Banff Springs Hotel

When rail travel took off across Canada during the late nineteenth century, the people at Canadian Pacific Railway decided to lure passengers by offering grand accommodations along scenic journeys, to promote tourism. Ten stately hotels were built throughout the country—among them was Alberta’s Banff Springs Hotel.

First constructed in 1888, a flaw in the original design, or misreading of the plans, required a change in the hotel’s orientation twenty-six years after opening. Some suggest it was built facing backward, causing structural inconsistencies (and considerable embarrassment).

By the start of the twentieth century, the hotel was one of the top three mountain getaways in North America. Builders from Alberta have done very well by Banff Springs, which went through an elaborate process of winterization and renovation to prep for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

Today, the majestic hotel has well over seven hundred rooms, nearly a dozen restaurants, a bowling alley, a golf course, and an indoor pool. Assorted quirks make the destination especially intriguing— such as its supposed “lost room,” and the Devil’s Staircase, named for its steep, winding design—but also lore dictates the space is haunted. Guests have backed up the rumors, offering multiple reports of feeling an inexplicable presence while climbing or descending to their room.

Beneath the spook and spa is Banff Springs’ network of hidden tunnels. Originally constructed to help move supplies during rebuilding, these tunnels serve as utility corridors. Rocky Mountain legend proposes they were once used by bootleggers to stash their boozy reserves during Prohibition. Hard to blame anyone seeking a tipple of relief. The multiple cycles of restoration, spiced with whispers of the paranormal, would otherwise be sufficient to send staff off the deep end.

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