Amway Grand Plaza Hotel

A landmark hotel in downtown Grand Rapids, originally built as the Pantlind Hotel in 1913. The hotel has hosted presidents and dignitaries and was extensively renovated in the 1980s by Amway Corporation.

The Amway Grand Plaza Hotel traces its origins to the Pantlind Hotel, founded in 1913 and designed by the prestigious New York firm of Warren and Wetmore, the same architects responsible for Grand Central Terminal. The Pantlind featured one of the world's largest gold-leaf ceilings and two magnificent chandeliers that made its lobby one of the most opulent spaces in the Midwest. By the 1970s, the hotel had deteriorated badly, but the Amway Corporation rescued it in 1981, restoring its grandeur and expanding the complex into what is now Grand Rapids' premier hotel.

The Pantlind's haunted history begins with a gruesome death that occurred in 1914, just one year after the hotel opened. Mary Monko, a hotel employee, was decapitated by the building's elevator in a horrific accident. Her spirit is believed to remain in the hotel, one of several ghosts that haunt the Amway Grand Plaza. The elevator that killed her has been the site of unexplained malfunctions ever since, stopping at floors where no one has pressed the call button and opening its doors to empty hallways.

The Pantlind Ballroom, the hotel's crown jewel with its gold-leaf ceiling, produces its own unique phenomena. Guests and staff have witnessed Victorian-era ballroom dancers waltzing across the floor during hours when the ballroom is closed and dark. The figures are dressed in formal attire consistent with the early twentieth century and dissolve when approached.

A woman in white has been reported on the hotel's tennis courts, her apparition visible to guests looking down from upper-floor windows. A small child has been seen sneaking through the hotel's corridors, darting around corners and disappearing when pursued. A mischievous spirit is known for stealing cigarettes and ashtrays from guests, hiding them in locations they would never have been placed.

Rooms 336 and 337 are considered the hottest paranormal zones in the hotel. Staff have reported entering these rooms to find bathroom faucets blasting steaming hot water with no one inside, lights flickering in patterns that seem almost deliberate, and doors slamming with enough force to rattle the frames. The Amway Grand Plaza now offers its own ghost tours during the Halloween season, acknowledging a century of unexplained activity that began with a young woman's death in an elevator and has never stopped.