“Wait, wait, wait,” I said when I noticed where the link that a friend had shared with me led. Before that, all I’d been able to see was the video’s title: “Step inside the record-breaking Haunted Hotel! – Meet The Record Spookers.”
Of course, I was interested in watching it, but I was completely perplexed when I arrived at the Guinness World Records YouTube channel.
“How can this be? Guinness doesn’t award records for haunted stuff anymore.”
I was thinking about Pluckley. In 2019 I questioned whether its “most haunted village” Guinness World Record really existed.
Yes and no.
Pluckley, the Record-Breaking Haunted Village
I’d hunted down an old copy of a 1989 Guinness Book of World Records. Sure enough, there was an entry about Pluckley possibly being the most haunted village in England.
However, before I received the right copy, I was sent a 1990 version. It didn’t mention Pluckley. Perhaps because of something new the 1990 edition contained? Namely, an updated explanation about what types of things qualified for records and the parameters claims must meet. Three clauses negated any possibility of haunted places holding Guinness World Records in the future.
But rather than assuming anything, I reached out to GBW for clarification. They confirmed what I already knew: the 1989 edition contained an “entry describing that Pluckley in Kent is generally thought to be the most haunted village in England.”
They also confirmed why it wasn’t listed in subsequent editions.
“…this record is no longer monitored due to ‘most haunted’ not being measurable, verifiable, or standardizable, which violates three of our criteria for what makes a Guinness World Record title.”
So how in the heck were they showcasing a “record-breaking haunted hotel” on their YouTube channel? Had they changed their rules again?
Grand Midway, the Record-Breaking Haunted Hotel
The hotel doesn’t hold a world record for being haunted. Rather, it’s home to two record-breaking items, including the world’s largest tarot card and Ouija board.
In the video, the hotel’s owner, Blair Murphy, gives a tour of the Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania. He starts out by saying, “There’s 32 rooms, and they’re all themed. The place is supposedly haunted. I think it has something going on here. And we get a lot of guests who stay here and they think so too apparently.”
He even talks about the Canopy Room, a.k.a. the hotel’s most haunted room. According to Murphy, nine out of ten guests who stay in it report activity. He also said most don’t usually make it all the way through the night.
Then he heads up to the rooftop to explain why they put the world’s largest Ouija board there.
“Well, we looked at this roof as a canvas, and for about a decade, it was just sitting there waiting for some…thing. And this one season, my girlfriend and I were playing a lot of Ouija, and it’s almost like the board suggested the idea to us.”
As for the Tarot card, it’s painted on the ceiling of one of their rooms.
“This particular card on the ceiling is the Universe card, which is like dancing with the universe and fully evolved.”
Taxidermy and Dolls
I couldn’t help but wonder if Murphy might consider striving for another world record. “World’s Largest Private Taxidermy Collection” came to mind when I saw how much of it the Grand Midway contained. Currently, Guinness doesn’t have such a category. Although, while extensive, I’m not sure the hotel would be big enough to accommodate more. It might need to add some because there are probably bigger private collections.
However, the video about his record-breaking haunted hotel also mentioned that he owns a church where he keeps Anne Rice’s personal doll collection. That space would give him more room to expand his taxidermy collection.
Whether he’ll go for any additional world records or not remains to be seem. All I know is that the Grand Midway Hotel’s themed rooms look spooktacular. I can see why restless spirits of both the living and dead choose to roam there.
Boo-k It!
To learn more about the hotel, visit https://www.grandmidwayhotel.com.
To see more world records, visit https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com.
Check-In
Have you ever thought about trying to set a Guinness World Record? If so, for what?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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When I was a teen and pretty good at jump roping, I thought I could set a world record for the number of jumps in a minute. Little did I know how good the REALLY good jump ropers were!
Oh my goodness, Priscilla!!!! This is SUPER cool to learn about you!! And of course I went down a rabbit hole Googling how jump roping. I never even knew it would be quantified by number of jumps in a minute. All I know is, even as a kid, my knees would’ve protested such a thing. Now my knees were groaning just thinking of jumping once! lol BUT I’m also so curious how many could you jump in a minute?
Hmm, maybe I could win a Guinness for the most things that could go wrong in a move…or just in general. ROFL! Hope you are having fun in Alaska!
Oh no!!!! I’ve been hoping all has gone well on that front. I’m so sorry to hear you’ve had a lot of SNAFUs. PHOOEY!!! (We’re not in AK yet btw.)