Halloween 2013: A Trio Of Influential Haunted Locations

~by Marie Robinson

Behind every good ghost story there is… another ghost story! Some of the greatest spine-tingling supernatural films are tied to allegedly haunted places. It’s nearly Halloween, the perfect time to let your morbid curiosity get the best of you, so read on…


HOSPITALS OF EXORCISM

I’m sure you are all aware that William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, The Exorcist is based on the “true story” of a possessed boy. I won’t go through the whole story, it’s strewn across a thousand pages on the Internet, but I do want to highlight one of the famous haunts associated with the macabre tale.

Alexian Brothers Hospital

The boy—who to this day remains nameless—was from Maryland but moved with his parents to St. Louis to be with relatives as his affliction (believed to be demonic possession) worsened. The exorcism, performed by Father Raymond Bishop, was conducted at St. Louis University hospital (SLU), and later at the Alexian Brothers Hospital, where it ended. Father Bishop kept a detailed and disturbing diary of the events that passed, and hid it in a locked desk drawer in the hospital. The wing of the hospital where the exorcism was performed, and in which the diary was secured, was used for the treatment of severally mentally ill patients. The wing later had to be demolished; the demolition crew found the diary and turned it into the building administrator, and the rest is history.

Now people claim that before the wing was demolished, that infamous room held the hospital staff in terror. Claims of cold spots, screams, smells, and apparitions are told by the ear-full; but alas, now the old hospital has been turned into apartments. Even so, it is a proud bit of haunted history from my hometown, and it doesn’t make it any less fun to drive your out-of-town friends by the spot, point, and say, “That’s where it happened!”

The Stanley Hotel

THE STANLEY HOTEL 

This enormous luxury hotel in Estes Park, Colorado was the inspiration for Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining. Why? Because King, himself, had several ghostly experiences there!

When the famous author stayed there with his wife, they were given room 217. Change the one to a three and you’ve got the scariest room in the Overlook Hotel. It is claimed that King and his wife set down their bags in the room and left the better part of an hour. When they returned, their clothes were put neatly away and their luggage stacked in the closet.

The most haunted floor in the Stanley is the fourth floor. It is there that several ghost children, particularly a girl and boy who are often seen together, play up and down the halls. Stephen King allegedly saw the wee spectres, providing the inspiration for the creepiest set of twins in movie history. Sometimes a red ball is found rolling down the hall, as if it was being tossed between two children.

Another ghost is that of a homeless woman who sought shelter under the concert hall, but froze to death. Now she is seen and heard around the area where she died, looking for warmth. The original owner, Mrs. Stanley can sometimes be heard playing the piano. Apparently it is difficult for housekeepers to keep the rooms clean, as unseen entities are constantly going in after them and tossing lamps to the floor and yanking pictures off the walls.

So far the elevators have not erupted with blood and the topiary animals have not come to life, so if you choose to visit the Stanley Hotel you should only have some slight spiritual disturbances. Unless, of course, they decide to dig up their pet cemetery.

THE YANKEE PEDLAR INN 

Why are hotels so creepy? You can’t claim that the movies made them creepy, because the ghost stories existed before the films did! Torrington, Connecticut hotel Yankee Pedlar Inn is not only one of the oldest running hotels in the state, but it is also the setting of horror director Ti West’s spooky 2011 film The Innkeepers. Shot on location, West and his cast members had a few off-book experiences.

West became interested in the supposedly haunted inn (West, himself, is a skeptic), and was even spoon-fed a good many by one of the inn’s night clerks, Luke Edwards, who would become a model for West’s character—Luke (Pat Healy). The cast and crew slept at the Yankee Pedlar while filming, and they admitted to be unsettled by their set.

Yankee Pedlar Inn

The Yankee Pedlar was originally the Conley Inn, opened in 1891 by Irish immigrants Frank and Alice Conley. After their death, the hotel changed ownership several times, and it wasn’t dubbed “the Yankee Pedlar” until 1956. The Innkeepers star ghost, Madeline O’Malley was inspired by the rumored lingering spirit of Alice Conley, who died in room 353 (although not by any gruesome means). Mrs. Conley is said to set her favorite chair a-rocking, and Mr. Conley has been reportedly seen in the inn’s pub (where else would a dead Irishman go?).

Bizarre dreams are another common experience when staying overnight at the Yankee Pedlar Inn; even Ti West was afflicted. If you decide to stay there, I think your safest bet is to stay out of the basement!

Let Sleeping Ghosts Lie: The Innkeepers (2011)

Greetings again from me, Marie! What you are quickly learning about me is that I am a sucker for a ghost story. In fact, they are my favorite kind of story!

