Staying in Boston’s Most Haunted Hotel

In the heart of downtown Boston, just steps from the Freedom Trail and Boston Common, sits a 551-room historic hotel called the Omni Parker House that is known to be the oldest continually operating hotel in the country. It’s also rumored to be Boston’s most haunted hotel.

The Parker House was built in 1855 by Harvey Parker and has seen many famous guests throughout the years, including every U.S. president since Ulysses S. Grant. The Parker House also played host to the Saturday Club, a group of notable writers from America’s Golden Age of Literature – including Longfellow, Thoreau, Emerson, and Hawthorne. Charles Dickens was one of these Saturday Club regulars and it was here that he gave his first American reading of A Christmas Carol. And if that much history wasn’t enough, Parker’s Restaurant is the birthplace of the delectable dessert known as Boston Cream Pie.

When I was looking at hotels in Boston I found unbelievable rates at the Omni Parker House listed on Expedia. I found that the hotel has “economy petite” rooms that are a bit smaller than their traditional rooms so they come at a lower rate, and with it being February the rates were even more affordable for me. I couldn’t believe that I had found such a great price for a historic hotel in downtown Boston! Yet it looked familiar… I soon realized that I had read about it in a Haunted Massachusetts book, and that sealed the deal.

In the days leading up to my trip, the Boston forecast called for two massive blizzards, but as long as it didn’t ruin my flight plans I was fine with it. I don’t mind snow, and being a fan of Stephen King’s The Shining, the thought of possibly being snowed into an old haunted hotel enticed me!

I fell in love with the Omni Parker House the minute I walked into its elegant lobby with its dark-paneled walls and gold-plated elevators. I was still in awe that I could afford to stay in such a gorgeous hotel as a budget traveler.

My economy single room was everything I needed. It didn’t feel cluttered one bit; I had just the right amount of space I needed. Plenty of room to hang all of my snow-sodden clothes around to dry! And to my excitement, I happened to be on the ninth floor – one of the floors where guests have reported ghostly sightings.

On the evening after I walked the Freedom Trail in the blizzard (crazy, I know), I decided to stay in and thaw, so I dined and hung out for a while in Parker’s Bar at the hotel, which had an awesome old-timey feel to it. I asked the bartender about the ghost stories. He hadn’t experienced anything himself but knew plenty of employees who had. He also had a sheet at the ready which listed out all of the hotel’s ghost stories!

On the ninth and tenth floors, guests have seen a man in Victorian garb. One woman staying in room 1012 once awoke to see a man standing at the foot of her bed. The man, dressed in Victorian-era clothing had a comforting smile, giving the impression that perhaps he was just checking to ensure that she and her mother were enjoying their stay. The next day, the woman was shocked to see the man’s picture hanging in the hotel’s dining room – a picture of the hotel’s founder Harvey Parker himself. Mr. Parker was dedicated to his work, and many believe that he has stuck around to continue taking care of guests at his beloved hotel.

The other active floor of the hotel is the third floor. It’s here that you can see the mirror that was once in the rooms frequented by Charles Dickens – the mirror in front of which he practiced those famous lines of A Christmas Carol.

The elevator frequently opens to this floor without anyone pressing the button. Room 303 – a room once occupied by a longtime resident who was notorious for his love of whiskey and cigars – is also rumored to have residual smells of whiskey and cigars even after the room has been cleaned.

I didn’t experience anything out of the ordinary during my stay other than a bizarre dream about the hotel that was probably fueled by my extreme interest in the history and ghost stories. But I greatly enjoyed exploring the hotel and had a warm and welcoming stay. Whether or not the ghost of Harvey Parker is still hanging around, his spirit of hospitality lives on at the Omni Parker House.