Is the Chancellor Hotel haunted?

I get emails from people all the time asking me questions, inquiring about the hotel, telling me about their stay and all sorts of things. The following email is one of the most unusual I have ever received.

This will be probably a slightly odd email, to say the least, but it's a 100% serious one.

I stayed in room 1501 this past week for the ---- Convention. On Wednesday evening (4/29), probably at around 10:30 or so, I was getting ready for bed after listening to an audio book aloud on my iPhone speaker (like a tape recorder) for a few hours. After turning it off, and turning off my side lamp beside the bed, I was overcome by an extremely cold sensation -- very deep cold, much more than a drafty room would give you -- and became aware of the appearance at the left side of my bed by what I believe was a ghost, probably about 4 or 41/2 feet tall and visible mostly by its head form and shoulders (and maybe the arms.) It looked like a human shape, but I can't say I recall specific features like nose, mouth, etc.

I'll be honest -- I was pretty confused by what I was seeing, thinking it was a shadow on the wall that I was casting, but the nightlight position of the bathroom and wall switches for that was impossible. I waved my arm to make sure it wasn't me, and looked away and back several times to make sure I wasn't having some sort of strange hallucination, like a speck of dust in my eye or something like that. I was extraordinarily confused at first because it never occurred to me that I was seeing a ghost. It was only after I had mentally rejected all other assumptions of what could make this shadow on the wall that I realized that this "shadow" was standing only a couple feet away from me.

I am convinced that what I saw was real, and that it was drawn to me because I had turned off the audio book not long before. It was looking very clearly at me, and seemed to cocking it's head, as if to suggest, "where did the story (i.e. the audio book) go?" Once I realized what I was seeing, and once I broke through my frozen panic, I buried myself under the covers and eventually the cold sensation went away. Neither the sensation or the ghost reappeared for the remainder of my trip. Frankly, I didn't spend much time in my room after that, and never played the audio book again when I was there.

Let me get to my ultimate point... please call if you'd prefer not to reply by email, I understand if you'd rather not do that. But I am extremely serious that I believe I experienced something paranormal in 1501 on Wednesday night, and was pretty freaked out by it (I have honestly held no opinion about these sorts of thing beforehand and what happened hit me like a ton of bricks.) All I ask is if you have any information you could share with me, as to what the "story" is, or just to let me know this is not a singular incident, I'd really, really, really appreciate it. I know that probably no hotel property is all that interested in this sort of publicity, but I would really like to know what you know. I mentioned it to one of your employees on Friday morning, who was completely convinced that what I encountered actually happened, and made it sound like this wasn't an isolated occurrence. So all I ask is for info -- I have no issues with any service or amenity of The Chancellor, and am just trying to figure out what the hell happened. And I promise complete silence if that's what you want in response...

I'm just searching for something to help me make sense of what I saw.

We have had a few people over the years make comments about ghosts and strange occurrences, but this is the most serious, detailed encounter I have ever heard of at the hotel.

You decide.

Another Ghost Story....

I don't need to write a blog, I let other people do it for me because they do it so much better.

Here is a story that a VIP Account of ours received from an out of town visitor that they had booked at the Chancellor. It is too good to keep to ourselves. Enjoy...

