Hotel Monteleone Haunting: The New Orleans Hotel Where Guests Never Leave

0:00 Speaker 1: Dear listener. Some places are meant to be temporary places

0:03 Speaker 1: where people pass through, stay briefly, and then move on.

0:08 Speaker 1: But every now and then, a place built for short

0:10 Speaker 1: visits becomes something else, entirely, something that holds on to

0:14 Speaker 1: its guests a little longer than expected. And in New

0:17 Speaker 1: Orleans there is one hotel where checking out may not

0:21 Speaker 1: mean leaving at all. The Hotel Montaleone, opened in eighteen

0:26 Speaker 1: eighty six by Sicilian immigrant Antonio Monteleone. This historic hotel

0:31 Speaker 1: has stood in the French Quarter for well over a century,

0:35 Speaker 1: passing through generations of the same family, while hosting an

0:38 Speaker 1: extraordinary list of guests from writers like Ernest Hemingway and

0:43 Speaker 1: Tennessee Williams to politicians, performers, and travelers drawn to the

0:48 Speaker 1: city's unique energy. And throughout its long history, the hotel

0:52 Speaker 1: has expanded multiple times, growing upward and outward while maintaining

0:57 Speaker 1: its original character, creating a strugructure layered with time, memory,

1:02 Speaker 1: and constant human presence. Unlike abandoned buildings or isolated locations,

1:08 Speaker 1: this is a place that has never stopped operating, never

1:11 Speaker 1: gone quiet, never been left empty long enough to fully reset,

1:15 Speaker 1: and that continuous occupation plays a key role in its

1:18 Speaker 1: reputation because when a space is used every single day

1:21 Speaker 1: for over a century, when thousands upon thousands of people

1:25 Speaker 1: pass through its rooms, hallways, and elevators, it creates something different,

1:30 Speaker 1: an accumulation of moments that doesn't simply disappear when guests leave,

1:35 Speaker 1: and according to those who work there, some guests never do.

1:39 Speaker 1: The most commonly reported experiences at Hotel Montaloni come from

1:43 Speaker 1: staff and long term employees, people who spend extended time

1:47 Speaker 1: in the building and have no reason to expect anything unusual,

1:51 Speaker 1: yet describe patterns that repeat with surprising consistency, particularly on

1:56 Speaker 1: the upper floors and in specific rooms. Keeping staff have

2:00 Speaker 1: reported entering rooms to find them already disturbed, beds appearing

2:04 Speaker 1: as though someone had just sat down, personal items moved,

2:08 Speaker 1: or lights turned on after being left off, only to

2:11 Speaker 1: discover that the room had not been occupied, and in

2:14 Speaker 1: some cases, employees have described seeing figures in mirrors or reflections,

2:19 Speaker 1: only to turn and find the room empty. Elevators are

2:23 Speaker 1: another focal point of reports, with guests describing stops on

2:27 Speaker 1: floors where no one enters or exits, doors opening to

2:31 Speaker 1: empty hallways, and the sensation that someone is standing just

2:34 Speaker 1: out of view, experiences that are often dismissed individually, but

2:39 Speaker 1: become more notable when they follow the same pattern across

2:42 Speaker 1: multiple accounts. Children are also frequently mentioned in reports, with

2:47 Speaker 1: guests describing seeing or hearing a young boy in the hallways,

2:50 Speaker 1: particularly near certain floors, a figure that appears briefly before disappearing,

2:56 Speaker 1: often described in similar detail by individuals who were unaware

3:00 Speaker 1: of previous accounts, creating a level of consistency that has

3:03 Speaker 1: kept the story circulating. And then there is the carousel bar,

3:08 Speaker 1: a functioning rotating bar inside the hotel known for its slow,

3:13 Speaker 1: steady movement, creating a disorienting but iconic experience, and while

3:18 Speaker 1: it is a highlight for visitors, staff have reported moments

3:22 Speaker 1: when the bar appears to move or shift unexpectedly outside

3:26 Speaker 1: of normal operation. Though these accounts are often attributed to

3:30 Speaker 1: mechanical quirks or perception, skeptics point to the natural explanations, lighting, reflections, fatigue,

