Travelers Reveal Their Creepiest Hotel Experiences

Hotels can be some of the creepiest places, but why is this? Perhaps it's because so many people come and go and no one really knows what happened there. Many hotels are centuries old, giving their creepy factor a boost.

Dr-Absurd asks: To all Reddit travelers, what is your creepiest hotel story?

When the stalker shows up

My mom was traveling for work and sat next to a man (fellow business traveler) on the plane. They had a casual conversation and exchanged business cards. Later that evening she's in her hotel watching TV and gets a phone call from the front desk that her husband is here and they want to know if they can give him a key to the room. Turns out the creep on the plane was pretending to be her husband to try to get into her room.

Did that really just happen?

At maybe 11pm or so, I get a call from the motel phone saying there's been a complaint about noise. I tell them that's impossible, I've been sleeping. They ask me if maybe it's someone else in the room and I tell them nope, I'm here alone so there's definitely no one else making noise. They ask me again if I'm sure I'm by myself and not causing any noise. I say yes again. Fall back asleep immediately.

When I woke up and thought about it some more, I realize how weird the entire interaction was. There was absolutely no noise I could hear anywhere nearby and I don't know why the motel staff would need to clarify so many times that I was alone.

Apparently they never called. So I assume it must've been someone calling the different rooms to see who was in the rooms and how many people. I've never been so glad to always always use the extra latch chain lock.

When hospitality is not a priority

While in the isles of Scotland, we stayed in a B&B. It was owned by a couple. The bedrooms were extremely well done and beautiful, but on everything there was signs to not "touch". To use the shower, you would have to ask the couple and the Internet ended at 11pm. The woman would also check on everyone at random times in the night, we would hear creeping in the hallway to make sure "everyone was sleeping" and not doing any illegal things like using the Internet. When we checked out of her B&B, she came into our room and said that we "stunk", and opened the window to prove this and demanded for money immediately.

When you are trying to kill bugs but you kill the humans

Found a hotel in Yangon (Burma) the day we got there for pretty cheap. They mentioned the rates were low because maintenance was being done on several floors. We sleep fine, wake up and head to breakfast. At breakfast we met some Germans who had also stayed the night in our hotel. They said they had not slept well because during the middle of the night someone woke them up to move them from the floor they were on. We (us and the Germans) found out later that they had been moved because they were on one of the levels reserved for maintenance, and part of the maintenance included gassing the rooms for bugs. During the middle of the night they were just going around the rooms shoving the gas nozzle or whatever under the doors and letting them run; wound up killing the two people next to the Germans before they realized they'd accidentally booked people on that floor. We weren't on that floor thankfully but it has always stuck with me how seemingly easy it could've been to have gotten mixed up in that.

Not the best way to see The Shining

Family vacation. 1am. My brother and I had just finished watching The Shining on TV. Neither of us had seen it before. We heard someone trying to open our door. No one else was supposed to have keys.

Someone tried to swing open the door, but the hotel lock stopped them. They kept trying to open it multiple times, banging the door against the lock. After a few tries, they gave up. The hotel desk clerk accidentally entered the wrong room for their keycards.

It was probably best way I saw The Shining. I can't be scared more than that from that movie.

creepy, but very helpful

When I was 12, I was staying in a motel with my mom on a road trip. We were in the middle of nowhere in Texas at a motel that had a decent rating in our guidebook and was really cheap, so we went for it. In the middle of the night, the owner knocked on the door and told us we had to leave because he wanted the room for someone else (!!!) My mom was outside arguing with him while I was gathering our things, and I was terrified because I heard him start yelling.

I looked out the window and saw about half a dozen bikers in vests appear out of nowhere (maybe a nearby room?) and start confronting the owner. My mom came inside quickly and we watched them start harassing the guy, things like "she's paid to be here. You're gonna let her stay tonight! We don't want to ever hear s*** like this from you again!" And the owner was saying things like "I don't want any trouble!"

Everybody left fairly quickly and we didn't ever hear anything about it the next day at checkout. We weren't able to sleep very well because we were so shook up, but it was better than getting in the car again.

Thank you, anonymous biker gang.

Maybe it was a coincidence...

In 1996 while air-drying naked after a shower lying on my hotel bed in Beijing with the curtains drawn, I received a call demanding I put on clothes.