Do you have any haunted hotel stories? I do…
Every year, I travel to San Francisco at least 2 or 3 times to shoot for a client of mine… But this past trip (1/30-1/31) was exceptionally interesting…
I landed in San Fran on Monday, Jan. 30th around 9pm and arrived at the hotel I normally stay at, The Chancellor Hotel in Union Square. I checked in, got my room key, took the elevator to the 14th floor, put the key card into the door of 1401.. and as soon as I opened the door… the window to the fire escape flew wide open. The wind blew the long pale curtains into the air just as if out of a scary movie, as if someone had just jumped out the window to escape! Shocked, I took a quick look around to make sure no one was in the room, peeked out the window, thinking I might find a homeless guy on the stairs or something. I closed the window and bolted for the door!
Feeling a bit uneasy, I went back downstairs to the lobby to request a room without access to the fire escape. The young woman at the front desk assigned me to room 1309, evidently a corner room on the other side of the building that wouldn’t be near a fire escape. So I hesitantly accepted the new room key and took the elevator to the 13th floor… (Yes I know, the 13th FLOOR!!!!) The key didn’t work the first few tries but finally when it did I entered the dark room, turned on some lights, sat down on the bed, and tried to unpack some of my things. As I began to get settled in, I noticed a constant knocking on the wall near the far end of the bed, a kind of rhythmic tapping, almost like the sound of a rocking chair hitting the wall. The strange thing was the tapping on the wall wasn’t coming from the wall that was connected to the neighboring room, it was coming from the opposite side wall that had NO room next to it bc this was a corner room. Getting annoyed from the endless patter and having NO idea where it was coming from nor how to stop it… I gathered up my things and went back downstairs once again.
” You’re going to think I am crazy” I said “… but there is a constant tapping on the wall upstairs in that room and I really just need to get some sleep for my shoot tomorrow so may I please just try one more room?” She gave me a exhausted look, barely made eye contact, and attempted to search for a new room that might be available…but it almost seemed routine for her, as if she had heard these complaints on several occasions… so I asked her semi jokingly… ” This place isn’t haunted is it?! hah” .. she looked up, not laughing at all… ” Well… we have only really heard about sightings and strange things happening on the 13th & 14th floors….Oh boy, I have goose bumps just thinking about it!” she said as the hair stood up on her arms.
WHAT?!?!?!!?!?!?!?! HOLY SH*****T OMG! WTF! FML! WE BOTH HAVE GOOSEBUMPS AND I LITERALLY JUST GOT CONFIRMATION THAT THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED?!?!?
I was thinking in my head… but trying to keep my cool… (ok fine my jaw dropped… TO THE FLOOR) I said, ” YOUR JOKING right?!?! Are you SURE its ONLY the 13th and 14th floors??? What about the 15th floor or other floors below?!” She assured me it was only those two floors so she assigned me to a room on the 5th floor. I tried to take a deep breath, took the elevator AGAIN to my new room, tried to get settled, called my best friend and told her everything that happened and of course she says ” OMG dude!!” she shrieked,” The whole place is haunted for sure!!! Are you crazy?! Get out of there!”
Game Over. When your bestie tells you to run, you RUN!!! I was already completely freaked out before talking to her, whipping my head around towards every single little sound in the room…but nowwww I have my friend freaked out too!? That amped up my fear level from a 6.5 straight up to a 10!! I shoved my stuff back in my suitcase, stumbled out of the room, pounded on the “down” elevator button in a panic and then bolted for the hotel front doors.. if its one thing I DON’T want to mess with it’s ghosts!!!!
I took my little carry-on suitcase and wheeled it across the street to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. I went up to the guy at the front desk and said ” Listen, I just had a few creepy experiences at the Chancellor hotel next door and I really just need to sleep in a hotel that isn’t haunted, can you help me?” I smiled in hopes that he might be able to calm me down some, but instead he replies semi laughing ” Well, do you want me to tell you what you want to hear… or the truth?”
WHAAAAT??? AGAINNN???? AM I HALLUCINATING??
“We definitely have our fair share of strange stories here too Mam, but that’s only bc most of the hotels are over a 100years old.. ” he began to tell me. ”Whats the NEWEST hotel in San Francisco?!” I asked dead seriously. He directed me toward the W hotel.. it sounded ghost proof so I began on my journey. Alone, tired, and lost in ghost town, I ran across the Four Seasons Hotel where instead of getting directions to the W, I got some answers to my questions. “WHY IS SAN FRANCISCO SO HAUNTED?” I asked dramatically hoping to get a laughing response and hear him say he had no idea what I was talking about.
Ohhh nooo… Instead he began to answer my question with a straight face. ” Well, it is build on a cemetery dating back to the Gold Rush days. The Four Seasons was renovated in 2006 so we haven’t heard as many strange stories since but.. Haven’t you ever heard of the ratio 6 to 1?” I look at him in astonishment wondering why I never learned about this “6 to 1” ratio that he is so surprised that I never heard of… “6 to 1 what?” I asked in confusion… ” There are 6 dead people to every 1 living in San Francisco, you didn’t know that?”
WHAAATTTT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOWWW?!??!
Officially freaked out, I left the hotel and as a last resort I called my sweet and wonderful clients to tell them about my adventure. They insisted that I jump in a cab and join them at their home for a glass of wine and to stay the night in their guest suite… didn’t sound too shabby and as long as it wasn’t haunted I WAS THERE.
I told them the crazy stories over a nice glass of white wine, and then out of curiosity, we decided to google the Chancellor Hotel to see if there were any other creepy stories we could find online… and low and behold we found several stories, but one in particular was a story about a ghost sighting in room 1501 that was posted on the blog of the hotel itself!!! At the end of the story that a guest had submitted to the hotel manager, the hotel commented: “We have had a few people over the years make comments about ghosts and strange occurrences, but this is the most serious, detailed encounter I have ever heard of at the hotel.”
Check out the blog post here: http://thechancellorhotel.blogspot.com/2009/05/is-chancellor-hotel-haunted.html
IT’S OFFICIAL… THE CHANCELLOR HOTEL IN SAN FRANCISCO IS HAUNTED!!!
Do you have a haunted hotel story?? Feel free to share!
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Is the Chancellor Hotel haunted? You decide. I was born in San Francisco and grew up in the bay area, but I have never heard of the "6-1." I have heard that when San Francisco was growing, they moved all of the cemetaries to Colma in the 1900s. I have heard that Colma has more people underground than above ground, but not in San Francisco. Not true or logical.
Makes for a great story, though.

