Haunted Hotels in the Boston Area

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States of America. It is also one of the most historically significant. Boston and the surrounding area were home to such bloody events as the first battles of the American Revolution and the Salem Witch Trials. Therefore, it stands to reason that there will be many reportedly haunted places in and around the city and there are. Among these haunted places are a few hotels that some people believe have a few unregistered guests from time to time.

Haunted Hotel in the Boston Area #1: Hawthorne Hotel

18 Washington Square
Salem, MA 01970

Hawthorne Hotel is arguably the most famous hotel in Salem. It is a roughly fifteen minute drive to the Hawthorne Hotel from Boston. It opened on July 23, 1925 and has since received such guests as the cast of the Bewitched television show, U.S. President George Bush and Bette Davis. The hotel is, of course, named after the town’s famous author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Legend has it that the Hawthorne Hotel was built on an apple orchard that was once owned by accused witch, Bridget Bishop. Bridget was one of the individuals who were wrongfully executed during the Salem Witch Trials. There have been reports that the sweet smell of apples sometimes lingers in the hotel, despite the fact that no apple trees remain on the property. Other paranormal activities such as eerie sounds have also been reported at the Hawthorne Hotel.

Haunted Hotel in the Boston Area #2: Omni Parker House Hotel

60 School St.
Boston, MA 02108

The Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston opened in 1855. It is located just outside of Boston Common is less than two blocks from the Massachusetts State House. The hotel’s restaurant is almost as famous as the hotel itself. It is the home of the world’s first Boston Cream Pie and it is also the place where the future U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed to the future First Lady of the United States, Jacqueline Bouvier. This hotel is great for people who want to step out of their hotels into the historic streets of Boston during the day, eat the delicious food of the hotel’s historic restaurant in the evening and be spooked by the hotel’s ghost at night.

Harvey Parker, the original owner of the hotel and restaurant is said to live there still, in ghostly form. Sightings of this long-dead man have dwindled in the past 20 years. However, there have reportedly been several sightings of him on the tenth floor of the hotel. Parker’s ghost is supposedly polite and unobtrusive, aside from his habit of making unannounced appearances in guest’s rooms on the tenth floor.

Haunted Hotel in the Boston Area #3: Colonial Inn

48 Monument Square
Concord, MA 01742

The Colonial Inn is located roughly 30 miles outside of Boston. The original building of the Colonial Inn was a home built in 1716. In 1775, part of it was used as a munitions storehouse by the Massachusetts Militia. In fact, those munitions were in the house when the British came looking for the militia’s supplies on April 19, 1775. The building was turned into an inn in 1889. It took on its present name at the turn of the 20th century. Since that time, it has received such guests as U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Shirley Temple and Faye Dunaway.

One of the rooms of the original house on the site is now Room 24 of the Colonial Inn. There have reportedly been sightings of a ghost in that room. Paranormal investigators have hinted that other rooms in the inn may be haunted, but there have been no sightings in other rooms, according to the inn’s website.

If you are looking for a trip back in time that might give you a chance to meet a ghost from a time long past, these are the hotels to visit in the Boston area. Even if you do not get to see a ghost, you will most certainly see shadows of the past lurking in the corners of these historical buildings. There is no shortage if history in the direct vicinity of these hotels either. In Salem, you can tour the town that was home to the most vicious witch-hunt in U.S. history. In Concord, you can see the battlefields where the first shots of the American Revolution rang out and in Boston, the Freedom Trail runs right past the Omni Parker House Hotel.

Sources

The Haunted History of Salem, Massachusetts, retrieved 7/27/10, haunted-places-to-go.com/salem.html

About Concord’s Colonial Inn, retrieved 7/27/10, concordscolonialinn.com/concord-ma-lodging-about-the-inn.asp

Boston Omni Parker House Hotel, retrieved 7/27/10, expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=23415/crti=2/hotel-information

Omni Parker House-Haunted Tales, retrieved 7/27/10, omnihotels.com/Exclusiveoffers/HauntedTravelParkerHouse.aspx