A Concentration Of Otherworldly Energy: Paranormal Activity In Very Specific Places

Many of us know of famous places that boast ghostly manifestations. Such places as Alcatraz which is said to contain the spirits of past prisoners, or the Tower of London which undoubtedly have similar manifestations, as well as any number of allegedly haunted forests or roads around the world.

However, quite often, we find that the most intense hubs of these paranormal encounters can be found in single rooms. Whether they be in hotels, abandoned hospitals or asylums, and even houses that were built hundreds of years previously, these small spaces often see more paranormal events within the confines of their four walls than entire buildings.

Why might this be? Is it a concentration of energies from past events so horrific that their mark has been left in the present from, in some cases, hundreds of years ago in the past? Might the fact that such intense energies, so confined as they are to these small spaces remain stronger than energies that might have much more physical space to roam? Might our understanding of these bizarre hauntings help us to understand the bigger paranormal picture?

Indeed, these single rooms often harbor some of the most terrifying and mind-bending entities within their respective four walls. And, in turn, offer some of the most intriguing and unsettling paranormal encounters on record – encounters that largely remain unexplained and that continue to fascinate paranormal researchers and enthusiasts alike.

Haunted Rooms – A Specific Focus Of Intense Paranormal Activity

Without a doubt, some of the most haunted and unsettling locations are quite often single rooms, usually in hotels, sometimes in abandoned sanitoriums, but always jam-packed with ghoulish goings-on and unsettling accounts.

One of the most unnerving rooms can be found in the Alaskan Hotel in Juneau, Alaska and the infamous Room 315. Although the entire hotel can boast ghostly happenings, there is little doubt that the events that have unfolded in Room 315 are the most intense. The walls are said to seep blood, with one particular occasion seeing a young navy cadet leaping from his hotel window to escape whatever blood-curdling events he was witness to. Fortunately, he survived the jump, although he was very badly injured.

In New Mexico you will find the St. James Hotel, which dates back to 1872, and the Wild West, and more specifically, Room 18, which experiences regular poltergeist activity, said to be the result of a “whisky-fueled late-night deadly poker game” which would see one of the poker players shot to death as he entered Room 18 where he was staying on the night in question. While most of the bizarre goings-on take place in this famous room, like the Alaskan Hotel, activity takes place throughout the establishment.

Not a hotel but a former asylum, Waverley Hills Sanitorium is home to Room 502, without a doubt one of the most disturbing of such haunted rooms. It is said that a nurse who worked at the facility threw herself to her death from the window of the room after learning she was pregnant with the doctor’s child following an illicit affair. Many people who enter the room report feeling a sudden and intense feeling of doom, as well as a menacing feeling that something is watching them. Other people report the door suddenly slamming shut behind them, while even more alarming are the reports of being pushed or prodded by invisible hands.

Perhaps another room that deserves a mention is Room 4714 in Scott Barracks in Hudson Valley. Over the course of several months in the early 1970s, several cadets saw robes move of their own accord, as well as experiencing the temperature in the room plummet to freezing cold. Even more alarming were the sightings of a soldier dressed in the uniform of the late nineteenth century. The most unsettling incident, though, featured an unfortunate cadet who was seemingly attacked by the ghostly presence, reporting a crushing weight on his chest as well as being surrounded by a terrible coldness.

However, there are many more rooms that have disturbing tales to tell, and it is to them that we will turn our attention to next.

The Langham Hotel, London – Room 333, Home To Several Ghosts

A good place to start would be the Langham Hotel in London, England, a location that is often referred to as London’s most haunted hotel – and when you consider the number of haunted hotels in the Big Smoke, that is quite an achievement. ^[1] There are several different spirits and ghosts in the residence, including a butler from a bygone age who is often seen on the third floor, as well as a German prince seen standing by a window on the fourth floor – the same window he jumped from before the start of the First World War.

Remarkably, Napoleon III, who often stayed at the hotel, is also said to be seen in the basement of the building, while an unknown spirit with a “gaping wound in his face” has been seen in various parts of the hotel.

However, without a doubt, the hub of the activity is Room 333, particularly during the month of October where a man in Victorian evening attire is seen. According to the legends that surround the room, the ghost is that of a doctor who murdered his wife in Room 333 before taking his own life.

Interestingly, in October 1973, a BBC journalist, eager to see if there was anything to the legends, stayed in the famous room. To begin with, the evening passed by without incident. However, in the middle of the night, he was awoken to find a glowing orb floating above him. As he watched, the orb morphed into the top half of a man (the legs were missing).

Gordon watched in amazement and fright as the details of the manifestation became even clearer. The man was clearly dressed in evening wear from the Victorian era, and he simply stared at Gordon. When he moved toward him, Gordon got out of the bed and fled the room.

