The walls of some historic hotels forever encapsulate echoes of bygone weddings, including ones that never took place. Historic Hotels of America lists several haunted historic hotels with such stories, but we’re going to concentrate on the ones where Southern ghost brides roam.
Whether they were jilted at the alter or lost their love another way, they all haunt hotels that, to this day, are popular for hosting weddings. Let’s explore them.
However, before we embark on our journey, a content warning is in order. This post includes stories of suicide.
Omni Homestead Resort – Hot Springs, Virginia
Once a vacation destination whose guests included royalty and presidents, you’d expect a hotel over 250 years old to have some tales to tell. The Homestead has definitely seen its share of mystery and drama. Or, in the case of the ghostly jilted bride, misery and drama.
In the early 20th century, she was set to be married in the hotel, but her groom “ghosted” her on her wedding day when he left to run an errand and never returned. She was so devastated that she took her own life. But perhaps they found each other after all. Many report seeing the ghost of the bride with a male apparition. Possibly her betrothed joined her in the afterlife?
The Historic Inns of Annapolis – Annapolis, Maryland
The Historic Inns of Annapolis is also over 250 years old. Guests have reported seeing ghosts of Revolutionary War soldiers within its walls, but it’s the Captain and the Bride that we’re interested in.
While Navy Captain Charles Campbell was at sea, his bride waited for him at the Inn. Sadly, once the captain returned to land, he was killed in a carriage accident. His bride took her life just minutes later, perhaps in an effort not to live the rest of her life without him but to spend eternity with him, as they’re rumored to dwell together at the Inn, her pacing the halls of the fourth floor while he frequents the taproom.
Green Park Inn – Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Love and tragedy also fuel the ghost story at the Green Park Inn. But there seems to be a happily-ever-after ending here.
Laura Green, the daughter of one of the hotel’s founding families, is believed to haunt Room 318, where she hung herself after her lover jilted her at the altar. Her apparition has been reported there, as well as the Victorian Suite, both of which are popular with wedding guests. However, many have spotted her in the company of a ghostly man. Did she find a phantom beau, or did her lover decide to spend eternity with her after all?
Jekyll Island Club Resort – Jekyll Island, Georgia
Not all ghosts stem from tragic tales. Some are romantics at heart, like the ghostly bellman at the Jekyll Island Club Resort. He’s particularly fond of making sure bridegrooms look their best. The hotel’s modern-day bellmen don’t dress in historical uniforms, but on more than one occasion, a bridegroom has complimented the bellman dressed in 1920s-era clothing for delivering fresh-pressed suits to them, even though they didn’t ask for such a service.
Beyond Southern Ghost Brides
Explore a few more romantic haunted hotels with Southern supernatural sweethearts in this video:
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What kind of hotels do you prefer to stay in? Historic or modern? Haunted or not haunted?
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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Except for Jekyll Island Club Resort, these hauntings are so sad. May their poor souls rest in peace. I like the beautiful architecture of historic hotels, but I also like the modern conveniences of a newer hotel. So I like staying either kind.
So beautiful. I second your blessing, Priscilla!
I don’t think I’d like to know for certain whether a hotel is haunted or what part of it is, if I’m staying there. That way, if anything happens that’s weird, my outlook was objective going in.
What I would like to be forewarned about are if the hotels have an odor to them. I just stayed in one, an older one, in Santa Fe, NM last night and man! There was such a strong odor to it: old building/chemicals? that it clung to my jacket. I could smell it all the way home and that was a 3.5 hour drive! ugh.
Oh, Maria, there you go again leaving sensible comments that just make me like you even more! TOTALLY wish more people approached investigating ghosts this way. So easy to be corrupted into believing every little creak is a ghost when you already know too much in advance about a haunted place, hotel or otherwise.
As far as the smells…so wild you brought this up. I’m sensitive to smells too. Our boat actually has a funk I can’t get out. Everyone else just dismisses it as “old boat smell” but it literally clogs my throat and I don’t like it. And boy does it cling…
BUT we recently stayed at a hotel in San Fran we’d never stayed at before. I’m planning on writing about it somehow, including the smell. I was nervous because so many folks in the reviews mentioned they noticed it. Some really hated it. I hoped it wouldn’t be too bad. It ended up being fine. Sure, I smelled it, but it smelled like a lot of the other old buildings in San Fran so… Not a deal breaker. The high bed I needed a running start to jump into was more concerning. Too bad the ghost couldn’t have helped me up and down from it. lol (We didn’t stay in the haunted room, though, either. lol)
Anyway, I sure nodded my head in understanding when I read your comment. And now I’ve once again left you a novella of a response… lol
Even if there was a discount at the fancy old hotel for staying in a certifiable haunted room, I’d say “No, thanks. I need a good night’s sleep instead.”
https://celeryellen.com/the-ghosts-of-santa-fe/
LOL, Maria! You reminded me of a comment a ghost hunting friend who died a few years ago said the first time I asked him if he liked staying in haunted hotels during investigations. He didn’t even want to investigate them. When it came time for sleep and rest, he wanted it in as peaceful a place as possible. lol
And love the link you shared. I did not realize the Las Posada had a bar named after its ghost too! Going on a my list for a future post…