The home team advantage

A friend and I once stayed at a pretty fancy B&B for the night. The lady who owned it was absolutely lovely, but would appear out of no where. We'd be sitting alone in a large room with one doorway and suddenly she was in the room with us. Either this joint had secret doors or something really creepy was going on. She seemed to know things that we'd said or done as well. The thing that tripped us out the most was hearing someone trying to open our door during the night. She was super lovely and the building was beautiful, but we were relieved to check out the next morning!

Sometimes you have to take your chances

I arrive at a secluded, coastal hotel south of Marmaris Turkey around 2 AM. It had been a long day in Istanbul followed by a flight and long bus ride into Marmaris where I haggled with non-English-speaking taxi drivers... who were not even aware that this small resort exists. When the taxi pulls up to the hotel... it's on fire. When the owner, standing out front sees us he opens the taxi door excitedly, "You come. I have nice room for you!" I point out that the hotel is on fire but he simply gestures and says "Small fire. No problem. You come." I. Am. Utterly. Exhausted. I find myself following the owner into the hotel, stepping over fire hoses, waving away smoke, passing fire fighters as they run up and down a very nice staircase. We pause at the second floor landing and the owner tells me, "See. Fire only on this side of hotel. This side no fire. You come." My exhaustion removes every ounce of common sense and I follow him to a room down the hall. The room is indeed fire-free. I quickly scan the in-case-of-fire message on the back of the door, checked the window escape, and promptly pass out with my gear and boots on. In the morning I awake [alive] wondering if I dreamt the entire thing. I go down the smokey stairs past the charred other side of the hotel. The owner is so happy to see me [still alive] that he eats breakfast with me.

I went back a few years later and the hotel had fully recovered.

How unlucky can you get...

I toured around in bands a lot in my twenties, and not once but twice came back to my hotel room to find a turd in my shower. I was the only person with a key to the room. One was in Germany and one was in Belgium. Two years apart, completely separate tour and crew.

Red flags!

Did the couchsurfing.com thing with a friend a few years ago. We are both big guys so typically feel safe everywhere we go.

Show up at the house, 60year old guy opens the door while on the phone. Hes only wearing sweat pants. He signals for us to enter. He continues his conversation and ends with an I love you. He turns to us and says welcome, and apologizes for being on the phone. He starts talking about his GF, who he was talking with, and how she lives overseas. He mentions he has several GFs and boasts about being a ladies man. He walked us to the room while rubbing his belly. Told us he we make breakfast in the morning.

We decided to sleep the night, but leave before he woke up. My friend slept on the bedroom door so he couldn't sneak in. We got up super early and bolted.

We got super weird vibes from the guy and just felt gross/weird about the whole thing.

When there is a secret door to your room...

Stayed in a B&B in Pennsylvania that seemed cute enough. They did have a wall of antique dolls in the main room but otherwise no signs of weirdness.

That's until we were settled in the room. I noticed some scratches on the floor near a book case and after some inspection realized it was a secret door. When I asked the owner, who gave a creepy vibe if it worked he said yes and showed me that it opened to their office (which was a cluttered room with a computer and piles or crap). It had a lock on their side and when I asked if there was a lock on my side he smiled and said "no". When I showed some concern that there was an unlockable entrance to my room that was camouflaged that they didn't tell me about he just kept smiling.

So that night no sex (fear of cameras) and I barricaded the door and barely slept.

The crime scene

I arrived late at a hotel for a business trip. Flight had a malfunction so we had to land. They fixed it on the tarmac & we never deplaned. Room already paid for, confirmation number in hand, etc. I got there about 5 hours after I was supposed to be there. Of course, they gave away my room. I already wasn't happy from all the delays & I wasn't going anywhere. The event I was there for was in their hotel. I wanted my room. I was polite but resolutely firm. They did some scrambling and asked if I would consider a damaged room under construction. "As long as the sheets are clean so I can go to bed, I don't care." was my reply. Mistake. The room they gave me was literally a crime scene. The case had been closed so there was no legal issue to contend with but someone had been killed (or nearly killed - not 100% sure) in that room. They had primed over the blood stains on the walls & ceiling but had only taped down semi-clear plastic over the pooled blood on the carpets. Multiple small holes in the walls had obviously been patched & sanded but they were MULTIPLE SMALL HOLES IN THE WALLS. They gave me a completely new bed and TV from on-site inventory so I was comfortable but, man, it was creepy as f***.

