The Halloween Issue

HAP Weekly

The Halloween Issue

Haunted boutique stays, spooky lobby bars, and the architectural wonder of Baja California Sur.

Our Top Reads This Week

HAP WEEKLY

The Thrilling World of Haunted Boutique Hotels

By Stacey Leasca

You can feel it the second you walk in. A jolt travels up your spine, making the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. You’re in the hotel room. But you’re not alone. Something otherworldly is lurking in the corners. And it’s the most thrilling vacation you’ve had yet.

We’re now firmly in the heart of the spooky season, which means it’s high time to celebrate the best haunted boutique hotels in the world. That includes The Golden Fleece in York, England, a timber-framed inn that has been on the books since at least 1503, giving it plenty of time to rustle up a ghost or two. Its in-house pub bills itself as the city’s most haunted, while its four rooms upstairs offer their own chance to see a specter. “The most poignant story belongs to Geoff Monroe, a Canadian airman who died in 1945 after falling from the window of Room 4, and who is still reported standing over guests in that room in full uniform,” said MJ Wayland, a ghost researcher and author of “50 Real American Ghost Stories.”

There’s a friendlier spirit living in The Lord Milner Hotel in South Africa’s Karoo, which dates to 1899 and spent part of the South African War treating wounded soldiers. Its best-known ghost is Kate, a nurse said to have passed the time with card games at her patients’ bedsides. Guests swear they can still hear her cards slapping together behind one closed door, so maybe pack a deck and see if she’ll play a game of spit with you.

We can’t forget Coombe Abbey Hotel outside Coventry, England, which began life as a monastery in the 12th century. Sara Winslow, founder of Ambitchous Collective, checked in for a work trip on the eve of Halloween in 2012 with no idea the place was said to be haunted. “That night, knocking kept waking me up. It came from the exterior wall outside my room, but my room was two stories up,” she said.

Feature Continued

This, however, wasn’t Sara’s only strange encounter. At Chateau Marmont, where she was visiting a friend’s room, she said the bathroom faucet “suddenly started running at full flow while neither of us was in the bathroom.” She added, “It had vintage handles that you had to physically turn to start the water, which made it particularly unsettling.”

Then there’s one state where a haunted stay feels almost guaranteed: Massachusetts.

The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast invites overnight guests into the Fall River home where Andrew and Abby Borden were killed on Aug. 4, 1892, a double murder that remains officially unsolved. “What makes the house extraordinary is that it has been kept much as it was in 1892, so guests sleep in the rooms where the family lived and died rather than in a themed approximation,” MJ said.

The Salem Inn in Salem, made up of three 19th-century houses with about 40 rooms between them, offers one particularly chilling stay in Room 17. “I recommend The Salem Inn to travelers who want a historic boutique experience rather than a hotel focused on staged scares,” said Andrés Serra, head of operations at Optimise Travel. Legend holds that a woman named Katherine died in that room and never quite left, though Andrés is upfront about it. “No historical record shows that Katherine died in the room, so I see these as stories rather than facts,” he said. Still, I’d pack a night-light, just in case.

HAP WEEKLY

Hotel Bars That Take Ghost Lore Seriously

By Ruby Gregg

If you’re hoping to be spooked this October, you don’t necessarily need to visit a haunted house. All you need to do is belly up to the right, fright-filled bar.

Hudson, New York, just two hours from the hustle of New York City, offers a safe haven from your daily grind. October is a particularly fantastic time to visit, when the leaves burst with color, and the spirit of Halloween lingers in the air. And The Maker Hotel is just the place in Hudson to live out your “Halloweentown” dreams. The interiors sport velvet banquettes and moody lighting that leads into the lounge. The standout seasonal cocktail to order in October is “The Clarified Corpse Reviver No. 2.” The name might take you by surprise, and so will the precision of the mixologist, as the drink is made with local craft gin, Lillet Blanc, orange curaçao, and a spritz of absinthe—and makes for a perfect drink to nurse amidst the hotel’s dark and mysterious aesthetic.

Savannah, Georgia, is an all-time favorite for ghost hunters, and it leans into its haunted reputation well. The town starts decorating stoops and public spaces with cobwebs and spiders long before October 31, and offers ghost tours year-round. The Kimpton Brice is perfect for a break from trick-or-treating, with table-side smoked “Ritual” cocktails. Served in their dimly lit lounge, popular drinks include a whiskey, Amaro Averna, crème de violette, and smoked demerara syrup concoction that arrives under a glass cloche filled with applewood smoke.

And in Beacon Hill, amid Boston’s classic brownstone-filled neighborhood, The Liberty Hotel offers the ideal Halloween stay. Housed in a former Charles Street Jail, the granite Victorian landmark was built in 1851. The hotel even kept the former jail’s 90-foot central atrium rotunda, exposed brick and iron catwalks, and jail cells in public spaces, giving you plenty of spots to feel the ghosts of the past. The sultry lounge, Alibi, sets the mood with celebrity mugshot decor and drinks featuring smoked glass and dark syrups. To top off the prison-to-luxury transformation, room service is cheekily named “Solitary Confinement”—which is definitely a way to get into the seasonal spirit.

Hotel Spotlight

The Boutique Hotel We're Obsessed With—Baja Club

Part of Grupo Habita, Baja Club in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, stands out for its tactile design and quiet restraint. Architect Max von Werz and interior studio Jaune transformed a 1910 villa, once home to a pearl-trading family, into a design-centric retreat, weaving new walls seamlessly into the original brickwork.

Terracotta surfaces, handcrafted tiles, and custom woodwork keep everything grounded. At the hotel's heart, an orthogonal lap pool offers a private escape from the sun, while the rooftop bar turns a sunset drink over the Sea of Cortez into a nightly ritual worth planning your evening around.

HAP WEEKLY

Retro Motels Return With Boutique Flair

By Devorah Lev-Tov

Some of today’s trendiest hotels have had past lives as motels. Honoring their pasts, these properties salvage vintage details while bringing aging structures into the present.

The ultimate expression of functionality, the original motor courts and motels of the United States served a need for the new age of driving travelers who were exploring the country in the early 20th century.

“They weren’t built to impress with grandeur, but to connect you to a place,” says Anna Perros, brand creative director and strategist at Silver Sands in Greenport, on Long Island’s North Fork. Most offered little in the way of interior design, even as some of them used unique and kitschy signs to attract roadside customers.

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This story ran in our 2026 magazine. Each week, we will share one story from it in our newsletter. To buy a physical copy, visit our subscription store here.

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