30 Horrifying Hotel Stories That Make ‘The Shining’ Look Like Child’s Play

If you search through Reddit, you’ll find stories that are just as scary as something written by Stephen King. After all, life imitates art.

Twenty20, Gouldjosh
Twenty20, Gouldjosh

1. My mother found a decapitated head in the closet

My mother used to work at a hotel in Washington DC back in the 90s as a housekeeper/maid since she needed money because she was a refugee from Vietnam. Even though she didn’t know much English at the time, she knew enough to get by at her job and all the other staff and hotel guests loved her because of how sweet she was. Because of this, anytime high profile guests (such as the Backstreet Boys) would stay at the hotel, the manager always sent my mom to clean the room since she was good at it.

Anyways, one day, a guest came, who will we refer to him as Mr. M because I don’t know his real name, and checked in to their most expensive suite. As usual, the manager told my mom to go take care of his room. As she got there, there was a “do not disturb” sign so she told the manager she would come back later. What was weird was that no one was ever allowed in his room. The man stayed there for over a month and not one time did he let a staff come in to clean. However, he paid a lot and he gave a warm welcome every time he passed a staff member/housekeeper so no one payed him any attention. Then one day, people didn’t see him anymore so they assumed he checked out, even though the receptionist had no account of this. Since it had been so long since the room was cleaned and the “Do not disturb” sign wasn’t on the door anymore, the manager told my mom to go check it out and try to clean up what she could. As she got to the floor and unlocked the door to the room, a disturbing smell hit her. She couldn’t figure out what it was but she continued to survey the room, which was disgustingly messy. Her words were that, “it looked like someone had thrown a rave”, even though no other guests seemed to have ever gone into the room besides Mr. M. It had looked like Mr. M had deserted the place without telling anyone. Anyways, my mom was still shocked by the smell so she tried to track it down. As she followed the smell, she could tell it was coming from the hotel room closet. When she opened the closet, there was nothing but a cardboard box on the ground from which the smell was resonating from. In the moment from being a housekeeper, my mother’s first instinct was to open the box to see what it was and clean/throw it out. When she opened the box, what she saw scarred her to this day. It was the rotting/decomposing head of a young woman chopped off. My mother immediately screamed and got out of there, where she fainted in the elevator. Once she woke up, cops were everywhere and the hotel was like a CSI scene. The manager told her that Mr. M wasn’t his real name and he used a fake credit card to check in. The head of the woman was identified to be like a call girl/prostitute type person. I don’t know much more and any nitty gritty details but i’m sure one can look it up on the internet for more information. Needless to say, my mom quit that day.

2. Ghosts were trapped in an elevator with me

Got into a lift from the top floor to head down. Lift stopped at 4th floor, door opened, saw people outside standing still, making no attempt to come in despite me being alone inside and there was room for them. The automatic lift door then closed and before it was completely shut, I heard someone outside said “Why is the lift so full of people?”

3. My wife had a gun pointed at her

This happened roughly four years back. My wife worked at a Holiday Inn, and this isn’t unexplained, but more horrific. There was a guy staying there for more than month. I picked my wife up at night, and often used their lounge which is where I met him. He was early twenties, and a marine based on the uniform he always wore. To be frank, he kind of annoyed me.

One day while I’m not there waiting on my wife he calls down to the front desk and asks that they call the police. He says someone’s going to get hurt. They make the call and then see through their system that he also called 911. They, my wife yet, wife and the assistant manager, really can’t do anything at that moment but continue with work. Apparently police came about pretty regularly, mostly dealing with drunks.

The assistant manager had to deal with something out in hotel, and a minute or two later the police show up and my wife went out to show them to the stairs when she goes by the lounge, the marine is there with a pistol pointed at the head of the assistant manager, who is face down on the ground.

He points that gun at my wife.

A moment later he spots the police, and she manages to hide back in the office. She heard two shots, and that was it.

The marine had a pellet gun.

There are a lot of details left out here. My wife is fine these days. The marine had a rough go, and I hate to this day that I didn’t take the time to really talk with him.

Holly is the author of Severe(d): A Creepy Poetry Collection.

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