin­gle book being placed in the mid­dle of the room mul­ti­ple times. Each time it was removed from a tightly packed shelf and placed in the mid­dle of the room. Another time, wall­pa­per peeled off the wall, only to be per­fectly repaired by the next morn­ing. And every now and then, there are reports of the sound of a lid being removed from a crys­tal candy dish and then replaced, even though no one is around. The ele­va­tor deliv­ers guests to ran­dom floors regard­less of which but­ton is pushed. Repeated inspec­tions and ser­vic­ing proves it to be in per­fect work­ing order; does it have a mind of its own, or is there an unseen pas­sen­ger? Reportedly Bell Miller, the for­mer owner, was so proud of her 1909 dream home that she appar­ently never left.

Old Bridge Inn, Jeffersonville, IN: Recently, a can­dle­holder lost four years ear­lier reap­peared in the mid­dle of a guest room. Guests have reported see­ing float­ing objects, canes being picked up and twirled around, tea cups float­ing across the room and sev­eral can­dles being raised up then down on their own. Two women reported see­ing a wel­com­ing bearded gen­tle­man in the din­ing room. From pho­tos, they deter­mined that he may have been the son of the property’s long­time owner, Dr. Hancock. A small dog named Buttons has also been seen.

Inn at Aberdeen, Valparaiso, IN: Featured in the book Haunted Hoosier Trails, guests report see­ing a lit­tle girl ghost, often observed late at night on the mas­ter stair­case. She has been noted to “mess with the guests’ stuff” or turn on the fire­place in their rooms. The Indiana Ghost Trackers inves­ti­gated the inn and reported that Sarah Ritter, an orig­i­nal inhab­i­tant, and her two chil­dren died in the home. The Ghost Trackers detected the pres­ence of a young girl and a male with high EMF (elec­tro­mag­netic field) meter read­ings and pos­i­tive EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) record­ings. A door repeat­edly opened behind them when the girl’s pres­ence was felt dur­ing the Ghost Trackers’ stay.

Classic Rosewood — A Thorwood Property, Hastings, MN: The sound of cack­ling laugh­ter com­ing from under the bed then wild vibra­tions from a guest room head­board and a strange light shin­ing on the ceil­ing had one guest think­ing the inn was haunted. It turned out that a for­mer guest left a cell phone under the bed and decided to call her­self in the mid­dle of the night in an attempt to locate it. Still, you never know! Ghosts have been known to carry cell phones.

Beyer Haus, New Ulm, MN: This for­mer funeral par­lor is home to a num­ber of spir­its. When the innkeep­ers moved in, they felt taps on the shoul­ders and heard foot­steps, even when no one else was there. A local psy­chic medium and para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tor was able to shed light on six dif­fer­ent spir­its: Charlie is a lit­tle boy who died in his bed of scar­let fever, yet still runs through the hall­ways and teases the dog. Another spirit is the for­mer care­taker, still check­ing on the house. The house­keeper, Claire, keeps things neat and tidy in Maggie’s Room and, and another spirit lives in the base­ment. A small boy resides pri­mar­ily in the closet on the third floor, and has been known to hold hands with guests. All spir­its love to appear when least expected.

Bingham Hall B&B, New Ulm, MN: A man named Jake has been seen by innkeep­ers stand­ing in the door­way, never going in or out. Additionally, guests say that the doors open by them­selves, and they hear noises and feel a pres­ence of some­one watch­ing them.

Grand Avenue B&B, Carthage, MO: While the “no smok­ing” rule is in effect for all guests, the for­mer owner is exempt. A ghostly whiff of his trade­mark cigar smoke wafts through the rooms from time to time when he makes his vis­its to his 1893 Victorian mansion.

Hannibal Garden House B&B, Hannibal, MO: Hannibal, the boy­hood home of Mark Twain and his fic­ti­tious char­ac­ters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, is also home to play­ful spir­its. One resides at the Garden House, where a male pres­ence is most com­monly felt in the stone base­ment play­ing music, talk­ing, and saw­ing wood. Recently one “ghost bust­ing” guest who returns often in search of sight­ings, saw an appari­tion cross in front of the TV, and dis­ap­pear into the closet. This Halloween, take the “Haunted Historic Hannibal Trolley Tour;” stops include the ceme­tery where Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn played and the Old Jail Museum, home to many spir­its of its own.

Hannibal Bed and Breakfast at Rockcliffe Mansion, Hannibal, MO: Built in 1898 and described as the “finest home in Missouri,” this man­sion was boarded up for 43 years after its owner, John J. Cruikshank Jr., died in 1924. During the years of the vacancy, local chil­dren would run through the home, under the dare of mak­ing it all the way up to the third floor class­room, tear off a piece of the school­room map, and return out­side to prove they had made it through Hannibal’s most “haunted house.” Caretakers who watched over the vacant house would often be forced to leave their liv­ing quar­ters due to the strong smell of cig­a­rette smoke that would some­times appear at mid­night. Now restored as a B&B, the house­keep­ers at Rockcliffe Mansion have to straighten the bed in the for­mer owner’s room, even when no one has been sleep­ing there, as it mys­te­ri­ously retains the form of a 5’4″ body. Mr. Cruikshank, who stood 5’4″ while alive, died in that very bed! From time to time, guests have wit­nessed Mrs. Cruikshank float­ing through her grand music room.

Rivercene Mansion B&B, Boonville, MO: This 1869 man­sion was the home of river­boat cap­tain Joseph Kinney and was owned by the Kinney fam­ily until the 1990s. Captain Kinney’s son Noble met an untimely death at the age of 26, when he fell down the grand stair­case. The heirs, along with guests, have reported very strange encoun­ters with Noble. Not quite ready to leave, Noble is still hang­ing around play­ing pranks on guests and innkeepers.

