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Haunted Hotels of the West
Across the expanses of the Great American West there is much to see and do. Thousands of Inns are there to serve you. Many are beautiful, some historic and a few are even haunted. The ones in this book are all three. Not all things go bump in the night, some even go bump in the day. Before you check into any room, you should check out this book. If you don’t have travel plans, you will still be able to enjoy this book from the comfort and safety of your living room chair.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 24, 2019
I bought this book when I was staying at one of the hotels featured in the book, Hotel Alex Johnson. While I didn't have any ghost encounters while staying there there were several weird experiences, such as a very glitchy elevator.
This book is part ghost stories and part hotel advertisement. There are 40 hotels, and I use this term loosely, featured. They are broken down by region, such as Black Hills, Ozark's, Northern Rockies, Mississippi Valley and others. Some of the stories are quite interesting. Some lack much evidence of there being any sort of haunting.
This book is part ghost stories and part hotel advertisement. There are 40 hotels, and I use this term loosely, featured. They are broken down by region, such as Black Hills, Ozark's, Northern Rockies, Mississippi Valley and others. Some of the stories are quite interesting. Some lack much evidence of there being any sort of haunting.
September 10, 2024
Probably more along the rating of a 3.5, HAUNTED HOTELS OF THE WEST by Bruce Raisch is more interesting as a diverse hotel catalog than spooky account of haunted hotels. The writer definitely put in the work, traveling across the vastness that is the American West, Stopping at hotels both well-known and forgotten.
Raisch approaches each hotel and its stories with a broad stroke. In each entry, you'll learn a brief history of the hotel, followed by a handful of supernatural events and beings that are mostly revealed to the writer by the hotel staff. Rounding each entry off is the slightly unneeded (but human and humorous) touch of Raisch describing his experiences at the hotel as an investigator and guest. Some stops may not have much ghostly activity, but Raisch will always let you know if a hotel has a good restaurant in it.
Overall, this is a pleasant book about hotels while also being a bit of a toothless look into hauntings.
Raisch approaches each hotel and its stories with a broad stroke. In each entry, you'll learn a brief history of the hotel, followed by a handful of supernatural events and beings that are mostly revealed to the writer by the hotel staff. Rounding each entry off is the slightly unneeded (but human and humorous) touch of Raisch describing his experiences at the hotel as an investigator and guest. Some stops may not have much ghostly activity, but Raisch will always let you know if a hotel has a good restaurant in it.
Overall, this is a pleasant book about hotels while also being a bit of a toothless look into hauntings.
September 30, 2024
I mean once you get past the idea that there's really no such thing as ghost, it's a very interesting way to describe some classic buildings and their history as well as the classic story tale of ghost and how people supposedly act when they interact with them. My personal favorite is the hotel with 39 ghosts. 39? Why couldn't we just round that up to an even 40? I'm not sure why the author chose to cover Idaho but then didn't cover Nevada at all. I think Nevada is in the west. Maybe I missed a memo
March 9, 2023
Whether you like this book or not depends largely on your purpose for reading it. If you're looking for a sort of travel guide to help you find a bunch of allegedly haunted hotels, you're not going to find many better books out there. Each chapter, however brief, comes complete with a description of the hotel and at least some of its ghost stories, along with--and for this I'm very much grateful to the author--contact information for the hotel itself so you can easily book a room if you desire to visit. It's also attractively presented with plenty of photographs, so you can really get a sense of what all the hotels look like.
However, if you're interested in a complete treatment of the histories or ghost stories of the hotels, you'll be disappointed. As I mentioned, the descriptions are quite brief. The author never goes into much detail. As he says in the introduction, he's just presenting the stories for what they are without attempts to either prove or disprove them. Fair enough. I can respect that. But because the various activities of both ghost hunters and skeptics have become part of these locations' lore, it would have been nice to get a little more detail on what people have or haven't witnessed.
With regard to the quality of information that IS presented, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'm not familiar with most of the hotels' history but of the few I am familiar with, I found the author's discussions to be MOSTLY but not entirely correct. For example, the author has the Stanley Hotel opening on July 4, 1909 (a claim he likely got from the hotel's tour guides who regularly repeat it). It's not at all difficult to find that this is untrue. It really opened June 22, 1909. Is that a big deal? Probably not, but it does raise a red flag that the fact checking for this book might not have been up to par, so its information should be taken with a grain of salt.
Similarly, the proofreading leaves a bit to be desired. For example, also while discussing the Stanley Hotel, the author spells Stephen King's name two different ways on the same page.
None of those criticisms, though, detract from the fact that it's a fun quick read and gives me a lot of ideas of places I'll want to visit in the future. Just be sure to take it for what it is. Expect a fun read rather than an educational read, and you should be good.
However, if you're interested in a complete treatment of the histories or ghost stories of the hotels, you'll be disappointed. As I mentioned, the descriptions are quite brief. The author never goes into much detail. As he says in the introduction, he's just presenting the stories for what they are without attempts to either prove or disprove them. Fair enough. I can respect that. But because the various activities of both ghost hunters and skeptics have become part of these locations' lore, it would have been nice to get a little more detail on what people have or haven't witnessed.
With regard to the quality of information that IS presented, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'm not familiar with most of the hotels' history but of the few I am familiar with, I found the author's discussions to be MOSTLY but not entirely correct. For example, the author has the Stanley Hotel opening on July 4, 1909 (a claim he likely got from the hotel's tour guides who regularly repeat it). It's not at all difficult to find that this is untrue. It really opened June 22, 1909. Is that a big deal? Probably not, but it does raise a red flag that the fact checking for this book might not have been up to par, so its information should be taken with a grain of salt.
Similarly, the proofreading leaves a bit to be desired. For example, also while discussing the Stanley Hotel, the author spells Stephen King's name two different ways on the same page.
None of those criticisms, though, detract from the fact that it's a fun quick read and gives me a lot of ideas of places I'll want to visit in the future. Just be sure to take it for what it is. Expect a fun read rather than an educational read, and you should be good.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews