The Grand Hotel Scarborough in Yorkshire is one of the UK’s most fascinating and haunted landmarks, says guest writer LIAH THORLEY
If you’re looking for a haunted hotel break in the UK, the Grand Hotel Scarborough comes highly recommended.
History of the Grand Hotel Scarborough
Opening in 1867, it was one of the first, largest, and most glamorous hotels in Europe.
Unusual not only for its size but also for its unique V-shaped design in honour of Queen Victoria, it incorporates the theme of time, with four turrets for the seasons, 12 floors for the months, 52 chimneys for the weeks, and, originally, it boasted 365 rooms.
It was damaged by German bombardment on 16 December 1914 during World War I and served as a billeting station for the RAF during World War II. It is even rumoured that Hitler intended to make the hotel his British headquarters.
However, before the hotel was even a twinkle in the architect’s eye, St Nicholas Cliff, where the hotel is situated, was once home to a church and hospital.
The hospital was used as a leper colony and pest house during times of plague. Burials were discovered in the hospital grounds, roughly where the car park in front of the hotel is today.
Perhaps more interestingly, there was a row of cottages on the spot where the hotel now stands, one of which was the final residence of one of Yorkshire’s most famous literary women.
Anne Brontë, suffering from tuberculosis, visited Scarborough with her sister Charlotte in the hope of improving her health. Sea air, sea-bathing, and the spa waters were a major part of 19th-century tourism to the town. Sadly, she passed away in one of those cottages on 28 May 1849.
While her ghost is said to haunt St Mary’s graveyard, where she is buried, her spectre has also been seen wandering through the ground floor of the Grand Hotel. And hers isn’t the only one.
There is so much paranormal activity at the Grand that the hotel regularly welcomes paranormal investigators to conduct overnight ghost hunts. A quick Google search will reveal all manner of reports.
The tragic suicide of Reverend T. Hall, who slit his own throat with a razor in his room in 1871, may explain the reflection of an old-fashioned gentleman often glimpsed in bathroom mirrors.
In 1923, a teenage boy was killed when a counterweight from the lift crushed his skull. Stories of an extra person riding the lift and vanishing between floors are commonplace. A woman is also often seen getting into the lift and striking up conversations with guests. However, others only see the living person speaking to thin air.
Hauntings at Grand Hotel Scarborough
Some hauntings, less connected to verifiable events but equally intriguing and no less talked about by staff and guests, include the apparition of a young woman in an evening gown who sits in the ballroom, seemingly waiting for the dance to start. There’s also an elderly couple who wander the hotel together—supposedly guests who loved the hotel so much they continue to visit post-mortem.
Another tale is of a young woman who allegedly stayed at the hotel with her lover. When she told him she was pregnant and he refused to leave his wife, she reportedly threw herself over the top-floor balcony. She is blamed for teasing the cleaners by turning the hoovers on and off.
Crying and the occasional scream are often reported in the middle of the night, coming from empty rooms. Humming and whistling of old-fashioned songs reverberate through empty corridors, and music emanates from the ballroom late at night when everyone has gone to bed.
Pictures are screwed to the walls, not for fear of theft, but because they tend to fly off. Items frequently go missing, only to miraculously reappear later. Clothes have reportedly been tidied from the floor, folded neatly, and placed on the bed while guests are out—even when housekeeping hasn’t been by.
But the most famous apparition at the Grand Hotel Scarborough is the Woman in Red. She has been seen many times descending the sweeping staircase, only to dissipate upon reaching the bottom step.
Have you experienced any ghostly encounters at the Grand Hotel Scarborough? Tell us in the comments section below!
