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The Mount Washington Hotel

The Mount Washington Hotel paranormal

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Location submitted by: sdonley on 06/26/2016
DBA Approved: Y


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PANICd#: 1868

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As grand as the history behind it, Omni Mount Washington Resort, located in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, is gracious in ambiance and generous in amenities.

310 Mount Washington Hotel Rd
Bretton Woods , NH 03575
Phone: (800) 843-6664
Open to the public: Yes

https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/b...

Lat: 44.2573733
Lon: -71.43930660000001

Database Summary:

Demographic Rank: 6
History: 1
Stories: 2
Claims: 19
Evidence: 0
Resources: 9
Retrievals: 5453
Vistor Rating: 0.0
Votes: 0

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History

History information is some background and history about the location. This is meant to be a basic summary. Below the history records you will find sources in which you can click on to find out more information. There may be multiple history records per location.


Bretton Woods is part of a land grant made in 1772 by Royal Governor John Wentworth. The area was named after Bretton Hall, Wentworth's ancestral home in Yorkshire, England.

The superstructure of The Mount Washington Hotel boasted a steel network, uncommon in its day. The Mount Washington Hotel was built by New Hampshire native Joseph Stickney, who made his fortune in coal mining and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Stickney spared no expense in building the imposing hotel. The latest design and construction methods were used. Innovative and complicated heating and plumbing systems were installed. To this day, the Bretton Woods Hotel has its own private telephone system and Post Office.

Ground was broken in 1900 and construction was completed in 1902. Two hundred and fifty Italian craftsmen, skilled in masonry and woodworking, were brought to Bretton Woods and housed on the grounds. A new type of power plant served reliably for over 50 years.

Imported china, hand-colored postcards and playing cards and a 1917 travel guide show genteel mementos of an elegant legacy. On July 28, 1902, the front doors of this Grand Hotel opened to the public with a staff of no less than 350.

The most luxurious hotel of its day, The Mount Washington catered to wealthy guests from Boston, New York and Philadelphia. As many as 50 trains a day stopped at Bretton Woods' three railroad stations. One of these stations, Fabyan's, is now one of the Resort's dining establishments.

The hotel has been host to countless celebrities, including Thomas Edison and three U.S. presidents.

In 1944, The Mount Washington hosted the Bretton Woods International Monetary Conference. Delegates from 44 nations convened, establishing the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, setting the gold standard at $35 an ounce and designating the United States dollar as the backbone of international exchange. The signing of the formal documents took place in the Gold Room, located off the Hotel Lobby and now preserved as an historic site.

In 1955, the hotel was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Morris J. Fleisher of Philadelphia, who operated the hotel for 15 seasons until its sale in 1969 to Mount Washington Development Company. This company developed the popular Bretton Woods Ski Area and reacquired many out-parcels, thus consolidating the original Stickney Estate.

Bretton Woods Corporation acquired the property in 1975. Under its ownership, The Mount Washington Hotel was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and 6,400 acres of beautiful woodlands were sold to the United States government for inclusion in the White Mountain National Forest.

In 1986, the United States Department of the Interior recognized the historical and architectural significance of The Mount Washington Hotel with a National Historic Landmark designation. The 1896 Bretton Arms Inn, a Victorian inn located on the Hotel grounds, was also awarded National Historic Landmark status as part of the designation given The Mount Washington Hotel.

In 1991, a new chapter in the hotel's history began as a group of New Hampshire businessmen joined forces to purchase it and the surrounding property to ensure its place in the 21st Century. Subsequent purchases of the Resort's two golf courses, surrounding development land and New Hampshire's largest ski area, Bretton Woods, successfully reunited all original Resort properties.

Making history once again, The Mount Washington Hotel opened for its "First Winter" season ever, beginning Thanksgiving Day, 1999!

Added by: sdonley on 06/26/2016 DB#:281
Source(s):
https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/bretton-woods-mo...


Stories

Stories are just that. Stories and personal accounts that have been reported about the location.


Through the years, the hotel hosted many celebrities such as Thomas Edison, Vanderbilt family, Alfred Hitchcock, Babe Ruth, and Princess Margaret to Anthony Eden, John Kenneth Galbraith, Joan Crawford and several US Presidents.

