The Blennerhassett Hotel

The Blennerhassett Hotel in Parkersburg, built in 1889 by former mayor William N. Chancellor, is home to at least two dozen reported ghosts including Chancellor himself (whose portrait emits cigar smoke), a bowler hat figure in Room 409 who has physically attacked guests, and a poltergeist in the library that overturns chairs and pulls fabric into impossible shapes. The hotel runs monthly ghost tours year-round.

A guest at the Blennerhassett Hotel once woke to find someone sitting on the edge of the bed. The figure, an older gentleman, turned and said: "I was here first." Then he was gone. The hotel's staff believe that was William N. Chancellor, the man who built the place in 1889, and they're not particularly surprised when he shows up.

The Blennerhassett stands at 320 Market Street in Parkersburg, a Queen Anne-style hotel named after Harman Blennerhassett, the Irish aristocrat who built a mansion on a nearby Ohio River island before getting tangled up in Aaron Burr's conspiracy. Chancellor, a former city mayor, built the hotel to serve traveling salesmen and railroad workers. It went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and a complete restoration in 1986 brought it back to its original grandeur.

Chancellor was famously attached to his cigars. Guests and staff have reported seeing smoke circles rising from his portrait hanging in the hotel. Others have caught the distinct smell of cigar smoke near the painting with no smoker in sight. During renovations, workers removed the portrait temporarily. Disturbances in the hotel escalated until someone had the sense to hang it back up. Things calmed down after that.

Room 409 is where the real trouble concentrates. It's actually the Kaltenecker Suite, the hotel's only two-story guest room, located on the fourth and fifth floors of what was originally the Kaltenecker Building, constructed next door by businessman Johan Kaltenecker and absorbed into the hotel during the 1985 renovation. Guests in Room 409 report furniture rearranging itself during the night. A man in a bowler hat has been seen both in the suite and in the dry storage area in the basement directly below. One guest reported that the bowler hat figure tried to hold her down in bed by the neck. Staff suspect this ghost is connected to the Kaltenecker Building rather than the original hotel.

The library occupies what was once the First National Bank. Books fall from the shelves on their own. Chairs end up overturned. An ottoman was once found with its fabric pulled up into a tent shape that no one could replicate by hand. People report being touched while sitting in the library, a sensation described as a tap or a light grip on the shoulder. Hotel historian Adam P. Dotson has said he could name at least two dozen ghosts who appear routinely at the property.

A full black-shadowed figure was spotted in the basement at 1:30 in the afternoon. A woman in a Civil War-era dress has been seen gliding through the hotel, potentially connected to a former Union hospital building that once stood behind the parking lot. The elevators malfunction on a regular basis, opening on the second floor without being called. A gentleman in black clothing has been seen in the hallway when the doors open, then is gone by the time anyone steps out.

Children are heard playing in guest rooms above and below occupied floors, on nights when no families are checked in. Sounds of running and tricycle wheels on hardwood floors, laughter, the kind of noise that prompts a call to the front desk. The front desk finds no children registered.

The Blennerhassett runs ghost tours monthly (third Friday, year-round) and offers Spooktacular Tours on October weekends. Paranormal investigator Adra Johnson has led extended investigations at the hotel with EMF detectors and white noise devices. Tours are capped at 15 people, cost , and require guests to be 16 or older.

This hotel earns its reputation through sheer volume. Most haunted hotels have one or two ghosts and a handful of stories. The Blennerhassett has named ghosts, unnamed ghosts, poltergeist activity in the library, a specific room (409) with a pattern of violent encounters, and a founder who apparently objects to anyone messing with his portrait. It's the density that sets it apart.