La Llorona, El Cuco, and Luz Mala may be among the biggest Latino horror legends and monsters, but Latin America has plenty more terrifying tales to offer. On top of building a long list of Latin American monsters (more on that soon), we’ve also found some hotels with a reputation for supernatural happenings.
Here are five hotels that are haunted, or are at least rumored to be:
1
La Posada del Sol, Mexico City
Abandoned Mexico City hotel La Posada del Sol was built in the mid 20th century by Fernando Saldaña Galván, who dreamt of creating a luxurious, ornate hub for artists and intellectuals. But according to legend, his dream never came to fruition; a lack of building permits, unforeseen costs, and architectural errors stymied the project for years. The difficulties drove Galván to suicide (or so say the stories), and from that moment onward, a curse was said to have descended over the building.
Afterward, the hotel briefly housed the Instituto Indigenista Americano and the Procuraduría General de Justicia, but both occupants abruptly abandoned the lease, and it has remained empty ever since. Since then, many conflicting stories and rumors have circulated about La Posada del Sol; some involve ghosts, some involve human sacrifices, and others tie the hotel to a case of missing girls.
This month, Vice writer Andrés Cota Hiriart paid a visit of his own, and the photos are creepy as hell. Read about his experience here).
2
Hotel del Salto, Bogota
The breathtaking Hotel del Salto, created in 1923, was built on the edge of a cliff just opposite the Tequendama Falls, once a big tourist attraction for visitors to Bogotá. The area was loaded with local lore – according to legend, many of Colombia’s indigenous Muisca were said to have jumped to their deaths from the waterfalls in order to evade capture by Spanish conquistadores.
Though the hotel had a good 60 year run, as the Bogotá river became more contaminated over the coming decades, it got increasingly damaged, and tourism began to die off. Finally closing its doors in the 90s, the hotel also became the tragic site of many suicides, which were believed to be inspired by the legends of the Muisca. Over the next 20 years, rumors that Hotel del Salto was haunted began to stack up. And let’s face it, the photos of it look like they were dreamed up by Guillermo del Toro.
More recently, the hotel lost its signature pink color and reopened as a museum, named Tequendama Falls Museum Biodiversity and Culture.
3
The Eden Hotel, Córdoba
The Eden Hotel was once a luxurious vacation resort in Argentina’s Córdoba province, attracting the wealthy and famous as guests in the early 20th century (visitors included four Argentine presidents, Albert Einstein and the Prince of Wales).
But the posh hotel was soon undone by the Nazi sympathies of its German owners, the Eichorn family. Ardent Hitler supporters, Walter and Ida Eichorn turned the hotel into a haven for Nazis and their supporters during World War II, holding secret meetings with sympathizers and outfitting the hotel roof with a radio antenna big enough to transmit Hitler’s live speeches and send messages to Germany. When Argentina declared war on Germany just before the Third Reich fell, the government shut the hotel down and confiscated it as enemy property. After that, a series of owners tried to revive the hotel, but it eventually closed its doors forever in the 60s.
This sinister past, plus years of neglect and looting, would have been enough to lend the now abandoned hotel a creepy aura. But added to that are local legends and conspiracy theories that Hitler was also a guest of the hotel, and that he did not in fact commit suicide in his Berlin bunker, but actually fled to the Eden.
Today, visitors to the town where The Eden is located can attend a nighttime “ghost tour” of the hotel, which is available 2-3 times a month.
4
El Hotel Mesón de Jobito, Zacatecas
El Hotel Mesón de Jobito, located in Mexico, is said to be one of the most haunted hotels in Zacatecas. Miners and strangers reportedly showed up at this hotel to look for gold. Those who visited said they felt a weird presence and heard things like children jumping or horses moving. Stay away from it at 4 a.m., because that’s when people say there’s a high level of supernatural activity.
5
Gran Hotel Bolivar, Lima
The Gran Hotel Bolivar has such a scary reputation that a review on Trip Advisor says, “Believe it when you hear there are ghosts!” The hotel was designed by Rafael Marquina and built in 1924. In the time that it’s been open, it’s been touched by murders and suicides, making people believe that there are some ghosts hanging around.