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You can also stay in the
hotel room where singer Janis Joplin died in 1970
from a heroin overdose. Room 105 of the former
Landmark Motor  Hotel
in Los Angeles, now the Highland
Gardens
Hotel,
in which Joplin spent her final hours, is still a
rentable room. The closet contains a small brass
plaque commemorating Joplin's life, and the walls
are heavily decorated with fan art and
notes.
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Haunted
Hotels
Location:
Long Beach, Grass Valley, and Coronado (San
Diego)
Description:
People love a good
ghost story, and tales of other worldly visitors
abound at hotels around the world. The "spirits"
often range from once-famous visitors to murdered
patrons. Some hotels like to keep these legends
under wraps, while others, like the Queen Mary, use
it as a marketing tool by offering ghost tours and
special packages. So, if you like the idea of
possibly sharing your room with an unpaying, not to
mention transparent guest, here are some California
examples:
Queen Mary Steamship,
Long Beach: The
majestic Queen Mary steamship, moored at Long
Beach, offers you the chance to step back in time
aboard one of the most famous ocean liners in
history. From the time her construction began in
1930 in Clydebank, Scotland, she was destined to
stand in a class all her own. From celebrities like
Fred Astaire to dignitaries such as the Duke and
Duchess of Windsor, she carried some of the world's
most renowned personalities and political
leaders. In 1939, at
the start of the World War II, the Queen Mary was
drafted into service and outfitted as a troopship,
deemed the Grey Ghost due to her new camouflaged
grey exterior. When the war ended, she was restored
to her former glory and continued passenger
service. In 1966 Cunard sold the Queen Mary and
thus began the ship's transition and journey to her
new home in Long Beach, California. Hauntings and
ghost stories abound onboard this
beauty!
Holbrooke
Hotel, Grass
Valley:
This hotel is one
of the premiere landmarks in the Gold Country of
the Sierra Nevada, dating back to the 1860s. Come
stay in rooms where Presidents Ulysses S. Grant,
Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison once slept.
The Holbrooke blends historic Grass Valley Gold
Rush era ambiance with modern conveniences and is
well within walking distance of shops, galleries,
museums and restaurants. Gold Rush history buffs
can tour the Empire and Malakoff-Diggins mines, now
California state parks. Many rooms in the historic
Holbrooke Hotel have their eerie histories,
characters and tales. Sleep in the Black Bart Room,
used by the highwayman who robbed the stagecoaches
of the rich. Catch some Zs in Room 9, and wake up
to a Victorian-dressed maid folding your clothes.
But beware of a room where a suicidal gambler slit
his throat and was found dead no one knows which
room it happened in!
Hotel
Del Coronado (San
Diego): Built
in 1888, this Victorian seaside hotel has a storied
and romantic history. Presidents, movie stars and
British royalty have stayed here.
The comedy film "Some Like It
Hot," starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack
Lemmon, was filmed at the Hotel del Coronado's
beach in 1958. L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wizard
of Oz" books, was a frequent guest.
The hotel is believed to be
haunted by the ghost of young Kate Morgan who
checked into the hotel in 1892 to meet her
estranged husband for Thanksgiving. He never
arrived to meet her, and a few days later, she was
found dead on the hotel steps near the ocean. Since
then, guests and staff of the hotel claim to have
noticed strange breezes, ghostly noises and the
pale figure of a young lady walking in a black lace
dress...
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