Colonel Taylor Inn B&B, Cambridge, OH: Named for the for­mer Civil War sol­dier and four-term U.S. Congressman, the Colonel still roams the house­hold, the smoke from his pipe lin­ger­ing in this non-smoking inn. His entire fam­ily also inhab­its the inn, from the mis­chie­vous lit­tle boy to both wives of the Colonel, plus assorted adult chil­dren. Footsteps are often heard at night, images of for­mer ser­vants falling down the stairs are seen, and even the tabby cat has been spot­ted. Beds rock with­out rea­son, and toys move on their own, but the innkeep­ers are con­fi­dent that these friendly spir­its are glad that the house is being restored to its orig­i­nal Victorian opulence.

Mill House B&B, Grand Rapids, OH: From time to time, guests have claimed that the inn is haunted. After hear­ing a noise in the attic, the son of the innkeep­ers checked it out and cre­ated a video for the Internet about his spooky adventure.

C.M. Spitzer House B&B, Medina, OH: A story is told about a nosy female appari­tion who appeared with lim­ited facial fea­tures except a heavy jaw. She was a short, stout woman, in her 20s, wear­ing what the Edwardians called a “wrap­per” or house­dress. She fired ques­tions, ask­ing her sur­prised wit­ness about the fam­ily, and then dis­ap­peared as quickly as she came.

Stone Lion Inn, Guthrie, OK: If you’re lucky, a gen­tle­manly ghost may just doff his derby hat to you. Guests have seen a ghost dressed in for­mal attire; he’s rec­og­nized by the scent of his cigar smoke. Besides the unknown gen­tle­man, the orig­i­nal own­ers’ daugh­ter also haunts the inn. At eight, she was ill with whoop­ing cough; the family’s maid sup­pos­edly over­med­icated her with cough syrup, which included com­mon ingre­di­ents of codeine and opium. The ghost girl will creep into guest rooms between 2 and 2:30 a.m. to pat inhab­i­tants on the cheek. She dis­ap­pears soon after they awake.

Honeybee Inn B&B, Horicon, WI: It’s believed that a lum­ber baron named Coton is still hang­ing around with his female com­pan­ions. His beloved rock­ing chair, where he died, rocks by itself, and the innkeeper’s fam­ily has spot­ted a woman in a long skirt with an apron. Investigators of the para­nor­mal explain that stairs squeak­ing at night and the unex­plained ring­ing of bells are evi­dence of an active spirit in residence.

SOUTH

1872 John Denham House, Monticello, FL: Not only is this 130-year-old National Historic Register B&B cer­ti­fi­ably haunted, guests can explore another dimen­sion dur­ing October Teen and Parent Ghost Hunting Weekends. Enjoy a ghost tour and sem­i­nar and learn hands-on skills for ghost track­ing, plus how to record orbs and vor­texes, in audio, video, pho­to­graphic and tem­per­a­ture for­mats. The course cov­ers fol­low­ing the stan­dards and pro­to­cols of the International Ghost Hunter’s Society; offi­cial Ghost Tracker Certificates will be pre­sented. Call for rates and dates.

Avera-Clarke House B&B, Monticello, FL: Located in one of ABC-TV’s Most Haunted Small Towns, this B&B is a pop­u­lar stop on the local walk­ing tour. Take this his­toric stroll, and you just might see ghostly ves­tiges of Honorable Judge Thomas Clarke, a local banker, appear in unusual ways.

Casablanca Inn, St. Augustine, FL: This inn’s haunted her­itage began to take its shape dur­ing the early 1930s when it was a board­ing house. A widow who ran the board­ing house would stand watch on the bal­cony, swing­ing a lantern back and forth to warn rum­run­ners when gov­ern­ment rev­enuers were in town. The widow has long been dead, but anglers and shrimpers pass­ing through the inlet say they often see the swing­ing lantern atop the Casablanca Inn.

Penny Farthing Inn, St. Augustine, FL: Ghost busters, guests, and the innkeeper have said that plenty of play­ful spir­its hang around here. Occurrences include mid­night tugs-of-war with the blan­kets, and glasses lean­ing over and clink­ing on sherry bot­tles. One col­lege pro­fes­sor described a young lady sit­ting on the daybed in his room when he woke up. Then, a few days later, the four-year-old daugh­ter of the own­ers asked if the lady in the door­way of the din­ing room was a guest; the lit­tle girl described the lady she saw exactly as the col­lege pro­fes­sor had.

St. Francis Inn, St. Augustine, FL: The St. Francis is the old­est inn in St. Augustine. The inn was built in 1791, and you can count on a few of its for­mer res­i­dents still mak­ing an appear­ance from time to time. According to for­mer guest Dave Lapham, shortly after he and his wife checked in, strange things began to hap­pen. Another vis­i­tor at the inn described see­ing a young African American girl, dressed in white, float­ing down the hall­way. Later, just before going to bed, she said she saw the girl again in her room. Another guest reported that each time they tried to fill the bath with water, it kept get­ting hot­ter and hot­ter, no mat­ter how much cold water was added.

Azalea Inn and Gardens, Savannah, GA: Photos taken by guests have revealed orbs, and for days one room stayed icy cold despite the heater. Alarms sound­ing and phones ring­ing inex­plic­a­bly in the mid­dle of the night and a baby’s foot­prints appear­ing on the car­pet are among the clues that for­mer inhab­i­tants are in res­i­dence. The orig­i­nal own­ers of the man­sion had a son who suf­fered from dwarfism and died at an early age; clearly he’s not yet ready to leave.

Foley House, Savannah, GA: Legend has it that the house was owned in the late 19th cen­tury by a widow who rented rooms to trav­el­ers and board­ers. She was sus­pi­cious of one male renter who came and went at odd hours of the night, but decided he was just a loner. One night, the lady was in her room when she heard the front door open and slam shut. She noticed the foot­steps did not con­tinue to the next floor but instead stopped out­side her bed­room door. The door swung open and the boarder attempted to stran­gle her. Unable to scream, she grabbed a can­dle­stick from her night stand and beat him over the head. He fell to the floor and the widow ran to another boarder’s room for help. Returning to the bed­room, they dis­cov­ered the man was dead. Without money for a lawyer and fear­ful that she would be impris­oned for mur­der, the lady asked the boarder to help her con­ceal the body in return for free rent. On her death bed, the she told her friends what hap­pened that fear­ful night, but never revealed the loca­tion of the body. Some have reported hear­ing the door sud­denly open in the guest room where the man was killed fol­lowed by a rush of air, even though no one is there.

