13 Haunted (and Haunting) Alfred Hitchcock Movie Locations

Alfred Hitchcock died on April 29, 1980, and won’t ever make a movie again, but he certainly earned his moniker, “The Master of Suspense.” Many Alfred Hitchcock movies are revered as classics to this day and some, (like Psycho and Rebecca, have inspired remakes. Writers and filmmakers who appreciate his style also still try to follow in his footsteps.

Even though it’s been decades since an Alfred Hitchcock movie was made (the last one was Family Plot in 1976), many places that were featured in his movies still boast their claims to fame.

In fact, one of the three haunting hotels on Sutter Street in San Francisco, the Hotel Vertigo, changed its name after being in the movie of the same name. It had started out as the Empire Hotel, then was the York Hotel, but so many people kept referring to it as the Vertigo hotel, they decided, “Let’s just change it!”

Its lobby decor is decorated in orange and white to pay homage to the movie poster, which also hangs there. The movie runs on a loop behind the front desk as well.

As far as I know, the Hotel Vertigo isn’t haunted. (Two other hotels within blocks of it, the Queen Anne and the Majestic, are though.)

However, there are plenty of other haunted Alfred Hitchock movie locations. In some cases, the real places weren’t actually used for filming, though. Many times mock-ups were used for interior scenes. Often B roll footage, like in the case of the Vertigo hotel, was used for exterior shots.

Still, these following 13 haunted places all made appearances in Alfred Hitchcock movies in one form or another. Let’s take a look.

1. The British Museum – London, England

The British Museum plays a part in Alfred Hitchcock’s first talkie, Blackmail. According to Movie-Locations.com, at one point the blackmailer stops at the drinking fountain by the museum’s entrance.

According to The Sun, guards have reported “spooky goings-on – including ghostly footsteps and mysterious crying among the exhibits.”

But over the years, many people, both visitors and workers alike, have reported strange things happening there, including apparitions, orbs, and temperature fluctuations.

Could it be caused by, as The Guardian put it, one of the many “spooky treasures” on display?

Possibly. After all, the museum has a renowned Egyptian exhibit complete with mummies. Maybe one of the storied curses is at work?

2. The Potter School – Bodega, California

Among the places that Sonoma West Times & News says the friendly ghosts of Bodega haunt is the Potter School, which played a part in The Birds.

The school is a private residence. Sonoma West reported that Mary Taylor, a woman who bought the building in 1966, heard a woman weeping soon after moving in. Perhaps it’s the woman who died in childbirth whose grave is near the school?

Mary’s daughter, Leah, thinks perhaps the school’s first teacher is among its restless spirits. He lost a daughter to measles.

Speaking of children, the Taylors also reported sometimes hearing children laughing or singing. Things would also move on their own, like rocking chairs or balls.

3. Pioneer Cemetery – Sierre Madre, California

There’s a scene in Family Plot that, fittingly, involves a cemetery. There are actually no ghost stories connected with it, but it does have another spooky Hollywood connection.

It was turned into Haddonfield Cemetery in the original Halloween (1978). It’s where they discover Judith Myers’ headstone is missing. That’s what qualifies this location as a haunting Alfred Hitchcock movie site.

4. Westminster Cathedral – Westminster, England

As seen in Foreign Correspondent, when, as Movie-Locations.com put it, the “cuddly – but lethal – retired assassin…plummets from the campanile.”

But is it also haunted?

According to the Great British Ghost Tour, yes. A figure “clad in black”  has reportedly been spotted near the High Altar. Perhaps the mysterious phantom monk some think haunt there?

Also interesting to note, Westminster Cathedral was the site of Alfred Hitchcock’s London memorial service. Sort of a fitting inclusion to this list seeing as how this post is being published on April 29, 2021, his 41st deathiversary.

5. Covent Garden – London, England

Both Covent Garden and St. Paul’s church were in Frenzy. Back then (1972), Covent Garden, a piazza, was still a wholesale fruit and vegetable market. These days it’s West End cafes and boutiques.

St. Paul’s Church, which is also located in the Covent Garden area, is also called the “Actor’s Church” because both the Royal Opera House and Theatre Royal are located in Covent Garden too.

However, it seems some of the actors don’t want to give up the spotlight and still roam the area, which is why it’s a great place to take a London ghost tour. There’s no shortage of ghostly (or ghastly) tales here!

6. Fairmont Le Château Frontenac – Quebec City, Quebec

It’s both cliche and an understatement to say Quebec City’s Chateau Frontenac is breathtaking, but I know of no other way to describe it. No wonder it often makes most haunted hotel lists in Canada. I’d love to stay here while I’m a flesh and blood living person, but if I could pick the sort of place I’d like to haunt? Yeah. Give me this kind of opulence for my afterlife!

There are at least two ghosts most often cited as haunting the hotel. One, a nightgown-clad woman who roams around, fittingly, at night. Two, the ghost of the hotel’s namesake: Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac. Louis de Buade’s ghost is the more interesting.

It’s said he died while his fiance was overseas. He must have seen his death coming because he allegedly requested his heart be sent to his love when he died. However, she allegedly rejected the gift and sent it back. Now it’s said he roams the hotel still searching for a way to be with her.

The hotel played a part in the Alfred Hitchock movie I Confess when the real killer hides out there.

7. Tower Bridge – London, England

Tower Bridge is one of London’s most iconic sites and has been a backdrop to many movies over the decades, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), where a shot of it appears briefly.

According to Ghost Walk of the Lanes, paranormal activity and experiences have been reported on the bridge. Not surprising since some people did die while building the bridge. And one of the bridge’s towers served as a morgue once upon a time too.

