According to a recent list by Historic Hotels of America, the San Francisco Bay Area is home to two of the most haunted hotels in the country. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that last week, the hotel group announced that the Claremont Club & Spa in Berkeley and the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa made it onto the national list due to their alleged connections to supernatural phenomena.
At the Fairmont Sonoma, both guests and staff have reported sightings of the ghost of a pioneer settler named Victoria, who is said to have celebrated her wedding and anniversaries at the resort. It’s rumored that she wanders the hallways on foggy nights.
Additionally, one of the hotel’s oldest rooms—dating back to the 1920s—has been the site of spectral sightings. The hotel claims that guests report encountering supernatural occurrences there, including tales of a guest who was supposedly beheaded in a bathtub by a jealous lover.
Since that time, guests have reported experiencing various supernatural events, such as flickering lights, unexplained noises, shadowy figures, and the sound of water running. The hotel assures visitors, “Wine isn’t the only spirit in the inn.”
The Claremont Club & Spa, also part of the Fairmont chain, boasts its own ghostly legends. Since it opened its doors in 1915, guests have reported eerie encounters, including sightings of a ghostly elevator and unsettling sounds, which the resort attributes to “a multitude of ghost stories passed down through generations.”
According to the hotel, the ghost of a six-year-old girl has been seen, and those who have encountered her describe her as peaceful, noting that she has visited them at night, extending her hand as if to say, “hello.”
Other accounts include a particularly haunted room on the fourth floor, where both guests and staff have felt extreme temperature fluctuations.
Each October, the hotel offers haunted history tour tickets for $40, attracting those curious about its ghostly past.
