THE “​INN OF THE DEAD”

The Orleans Waterfront Inn stands as a monument to the colorful New England past. Built in 1875 by Sea Captain Aaron Snow for his wife and seven children, the Victorian mansion on the shore of Cape Cod’s magnificent Nauset Harbor is very spiritual.

There are at least three ghosts that have been named and identified: Hanna, a lady of the night during the Roaring Twenties who was murdered in front of the Inn, the Old lady spinster who owned the inn during the turn of the century, and Fred, a bartender in the 50’s who hung himself in the cupola.

Back in the 1920s, the Orleans Waterfront Inn building was a brothel. When one of the women there was murdered, her ghost stayed in the house. The Inn owner refers to her as Hannah, and claims she’s innocuous enough. After sleeping out on the couch in case a guest needs something at night, he was greeted by an unfamiliar woman not wearing any clothing. He at first didn’t think much of the encounter, as if it were a dream. Soon after, the owner received a call from a passing motorist requesting that he should put curtains on the fifth floor belvedere window, because he could see a woman in the nude dancing in the room.

The issue? There were no guests staying on the fifth floor.

Since that encounter, Hannah has been a recurring presence at the Orleans Waterfront Inn, one of three. She’s known to be a kindly presence who lights candles, opens doors, and still tends to dance in the nude. The SyFy show Ghosthunters did an episode on Hannah, in which they were able to have a conversation with her by asking her to turn a flashlight on and off. She was murdered by a customer to the brothel and there are other ghosts in the Inn. Hannah stays in Room 5.

Ghost Hunters – Orleans Waterfront Inn

* Listing information and/or photos were researched on the Internet and provided by a third-party, article or property owner's website and is deemed accurate, but not guaranteed, to the best of our knowledge.