Scorpions!

Was in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua last year. Massive spiders all over the room. Even woke up with a couple of little scorpions in my bed the first morning. Next night I'm sitting at the bar, drinking and chatting with a mate - feel a tickle on the back of my neck and think it's a mosquito or something. Brush the back of my neck and another scorpion, this time wayy bigger, plops on the ground at my feet. Stared at it for a moment in shock, squealed like a girl, squashed it and kept drinking.

Sometimes it's best to not look closer

In mexico, my gf and i stayed a night in a hut in the jungle. No running water no electricity. As we are from central europe, we are not used to dangerouse wildlife(spider, scorpions, ect.). There was a beautiful cenote near by and at some point it rained like crazy. the daytime was amazing. The night not so much..

In our hut was a bed with a mosquito net with huge holes in it. It was pitch black in the hut as we laid down and got comfortable trying to sleep. I felt a bit creeped out and decided to check the hut for insects with my phones flashlight. bad idea. there were hundreds of big spiders all over the walls and ceiling.

not the nights sleep i had wrapped up like a mummy every piece of clothing we had with us.

Witnessing a thief in the night

Once witnessed a thief breaking into cars in the parking lot from my hotel room window. Called the front desk and they had security go outside with a big a** stick. We had the bird's eye view as this security officer is searching for the thief and the thief is evading him. Unfortunately, the thief got away in his vehicle.

When you have a visitor

My spouse and I stayed at a massive hotel complex which consisted of one hotel who bought almost every other hotel around it. We bought the online special and were put in one of the ancient aquisitions. There was this odd 4x4 piece of plywood that was hanging down from the ceiling just enough so it felt like someone could watch you through the crack but you couldn't see in it. We hung up the do not disturb sign and went to tourist around. We came back and the TV was on at maximum volume. We left and returned again and the shower curtain had fallen down. Good thing it was only a one night stay...that room just had the feeling of someone there.

When you creep yourself out

When I was like 14/15, I went with my family to Las Vegas and we stayed off the main strip in a 2 bedroom suite. It was a smaller casino/hotel. My parents left to go out and enjoy the night while I stayed with my younger siblings. They slept in the bedrooms and I was in the living room watching tv. I think I dozed off at around midnight and when I woke up, I was in a stairwell. Outside of the hotel room. I had no shoes on. I had no cell phone. No room key.

I went to the front office and told them I was locked out of my room and they believed me and gave me a key.

I still don't know why I was out there. To this day, I have never sleep walked. I don't know what happened. Maybe I did sleep walk, maybe something happened during those hours that I cannot remember. But it was creepy enough for me to share.

The haunted hotel room

A year ago, I was in rural Arkansas. The kind of place where everyone knows everyone else. I usually sleep with all lights off and even pull out the wires of the alarm clock to avoid the light. Woke up in the middle of the night and realized that the bathroom light was on. The tap was running and the shower too. I knew I couldn't have forgotten that. Still, I thought that I might have as I was tired and sleepy. Turned them off, turned off the light and went back to bed.

Woke up after a couple of hours and saw that the lights are on in the bathroom. Tap was running and so was the shower. The tub had clogged and water had started seeping out. Scared, I left the room and walked down to the front desk. A half-asleep middle-aged lady was the manager and her dog was asleep.

Both of them came back with me. I explained her the whole thing and showed her the tub. She was flabbergasted. The dog was still not in the room and was roaming outside. he came into the room and without any trigger started barking wildly in the bathroom. The lights went out in the bathroom while the rest of the room was still powered. Both of us sprinted out the room but the dog kept barking in the bathroom while she kept shouting "charlie, charlie"

After 20 seconds of this, both of us decided to go back in for the dog. at this stage, I was almost s****ing my pants. Charlie came running out of the bathroom and went to the corner of the room, sat there drenched in water(sweat?) and whimpered. After what seemed like an eternity, the dog walked with us.

Went back to the front desk and sat there for the remainder of the night.