Few people think of The Shining when they check into a Las Vegas hotel. Vegas hotels are too glitzy and ritzy, too recent in their renovations. What shadows are there for a ghost to hide amid all those sparkling lights?
Don’t buy it. From 10,000 years of Native American habitation to Spanish and American colonial occupation to mafia involvement in the early casino industry and nuclear testing to the north, we can guess that the earth under Sin City has more than a few unquiet graves.
Suicide, revenge, and murder have all played out behind locked hotel doors in this isolated desert oasis. And where blood is spilled, ghosts take up residence.
For the seasoned ghost hunter to the amateur chaser of specters and spirits, the closets of Las Vegas resorts host more than their share of skeletons. Here are the Top 9 Most Haunted Hotels in Las Vegas …
1. Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
You wouldn’t take the glitzy, undulating facade of Planet Hollywood for a spirit-shack, but its history runs deeper than you think. It sits on the former grounds of the Aladdin Resort & Casino, which opened in 1962 and operated until its demolition in 1998.
A new Aladdin was built on the grounds, opening for business in 2000, but it came into financial difficulty. Starwood and Planet Hollywood purchased the property in 2003, bestowing its current name in 2007. Caesars Entertainment owns it now.
Much of the history of this old-Vegas site is lost to memory, but something clearly stirs in the ether at Planet Hollywood Resort. One room, in particular, has acquired a fearsome reputation.
Guests with a taste for the supernatural may request a booking in the “Supernatural Suite.” These foolhardy patrons may experience what dozens of guests in that room have reported—whispers in the hallway and late-night knocks on the door.
Some guests have attempted to camp out near the door and open it as quickly as possible to discover the source of the whispering and knocking … but no one is ever there. It’s the classic “Haunting of Hill House” trick, and whatever walks in Planet Hollywood walks alone.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- Criss Angel MINDFREAK
- Crazy Girls
- Tenors of Rock
Dining
- Koi
- Strip House Las Vegas
Nightlife
- The Heart Bar
- Extra Lounge
- Blue Moon Bar
- PH Shiver Frozen Cocktails
2. The Luxor Hotel & Casino
The Luxor is one of the most instantly recognizable landmarks in Las Vegas; you can even see its giant sky lamp from airplanes. Few people realize, however, that since it opened in 1993, the Luxor has acquired a fearsome reputation as one of the most haunted hotels in Las Vegas … and not just by the ghosts of mediocre Yelp reviews.
The reputation dates back to its construction. Workers who died at the Great Pyramids at Giza in ancient Egypt were said to have been entombed under the rocks of the gradually rising pyramid. The haunting of the Luxor has eerily similar underpinnings. Supposedly, anywhere from 2 to 7 construction workers were killed when the surrounding walls collapsed on them. One of their spirits is said to still haunt the halls of the finished hotel.
It gets even crazier. Numerous patrons have hurled themselves to their deaths from the balconies that line the inner atrium of the hotel. Most did not leave a note and seem to have had no motivations to kill themselves, nor a history of suicidality. What happened to make them suddenly take a fatal plunge?
Perhaps it’s the sinister history buried in the ground itself. Vegas has a long history of mob involvement in the casino industry, and mobsters have a way of “whacking” the people who get in their way. When someone is whacked, the body must be disposed of … and the future site of the Luxor Hotel & Casino was one of the plots of land mobsters would regularly use to bury the bodies of their victims.
Few hotels and casinos had sprung up that far south down the Strip, and the term “holes in the Strip” came to be associated with those unmarked mob-hit graves.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- Blue Man Group
- R.U.N. by Cirque du Soleil
- Fantasy
- Carrot Top
Dining
- TENDER Steakhouse
- Diablo’s Cantina
- Rice and Company
Nightlife
- Aurora
- Flight
- Playbar
- Centra
3. Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino
You might have heard that the MGM Grand many Vegas visitors know and love is not the “original” MGM Grand. The original sat on the site now known as Bally’s. Even fewer people know the story of how the Grand caught fire in 1980, a disaster that claimed 87 lives in one of the towers that now forms a portion of the 2818-room Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.
The spirits remember, however. That tower makes Bally’s one of the most notable haunted hotels in Las Vegas. Guests have reported strange, inexplicable shadows in the hallways, as well as strange noises and furniture that seems to move of its own accord. The paranormal activity gets worse the higher up the tower you ascend.
This frightening tower should be on every Vegas-bound ghost tourist’s list.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- Paranormal—Mind Reading Magic
- Xavier Mortimer’s Magical Dream
- The Miss Behave Game Show
- Potted Potter—Harry Potter Parody
- EXTRAVAGANZA—The Vegas Spectacular
- X-Rocks
Dining
- Sterling Brunch Las Vegas
- BLT Steak Las Vegas
Nightlife
- Sully’s Casino Bar
- Indigo Lounge
- Shiver
- Lobby Bar
4. Tropicana Las Vegas
The party has not stopped at the Tropicana Las Vegas since it opened its doors in 1967. But many people do not know a sinister part of the hotel’s history.
A gigantic wooden Tiki mask used to loom over the entrance of this Pacific Island-themed hotel and casino. Its origins are lost to history, but the priceless ambiance it created eventually fell by the wayside in the wake of reports that a vengeful spirit inhabited the mask, one that was none too happy for its new role overseeing intoxicated gamblers and revelers.
Photographs with the mask in the background tended to be marred by a purple haze. Far from a photographic defect, it seemed to be in the picture and focused on the mask. To make matters worse, numerous guests who touched the mask faced the wrath of the Tiki spirit in the form of a horrible purple rash that broke out on their skin.
