Halloween is only two days away! The fifth and final hotel in my series of haunted hotels is Omni Park House in Downtown Boston. Founded by Harvey D. Parker in 1855, this historic gem is longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. It was here where such 19th century luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow convened in the Saturday Club. Baseball legends met like Babe Ruth and Ted Williams wined and dined at the historic property. What's more, a slew of respected politicians --from Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Deval Patrick -- gathered here for press conferences and meetings. Here are some other fun facts: John F. Kennedy proposed to Jackie Onassis at Parker's Restaurant, where Malcolm X once worked as a busboy  With its close proximity to Boston's Theater District, the Omni Parker House played an important role in the careers of a wide range of performers, inclu...

Last week, we kicked off our special series on haunted hotels by spotlighting The Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore, Maryland. Now we travel south to the Marshall House in Savannah, Georgia. Like The Admiral Fell Inn, it made TripAdvisor's list of the top 10 haunted hotels in the U.S. Set on Broughton Street, in the heart of Savannah's historic district, the property melds period features like 19th century doors and original staircases with modern conveniences like WiFi and flat screen TVs. In addition to its 65 well-appointed guestrooms, it boasts a library at which guests can enjoy complimentary wine and cheese, an Atrium with glass ceiling, and a restaurant that serves fresh local cuisine. On April 1, 2000, The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation named The Marshall House a National Historic Building. The property is named after its original proprietor, Mary Leaver Marshall. She married Colonel James Marshall -- a Second Lieutenant in the Savannah Volunteer Guard (SV...

Given that I've worked in the hotel/lodging industry for over 6 years now, I enjoy studying up and learning about hotels around the world, especially those classified as historic and/or haunted. (I am, after all, a history junkie!) I thought it'd be fun to spotlight various historic hotels over the next few weeks as we draw closer to Halloween. We begin this spooktacular series on historic hotels with the Admiral Fell Inn , which is located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Fell family, Quakers from Lancaster, England, founded Fell's Point in 1730, and developed it into a shipbuilding center and busy deep-water seaport for exporting and importing. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Fell's Point was humming with exports of Maryland tobacco and grain and imports from Europe and the West Indies. By 1900, Fell's Point had devolved into a cesspool of debauchery and drunkenness known for its crime-ridden saloons and brothels. In response, the Port Mission Women...

Surprisingly, many consumers say they would never stay at a haunted hotel. Whether it's bizarre ghost sightings, strange sounds (knocking, howling, talking, screaming, etc.), or unexplained lights, the thought of spending the night at a haunted property sends chills down people's backs. What draws me to haunted hotels in the first place is that they tend to be steeped in history. Hotels classified as haunted tend to be those that have been existence since the 18th-19th centuries, or earlier. In fact, the vast majority of them are listed in The National Register of Historic Places. The most renowned historic hotel in my area was converted into a hospital during World War II to treat the wounded. Many speculate that the hotel remains haunted to this day by the spirits of those who perished during the war. I think the history behind historic hotels certainly makes them worth visiting, even if it's only for a few hours. In fact, many of these properties offer guests histo...