Travel - Top Haunted hotels to keep you awake

SYDNEY: Suicide, murder, untimely deaths, all set the grisly stage for macabre stories of hauntings and other ghostly tales drawing visitors to supposedly haunted hotels around the world ahead of Halloween.

Travel Web site Professional TravelGuide.com has come up with a list of 9 haunted hotels for thrill-seekers who like hearing things go bump in the night.

Hotel Del Coronado, Coronado, California

Kate Morgan's body was found six days after she checked into Room 302 of the Hotel del Coronado to meet her estranged husband on Thanksgiving Day 1892.

He reportedly never showed up. Kate's untimely death was ruled a suicide. Room 302 is now known as Room 3312, but Kate's spirit is said to roam the entire hotel.

Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood, California

The site of the first Academy Awards and the center of Hollywood during its heyday, The Roosevelt Hotel is said to accommodate the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe (Suite 1200) and Montgomery Clift, star of "From Here to Eternity" (Room 928).

Marilyn Monroe was a frequent guest there. Her image is said to appear in a mirror now located in the lobby.

The Sagamore, Bolton Landing, New York

The Sagamore in Bolton Landing, New York, is said to harbor the ghost of a boy from the 1950s.

The boy would collect lost golf balls and sell them to the pro shop for extra cash. Running after a ball one day, he was fatally struck by a car. Apparently, guests still see the boy on the golf course sometimes.

Driskill Hotel, Austin, Texas

The smell of cigar smoke can be detected when Colonel Driskill, a Texas cattle baron and Confederate officer, is said to be wandering the lavish Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas.

In 1877, the daughter of a Texas senator took a fatal tumble down the grand staircase. It is said she can be heard bouncing a ball in the lobby and along the mezzanine.

Shieldhill Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland

Guests tell stories of "The Gray Lady" who is said to haunt Shieldhill Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to legend, she was the daughter of the family who owned the castle until the mid-20th century.

She is said to have fallen in love with one of the hired hands. When her father disapproved of the marriage, she committed suicide.

Hotel Provincial, New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is renowned for its spooks and hauntings. Part of the Provincial Hotel was once a Confederate hospital. Maids have reported bloodstains mysteriously appearing and disappearing.

Once, as the elevator opened on the second floor, the vision of an entire hospital apparently came into view.

The Marshall House, Savannah, Georgia

Used as a hospital during the Civil War and during yellow fever epidemics in the 19th century, the Marshall House in Savannah, Georgia, is reportedly one of the most haunted hotels in the city.

For more ghosts, check out the famed Pirate House Restaurant with a tunnel dug by pirates that leads to the river

The Heathman Hotel, Portland, Oregon

At this hotel, guests who have left their rooms clean have returned to find something amiss or moved about. Records for the hotel will have shown no one entering the room.

Evidently, these occurrences are frequent, especially in rooms ending in -03.

The Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Paranormal researchers have studied The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, believed investigating the spirit of Dr William Jacocks who lived at the inn for many years.

Orbs, piano notes, soft-spoken words and other ghostly happenings add to the spooky ambience.

REUTERS