Real Haunted Houses

Real Haunted House

Claremont Hotel

Berkeley, California
By Shannon Reinbold-Gee

Many people have checked into hotel rooms labeled “No Smoking” only to find a lingering smell of smoke. But few hotels can legitimately give the reason for such an inconvenience as being the result of a haunting. The Claremont Hotel (now the Claremont Resort and Spa) in Berkeley, California can make such a claim. And the smoke from a long ago fire is not the only thing clinging to the Claremont. It is also home to a playful little girl’s spirit.

In the late 1800s, a young Kansas farmer-turned-prospector by the name of Bill Thornburg was dreaming of gold. Heading to California, he became one of the minority and “struck it rich.” Being “new money” he bought 13,000 acres and built his wife’s dream home—a modern castle. He also had several stables, housing hunter and jumper horses and breeding English foxes for his hunting parties to chase and kill. The Thornburgs’ daughter married and moved away and soon after this, her mother passed away. Disheartened, Bill sold his wife’s castle to the Ballard family.

On a dry summer day in 1901, while the Ballards were away, the castle burned to the ground. Only the stables and barn survived the blaze. The result of a lively game of checkers, the property was won by Frank Havens. In 1905 he began construction on a hotel. The earthquake of 1906 dashed his plans. Not one to give up easily, Havens got the hotel built and opened its doors officially in 1915. Since then it’s changed hands several times and millions of dollars have been invested to make it a first class resort and spa.

People have speculated the 1901 fire is the real reason some guests smell smoke at odd moments in otherwise smoke-free rooms. After the fire almost ruined the structure, renovation led the owners to create a hotel. The Claremont Hotel, some say, looks like it should be haunted.

The fourth floor seems to be the area of the most focused activity. Witnesses report strange problems with flickering lights and televisions turning on while 4th floor guests use their bathroom. The mischief-maker seems to be the spirit of a little girl who died there when she was only six. Some say she died in the hotel, some claim it was in the house that caught fire.

Although her name and the story of her death have been lost to history, the traditional explanation has seemed accurate for years now. People occasionally claim to catch a glimpse of her. Her favorite room seems to be room 422, although the nearby rooms also seem to get some ghostly attention. No one seems particularly worried about the little girl ghost acting dangerously—most actually report getting the sense of a nice presence when she’s near. So, although the Claremont may look creepy to some, rest assured the restless spirit of one little girl will do her best to make visitors on the fourth floor have a memorable stay!

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KKR says:

June 17, 2009, 11:47 pm

Hey sorry for the late reply guys! Havent been on this website till now. but what would you guys like to know?

Mara says:

September 6, 2009, 7:51 am

Seems this hotel is running high on business because all of the people wanting in on the spooky experiences. To be honest, some comments made me think if they were just put there to give people the final push to stop by the hotel… lame.

KKR says:

September 10, 2009, 8:48 pm

whatever! thats ur opinion.

Spa Girl says:

October 3, 2009, 11:27 pm

Hey everyone I work at the Spa. It is for sure haunted. The elevators are very scary and also this is really weird the bathroom on the spa floor when you are in there alone you get the feeling there is someone else in the stall next to you and when you look under the door your alone. Also when you are walking through the halls at night it makes you want to run to get through it.

xemployee says:

December 17, 2009, 3:46 pm

I worked there for 5 years, i was doing room service for quite awhile.
At night, I’d use the service elevator and I’ll have to say that room 409 was very strange, I’ve never seen anything but I could just feel a presence near 409.

Kim says:

January 27, 2010, 1:21 pm

Hi,
I have stayed at the Claremont for years and until I had my experience I had no knowledge of the history of the “little girl” and room 422.
My husband and I stayed there and we were walking back to the hotel at night from dinner at a nearby restaurant. There was a room on the 4th floor and the windows were open to the room with the sheer curtains flying out of it. I opened my phone and began to video the window on the fourth flour b/c it looked so strange to see such a billowy white sheer flying up and down out the window. We didn’t speak when we filmed the episode and went back up to our rooms. My husband took a bath and asked me to come in to talk to him. He wanted to see the video clip of what we took. When I played it for him the video was silent except for a long MOM sound made by a girl’s voice. We both freaked went down to front desk and we were told that the window fixtures are all standard 4 inches so that what we saw couldn’t have possibly happened with the sheer curtain flying out the window. Then I mentioned it was on the 4th floor. The staff looked at one another and asked to see the footage. Then they called the management staff and went directly up to 422. I was told that in the 30’s there was a family there that stayed for a while in rooom 422 and they had a little girl who was 6. She went missing one day and everyone thought it was a kidnapping. The mom was beside herself and the Dr sent her to room 422 with a sedative.She kept saying that she kept hearing her daughter saying Mommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Just like I heard on my video phone. They found the daughter in the laundry shoot that went down to the basement. She had “apparently” went down there after losing her ball and was trapped in the shoot. They didn’t find her until the fourth day from the smell. Some of the hotel staff said they think it was a murder and the girl didn’t just fall down the shoot and that is why her spirit lingers at the hotel b/c nobody ever discovered who really killed her. Has anyone heard this side to the Claremont?

John D says:

March 12, 2010, 7:48 pm

Kim:

Your story is the one I was told when I worked there. Ask Chris the Porter or Reg the Doorman..they can confirm your story.

As one who didnt particularly believe in this stuff…I went with some staff and took some friends up to the room…Extremely perceptive drop in temperature when we walked in… I was laughing at everyone becasue it was past midnite and they were all scared. While they were walking around, I sat on the edge of the bed,,,and looked to my left and saw…the bed indent where someone would be sitting next to me..about the size? It went down one inch and was circular…like a kid had jumped up next to me. I heard a sound and swear something brushed my cheek…and giggled. The indent in the bed dissapeared…the hair on the back of my neck stood up..but it was gone. I now believe.

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