Under its first manager, John Anderson, the hotel was a success. But the advent of income tax, Prohibition, and the Great Depression curtailed the hospitality business. In 1936, Mrs. Stickney's nephew, Foster Reynolds, inherited the hotel, after her death in November of that year. The Hotel was then closed in 1942 because of World War II. A Boston syndicate bought the extensive property for about $450,000 In 1944 and they quickly earned their money back. The Bretton Woods monetary conference took place that year, also known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference. The owners were paid $300,000 for the loss of business and promised a daily room charge of $18 per person for the 19-day conference. (Which turned out to be a 22 day conference.) 730 Delegates from all 44 Allied nations convened, where they established the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, set the gold standard at $35 an ounce and designating the United States dollar as the backbone of international exchange. The signing of the formal documents took place in the Gold Room, located off the Hotel Lobby and now it its preserved as an historic site. In case you were calculating...730 delegates at $18 / day times 22 days... $289080...so that plus the initial $300000, they made back their $450,000 purchase price and turned a $139080 profit...in just 22 days.

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Added by: sdonley on 06/26/2016 DB#:1235
Source(s):


Hauntings

Since the original owner who had this magnificent building built died just one year after its opening, one might think the ghost that haunts the Mt. Washington is poor Joseph Stickney's, but apparently it is his wife's. The weird part of this is that Carolyn didn't even die near the hotel, but her apparition has been reported throughout the hotel and she has been seen so often that there is even a place set for her in the hotel dining room every evening.

Interestingly, the architects who designed the hotel incorporated what they considered an anti-ghost measure. The hotel has several towers, and the number of stairs leading up to each tower is different.== number of steps to the second floor (thirty-three from the registration area and thirty-one in the South Tower) This is supposed to confuse ghosts and encourage them to leave, but I suppose since Carolyn Stickney was so intimately involved with the hotel her spirit is not fazed by oddly numbered steps.

After Carolyn died in 1936 the staff at the hotel started to report strange things. During the empty winter months caretakers claimed they saw an elegant woman walking into the dining room and that lights would turn themselves on and off. When a posed photo of the summer staff was developed a shadowy woman could be seen looking at them through a window of the princess room 314, but no one could have been at the window when the photo was taken as the room was not rented and was vacant that day...and the staff was all having their picture taken.

Carolyn Stickney remarried a European prince, Prince Aymon de Faucigny-Lucinge, shortly after Joseph's death and enjoyed spending her summers at the hotel. She built a private dining room for her and her friends, and also had a special balcony constructed that overlooked the hotel's main dining room. This allowed her to see what other guests were wearing and change her clothes to ensure she was the best dressed woman in the room. Some guests who have stayed at the hotel say you can see a woman that's description strikingly resembles Carolyn watching over everyone from the balcony.

Luckily for hotel guests Carolyn's ghost is harmless. As a former hotelier she's not going to do anything to hurt business! Still, the unprepared might find themselves frightened, particularly if they stay in room 314 one of the tower suites. This elegant room used to be Carolyn Stickney's private apartment and it still contains the giant four-poster bed she slept in.

Guests staying there often report uncanny incidents.

One Trip Advisor guset who stayed in Room 314
Described things that happened during her stay:
1. Fireplace turned on by itself
2. Lamp near the chaise sofa flickered on / off inexplicably a couple of times.
3. My daughter's plush monkey went missing only to show up in the middle of the floor later in the day.
4. We left the room in the morning to come back to what appeared to be a tidied up room (ie., the housekeeper must have been there) because there were new towels; ironing board was put away, certain things were tidied up and most importantly, the bed was "made". I emphasize made because the sheets and cover were laid as if it was made but then it appeared as if someone had laid on it to take a nap.

Others have reported hearing a romantic, but ghostly melody from the depths of the hotel, but the source of the music is never found. In the "Tower Suites", television channels will switch and tubs run by themselves. Scents of perfumes and strange lights can be seen. Carolyn can be seen in Room 314 (room is nicknamed "The Princess Room"), sitting on the edge of the bed that she shared with her husband, brushing her hair.

Perhaps most famously, February 6th, 2008 the TAPS team, featured on the SyFy network show, Ghost Hunters, recorded clear EVP's of the Princess conversing with them. That ghostly conversation seemed to indicate that Carolyn is still very much present at the hotel, but either unsure or perhaps unaware of what time period she is in. When the team went up to Room 314 to set up an Electronic Voice Phenomena (in the ghost world this is called an "EVP") they asked this simple question, "Princess, Are you here?" What they got was this simple question back, "Of course I'm in here. Where are you?"