Kehoe House B&B, Savannah, GA: Set in a beau­ti­fully restored 1892 Queen Anne-style man­sion, this B&B is reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of twin Kehoe chil­dren who may have died while play­ing in one of the house’s fire­places (now blocked up). The inn’s web­site speaks of many reported sight­ings of the ghosts and the sound of chil­dren laugh­ing and play­ing in the dead of night.

Marshall House, Savannah, GA: Opened in 1851, this inn was used as a hos­pi­tal twice dur­ing Savannah’s 19th-century yel­low fever epi­demics and dur­ing the Civil War by the Union Army. Are they for­mer patients who’ve been reported in the hall­ways and in the foyer? We’ll never know, but the Travel Channel has fea­tured this inn on haunted hotel pro­grams and spe­cials. The Ghost Packages at The Marshall House are always a favorite.

Old Harbour Inn, Savannah, GA: Home to “Hank,” guests have reported smelling cigar smoke when no smok­ers were present, expe­ri­enc­ing things mov­ing around, wit­ness­ing coins drop­ping on the floor, and more. Want to meet Hank the friendly ghost? Book one of two Haunted Hotel pack­ages offered through­out the year.

Glen-Ella Springs Inn, Clarkesville, GA: Several unex­plained inci­dents have been reported over the last 10 years. Unusual activ­ity included guests report­ing that they awoke to an old woman in 1800s-style clothes, stand­ing in the room. The woman just stood qui­etly and then dis­ap­peared. Other ghostly occur­rences include the open­ing of screen doors, lights fad­ing on and off, music play­ing in empty rooms with­out radios, and voices heard in dark air.

Village Inn, Stone Mountain, GA: Both guests and own­ers are sure there is a ghost in res­i­dence here. There have been var­ied reports of lights mys­te­ri­ously going out, ceil­ing fans run­ning by them­selves, and the occa­sional ghostly singing. On the first New Year’s Eve the innkeep­ers lived here, they heard pic­tures fall off the wall twice but never found any­thing that had fallen. It is pre­sumed that a friendly spirit resides here, most likely a for­mer res­i­dent who didn’t want to leave.

Forsyth Park Inn, Savannah, GA: The spirit of a heart-broken young girl haunts this his­toric inn, over­look­ing beau­ti­ful Forsyth Park. As the story goes, Aaron and Lois Churchill brought home a child after being unable to con­ceive their own. The details of her adop­tion were scarce, but they named her Lottie, and spoiled her as their own child. Eventually, Lois’s much younger sis­ter Anna came to live with them, and she and Lottie became close. When Lottie dis­cov­ered a roman­tic tryst between Anna and her father, Aaron, she poi­soned Anna, in a des­per­ate attempt to save the fam­ily. As Anna took her dying breath, it was revealed that she was actu­ally Lottie’s mother. Unable to pro­vide for Lottie when she was born, Anna entrusted her dar­ling daugh­ter to her sis­ter, Lois, whom she knew could pro­vide the life her daugh­ter deserved. Upon dis­cov­er­ing she’d killed her own mother, Lottie went imme­di­ately insane, and spent the rest of her life in an insane asy­lum. One might think that her ghost would be mean spir­ited, yet Lottie’s ghost is a happy one with a child’s sim­ple enthu­si­asm. Visitors report a child’s laugh­ter and foot­steps echo­ing in empty rooms. Some claim they’ve spot­ted Lottie on the stair­case, dressed in period cloth­ing. Others claim to feel her pres­ence near the court­yard fountain—near the scene of the mis­take that changed her life forever.

Central Park Bed & Breakfast, Louisville, KY: Located in the heart of Central Park, where numer­ous ghost sight­ings have been reported, it’s no won­der this 1884 man­sion has a few friendly spir­its still roam­ing the halls. Included in the twice-weekly local ghost tours, many a strange sight­ing has occurred in the flick­er­ing of gas lights outside.

Judge Porter B&B, Natchitoches, LA: Little is known about the ghost here, yet the inn is haunted by a spirit assumed to be Judge Thomas Fitzgerald Porter who built this impres­sive house in 1912. He died in 1928 leav­ing the house to his wife, Wilhelmina, who died in 1935.

Avenue Inn B&B, New Orleans, LA: Beds move and shake in the night, singing can be heard com­ing from the old Nanny’s quar­ters when no one is there, and strange power surges in com­put­ers have all been reported from this Queen Anne style man­sion in the New Orleans Garden District. Once, dur­ing a wed­ding cer­e­mony, loud knock­ing sounds came from the inn’s din­ing room fire­place. Was it the wind or the orig­i­nal res­i­dent of the home sig­nal­ing his approval? We’ll never know.

Creole Gardens, New Orleans, LA: Ghosts don’t like change, and when this build­ing was restored as an inn, 400-pound doors slammed for no appar­ent rea­son, and bath­room tiles that had been neatly stacked were found scat­tered about the floor. One guest reported a clear image of a for­mer slave stand­ing in the cor­ner of the room with arms folded, appar­ently await­ing orders. Another guest reported a man vis­it­ing at night, speak­ing softly. Housekeepers report dark, flit­ting blurs, and a feel­ing of some­one watch­ing them.

5 Continents B&B, New Orleans, LA: In a city known for its ghosts, vam­pires and Voodoo cul­ture, this inn promises not to dis­ap­point guests with its offer to sleep with not only one spirit, but three. This 1890s Greek Revival Mansion has three res­i­dent ghosts, includ­ing a man said to have been a pre­vi­ous mas­ter of the house, a mys­te­ri­ous woman of color in a flow­ing white dress, and a very unusual part-time spirit in the kitchen area.

