Captain Grant’s, 1754; Preston, Connecticut, Built: 1754
It’s not hard to believe that Captain Grant’s, 1754, located in Preston, Connecticut, and surrounded by cemeteries, is haunted. The inn, built in 1754 by captain William Grant, was the home of three generations of the Grant family. It housed soldiers during the Revolutionary War and served as a hideout along the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves during the Civil War.

Today’s owners, Carol and Ted Matsumoto, finally admitted to the bed-and-breakfast being haunted after a detective who had stayed over demanded his money back, claiming someone had been stomping around all night above him.

After showing him that the attic was full of lumber and that it was impossible for any human to have made the noise, the Matsumotos knew they had a ghost on their hands.

Some guests have reported hearing moaning or banging sounds, while others have seen a mother with two children on the staircase. And for some inexplicable reason, the shower curtain in one of the bathrooms keeps getting ripped off the rod. Aside from these occurrences, though, the ghosts are harmless. “We don’t make it up. When it happens, it happens,” Carol says. Rooms from $99. (800) 982-1772, www.captaingrants.com

Lemp Mansion; St. Louis, Missouri, Built: 1868
Steak and ghosts -- both can be enjoyed at this inn with an award-winning restaurant and more than a bit of mystery. The Lemp family, for whom the hotel is named, originally took ownership of the 33-room Italianate-style home in 1876 after finding major financial success in the brewery industry.

Unfortunately, a chain of suicides plagued the family, starting with the first successor to the family fortune, William Lemp, who took his life in one of the mansion’s bedrooms after his son, Frederick, died of heart failure in 1901. One of his other sons, William Jr., then took the helm as president of the brewing company.

After a string of financial misfortunes that culminated in the selling of the family business at auction due to Prohibition, William Jr. shot himself in the same place where his father had committed suicide many years earlier. Two other family members, William Jr.’s sister, Elsa, and his brother, Charles, also took their own lives.

Today, the tragedies of the Lemp family lend a rather forboding air to the restaurant and inn, though that doesn’t deter guests -- or the owner -- from staying there. “I feel as if the house has a special energy,” current owner Paul Pointer says. “[It’s] … an unnerving, ominous feel.”

Pointer has experienced his fair share of weird occurrences around Lemp Mansion, including watching drawers shut on their own and seeing people who weren’t actually there. The mansion offers ghost tours every Monday (call for times and reservations), but those who want the full monty can spend a night in one of the mansion’s six rooms or take part in the monthly Lemp Experience, where guests become ghost hunters and snap photos with special cameras while listening to the history and intrigue of the mansion. Rooms from $125. (314) 664-8024, www.lempmansion.com