Unexplained

Meet the ghostly hotel guests who checked in – but never checked out…

An old hotel, deep in the mountains, with an unearthly history of ghosts, haunted rooms and family murder-suicides.

Sound familiar?

You may be thinking of the haunted hotel in the Stephen King book and Jack Nicholson horror flick The Shining. But this is the real thing... Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel – built in 1888 in the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta – has hosted many glamorous guests in its 130-year history.

They include Marilyn Monroe and the Queen!

But it seems some of its distinguished visitors have never checked out at all...

Countless guests and staff members have recounted bizarre, and sometimes frightening, encounters with a colourful cast of phantom residents.

One of the less threatening apparitions is said to be Sam the bellman.

Sam Mcauley was a friendly old Scottish gentleman, who worked as the hotel’s head bellman during the 1960s and 70s.

Before he passed away at a ripe old age in 1975, he promised to return to his former workplace.

A promise he seems to have kept.

Years later, two women found themselves accidentally locked out of their room.

They went to the desk for help, but the bellman was busy helping other guests.

When he finally arrived at their door, 15 minutes later, he found they’d unlocked it.

‘How did you get in?’ he asked.

‘The Scotsman let us in,’ replied one of the ladies.

They described this person to the bellman, who insisted there was no such man working at the hotel.

But, when the ladies said the elderly man was wearing an old-fashioned uniform, different to the other hotel employees, the bellman felt a chill run down his spine.

Old Sam had returned!

Many other guests have also reported being assisted by a friendly, helpful old bellman – who always seems to disappear before they can tip him...

There’s also a headless bagpipe player, and a ghostly bartender – who encourages guests to call it a night if they’ve had too much to drink.

But not all of the hotel’s spirits are as friendly...

Staff say that Room 692 is a difficult booking to keep.

Several guests have left the room in a hurry, after being pushed off the bed or having pillows yanked from beneath their heads by an invisible presence as they’ve slept.

If the souls that linger in the room can’t rest in peace, why should anyone else?

Room 873 is even more sinister. A young family took this room in the early 1900s.

In a chilling echo of the film The Shining, the father brutally murdered his wife and daughter, before taking his own life.

But it seems the tormented spirits of the mother and daughter never left the room in which they died.

Guests who’ve stayed in Room 873 since then have been woken in the night by blood-curdling screams.

When they’ve turned on the lights, they’ve been horrified to see bloody handprints staining the mirror.

It’s said that maids have tried to clean the marks but, apparently, they’re impossible to remove.

Other versions of the legend say the maids have washed the prints off, only to find they return as soon as they finish. Terrifying either way! The reports of spooky

The father brutally murdered his wife and daughteré

goings-on in Room 873 got so bad, the hotel eventually decided to block off the room permanently, building a wall over the door to prevent access.

But this hasn’t completely stopped the tormented souls of the mother and daughter from frightening guests.

Many people have reported hearing strange noises coming from behind the walls, and some have even seen the spectre of a terrified little girl hiding around corners.

But perhaps the hotel’s most famous and tragic resident ghost is the bride.

In the 1920s, a young couple were married at the hotel.

While descending a marble staircase, the bride had a terrible accident. Some say she tripped on her dress, others claim it caught fire after brushing against lit candles along the edge of the staircase.

Whatever the truth, the bride fell to the bottom of the stairs, breaking her neck.

Ever since, staff and guests have claimed to have seen the phantom bride walking up the stairs where she fell.

Or dancing alone in the Cascade Ballroom, pining for the first dance she never had.

Odd sounds have also been reported coming from the bridal suite when the room isn’t occupied.

Or perhaps, just like Room 873, it’s always occupied – by those who’ve never checked out...