Magnolia Mansion, New Orleans, LA: Clearly, spir­its here don’t just come from Bourbon Street bars. Take off your slip­pers, and you may hear foot­steps out in the hall pac­ing until you cover up your bare feet. Alarms, the quiet tin­kling of a music box, over­turned water glasses, and a lit­tle girl who vis­its in the night are all com­mon evi­dences of the spir­its resid­ing here. Describing the inn as “haunt­ingly roman­tic,” one woman had the cov­ers pulled up around her by a “spir­ited” vis­i­tor while her hus­band slept soundly beside her. Account after account in the inn’s guest books recount chance meet­ings with polite and friendly ghosts. Many a guest has cap­tured their “other world” friends in pho­tos of orbs and appari­tions posted on the inn’s web­site. Want an encounter with the inn’s friendly ghosts? You must make your inten­tion known upon enter­ing. For the ulti­mate in Halloween wed­dings, book the Halloween Gothic Elopement/Wedding Package.

Asheville Seasons B&B, Asheville, NC: Grace is the for­mer owner’s great-grandmother who died at the inn. She’s an extremely friendly appari­tion who just can’t get enough good lov­ing, today or in her past life. By the way, wher­ever Grace goes, her dog fol­lows. Ever heard of a tail-wagging ghost? Perhaps it’s her foot­steps that innkeep­ers hear upstairs when no guests are there, per­haps it’s the dog. Maybe both.

Twin Lakes Lodge, Greensboro, NC: Noted ghost-story writer John Hardin, author of Tar Heel Ghosts and The Devils Tramping Ground, lived in this home prior to its becom­ing an inn. Is it pos­si­ble he got his ideas from spir­its still hang­ing around? One guest reported a woman with a long flow­ing dress float­ing over the lake one night. Dismissing these visions as a dream, he awoke the next morn­ing to find wet foot­steps on his suite’s oth­er­wise dry deck, com­ing up over the rail­ing and to the win­dow. Another guest said the woman in the white flow­ing dress hummed to her at her bedside.

Inn on Main Street, Weaverville, NC: Innkeepers have heard pic­tures falling off walls, yet never found any­thing that has fallen. Doors openand close with no one there. Strangely, all ghostly hap­pen­ings hap­pen on New Year’s Eve. This for­mer surgeon’s office still bears blood stains that won’t sand out (now cov­ered by tiles), yet guests have told innkeep­ers all energy here is good energy. The innkeep­ers say they’ve never lost a guest to the inn’s 10 iden­ti­fied “energy forces,” includ­ing men, women, chil­dren, Native Americans, and a white dog.

Carambola Inn B&B, Fuquay-Varina NC: The dis­tinc­tive scent of per­fume and a feel­ing of an unseen pres­ence give believ­ers in the third dimen­sion the dis­tinct impres­sion that the for­mer res­i­dents are still hang­ing around. One sight­ing included a friendly woman hov­er­ing about five inches off the ground. Come see for yourself.

Litchfield Plantation, Pawley’s Island, SC: The Gun Room Suite is a two-room suite once used by for­mer plan­ta­tion owner, Dr. Tucker for his bed­room and exam­i­na­tion room. Dr. Tucker was an avid hunter and gun col­lec­tor, hence the name of the suite. His for­mer gun racks now resem­ble library shelves and are stocked with books from the period. His friendly ghost is noted to make an occa­sional appear­ance now and then, just to make sure all’s well at Litchfield Plantation.

Pinhook Plantation House B&B, Calhoun, TN: Tales of spir­its abound here, includ­ing the “Lady in the Gray Gown” open­ing the front door and walk­ing up the wind­ing stairs, and a monk and other ghosts hav­ing a meet­ing in the Gathering Room late one night. A school teacher who for­merly lived in the house brought her stu­dents to show them the rock­ing chair that fran­ti­cally rocked, and then sud­denly stopped as if some­one got up.

Fairview Inn, Jackson, TN: Wet foot­prints have been dis­cov­ered by the house­keep­ers in the third-floor suite after the clean­ing staff has just been in there, and no guest had entered the room. At least we can assume the ghosts here are clean.

Prospect Hill B&B , Mountain City, TN: A visit here may reveal a glimpse of a shadow dis­ap­pear­ing around the cor­ner, the dis­tinc­tive cry of a baby, firm leather shoes going up and down the stairs, or the unex­plained shat­ter­ing of bath­room glasses fly­ing into the air. True to the Southern tra­di­tion, this friendly ghost loves to get into the bour­bon, and reports of peanut but­ter cook­ies bak­ing in the oven at all hours of the night also con­firm its presence.

By The Side of The Road Bed and Breakfast, Harrisonburg, VA: When the innkeeper went to turn off the base­ment light, some­thing grabbed her hand, yet noth­ing was there. Just about every day foot­steps are heard in hall ways, and doors unex­plain­ably open and close.

Black Horse Inn, Warrenton, VA: Four ghosts have been accounted for in this for­mer Civil War hos­pi­tal. The first is a woman believed to have been a nurse in the hos­pi­tal, who is inclined to laugh only in gentlemen’s ears. She is believed to be com­fort­ing them with her soft, kind laugh­ter just as she did the sol­diers she tended. The sec­ond ghost is known to the whole com­mu­nity as “The Dancer” because the tap, tap of his shoes is heard through­out the night as he dances at the top of the stairs. Another male ghost inhab­it­ing the Burgundy Room makes an impres­sion on the com­forter each time he sits on the bed. And the Ghost of Christmas has tipped over the Christmas tree — break­ing all the orna­ments — each year for the past three years. The tree is now wired to the cor­ner of the room.

Elkhorn Inn & Theater, Landgraff, WV: A spirit the innkeep­ers play­fully call “Molly” made her pres­ence known often when the inn was first opened. Lights would sud­denly come on, doors would mys­te­ri­ously unlock, and one paint­ing came off the wall each night after it was re-hung. Roofers were hired to fix the roof, and one of them saw a female spirit at his door. Tales are told of a woman who died in one of the offices of the build­ing before it was con­verted to an inn. Could Molly still hang­ing around? They’re still try­ing to fig­ure that out.