I’ve been lucky enough to find two deliciously chilling stories of specters from the very same year! 2011 has been kind enough to give us The Awakening (the film I reviewed in my last post), and The Innkeepers.

The latter comes to us from fledgling horror director Ti West, who is best known for his 2009 picture House of the Devil. If you have not seen House of the Devil, you simply must! But that is a topic that would stem an article of its own (go watch it, it’s on Netflix!).

Now we all know that hotels are creepy as hell, we can thank Stephen King for that (thanks, Steve), and the Yankee Pedlar Inn is no exception. And nothing is creepier than an empty hotel, and this particular one is pretty near hollow—most of the rooms stripped of all furniture—for it is the hotel’s final weekend open.

As the film starts out, the building is occupied by only a few souls. There are the two young staff members—the adorable and quirky Claire (played by Sara Paxton, who has acted in such cinematic achievements as Shark Night and the Last House on the Left remake), and the snarky and dorky Luke (Pat Healy). And there are the three occupants—a mother and her child (who Luke affectionately refers to as “that bitch and her kid”) and an aging actress past her prime in town for a convention (Kelly McGillis).

Luke just so happens to run a website on the Yankee Pedlar, which provides a history of the building and accounts of encounters with its alleged ghostly occupants. Even though Luke is the only person who has had actual experiences, Claire is eager to have one of her own and thinks that since the hotel is nearly empty, they have a good chance of making “contact”.

The ghost in question is that of Madeline O’Malley, who was once a guest at the inn and believed to have hung herself there, her body then stowed in the basement by the original owners to avoid bad press.

As night descends Claire is left alone after Luke goes to seek some shut-eye in one of the empty rooms.
Out of boredom and curiosity Claire picks up the EVP recorder (for those of you who aren’t ghost nerds like me, that stands for Electronic Voice Phenomena) that Luke has left for his ghost hunting and makes her way from room to room, trying to pick up the disembodied voice of Madeline O’Malley. The darkness and the silence of the hotel causes Claire to become tense and alert to every small sound, but little actually happens except for some mysterious knocks and rattles and the gentle tinkering of a piano.

As she becomes overwhelmed by her experiences, she receives some unexpected help from Lee Rease-Jones, the retired actress who is residing in the hotel. Lee reveals that the convention she is in town for is a gathering of psychics and healers, and that she herself is a medium. She says that she can help Claire come in contact with Madeline O’Malley through means of her pendulum, her psychic tool of choice.
She does indeed get the ghost on the line, and manages to provide Claire with one important piece of advice—don’t go in the basement.

The next morning, a final guest checks in; a strange old man who insists that he have room 353, even if he has to sleep in it without any furniture, for that room has already been stripped in preparation for the hotel’s closing.

Later on the staff prepares for another long night of boredom by cracking open some beers and going on another EVP hunt. Silly drunk Claire suggests that they investigate the basement (you know, the place where she isn’t supposed to go), and as things get downright spooky, Luke becomes overcome with fear and flees the hotel, leaving Claire alone with the two remaining guests, and whatever ghosts are present as well.

Here’s what I can tell you: Luke isn’t the paranormal expert he claims to be, Lee knows something that she isn’t telling anyone, the man in room 353 has picked his room for a very specific purpose, and Claire is in some serious trouble.

Now, I will admit the first hour of the movie is pretty slow-paced—okay, very slow-paced—and I can’t guarantee it will be able to hold you (I almost gave up on it myself), but I certainly hope it does because the ending is well worth it. The final moments are packed with some serious creepy action and I am just crazy about the ending.

I must say, though, I am really into this Ti West guy. House of the Devil was crazy amazing and that movie and this one show how stylish and clever of a director he is. He loves to start off with a steady-paced story and then—BOOM! Lay the scares on you all at once. It does have a good effect—that is, if you’re into having heart attacks—and I think his ideas are very original.

The characters in The Innkeepers all have a very natural feel to them, particularly Claire and Luke. Their close friendship and sarcastic sense of humor make them very realistic and believable, and they generally seem like fun people to pass the hours with. Okay, maybe not Luke, he’s kind of a prick. But I would definitely be down to hang out with the creepy old man in room 353 or Madeline O’Malley.

I’m ceasing to make sense now, but you should give this film a chance, it may not have enough action to keep your interest sparked, but one thing I must ask is that you keep an eye out for Ti West. He seems to be a very promising young horror director with good ideas and great style, and hopefully he will keep pumping out films that are worthy of the genre. It seems we should see more of him around Halloween this year—I believe he is contributing to a horror anthology film called V/H/S. Sounds interesting enough.

Anyway, here is the moral of the story: let restless ghosts haunt.
~MR