In addition to the ghost of the Princess, there have many reports of paranormal activity within the hotel including: children running the halls, a dark figure haunting the new spa wing, and the presence of a resident spirit belonging to an old employee who is rumored to have committed suicide in the staff quarters of one of the towers. Other ghostly happenings are: a baby can be heard crying in the ballroom (Mt. Madison Room), when there's no baby even in the hotel. Photographs get mysteriously slashed by unseen fingernails. A woman can be seen walking through walls and light taps on doors when no one is outside.

Other rooms are said to be haunted as well The lobby is said to be haunted by a little girl and a man, and a malevolent lady is believed to haunt room 206.

Guests have said to watch out for rooms: 206, 217, 237, 425, and of course "The Princess Room" (Room 314).

Records throughout the years do show that some other guests have checked in, but they never checked out. Such as: Daniel Willis James, a highly wealthy metal merchant from New York, had his last stay at the hotel, dying at the age of 75 on September 13th, 1907 of a heart attack. Almost ten years, right on date, a guest by the name of Alfred N. Beadleston died at the age of 69 due to intestinal hemorrhages. Still Carolyn is the most seen, though Daniel Willis James has been reported sitting in a chair in the lobby. He was apparently unresponsive to waving etc....but was identified and verified by photographs of Mr. James...

SEE SOURCES IN THE RESOURCE SECTION

Added by: sdonley on 06/26/2016 DB#:1236
Source(s):


Paranormal Claims

Here are the paranormal claims for this location. These have been found through Internet research, reports from members, or reports from personal interviews. To add a claim, please contact PANICd.com, and we will review and add your information.


Claim # Added Added By Claim
2347 06/26/2016 sdonley Sounds of children have been heard running in the halls.
2356 06/26/2016 sdonley Daniel Willis James has been reported sitting in a chair in the lobby. He was apparently unresponsive to waving etc....but was identified and verified by photographs of Mr. James..
2355 06/26/2016 sdonley A malevolent lady is believed to haunt room 206.
2354 06/26/2016 sdonley The lobby is said to be haunted by a little girl and a man
2353 06/26/2016 sdonley Light taps on doors when no one is outside.
2352 06/26/2016 sdonley A woman can be seen walking through walls
2351 06/26/2016 sdonley Photographs get mysteriously slashed by unseen fingernails.
2350 06/26/2016 sdonley A baby can be heard crying in the ballroom in the Mt. Madison Room
2349 06/26/2016 sdonley The presence of a resident spirit belonging to an old employee who is rumored to have committed suicide in the staff quarters of one of the towers.
2348 06/26/2016 sdonley A dark figure haunting the new spa wing.
2338 06/26/2016 sdonley A woman has been seen that has a description strikingly resembling Carolyn watching over everyone from the balcony.
2346 06/26/2016 sdonley Carolyn can be seen in Room 314, sitting on the edge of the bed that she shared with her husband, brushing her hair.
2345 06/26/2016 sdonley Scents of perfumes and strange lights can be seen in tower suites.
2344 06/26/2016 sdonley In the "Tower Suites", television channels will switch and tubs run by themselves.
2343 06/26/2016 sdonley There are reports of hearing a romantic, but ghostly melody from the depths of the hotel.
2342 06/26/2016 sdonley Sheets and cover were laid as if it was made but then it appeared as if someone had laid on it to take a nap in room 314.
2341 06/26/2016 sdonley Toys go missing only to show up in different places later in the day in room 314
2340 06/26/2016 sdonley The lamp near the chaise sofa flickered on / off inexplicably a couple of times in room 314
2339 06/26/2016 sdonley The fireplace turned on by itself in room 314.

Paranormal Evidence

Paranormal evidence is based on claims that have been reported for this location. There can be several types of evidence; however, we have grouped them based on media type for better organization. Here you will find evidence that are logs, audio, video, or photographic.

To add evidence for a claim, you must submit it to PANICd.com for approval to be entered into the database.


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Additional Resources

This is a collection of Internet resources for this location. This section will house links to other websites that contain information related to history, claims, investigations, or even the location's website.


New England Folklore
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Blog post about this location
Real Haunts
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Lists stories about the location.
Historic Mount Washington hotel sold to current operator
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Article on the Boston Globe about this location.
The Ghost of Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods NH
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Blog post about this location.
The Princess Awaits Your Arrival
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Blog post about this location.
MOUNT WASHINGTON HOTEL - Trademark Details
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Information about the location applying for a trademark.
The Princess Awaits Your Arrival - Mount Washington Hotel
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Paranormal News Article
Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, NH
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Blog post about location
National Registry Information
Added: 06/26/2016 By: sdonley
Click on the download links to view/read the information.

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