MID-ATLANTIC

Reynolds Tavern, Annapolis, MD: When you stay at Historic Reynolds Tavern, you may be cared for by the innkeep­ers, or by Mary Reynolds her­self. Mary main­tained the tav­ern until her death in 1785, yet some believe she has never left the build­ing. Employees have heard her sing Christmas car­ols, expe­ri­enced her “fix­ing” the grand­fa­ther clock in the din­ing room, and watched as she showed her dis­like of new employ­ees by break­ing tea pots and glasses. The Maryland Ghost and Spirit Association con­firmed her pres­ence with pho­tographs and tem­per­a­ture read­ings, and exclaimed that Mary is not alone; they iden­ti­fied a total of five spir­its in the house.

Main Street Manor, Flemington, NJ: A strange pres­ence has been felt by guests of the inn, includ­ing an expert on ghosts. One woman asked if a baby had been born in her room, feel­ing the pres­ence of mother and daugh­ter. While no actual sight­ings have been reported, guests feel an ethe­real pres­ence here.

Manchester Inn, Ocean Grove, NJ: Check in to room 316, and ghosts may lit­er­ally pull your leg. It’s been known to hap­pen there, when a guest felt a tug­ging at her pants leg sev­eral times. Strange noises and dis­ap­pear­ing shad­ows in the hall­way are other indi­ca­tors that friendly spir­its inhabit this inn.

White Lilac Inn, Spring Lake, NJ: Many guests have smelled a flo­ral scent on the stair­case, always in the same place. The own­ers of the inn learned that for­mer owner Sally Mann Randock Francis, now deceased, wore a flo­ral per­fume. Given the col­or­ful nature of Sally Mann Randock Francis’s life, it is believed that she’s hang­ing on to insure guests share in the fun and friv­o­lity that endured there dur­ing her lifetime.

Captain Schoonmaker’s B&B, High Falls, NY: Starting with the com­ment, “a funny thing hap­pened last night,” guests often share tales of how a can­dle was lit, a light was turned on, or they heard foot­steps when no one was there. In 1814, the 12-year-old son of the inn’s name­sake, a Revolutionary War hero, died and was buried out­side the inn. As mis­chie­vous as young boys are, the the­ory is this lit­tle boy is hang­ing around still hav­ing a lit­tle fun.

Borland House, Montgomery, NY: In the sec­ond chap­ter of her book, Back Into the Light, author and ghost inves­ti­ga­tor Linda Zimmermann tells of her team’s expe­ri­ences here. In fact, there was enough ghostly activ­ity to fill eight pages with tales and pho­tos of ghostly sight­ings. Zimmerman con­cluded her chap­ter on Borland House by say­ing “Be with­out fear, as there is noth­ing harm­ful here, and go there with a sense of won­der and eager­ness of get­ting a chance to expe­ri­ence some­thing unique.”

1871 House, New York City, NY: One guest recounted a vivid story about awak­en­ing to find a well-dressed man wear­ing a bowler hat stand­ing at the end of her bed. Strangely, she was not afraid and requested that he leave her alone. He slowly got up and left out the door, never to return.

Saratoga Farmstead, Saratoga Springs, NY: A young black boy and his enslaved mother hid in the attic dur­ing the Civil war and even­tu­ally died there. From then on, each time some­one tried to climb up the attic stairs, the ghost of the boy stuck his arm out, trip­ping the intruder to pro­tect his mother. During a ses­sion with para­nor­mal experts, these ghosts were released to “the next level,” and folks no longer trip on these stairs.

Inn at Herr Ridge, Gettysburg, PA: Formerly known as Herr Tavern & Public House, the tav­ern here served as an impromptu field hos­pi­tal for the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia dur­ing the Battle of Gettysburg. It appears that the spir­its of the wounded sol­diers are still enjoy­ing the spir­its at the tav­ern here. Innkeeper Steven Wolf said that once some­one ordered a beer, but no one was there. Odd occur­rences reg­u­larly hap­pen, includ­ing mys­te­ri­ous whis­pers, call­ing the names of the employ­ees, plus cold spots, glasses and sil­ver­ware fly­ing off tables, even knives and forks falling blade or prongs first into the floor. Occasionally, com­put­ers type gib­ber­ish on their own, extin­guished lamps relight, and unex­plained crashes occur in the kitchen. One employee was look­ing for a glass of water she had left sit­ting some­where else; giv­ing up, she returned to her desk to find it sit­ting there, frosted over. Steven Wolf attrib­utes much of the activ­ity to the “house ghost,” Frederick Herr, who pur­chased the tav­ern in 1828.

Mary-Penn B&B, Gettysburg, PA: With the his­tory of the famous Civil War bat­tle fought here, it’s no won­der that Gettysburg is one of the bet­ter known haunted des­ti­na­tions. A para­nor­mal group recorded horse noises and voices in their base­ment, and from time to time guests have claimed to expe­ri­ence friendly spirits.

Harry Packer Mansion, Jim Thorpe, PA: While the own­ers explain it’s not spooky inside, the facade of this pink man­sion was used by Disney as a model for their haunted man­sion. While ghost sto­ries have been con­fined exclu­sively to the mur­der mys­ter­ies held here through­out the year, the own­ers are on the look­out for Disney per­son­al­i­ties going bump in the night.

Inn at Jim Thorpe, Jim Thorpe, PA: Simply visit the inn’s web­site, and click on the Ghost Stories but­ton to learn about the antics of the friendly spir­its here. Guests have caught unex­plained shad­ows and orbs on dig­i­tal cam­eras and one guest explained how the chair in his room turned upside down each time he tried to sleep. One guest even claimed that a ghost put his phone in the refrigerator.

Cornerstone B&B, Philadelphia, PA: A sweet, flo­ral scent pre­cedes sight­ings of a ghostly female shape at the Cornerstone. Innkeepers claim she is an ethe­real pres­ence, and her sig­na­ture per­fume always occurs as she gen­tly taps the fore­heads of those at the inn. Some claim she’s a res­i­dent angel; oth­ers feel she’s a ghost.