The Chancellor Hotel Union Square featured on NBC's The TODAY SHOW on Halloween

 

We are so excited (I think?) to receive national publicity on the TODAY Show this morning.

 

Family Circle Magazine did an article in their October 2013 issue on "Haunted Cities" and the best place to stay when visiting.  We were very surprised when we saw that they had found our ghost stories and mentioned us in the article.

 

Then, NBC's The TODAY Show on Halloween Day did a segment on the article and we were prominently suggested as the haunted hotel to stay at when visiting San Francisco.

 

Check out the video!   

 

Our reputation for having ghosts comes from the tales of our guests that have sent me their stories.  I posted the stories on this blog because I thought they were interesting and web searchers seem to have found them.  We have not promoted any of this.  Here is a link if you want to read the backstory:

http://thechancellorhotel.blogspot.com/search?q=ghost

 



I don't know if we are haunted, but some people seem to think so.  The hotel will be 100 years old next year and I am sure the walls could tell a lot of stories about what has gone on around here.

 

Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators

Jackie Kleeb, a paranormal phenomenon investigator, is staying with us tonight.  We have been hearing of strange occurrences for years and I posted two of the better stories we have heard on my blog.  Word of our unexplained happenings is getting out.  We were recently featured on the Today Show as part of a story on the local haunts in San Francisco.  Ms. Kleeb booked the hotel on her own to conduct an investigation.  We are looking forward to hearing what she discovers. 

Below is a copy of a podcast that Ms. Kleeb was on.  The main podcast starts at 9:45.

Paranormal Underground Radio: Jackie Kleeb (Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators)



Visit us at www.paranormalunderground.net

In this episode of Paranormal Underground Radio, we talk with Jackie Kleeb of Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators (based in Sacramento, CA). Jackie is an accidental ghost hunter. From an early age, Jackie was afraid of the dark and things that go bump in the night. “I have no idea how I ended up as a paranormal investigator, but here I am!” Jackie has also investigated with many other teams over the years. She was also a docent at Preston Castle for two years and organized all the overnight paranormal visits. “I absolutely loved the Castle, have so many wonderful memories there, but something dark followed me home,” she said.

Link to Site with the Podcast - Advance to 9:45
 

Air Date: May 24, 2012
Topic: Paranormal Investigation, Paranormal Theory, Paranormal Experiences, EVPs
Guests: Jackie Kleeb
Hosts: Karen Frazier and Rick Hale
Producer: Cheryl Knight