A more recent encounter occurred in 2014 during a test cricket match featuring England bowler, Stuart Broad. Board would state that he happened to be in Room 333 and got out of bed in the middle of the night due to how hot the evening was. As he entered the bathroom, however, the taps suddenly turned on by themselves. He went to turn the lights on. At the same time, the taps then switched off. He turned the lights off and the taps then immediately turned themselves on once more. The cricketer would eventually move rooms. However, he would state that some of the players (and their wives) also experienced strange happenings, with some leaving the facility in the middle of the night and refusing to go back.

The video below examines this haunted location a little further.

From Libraries To Basements – Many Haunted Rooms Of The UK

If we stay in the United Kingdom for a little while longer, we can briefly examine the servants’ basement in Newton House, in Wales. Although the entire house is home to a wide variety of paranormal activity (it is sometimes referred to as one of the most haunted houses in the UK) it is the basement area where some of the most bizarre and unsettling accounts unfold. ^[2]

There have been sightings of several ghostly apparitions in this section of the house, including a Butler by the name of Walter, whose appearance is often signaled by the sudden smell of tobacco. People also report seeing lights flickering and sometimes switching on and off by themselves, while others report hearing strange voices appearing out of nowhere.

In the eighteenth century, Lady Elinor Cavendish – who was the cousin of the Lady of the House – was discovered strangled to death. It would turn out her murderer was a lover she had recently rejected. Interestingly, when a film crew entered the property to shoot a documentary regarding the strange goings on there in the 1980s, one of them ventured into Cavendish’s room. Almost as soon as he did so, he felt an intense strangling sensation around his throat.

The Resident Of Felbrigg Hall

If we step back across the border into England once more, this time to North Norfolk, there is Felbrigg Hall, a seventeenth-century stately home whose library is said to be haunted by a former resident of the property, William Windham. ^[3] When alive, Windham had a great love of books and consequently spent much of his time in the library – a room designed by the English philosopher, Thomas Paine.

According to historical reports, Windham was returning home one evening in 1809 when he noticed a friend’s home on fire. He rushed to assist his friend – not least, as they had a valuable collection of books – but during his rescue, he fell to the ground and severely bruised his hip. The bruise, though, turned into a tumor. And despite attempts to operate, he would eventually lose his life to it during surgery.

He was buried in the property grounds, and his ghost has been witnessed in the library on many occasions over the last 200 years. While there have been no reports of any attacks, the gothic appearance of the library perhaps adds a feeling of melancholy to any potential run-ins with the one-time resident of the house.

The video below looks at the Felbrigg Hall hauntings a little further.

The Torture Chamber Of Chillingham Castle

Staying in England once more, it is very much worth our time examining the ghostly goings-on of Chillingham Castle in the Northumberland region of the country. ^[4] While there are reports of strange activity from various parts of the fourteenth-century castle, without a doubt, the most intense activity occurs in the purposely built torture chamber that was once the grounds of one of the monstrous torturers of his day John Sage.

Sage, by modern standards, would very likely be considered a psychopath, who not only relished his duties for the English crown and church but even invented his very own torture instruments. During his time, he killed thousands of Scots within the walls of the morose room.

It is claimed, as we might expect, that Sage’s spirit remains in the torture room today. Many people who have entered the room have mentioned a bizarre feeling of an evil presence as if someone is watching them. Even more disturbing is the certainty by many who have entered the one-time torture chamber that whatever the presence is, it wants to cause them harm.

As well as these intense, sudden feelings, screams, and disconnected voices are often heard coming from somewhere in the room, even though there is clearly nobody else there. Perhaps of all the rooms we have examined here, this is one of the most deserved reputations.

Members of the public can visit the room today. And what’s more, many of the original torture devices and instruments remain in the room just as they would have been when utilized by Sage. And, it would appear, the spirit of John Sage remains in this grim room also.

The video below looks at the ghostly activity at Chillingham Castle a little further.

Haunted Rooms Across The Pond

Across the Atlantic Ocean in the United States, we can find several other very haunted rooms. The Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, for example, is home to Room 314. ^[5] The facility was opened in 1900 by Joseph Stickney. However, only a matter of weeks later, Stickney became suddenly ill and ultimately passed away. Although his widow remarried (to a European prince) she returned to the hotel once a year – and when she did, she always stayed in Room 314. She would do this until her death in 1936. However, following her passing, bizarre things would start to happen in the building.

A strange woman was often reported to be seen in various parts of the hotel. Even stranger, when guests would take pictures of their stay, the same woman would often appear in their photos, even though she was clearly not visible at the time they were taken.

Undoubtedly, however, the most intense activity took place in Room 314. Many guests who have stayed in this room have reported waking in the middle of the night and seeing a strange woman standing at the bottom of their bed. Others have reported noticing a suddenly appearing aroma, like perfume, perhaps also indicating Stickney’s widow.

