Nestled in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City is The Peery Hotel. We stumbled upon this place after a winning bid on Priceline. Little did we know when we won our “name your price” bid that we would be staying at Utah’s only historic hotel. The hotel is very central to nearby restaurants and bars although don’t expect too much of a nightlife in Salt Lake City where we passed many signs to clubs that don’t serve alcohol. The Peery Hotel offers both adjacent public parking and overnight valet. And don’t slack on paying the public metered parking, even if it’s just to check in! We went in to check in and find out about parking and took no more than 5 minutes; when we got back to the car we already had a ticket! Luckily the ninja meter guy came by and asked us if we were staying at the hotel and graciously offered to cancel the ticket. He wasn’t even dressed as a meter maid, he was in regular clothes and on a bicycle!

Checking into The Peery Hotel

The lobby of The Peery Hotel was old fashioned but very elegant. The hotel is themed in the 1920’s with a beautiful seating area around a fireplace and a gorgeous chandelier just before the staircase. The elevator to the far right is original to the building and squeaks and howls when you are in it. Being on the 3rd floor, there was no way we’d make it up three flights of stairs with our luggage. However, after that first elevator ride, we refused to use it again until out departure the next morning. They affectionately call the elevator “moaning molly” after an apparent ghost that is thought to haunt the elevator. Naturally, we weren’t aware of this until the morning after our stay. We also frequently saw the elevator open on floors while we were walking down the stairs with no one going in or out of it. One time the elevator seemed to be following us as it was open and empty on the ground floor and then open and empty again when we reached the top of the third flight of stairs. Very strange occurrence when we first arrived at the hotel.

The Room Was… Old…

Our room at The Peery Hotel smelled like it was 1920 in there. It smelled of old wood and must but the white sheets were crisp, clean and fresh smelling. The bed and furniture also seemed of the 20’s era with draping white panels above the bed. It was a small room with an even smaller bathroom and a single window looking out into the side street of the hotel. With its black and white checkered floor, the bathroom was no larger than an airplane bathroom with maybe 2 feet more for a tight spaced shower that leaked out into the bedroom. The sink and mirror were in the bedroom itself. Nevertheless, the room had an old fashioned charm along with the rest of the hotel.

Then Things Got Interesting…

After a night out for dinner, we exhaustedly returned to our room at The Peery Hotel since it had been a long drive from Arches National Park that morning. We settled into bed and barely watched a movie before falling asleep. That is when all the fun began. The first thing that woke us up in the middle of the night was a howling sound coming from the window. We shrugged it off to the wind thinking there was a storm outside. However, a while later when the wind didn’t die down, Jason went to look out the window to see what kind of storm was causing such a sound at the window. Only, there was no rain and no wind for that matter. The trees on the street were eerily still. Naturally, we were then very confused at what was causing the on and off howling sound at the window, since it was tightly shut and there was no wind. We decided to ignore it and went back to sleep.

Sleep was the last thing that we were able to get that night. To start off, I had nightmare after nightmare that felt horribly real. Jason said I woke up screaming twice in the night. All I truly remember is an unknown person in my dream walking me up stairs in the very same hotel room trying to take me somewhere else that was very frightening to me in the dream. Jason had also had a nightmare that seemed very real to him. He felt a dark presence watching over him as he slept and in the morning he told me he couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality.

Leaving The Peery Hotel

The next morning we were ready to go at the break of dawn. Not only was our flight early that day, but with neither of us getting any sleep and the nightmares and howling in the room, we were almost convinced the place was haunted. While checking out, Jason made a mention of the events to the concierge at check out, but she denied any knowledge of hauntings in the hotel. Aside from the nightmares, we didn’t feel any other odd feelings while at the hotel and what were the odds of actually stumbling upon yet another haunted hotel on the same trip? Yet when we googled the place while waiting to board our plane, we found several stories and a blog from a former employee confirming paranormal events at The Peery Hotel.

So what do you think? Were we just having nightmares from the exhaustion of an overexerted trip? Or did we actually experience some first hand paranormal activity? I don’t think anyone will ever know for sure on these things.