The hotel’s management eventually removed the Tiki mask from the front of the Hilton DoubleTree franchise, but it is rumored to be stored somewhere for safekeeping … possibly still on the hotel grounds …
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- Legends in Concert
- Purple Reign: The Prince Tribute Show
- Rich Little
- Murray the Magician
Dining
- Trago Lounge
- Robert Irvine’s Public House
- Oakville Steakhouse
- Bacio
- Red Lotus Asian Kitchen
5. Oasis Motel
Away from the party and close to downtown sits Oasis Motel, an unassuming inn devoid of the glitz and glamor of the Strip.
Formerly called the Em-Le Motel and dating back to the post-war period, there’s nothing remarkable about this hotel except for one nasty fact … several guests have checked into the hotel and then died horrible deaths. And yes, many of them were booked into the same room.
In 1998, world-famous poker player Stu Ungar, widely regarded as the best Texas Hold’Em player of all time, died wretchedly in Room 20 of the Oasis Motel from a heart condition related to years of drug abuse.
Less than a year later, actor David Strickland, of Suddenly Susan fame, hanged himself in Room 20 in 1999 after bidding goodbye to a prostitute companion following a night of heavy drinking.
Their spirits are rumored to still haunt the room in which they died.
Both of these high-profile men had troubled histories with substance abuse, but you have to wonder—what happened in Room 20 that pushed them over the edge? If you’re feeling adventurous, book Room 20 and maybe you’ll find out.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Nothing, just ghosts.
6. Flamingo Hotel & Casino
Few haunted hotels in Las Vegas can claim to be haunted by none other than Bugsy Siegel. The Flamingo is one such hotel.
The problem is, the notorious mobster did not die on the grounds of the hotel. He was murdered in Los Angeles in 1947 by investors seeking to collect from him.
Just before he died, though, Siegel helped design the Flamingo, which opened in 1946 and remains the only hotel structure built before 1950 still in operation on the Strip … in other words, of all of its contemporaries, the Flamingo is the oldest, the least changed since it was built.
Legend has it that Bugsy’s spirit came to reside in the hotel he helped plan. Guests have woken up in the middle of the night to see a dark human shape standing at the foot of their bed, or seen the figure lurking by the monument to Siegel that the hotel audaciously installed. Doors also open and close of their own accord, accompanied by disembodied whispers.
Among the haunted hotels in Las Vegas, the Flamingo is a doozie.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- RuPaul’s Drag Race LIVE!
- Piff the Magic Dragon
- Ceelo Green: Man in the Mirror
- X Burlesque
- XBU: X Burlesque University
Dining
- Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse
Nightlife
- The Garden Bar
- Bugsy’s Bar
- Bird Bar
7. Excalibur Hotel & Casino
If you want a close encounter with a restless spirit during your stay in Las Vegas, consider checking into a room on the 10th floor of Excalibur Hotel & Casino, the medieval-themed hotel and casino that opened on the site of the abandoned Xanadu Hotel project in 1990 and one of the most haunted hotels in Las Vegas.
Guests report feeling followed as they walk down the 10th-floor hallways. Sudden chills and eerie whispers with no apparent source are also common. Televisions switch on unbidden, displaying static. Phones ring out of nowhere, with deadlines at the end when you pick up. Furniture mysteriously shifts and moves. It’s enough to make even the most hardened skeptic into a believer.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- The Australian Bee Gees Show
- Thunder from Down Under
- Tournament of Kings
- Cirque du Soleil
Dining
- Camelot Steakhouse
Nightlife
- The Lounge
- Lobby Bar
- Sports Book Bar
8. Circus Circus Hotel & Casino
Constructed in 1976 and owned by Phil Ruffin, Circus Circus has treated its guests to more than its share of frightening paranormal experiences.
Room 123 was the site of a vicious murder-suicide, where a mother killed her son and then herself. The ghosts of both the boy and the mother are said to walk the nearby hallways, a haunting worthy of the Overlook Hotel.
The words “Help Me” have been smudged into bathroom mirrors. Screams of “help me!” have also been heard echoing down the hotel’s hallways with no apparent source.
The main kitchen, site of three brutal murders, is also said to be haunted by the unquiet spirits of the slain.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- Free Circus Acts
- The Midway
- Adventuredome
Dining
- The Steak House
- Blue Iguana Mexican
- Vince Neil’s
9. The Mirage
The opening of The Mirage, developed by Steve Wynn with its first guests arriving in 1989, was marred by the killing of at least one construction worker when an incomplete wall collapsed on top of him. His spirit allegedly still roams the hallways.
Other spirits haunt the bathrooms of the Terry Fator theater, knocking on walls and disturbing employees.
Come for the Ghosts, Stay For …
Shows
- The Beatles: LOVE by Cirque du Soleil
- Terry Fator
- Boyz II Men
- Matt Goss
Dining
- Tom Colicchio’s Heritage Steak
- Osteria Costa
- STACK
- OTERO
Nightlife
- 1 OAK
- Rhumbar
Ghost tourists can check into one of these hotels themselves, or they can look for a professional ghost hunt. Unsurprisingly, various tour companies offer “Haunted Las Vegas” tours that hit haunted hotels in Las Vegas, as well as other scary landmarks like the “Demon Swing” at Fox Ridge Park, where the evil spirit of a boy killed by a speeding car swings at night.
Gather your wits and your holy water, and keep telling yourself “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” …… right?
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