3:39 Speaker 1: the complexity of an old building, and all of those

3:41 Speaker 1: factors absolutely play a role. But what keeps the reputation

3:45 Speaker 1: alive is not a single dramatic event, but the steady

3:49 Speaker 1: accumulation of small, consistent experiences reported over time by people

3:54 Speaker 1: who were not looking for them. One of the most

3:57 Speaker 1: repeated accounts from guests staying at the hotel Hell involves

4:00 Speaker 1: something simple but deeply unsettling, because it doesn't rely on

4:05 Speaker 1: shadows or imagination. It involves a moment that feels completely

4:09 Speaker 1: real until it suddenly isn't. A guest staying on one

4:13 Speaker 1: of the upper floors reported waking up in the middle

4:15 Speaker 1: of the night to the distinct sensation of someone sitting

4:18 Speaker 1: on the edge of the bed, not a vague feeling,

4:21 Speaker 1: but a physical shift in weight, the mattress dipping just

4:25 Speaker 1: enough to be unmistakable, as if another person had quietly

4:29 Speaker 1: taken a seat beside them. And still half asleep, they

4:33 Speaker 1: assumed it was their partner or someone else in the room,

4:36 Speaker 1: something easily explained, but when they opened their eyes, no

4:40 Speaker 1: one was there. The indentation on the mattress remained for

4:44 Speaker 1: a moment, visible in the dim light, as if something

4:48 Speaker 1: had just been there seconds before, and then slowly it lifted,

4:53 Speaker 1: the bed, returning to its original shape without any movement

4:57 Speaker 1: in the room to explain it, leaving the guests fully

4:59 Speaker 1: a way, wake fully aware, and completely unable to rationalize

5:04 Speaker 1: what had just happened. What makes this account stand out

5:08 Speaker 1: is not just the experience itself, but how often it's

5:12 Speaker 1: repeated in different forms, multiple guests over the years, describing

5:16 Speaker 1: the same sensation, the same pressure, the same realization that

5:21 Speaker 1: something seemed to interact with the physical space in a

5:24 Speaker 1: way that goes beyond sound or sight. And while skeptics

5:28 Speaker 1: point to sleep related phenomena or environmental factors, the consistency

5:34 Speaker 1: of the detail, the edge of the bed, the timing

5:37 Speaker 1: the physical sensation keeps it circulating as one of the

5:41 Speaker 1: most unsettling experiences tied to the hotel because it's one

5:45 Speaker 1: thing to hear something. Because this is not a place

5:48 Speaker 1: defined by one tragedy. It is defined by repetition, thousands

5:53 Speaker 1: of arrivals, thousands of departures, and a space that has

5:57 Speaker 1: held onto all of it. So when you step into

5:59 Speaker 1: Hotel monteleone, check in, take your key, and make your

6:03 Speaker 1: way up to your room, just remember you may not

6:07 Speaker 1: be the only one who thinks they're staying there. And now,

6:11 Speaker 1: dear listener, a quick word from tonight's sponsor, because if

6:15 Speaker 1: you're going to stay in a historic hotel, you might

6:18 Speaker 1: want a little extra reassurance.

6:20 Speaker 2: Have you ever checked into a room, set your bags down,

6:23 Speaker 2: and immediately thought, this feels occupied in a way I

6:26 Speaker 2: cannot explain. Well. Now you can rest easy with Room Clear,

6:31 Speaker 2: the only device that scans your hotel room and confidently

6:34 Speaker 2: tells you there is absolutely no one here that we

6:37 Speaker 2: can confirm, giving you just enough comfort to turn off

6:40 Speaker 2: the lights and question everything five minutes later. Room clear,

6:44 Speaker 2: Because sometimes peace of mind is relative.

6:48 Speaker 1: Until next time, dear listener, keep your guard up, your

6:52 Speaker 1: curiosity balanced with caution, and remember that not every place

6:56 Speaker 1: you visit is ready to let you leave. And if

6:58 Speaker 1: you ever feel like you room isn't entirely yours, you

7:02 Speaker 1: might not be wrong had had