NEW ENGLAND

Captain Grant’s, Poquetanuck, CT: Visitors to this his­toric 1754 inn are told when they arrive that if they hear the loud knock at the door, they can answer if they like, but nobody will be there. Those who stay at the Adelaide Room are sure to have some con­tact with the mys­te­ri­ous woman and her two chil­dren who once lived there, whether it is through the TV turn­ing on and off or the shower cur­tain con­tin­u­ously falling down. One guest even had her ChapStick lev­i­tate out of her purse on a recent visit. While vis­it­ing, take a tour of the local ceme­ter­ies, also known to house their own ghostly dwellers.

Deerfield Inn, Deerfield, MA: With so much Colonial his­tory pre­served in Historic Deerfield’s liv­ing museum, it’s no sur­prise to learn that a num­ber of col­or­ful spir­its are still hang­ing around. In fact, many of these spir­its have been immor­tal­ized in the 101 dif­fer­ent Martinis served here, all named after col­or­ful Deerfield char­ac­ters. Flashing lights, knocks on doors when no one is there, mov­ing books, and tables moved into the mid­dle of the room are reg­u­lar occur­rences here. From time to time, the innkeep­ers report a gen­tle shove in the back, indi­cat­ing it is time to go to bed. For ghost-seekers, much of this other world activ­ity occurs in rooms 48, 43 and 41. The ghost is believed to be the orig­i­nal owner of the house, Cora Carlisle, still hang­ing around to offer a lit­tle extra-worldly hospitality.

Penny House Inn, Eastham, MA: Home to the “Goodnight Ghost,” along with other play­ful spir­its, ghost sto­ries from this inn are well doc­u­mented in Haunted Houses of Cape Cod. One ghost named Charlotte loves to turn the music up full blast in the inn’s on-site spa, so care is taken before every treat­ment to turn the music down. Charlotte loves the new spa, built in the old­est part of the inn dat­ing back to 1690; her approval gives the spa pos­i­tive energy.

Birchwood Inn, Lenox, MA: Certifiably haunted, the ghosts here date back to 1800. One guest swears a cat sat on his feet the first night, then it changed into a beau­ti­ful female appari­tion the sec­ond night. Few rooms at the inn have gone with­out ghost sight­ings. Come try your luck, and bring along some catnip.

Thaddeus Clapp House, Pittsfield, MA: Playwright Peter Bergman encoun­tered the spirit that resides here when he was rehears­ing a play in the B&B’s draw­ing room, where the orig­i­nal own­ers held “par­lor plays” in the 1800s. This friendly spirit is a for­mer mem­ber of the Clapp fam­ily, doing its best to wel­come guests to their beloved home.

Emerson Inn by the Sea, Rockport, MA: Guests have shared pho­tos of shad­owy fig­ures in the door­ways, and staff tell sto­ries of a dark shadow of a man seen at the left side of the build­ing. Lights have been known to go on and off too, per­haps it’s the spirit of Ralph Waldo Emerson, for­mer guest, sim­ply turn­ing off the light after a night of inspiration.

The Salem Inn, Salem, MA: While spir­its fly through­out this town, made famous by its Colonial witch tri­als and spell­bound attrac­tions, stay in room 17 and you may just meet a female ghost, known as the “for­mer scorned lover.” Guests have expe­ri­enced every­thing from images of the woman in the room to the sen­sa­tion of her sit­ting on them, unable to get up out of bed. Don’t miss Salem’s Halloween fes­tiv­i­ties, com­plete with bewitch­ing par­ties and celebrations.

Nichols Guest House B&B, Seekonk, MA: Legend tells us that the orig­i­nal owner of this 200-year-old Colonial home took his own life. Shadows and strange sounds in the night, and lights mys­te­ri­ously flick­er­ing on and off ensure that guests know that friendly spir­its remain.

Colonial House Inn and Restaurant, Yarmouth Port, MA: There are many sto­ries about haunted hap­pen­ings at this inn. One guest recounted how he felt some­one tap­ping him on the shoul­der, and when he looked up he saw a trans­par­ent fig­ure of a woman wear­ing a bon­net. A year or two after that, the same per­son stay­ing in a dif­fer­ent room felt pres­sure on his back; he saw a shad­owy fig­ure, very low to the ground, which quickly van­ished from the room.

Coach Stop Inn, Bar Harbor, ME: The old­est lodg­ing estab­lish­ment on Mount Desert Island, this for­mer tav­ern and coach stop is home to Abbe, a spir­ited lit­tle girl who loves music. Strange noises, flick­er­ing lights and fleet­ing reflec­tions may be Abbe singing, or they may be addi­tional spirits.

Chapman Inn, Bethel, ME: Young, female voices can be heard in gue­strooms. Footsteps are heard when no one is there, and a black cat has been seen on numer­ous occa­sions exit­ing the room through a solid wall. So preva­lent are the ghost sight­ings , that the innkeep­ers have added a Come Meet the Spirits web­site page describ­ing what to expect. The major­ity of ghost sight­ings occur in rooms 7 and 9. One woman described a woman who appeared before her in room 7 then dis­ap­peared through the wall. Paranormals have inves­ti­gated and found that at least two enti­ties still live in the house. Looking back at the his­tory of the home, Fred, the owner, said that a long­time owner had a daugh­ter who was in chron­i­cally poor health. The father brought a female com­pan­ion into the house, who served as the child’s only friend and social out­let. After the daugh­ter passed away at age 16, the com­pan­ion stayed on and con­tin­ued to live in the house until she died in 1957. Are the two com­pan­ions still together in the home? This inn’s “cer­ti­fied haunted” des­ig­na­tion would cer­tainly indi­cate that.

