In an age when boutique hotels vie for dollars with Instagram-worthy amenities like celebrity chefs and infinity pools, some properties have discovered that their greatest asset may be their checkered past.
A growing number of hotels built in places like former prisons, cult compounds, defunct military installations and graveyards are banking on dark, dramatic histories.
There’s real estate and commercial opportunism, for sure. Some hotels have met the demand for narrative with in-house historians. But there’s also a fascination with being immersed in locations where forebears confronted terrible circumstances. Perhaps even the most troubled places can find redemption through thoughtful design and the passage of time.
Here are seven places to stay where the mood has a hint of the macabre.
Troutdale, Ore.
McMenamins Edgefield
McMenamins Edgefield, about 15 miles outside Portland, Ore., offers a relaxing atmosphere where guests can sip craft beer, book a massage or swing a golf club.
Few guests realize that they’re staying at what was once known as the Cedars, believed to be among the first detention centers for women accused of carrying sexually transmitted infections. The Cedars opened in 1917 as part of a public panic around social hygiene, fueled by the fear of male troops being infected. Thousands of women were confined, often without due process, across the country.
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The post Haunted, Hallowed or Odd: 7 Hotels With Bizarre Histories appeared first on New York Times.