Room 410 Of The Queen Anne’s Hotel

On the other side of the United States in San Francisco is the Queen Anne Hotel, whose apparent epicenter of paranormal activity is Room 410. ^[6] Before it was a hotel the building was a boarding school for girls in the late-nineteenth century. The headmistress of the school was a lady named Miss Mary Lake, whose office was the room that would eventually become Room 410.

During the last years of her life, as well as the years following her death, rumors swirled that she was involved in an affair with a local senator, James Fair. Perhaps because of these rumors, it appears her spirits remained in her former residence and place of work long after her death in 1902 (the building had ceased to be a boarding school since 1896 and was eventually sold to become a gentleman’s club before it became a hotel).

The room itself was undoubtedly the nerve center of the paranormal activity, leading many people to conclude that the hauntings were the result of Mary Lake. And the activity itself varies greatly. Some people wake up to hear a woman singing, as if attempting to send them to sleep, even though no one can be seen. Others have woken on the floor, the bedsheet tucked around them purposely, while others still wake to find the entire contents of their suitcase have been unpacked during the night.

While the activity doesn’t appear to be particularly malicious, it does seem to be consistent.

The short video below examines the apparently haunted room at the Queen Anne Hotel a little further.

Haunted Rooms From Down Under

It is also very much worth our time examining a pair of particularly haunted rooms that can be found in Australia. Perhaps one of the most intriguing such rooms would be Room 8 of the Russell Hotel in Sydney. ^[7] While Room 8 is where most of the activity takes place, the entire hotel is regarded as one of the most haunted hotels in the region.

Dating back to the late nineteenth century, the hotel was originally used as a hospital for prisoners, during which time, bouts of the plague swept through the facility causing many deaths. Following that, it was a house used for sailors, however, rumors were rife that the facility was, in fact, operating as a brothel. During this time, several murders took place, including that of a sailor – in Room 8, no less – at the hands of a prostitute.

Today, many people who have stayed at the hotel report hearing strange footsteps in the hallways, as well as lights turning on and off by themselves. There are also sudden screams from out of nowhere and temperatures that suddenly drop to below freezing.

For those who have stayed in Room 8, they have reported seeing the murdered sailor appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the night, often standing, motionless, at the end of the bed. Interestingly, it is said that the sailor only appears to female guests, although there have been no reports of threatening activity.

The Bizarre Activity Of Cell 17

Like many of the haunted rooms we have examined, the entire grounds of Old Melbourne Gaol have experienced strange paranormal activities over the years. The prison was active for over eight decades and over 100 executions were carried out behind its walls.

Cell 17, however, is where the most intense activity takes place. And much of the activity goes way beyond feeling the temperature drop or that someone, or something, is watching them. ^[8] Many people who have been placed in the cell have been overcome with the feeling that an invisible pair of hands was closing around their throat – to the point where they were struggling to breathe. Some prisoners have even reported scratch marks appearing on their bodies, as well as having their clothing tugged as if by invisible hands.

During a public tour, one particular woman decided to lock herself in Cell 17 in an attempt to see if she experienced anything untoward. She certainly got a lot more than she bargained for. At first, nothing out of the ordinary took place. However, when she went to walk out of the cell she was suddenly yanked backward. When she came to her senses, she looked down and realized that something had pulled her back by her necklace, which now was on the ground, and snapped.

You can check out the video below for a little more information on this very haunted room.

Haunted Locations Are Everywhere

As we can see, then, while entire buildings and locations are home to haunting events, quite often the concentration of that activity takes place within the confines of a certain room – quite often a room where some horrific event had taken place or that had an attachment to someone who had recently passed away.

Why might this be? Might it simply be the place that respective spirits know best? Or might, if there has been a particularly gruesome backstory involved, the confines of such a room have stored the energy of whatever incident unfolded and then replayed it over and over as the years go on? Might this store up of energy, which results in sightings of these spooky apparitions, feed that energy even more, almost like a never-ending circle that keeps sightings happening the more the sightings happen?

Perhaps understanding why specific rooms become the epicenters of these hauntings will help us understand many areas of the paranormal, in general. Might it prove to be, as many researchers have put forward, that ghostly activity is merely manifestations of energy – perhaps in ways that we don’t yet understand? Might it even be the case that this manifestation of energies in such small confines of a physical space creates some kind of portal or gateway that allows these spirits to manifest themselves in a more physical form?

Indeed, understanding why certain rooms are rife with ghosts and ghouls will undoubtedly shine a light on other aspects of the paranormal world, eventually allowing us to see a much fuller and complete picture.

The video below looks at some of the most haunted locations around the world.