Peace With-Inn, Fryeburg, ME: This Western Maine, inn was home to one fam­ily for 10 gen­er­a­tions, start­ing in 1777, and con­tin­u­ing until Chester and Alice Black, the last fam­ily mem­bers in res­i­dence, died in the house in the mid-1970s. The present innkeep­ers con­sider the Blacks their “spir­i­tual innkeep­ers” when they find dec­o­ra­tions re-arranged and doors locked or hear floor­boards creaking.

Greenville Inn, Greenville, ME: Last sum­mer, a guest stay­ing in the Carriage House Suite (an orig­i­nal part of the inn) reported in full detail about her encounter with a lovely young female ghost. The guest told of the sounds of the crino­line skirt swish­ing by, the cool breeze as the ghost passed by and the door she opened. She con­cluded her story by ask­ing every­one to be kind to this ghost, since she was very sweet and lovely.”

Berry Manor Inn, Rockland, ME: When para­nor­mal experts passed this his­toric inn, they saw three smil­ing women in the front win­dow with their pinkies in the air. Guests have reported an unusual warm feel­ing, attribut­ing it to friendly spirits.

Captain Lindsey House , Rockland, ME: Captain Lindsey is still hang­ing around the Captain Lindsey House, along with 35 other spir­its, accord­ing to what he told the “spir­i­tol­o­gists” on their recent visit to the inn. Included in the band of happy ghosts is the Captain him­self, along with T. B. Severence, the 41-year-old who pur­chased the inn from George Lindsey in 1857; a dom­i­nant spirit named Ensign; a 5-year-old named Jeffrey and a 4-year-old named Emmy, both of whom are wait­ing for their father to come and get them. The major­ity of the spir­i­tual activ­ity takes place in the par­lor, where glasses of water slide across tables, and doors have been known to slam on their own.

LimeRock Inn , Rockland, ME: When experts of the para­nor­mal vis­ited the LimeRock Inn, they felt the pres­ence of many peo­ple in the front par­lor — ves­tiges of the patients who once sat in the par­lor wait­ing room, when the inn was home and office to Dr. Lawry, the local physi­cian. A num­ber of gig­gling phan­toms played at the top of the stairs. Many of the pres­ences at the LimeRock Inn gaze long­ingly out the win­dows. All are friendly, and it’s clear that happy fam­ily mem­bers are still hang­ing out here to wel­come guests also in search of friendly spirits.

1794 WATCHTIDE…by the Sea , Searsport, ME: Spirits reside here play­ing music and pranks on innkeep­ers and guests. Their pres­ence is gen­tle, and the innkeep­ers claim this is the per­fect place to sleep with a spirit.

Carriage House Inn, Searsport, ME: Stories abound about the ghosts seen in the win­dows of this 1874 Victorian man­sion. An expert on the para­nor­mal ver­i­fied there are at least two enti­ties liv­ing here, both of whom expe­ri­enced untimely deaths. The res­i­dent bea­gle shuns cer­tain rooms and avoids the haunted stair­case where some­one died. The sounds of soft whis­pers, music, knock­ing, the smell of cigar smoke, and a feel­ing that “some­one walked into my room” are com­mon dis­cus­sions at the break­fast table. For those who love a good ghoul, plenty of activ­ity is guar­an­teed here.

Three Chimneys Inn, Durham, NH: Innkeeper Karen Meyer feels she has an “angel on her shoul­der.” One night, after a long week, she received a clear mes­sage from her guardian angel. The office door was mys­te­ri­ously locked after a long day, a strange phe­nom­e­non since the office can only be locked with a key, and no one with keys had locked it. To empha­size the mes­sage, the office com­puter, which remains on at all times, was also turned off. “Time to go home and relax” was the angelic message.

Sugar Hill Inn, Franconia, NH: One evening, an elderly cou­ple came to visit and then dis­ap­peared through a locked door. Shadowy sight­ings of a male fig­ure have been seen in the kitchen too, where the orig­i­nal owner of the inn passed away. Could he be com­ing back to check on the inn’s suc­cess? We’ll never know.

Notchland Inn, Harts Location, NH: A fre­quently seen appari­tion is believed to be Nancy Barton, who died on the prop­erty in pur­suit of her for­lorn lover. One guest reported the name “Abigail” was writ­ten in the steam on the mir­ror in their bath­room when no one had taken a shower or bath in that room for sev­eral hours. Another guest woke up after an after­noon nap and noticed that some­one had brought fresh flow­ers into the room while he was nap­ping. When he went into the bath­room, he found some­one had writ­ten “Happy Anniversary” on the mir­ror in lip­stick. He went back into the bed­room, to find the flow­ers gone. He turned back into the bath­room, and the writ­ing on the mir­ror had dis­ap­peared. Nancy may still be hang­ing around play­ing tricks on the men in ret­ri­bu­tion or could this ghost be Abigail, no one is really sure.

Inn at Jackson, Jackson, NH: Jason, once the trusted work­man at the inn, com­mit­ted sui­cide as a young adult yet returns to check on repairs at the inn. Guests have been awak­ened by a ham­mer­ing noise, and the staff has caught glimpses of move­ment as they check on rooms, pri­mar­ily on the sec­ond and third floor. Jason is a peace­ful pres­ence, bring­ing a smile to the innkeeper’s face as he explains his com­ings and goings. Jason is not the only ghost; the water mys­te­ri­ously turns on and off in Room Two, per­haps at the hand of a ghostly old man.

Beal House Inn, Littleton, NH: Slamming doors and late-night stomp­ing up and down stairs allow the haunted dwellers of this inn to make their pres­ence known. Another time, the house­keeper felt a dis­tinct hip check from one side to another, as if some­one was push­ing her aside. One night, when two guests were sit­ting in front of the fire enjoy­ing tea, they clearly heard voices. The innkeep­ers recount sto­ries of see­ing a woman beckon from the end of the bed dur­ing the night.

Golden Stage Inn, Cavendish, VT: The innkeep­ers have become so famil­iar with the young friendly spirit who appears dressed in a trav­el­ing cloak and a large brimmed hat, that they’ve named him George. He appears often and some­times plays tricks on the innkeep­ers. This Halloween, guests are invited to help dec­o­rate and come in dis­guise. Who knows, you might even get a glimpse of George.

