A luxury hotel positioned within the desert of Yosemite National Park, the Ahwahnee Hotel has hosted many famous guests, a few of whom, based on rumors, never actually checked out and remain on the hotel as ghosts.
Yosemite National Park covers 759,620 acres and spans 4 California counties. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 and is full of granite cliffs, giant redwood groves, crystal clear lakes and streams, and stormy waterfalls from the mountains.
Although the history of European settlers in Yosemite dates back to 1851, when it was “found” by James D. Savage, Native American history within the valley dates back almost 4,000 years. As for human presence, perhaps as much as 10,000 years. And from the looks of it, it appears to be considered one of the more haunted national parks within the US.
Many people come here searching for a straightforward life, spending the night under the celebs. However, there are lots of shelters and hotels within the park for individuals who need to admire the wonderful nature from their windows. There are rumors surrounding a lot of these hotels, but none more so than the Ahwahnee Hotel.
Historic Ahwahnee Hotel
In the center of Yosemite Valley, right next to the famous Half Dome, sits the legendary and historic Ahwahnee Hotel, which was inbuilt 1927 as a luxury hotel for park guests, built by the Yosemite Park and Curry Company.
The Y-shaped constructing has 97 hotel rooms, but including the cottages there are 121 of them, all inspired by Native American designs. It lies below a meadow that was once a Miwok village.
The interior design of the Ahwahnee Hotel is claimed to have inspired the fictional horror hotel Overlook Hotel in Kubrick's version of The Shining. Because although the hotel presented within the book is inspired by Stephen King's stay on the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the hotel lobby and the red elevator with blood gushing out of it look eerily much like the one present in the Ahwahnee Hotel.
The ghosts of the founders haunting the hotel
The Ahwahnee Hotel is claimed to be haunted by the ghosts of Donald Tresidder and Mary Curry Tresidde, who transformed the place from a tent camp right into a luxury hotel. Donald met Mary while visiting the park where Mary was a daughter of Camp Curry, and together they spent a life dedicated to the Ahwahnee Hotel and Yosemite Valley.
In the later years of their lives, they lived in a non-public apartment on the sixth floor of the hotel. The first to pass away was Donald while in New York in 1948. Mary died on the Ahwahnee Hotel in 1970, but each are said to have remained there within the afterlife.
According to the legends coming from the guests and staff of the Ahwahnee Hotel, each of them still haunt the hotel to this present day, which they put all their heart and soul into developing. Mary is claimed to be particularly lively and wakes people up to bounce within the constructing's magnificent common areas.
Maria's ghost can be said to haunt her former home on the sixth floor, where even some guests claim they felt as if a spirit had tucked them into bed and folded their clothes. All in all, quite a preferred and most helpful ghost.
However, based on some, she is just not alone, she saw her husband, Donald, also walking the halls of the Ahwahnee Hotel. Donald's ghost can most frequently be seen coming down the hotel stairs for a glass of milk.
Visitation of the President on the Ahwahnee Hotel
In addition to celebrities and famous figures, many presidents akin to Reagan, Eisenhower and Obama have stayed on the Ahwahnee Hotel, but it surely is rumored that only considered one of them haunts the hotel.
John F. Kennedy got here and stayed on the Ahwahnee Hotel in 1962 on the third floor, and lots of claim to have experienced strange things on this floor that they consider are related to the previous president.
People who worked on the Ahwahnee Hotel reported seeing him swinging in a rocking chair, which he had requested when he stayed on the hotel while alive within the early Sixties due to back problems.
The chair in query can be said to maneuver by itself when nobody is there. There are not any rocking chairs within the hotel today, and when you see one, it shouldn't be there.
Bibliography:
“Her Face Turned Pale”: Yosemite's Ghost Stories and Hidden Graves
Image Source: Pixabay.com
