We all love old haunted hotels, right? We book a room with the hopes of seeing at least one ghost or have some sort of paranormal encounter. Well, the Ben Lomond Suites Hotel in Ogden, Utah has at least six! The hotel has been around in one form or another for more than 200 years! Don't you just love hotels that have been around for hundred's of years? I always think about the walls. I know, I know....the walls right??? But I do. I think about what the walls must have seen over the years and if they could talk what would they tell us. Would they say..."hey, I remember the day that a man shot his wife and blood splattered all over me!" LOL Ok....that's a little weird...but you get what I mean.... :)
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Mr. Ben Lomond
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Trains, trains and more trains that's all Jay ever thought about. (kinda' like us ghost hunters, all we ever think about are ghosts and more ghosts. LOL) Anyway to say that Jay LOVED trains was an understatement. His life long dream was to travel to west Utah to stand on Promontory Summit, where back in 1869 a ceremonial golden spike was driven in to link the United Pacific and Central Pacific rail lines, creating the first transcontinental railroad.
After thirty-five years with the same company, Jay retired and the next spring started on his DREAM vacation to travel across the nation by rail. His last stop would be on May 10, the anniversary of the date on which the fabled spike had been driven, when there would be a reenactment of the ceremony, including two steam engines meeting nose to nose on the same track.
He had been on the train headed to the Summit for quite a long time, when Jay welcomed a much needed break to spend a couple nights in a REAL BED in a luxury hotel in Ogden, the Ben Lomond Suites.
In 1891, E.A. Reed built a four-story hotel, which he named after himself, at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Twenty-fifth Street. A. Perry, the president and cofounder of the Ogden Bank, felt that with a rapidly growing city like Ogden it needed a first-class hotel, so in 1926 he formed a corporation with three hundred stockholders to purchase the Reed Hotel and completely remodeled it. Included in the remodel would be an eight-story L-shaped tower with 350 guest rooms attached to the rear of the original hotel.
The newly remodeled hotel rechristened Bigelow Hotel opened instantly to being ranked as one of the top hotels in the state in 1927. In 1933, Marriner S. Eccles, another Utah banker, purchased the Bigelow and added a two-story penthouse, and changed the name to the Ben Lomond Hotel. For more than 40 years it remained a city favorite. After 40 years, and changing hands many times, the
Radisson chain in the 1980's purchased the property and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Jay was so glad to be in a hotel, he decided to pamper himself and stay in one of the condo's at the hotel located on the upper floors. Room 1102. Once inside he showered and feel asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.
Jay awoke the next morning a new man. Ready to take on the sites of Ogden and particular the things having to do with the railroad...off he went. After a long day of site seeing, Jay decided he needed a nice, long, hot bath. Yes, that's what he needed! As he opened his condo door, he immediately knew something was wrong. Water was already running in the bathroom!!!!!! He rushed in and sure enough, the water was running in the bathtub. Thank goodness the drain was open! With a little confusion....had he leave the water on or had house keeping been in and left the water running.... oh well....no real harm done. So he pulled the drain pug up so that the water would fill up in the tub. In just a few minutes, Jay got in and leaned back to immerse himself into relation! Drifting back on his perfect day.....all the sudden he feels something pushing on his back. Was he imaging things???? Then not 10 seconds later...he felt invisible hands grab his arms and hands as to pull him out of the tub. SOMETHING or SOMEONE wanted him OUT of the tub!!!! He took the hint....he jumped out and dried off and laid on his bed trying to figure out....what just happened??????
Stories like Jay's are frequent at the Ben Lomond Hotel. Rumor has it that a women on her honeymoon drowned in the tub in room 1102. No known dates or names have been given to this story, but ever since, people have experienced coming into their rooms and the water is running, feeling hands on them in the tub and sometimes trying to PUSH THEM UNDER!!!!
Another spirit is said the be the drowning victim's son who after coming to the hotel to pick up his Mother's things decided to stay in the room right next to the room where his Mother drown.......room 1101. Overcome with despair.......he committed suicide.
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Mary Eccles
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Reports from the hotel staff include, phantom voices coming from both rooms when know one is staying in them. The housekeepers report that sometimes after making the beds, they turn around and there are indentions as if someone is laying on the bed. And there's another room that seems to be giving the hotel staff trouble.......room 1106. Legend has it that a Mother checked into room 1106 to wait for her son to return from World War II. Upon learning of his death, she stopped eating and starved to death in that very room. The desk clerks say that they will get phone calls from that room and when they answer the line goes dead.........not to mention.....know one is checked into that room.
Mary, Eccles's first wife whom he was married to when he bought the hotel, is said to roam the corridors, the fifth floor, the top floor and in the elevators. They say you will know it's Mary because you will smell her lilac perfume. Another spirit is said to be that of a sixty-five year male clerk that was stabbed to death late at night while being robbed in 1976 by a fifteen year old boy. Although he has not been "seen" he is felt by turning on the music in the foyer and fiddling with the phone cords.
Other sightings and experiences include, a female apparition on the third-floor gymnasium, guests in room 212 have felt hands pushing them, cold spots, footsteps, doors opening and closing by themselves, elevators acting up and stopping randomly at the fifth and tenth floors when know call button has been pushed.
So, if you DARE to stay at the Ben Lomond Hotel, don't take a bath....I suggest a shower!!! LOL
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