Do any of the deaths associated with the bridge account for the phantom figures some have claimed to spot? Or for the feelings of being touched, having their clothes tugged on, or feeling like “an oppressive weight” is “bearing down” on them?

8. Royal Albert Hall – London, England

“London’s most famous” stage may also be one of the city’s most active haunted hot spots. It’s also not shy about sharing its ghost stories, which is refreshing. They have a whole section devoted to them called “There’s something strange…at the Royal Albert Hall”.

There are several ghosts that are said to haunt the theater, including a couple of pairs of ghosts. One of them is known as “The Girls,” who are rumored to appear on November 2 just before 2 a.m. (That’d be an easy enough claim to verify I’d think.) Staff members have reported hearing their laughter, and a few have described seeing them “clothed in the fashion of slightly risqué Victorian ladies.”

Another duo, also from the same era as The Girls, is The Victorian Couple, which many people have reported seeing and even hearing chatting in a box on the second level when no one else is up there. But when they go to inspect, no one’s there.

Ghosts known as The Gray Man and The Victorian Boy haunt the gallery. People report a very sharp temperature drop whenever they see them. Some also report the Gray Man appears “shrouded in a mist.”

Speaking of ghostly mists, some have also reported seeing a sort of ghostly smoke floating up the stairs before turning and disappearing.

Whenever the hall’s organ requires repairs or maintenance, it’s not uncommon for people to say they’ve seen a ghost in a black skull cap who is believed to be the organ’s “original constructor Henry Willis, fondly nicknamed ‘Father Willis’.”

Then there’s the mysterious Man in White who allegedly walked across the stage during a comedian’s performance in 1990, which naturally upset the stage manager. However, when the men posted at either side of the Middle Choir seats said no one had passed them either going to or coming from the stage, it turned out only the comedian was there. Except, some people had seen the man in white on stage staggering as if he was drunk or on drugs. But who was he? He vanished into thin air without a trace.

Maybe one of the strangest sightings came from a woman who said she saw a man in a military uniform on a horse in the lighting gantry above the stage. What a strange place to manifest! (Or what on earth did she have to drink with dinner?)

While all of Royal Albert Hall’s ghost stories are fascinating, what does it have to do with haunted Alfred Hitchcock movie locations? It appeared in The Man Who Knew Too Much (both the 1934 and 1956 versions). Although, in the 1934 version it was a replica of the inside, as it wasn’t practical to actually film there.

9. Red Fox Inn & Tavern – Middleburg, Virginia

The Red Fox Inn is one of the oldest in the U.S. and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was the hotel the title character of the movie Marnie stayed at in the movie.

Only in Your State reports that both the restaurant and rooms of the Red Fox Inn have paranormal activity. The bar was used as an operating table during the Civil War, which is pretty chilling.

But even more goosebump-inducing than that is what many guests in room 19 have reported: they wake up to find the door to their room that they locked the night before is “ajar” in the morning. WTH?!

10. The Plaza Hotel – New York, New York

The Plaza Hotel is an iconic New York landmark favored by celebs and the elite worldwide when they visit the city. It’s another one of those places that have been in multiple movies, including the Alfred Hitchcock classic, North by Northwest.

It’s understandable why the posh hotel would also still accommodate restless spirits who have yet to check out. In addition to guests and staff who have reported hearing disembodied voices, Ranker suggests “a hostile ghost” may be responsible for some of the paranormal activity people experience too. All thanks to a guest from Maryland who the ghost seemed to take pleasure in tormenting –and followed from room to room when they’d request a change.

It started when they had difficulty opening a door. They were switched to a room with a broken thermostat. I’m not sure how many more times they were relocated to other rooms, but all the rooms had issues.

It ended up where the ghost held them prisoner in one. Their door was unlocked but when they tried to leave, it wouldn’t open. They called for help. Hotel security tried to oblige. Even they couldn’t get the door open. Eventually, the ghost got tired or bored, gave up, and much to everyone’s relief —but also immense confusion— the door opened by itself.

Um, maybe I don’t want to stay at The Plaza anymore. It’s sort of been a bucket list dream of mine, but now I’m rethinking that…

11. Corcoran Road – Wasco, California

One of the most classic scenes in North by Northwest is the crop dusting one where Cary Grant hops off a bus at a supposedly desolate Midwestern stop. Nope.

Well, yep. It was on an actual desolate stretch of road but it wasn’t in the Midwest. It was north of Bakersfield, California. Roadside America reports the intersection as 12168 Corcoran road and Garces Highway.

There are no reports of paranormal activity there, but what makes this one of the haunting Alfred Hitchcock movie locations is that it’s not far from where James Dean stopped for refreshments at Blackwells Corner. It was shortly after that when he was involved in the fatal crash that killed him.

12. Hoover Dam – Clark County, Nevada

The Hoover Dam was one of those locations that a mock-up was made of for filming the Alfred Hitchcock movie Saboteur rather than shooting on location at the real thing. The dam was intended to be one of the saboteur’s targets in the movie.

As far as being haunted, the dam has seen its share of tragedies, both from workers who died building it and people who use it to commit suicide. It’s no wonder some have reported hearing the sounds of disembodied crying, footsteps, and apparitions of men dressed in work clothes that would’ve been worn in the 1930s when the dam was under construction.

It should also be noted that no one who died while building it was entombed in the dam’s concrete. Apparently, that was a rumor that spread like wildfire once upon a time and which dam historians are still trying to correct to this day.

13. St. Paul’s Cathedral – London, England

A specter known as the Whistler haunts this church, which appeared in Stage Fright. According to Plaisterers’ Hall, he’s said to be an “elderly minister who whistles a sorrowful tune as he floats across the floor” before vanishing into a wall.

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