Fear Files

Ten Most Famous Real Ghosts

10
Kate Morgan
Hotel del Coronado
The Hotel del Coronado is a stunning Victorian beachfront resort hotel in the very southern California city of Coronado, just south of San Diego. It was only four years open when a beautiful young woman named Kate Morgan checked in on November 24th, 1892. She was apparently very ill for the time she spent at the hotel, and it was later speculated she had taken a large dose of quinine in an effort to induce miscarriage of an unwanted child. That she was distraught there was little argument, so when she was found on the outside steps leading to the beach on November 29th, with a single bullet hole in her temple and a gun nearby, the death was quickly ruled a suicide. From that point on, strange phenomena have been reported at the hotel: strange noises, lights flickering on and off, and even the occasional ghostly woman in Victorian garb wandering the halls.It is worth noting during my research on this story that the particular room number where most of the phenomena is witnessed varies from account to account. Whether because the accounts are second hand (and many of them are), or whether there is confusion due to the changing of the room number over the years as the hotel has expanded, I cannot say.

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9
Ghosts of the Stanley Hotel
If you where staying at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado and turned to channel 42 of your guest-room television, you would be watching one of my all-time favorite movies: The Shining. Doesn't matter what time of day or night, or year for that matter, it is always on. That's not supernatural, of course- merely a nod to their role as the inspiration for Stephen King's novel. Employees report hearing the commotion of a great party in the grand ballroom when there is no one there. Children can be heard playing in the halls when there are no children at all, and many guests have reported seeing ghostly figures in their rooms at night, merely standing, watching. The fourth floor seems to be host to the most amount of activity, and there is one ghost in particular, purportedly Lord Dunraven, the previous owner of the land the property was built on, who can be seen standing over the bed or looking out the window of room 407. He is widely blamed for any jewelry or valuables that have gone missing in the hotel over the years.

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8
The Brown Lady
Raynham Hall
Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England, is home to the subject of one of the most famous ghost photos ever captured, the Brown Lady is named so because she appears in a rich brocade brown dress. She is widely believed to be Lady Dorothy Walpole, sister of Sir Robert Walpole, who married Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend in 1713. She died under mysterious circumstances in 1726, and sightings of her began shortly after. Though reports of sightings have waned dramatically since the photo was taken in 1936, sightings before then had been reported by some fairly reputable sources. My favorite account is from a Major Loftus, who was staying at Raynham Hall in 1849. Retiring to bed one night, he and a friend named Hawkins observed a woman in brown brocade who vanished as Major Loftus approached her. Determined to confront the apparition, the next night he returned to she same spot and saw her again. He was horrified to see however, that when he looked into her face he saw only two black sockets where her eyes should have been. Unsettling to say the least!

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7
Clifton Hall
If you have a spare £2.75 million laying around, you can be the proud owner of Clifton Hall in Nottinghamshire, England. The property was noted as far back as the 11th century, and was in the hands of the Clifton family from the 13th century until its sale in 1958. From there it became a school, then another school, then another school , then a planned set of luxury apartments, before finally settling as a private residence most recently belonging to a mister Anwar Rashid, his wife, and their four children. It boasts 17 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, 10 reception rooms, a private gym and a cinema. Oh, and a few ghosts, of course. The Rashid family experienced unsettling phenomena their very first night in the home, in the form of a knocking sound and a man's voice calling "Hello, is anyone there?" In one incident, Anwar's wife, Nabila, went downstairs to prepare some milk for their 18 month old son at five o'clock in the morning and observed her eldest daughter sat in front of the television. When calling out to her gave no answer, Nabila got a strange feeling and went back upstairs to her daughter's room, where the eldest was found still fast asleep in her bed. The Rashids fled the house after 8 months of putting up with the hauntings. Though their accounts are the most recent and easiest to find during research, there had been rumors and sightings on the property for as long as anyone could remember, including babies crying and a woman who could be seen through a window pacing in a room that had been bricked up and inaccessible.