Editorials
Book a Stay at These 12 Haunted Hotels!
There are a plethora of “haunted” hotels all around the world. Some are home to some surprisingly sick and twisted crimes. Of course, this means that they are prime tourist attractions, with people all over the world coming over to visit them. I did a little bit of digging and thought I would single out some of our favorites (and by favorites I mean I really want to go to there).
Driskill Hotel – Austin, Texas
I’m a little biased towards this one because it’s the hotel my partner and I stayed at the night that I proposed, but it is supposedly haunted! We were lucky enough to stay in a room near a painting of Samantha Houston, whose ghost is rumored to haunt the hallways (we didn’t see her though). She was the daughter of a U.S. Senator who was chasing a ball down the stairs and tripped and fell to her death. The creepy thing is that the stairs are in the painting with her. In other news, Room 525 is dubbed the “Suicide Bride” room because two brides committed suicide on their respective honeymoons in Room 525’s bathroom on the same day twenty years apart. Talk about creepy! It’s one of the smallest rooms in the hotel though so it may not be worth the price of admission (the Driskill is known for being pretty pricey).
Stanley Hotel – Estes Park, Colorado
Lying just five miles from the entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park, the Stanley Hotel is best known as the hotel that Stephen King stayed at in 1974 (in room 217, no less) and inspired him to write The Shining. Unsurprisingly, reports of paranormal activity started popping up after. King’s book was released.
Grand Hyatt Taipei – Taiwan
Supposedly built on top of a former World War II prison camp and Japanese execution ground, the Grand Hyatt Taipei has more than earned its status as a haunted hotel. Rumors of wandering spirits permeate the halls. It has gotten to the point where locals stay away from the place.
Emily Morgan Hotel – San Antonio, Texas
The Emily Morgan Hotel is supposedly the third most haunted hotel in the United States. I’m not exactly sure how you rate the degree of haunted-ness a building is, but I digress. Before becoming a hotel, the building was a medical facility, complete with a psychiatric ward and a morgue. The 12th and 14th floors are reportedly the most haunted because they used to be the hospital and surgery floors, respectively. Perhaps some of the dead are still roaming the halls?
The Place D’Armes Hotel – New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is actually home to quite a few haunted hotels, but the Place D’Armes has one of the most tragic histories. Before the hotel was built, the grounds were home to a school building that unfortunately burned to the ground in the 1700s, killing several students inside.
The Hollywood Hotel Roosevelt – Los Angeles, California
Open since 1926, The Roosevelt is the oldest continually operated hotels in Los Angeles. It is most well known for the number of celebrities who stay there, even after they die. The two most notable supernatural guests at the hotel are Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift (Tom Cruise’s uncle). Then there are the reports of mysterious phone calls in the night and random “cold spots” in the hotel. Spooky.
Langham Hotel – London
Thought to me the most haunted hotel in London, the Langham Hotel is also home to Room 333, otherwise known as the most haunted room in London. There have been several sightings of various ghosts in the building over the years. Some of the more notable ones are a German nobleman who threw himself out of a window, a doctor who murdered his wife and killed himself, a man with a gash on his face, a butler with torn socks and another ghost who likes to shake beds. These guests have an affinity towards the aforementioned Room 333, but they have supposedly been spotted all over the hotel.
Dalhousie Castle – Edinburgh, Scotland
The Dalhousie Castle grants its guest views of some of the most beautiful countryside in Scotland, but it also houses the ghost of Lady Catherine of Dalhousie, the daughter of the previous owners of the castle. You see, her parents forbid her from seeing a young boy that she fell in love with so she locked herself in a room at the top of the castle and starved herself to death. Guests at the castle have been known to see her grey figure wandering around the turrets and the dungeons.
Hotel Chelsea- New York City, New York
Hotel Chelsea is filled with ghosts. It is considered to be one of the most haunted places in New York (again with that ranking system). A couple of notable celebrities have died there, which is where all the ghost stories come from. First up is writer Dylan Thomas, who died of pneumonia in the hotel in 1953. The most famous death is that of Nancy Spungen (girlfriend of Sex Pistols bass guitarist Sid Vicious). She was stabbed to death in her hotel room and there have been multiple sightings of her and Sid’s ghosts over the years. Unfortunately, the hotel closed for renovations in 2011 and has yet to reopen.
RMS Queen Mary – Long Beach, California
This haunted hotel is a boat. Yes, a boat. It’s awesome. The RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. It is now permanently moored at the coast of Long Beach, California. After it docked, rumors of hauntings began to spread around the city. Cabin B340 is rumored to be haunted by the spirit of a person who was murdered in the room (at the time it was Cabin B326 but it was renamed after the ship was refitted following World War II). Sounds of ghost children can be heard in the nursery. All in all, there have been no less than 49 crew members and passengers have died on the ship during its initial run. Board at your own risk!
Hawthorne Hotel – Salem, Massachusetts
It’s really just Room 325 in Salem’s Hawthorne Hotel that gives paranormal investigators the chills. Word on the street is that the bathroom lights and pluming like to turn on of their own volition an ghostly hands touch guests at night. . The ghost of a woman can supposedly be seen in Room 612 as well. It probably doesn’t help matters that the hotel is built on the grounds of a former apple orchard once owned by Bridget Bishop, one of the first women to be executed to the Salem Witch Trials. Guests at the hotel have reported smelling rotten apples in the hall, which probably doesn’t get the appetite going.
1886 Crescent Hotel – Eureka Springs, Arkansas
The last hotel on the list is the Crescent Hotel, reportedly one of the most haunted places in the United States. A reported eight spirits haunt the halls of the hotel. These spirits include (but are not limited to): a nurse who worked in the building when it was a hospital, Dr. John Freemont Ellis (also an employee of the former hospital), an Irish stonemason who fell of the roof and a small boy who died from complications from his appendicitis. A perk of staying at this hotel is that they offer a ghost tour for free!
Which hotels do you want to stay at the most? Let us know in the comments below!
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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