Travel Picks: Haunted hotels where the guests never left

NEW YORK, (Reuters Life!) - If you actually like to hear things that go bang in the night, a list of haunted hotel rooms in the United States could be a good guide for your next vacation.

The Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has just released a list of stories from hotels offering "permanent" guests, from star-crossed lovers to loyal employees, who never checked out:

1. The Night-Shift Nurse - Baltimore, Maryland

In May 2007, room 218 of the Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore was occupied by a scientist attending a lecture. In the early morning, he was awoken by the sound of creaking floor boards and looking up saw the image of a tall, slender woman wearing a white cap. The woman turned and smiled at him and proceeded to walk through the wall. The inn's main building was built in 1889 as a hospice for sick and injured sailors and it is believed the spirit was that of a Mission nurse.

2. Follow the Bouncing Ball - Austin, Texas

Built in 1886, The Driskill Hotel is home to the spirit of a young girl bouncing a ball who is said to haunt the first floor lobby, the ladies' restroom on the second floor and the staircase leading to the mezzanine. While the Texas Senate was in session in 1887, the daughter of one of the senators fell to her death while chasing a ball down the staircase.

3. Sixth-Floor Spirit - Salem, Massachusetts

A number of guests have reported the strong sense of a presence roaming room 612 in The Hawthorne Hotel in Salem. In one month, two guests staying at different times recalled seeing a woman moving down the 6th floor hallway and pausing in front of 612. The spirit's identity can only be speculated upon - maybe a heartbroken bride returning to a happier time or the lonely widow of one of Salem's sea captains.

4. The Woeful Widow - Galveston, Texas