Brass Lantern Inn, Stowe, VT: Inn guests who’ve seen para­nor­mal activ­ity vary the details slightly, but they always hear the noises com­ing from the same guest room. Some report hear­ing peo­ple arrive late in the night, speak­ing loudly, and talk­ing about the good time they just had at a party. Yet in all cases, no guests were stay­ing in the guest room or even in a nearby room.

Green Mountain Inn, Stowe, VT: “Boots” Berry, the tap danc­ing ghost and for­mer local hero, can still be heard danc­ing on the third floor of the inn dur­ing severe win­ter storms. The son of the inn’s for­mer horse­man and cham­ber­maid, Boots was born in Room 302 in 1840, and he grew up in and around the inn. One sum­mer morn­ing when the stage­coach team bolted, Boots bravely stopped a run­away stage, sav­ing the lives of the pas­sen­gers. Unfortunately, his hero­ism turned to too many con­grat­u­la­tory drinks, and Boots neglected his duties at the inn. Eventually he was dis­missed and ended up in jail where he learned to tap dance, earn­ing his nick­name. Eventually, after jail, Boots drifted back to Stowe, shabby and poverty-stricken. At about the same time, a dread­ful storm hit the town, and a lit­tle girl became stranded on the roof of the inn. Remembering his child­hood days, Boots took a secret route to the roof and low­ered the girl safely to the ground. Just as she reached safety, Boots slipped and fell to his death from the icy roof. His life had come full cir­cle, for the roof he was stand­ing on when he fell was the roof of Room 302. Want a chance to dance with Boots? Time your next visit with a win­ter storm and book Room 302.

White House Inn, Wilmington, VT: Originally called the House at Beaver Brook Farm, the White House Inn was built as a pri­vate sum­mer home in 1915 for a wealthy lum­ber baron, Martin Brown. A secret stair­way is still a pop­u­lar archi­tec­tural fea­ture for guests, who’ve noted glimpses of a female ghost, believed to be Mrs Brown. It’s no won­der she wanted to stick around, the estate was built with its own indoor bowl­ing alley and nine hole golf course. Perhaps she con­sid­ers her­self the “spare” spirit here.

Outside the US:

The Plough Inn, North Yorkshire, England: A num­ber of inter­est­ing occur­rences have been reported at The Plough Inn over the years, many attrib­uted to the ghosts of Landlady, Mrs Gladys Saxton, and 17-year old-maid, Margaret Harrison. Both died in a fire at the inn in March 1945. One cou­ple were woken in the night by some­one ‘plump­ing up’ the pil­lows on their bed. Another guest found his car key had mys­te­ri­ously bent in half dur­ing the night of his stay. A num­ber of guests have reported see­ing a woman in long black clothes patrolling the upstairs cor­ri­dor. The young old daugh­ter of one of the inn’s staff refused to enter one of the bed­rooms say­ing “I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel nice. It’s scar­ing me”. One cou­ple saw ‘orbs’ of light in their room dur­ing the early hours

Le Mesnil de Creances, Creances, France: Dating back to Norman times around 1000 AD, it’s no won­der that sto­ries tell that the inn is haunted. The oven-bottom vault of the stair­case tower, and its con­struc­tion in small flat­tish stones with­out thick mor­tar joints, points to a date around the 12th cen­tury. The house was inhab­ited early in the 19^th cen­tury by three old ladies, the library by a sin­gle man and the kitchen by a fam­ily of seven.

Ballygally Castle Hotel, Ballygally, Ireland: According to leg­end, Lady Shaw was run­ning through the cas­tle try­ing to escape her hus­band when she jumped out of a win­dow and fell to her death. She was appar­ently not quite ready to leave the cas­tle; her ghost has been known to tease guests by knock­ing on the doors of the rooms then run­ning away.

Castle Leslie, Glaslough, Ireland: This cas­tle out­side of Dublin is prob­a­bly bet­ter known as the site of nup­tials between Paul McCartney and Heather Mills, but that’s not what makes Castle Leslie a lit­tle spooky. The cas­tle has been in the Leslie fam­ily for over 300 years, and clearly some rel­a­tives have hung on to wit­ness the many celebrity wed­dings that take place here. A num­ber of long time deceased Leslie aunts and uncles have been spot­ted, and there’s even a ghostly dog named Punch that comes to call from time to time.

Dalhousie Castle & Spa, Bonnyrigg, Scotland Dalhousie Castle’s ghost is known to most vis­i­tors as The Gray Lady. According to leg­end, The Gray Lady is the ghost of the mis­tress for the castle’s orig­i­nal mas­ter. She was impris­oned in the cas­tle by his wife and died there. The Grey Lady glides up and down the stair­cases, mak­ing bizarre noises and sends out cold bursts of air. It is said the Grey Lady likes to roam freely through­out the hall­ways at night.

To find the com­plete list of Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost, sim­ply click on the Haunted B&Bs link on the home­page of www.BedandBreakfast.com .For Halloween pack­ages and events, visit www.BedandBeakfast.com and Halloween Happenings.

About BedandBreakfast.com: Founded in 1995, BedandBreakfast.com is highly rec­om­mended by The New York Times, Real Simple, Forbes, Travel & Leisure, USA TODAY and many oth­ers. To learn about nearly 9,000 other per­fect choices for your next B&B get­away, visit BedandBreakfast.com, the lead­ing online bed and break­fast direc­tory and reser­va­tion net­work world­wide. A vari­ety of search func­tions and exten­sive maps enable inn­go­ers to find the per­fect B&B. Travelers can make reser­va­tions online, pur­chase The Getaway Gift Card from BedandBreakfast.com, wel­comed at over 4,000 B&Bs in the U.S. and Canada, read up-to-date trip reports on The BedandBreakfast.com Blog, read and write inde­pen­dent reviews, and post ques­tions on expert-hosted mes­sage boards.

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