The Haunted Charlesgate Hotel

Posted: 02.17.2025 | Updated: 02.17.2025

Eerie music played without a source to be found. Fathers mourning their daughters with unusual memorials. Rumors of gangsters disposing of bodies here. Ghosts of people come back to life. 

All these and more are elements that make up the various legends of the Charlesgate Hotel. It’s served a variety of roles over the years and remains a popular and spooky Boston attraction. 

From college dorms to rumored Mafia involvement, this place has seen a lot of history in its over a century of use. No matter how much it’s weathered over the years, nothing has been able to knock it down, and it still stands today. 

Perhaps it’s a testament to its architect’s skill – a man who will be covered in this blog post. Or perhaps some of that longevity can be ascribed to a ghostly protector who’s said to inhabit this place. She will also be covered. 

Keep reading on to learn just who these ghosts might be. After you’re done, we’re sure you’ll want to learn even more about haunted Massachusetts. To learn about them and other poltergeists of Beantown, be sure to check out our in-person Boston Ghosts tour, too! 

 Is the Charlesgate Hotel Haunted?

The problem with answering this question is sorting through all the various legends and tales that have popped up over the years about the Charlesgate Hotels. From debates about whether a certain someone really died to rumors of criminal activity here, separating fact from fiction remains a difficult task. 

Nevertheless, we’ve tried our best to present the most compelling case for Charlesgate Hotel’s haunting for you here to decide for yourself. 

Hotel History

There’s an interesting fact about the most haunted hotel in Boston – it isn’t even a hotel anymore!  

Constructed in 1901, it was designed as a luxury hotel for the city’s growing population of affluent citizens and wealthy tourists. The building’s architect, J. Pickering Putnam (who also financed the project), pulled out all the stops to build it, with beautiful Romanesque Revival-style architecture, conical towers, Queen Anne-style gables, and over thirty initial apartments. The place served its purpose for a few years, as it was noted to still be quite a popular destination going into the 1920s. 

However, like much of America, Boston was hit hard by the Great Depression. Suddenly, luxury tourism and high living were no longer in fashion for most of America’s population, nor were they even feasible. The building experienced a period of decline and would eventually be sold to Boston University in 1947 to be used as a dormitory for its female students. 

It served BU for several decades after that. However, this would not be the first time that the Charlesgate Hotel would change hands. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be the first time in the 20th century. In 1973, Boston University sold the place to be used as a rooming house by a developer. 

That only lasted until 1981, when another local college, Emerson College, bought it from the developer to be used as a student dorm yet again. It would be sold again in the 1990s and is now in use as a condominium complex. 

It is anyone’s guess why it continued to trade hands, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that its residents have, over the decades, kept hearing and reporting some very strange things happening in the Charlesgate building. 

Charlesgate Hotel Hauntings

Some of these strange things can perhaps be explained by the identity of the main ghost who lives here. But before delving into her identity, it is first prudent to look at what people have reported happening at the Charlesgate Hotel over the years. 

For one, it’s been dogged by rumors of mafia involvement. Although a link to organized crime hasn’t officially been proven, the place is still haunted by rumors that the Mob used to execute people in one of the emptier elevators and toss the body down the shaft. 

That’s not the only dark rumor that’s cast a grim pall over the place either.  Many students have reported hearing grim rumors during its time as dormitory housing, both at Emory and Boston University. They claimed that strange student deaths and suicides haunted the place, even though the university has no record of such occurrences taking place. 

Those two stories alone would give Charlesgate a creepy atmosphere, but those are far from the only incidents. Students have reported hearing and seeing their doors slam. When investigated, nobody was around to slam the doors. 

That’s not all, either; there have been more than a few reports of people hearing screams echoing down the corridors despite nobody being around. Strange, out-of-date music would play from unused or even unplugged machines. Alarms would go off without warning in the morning, prompting lots of grumbling from the student population and a few eyebrows from paranormal investigators. 

Some of these incidents were explained away as the creakiness of an old building or plumbing quirks, but those investigators had the sinking feeling that there was another explanation. 

Elsa’s Presence 

Many feel that the ghost of Elsa is that explanation. You see, Elsa was the daughter of J. Pickering Putnam (the architect of the Charlesgate Hotel mentioned above). She wasn’t just his daughter either – she was his whole world. 

Even though Elsa was always getting underfoot while Putnam was working, he couldn’t get enough of his little girl. He even put up a decorative tile with her likeness near the elevator to forever memorialize his greatest love inside his greatest architectural achievement. 

While there’s some debate on when Elsa died, the legend of the hotel goes that she tragically passed away at just the age of seven, More tragically, she died falling down the elevator shaft while running after a toy ball; the same elevator shaft that her tile was placed above. 

While this would have sent her father spiraling out of control due to grief, by all accounts, Elsa seemed to have taken her premature death in stride. The story goes that she’s stuck around the Charlesgate Hotel – perhaps to remain near the ghost of her beloved father.

But another reason might be that it’s the best place to get into trouble. Apart from the previous incidents mentioned above, Elsa’s ghost is blamed for several different terrifying occurrences in the Charlesgate. 

One student said that Elsa tormented him in the shower by shocking him with a faulty lightbulb while he was washing, giving him quite a jolt and quite a scare. Another group of students swore that Elsa visited them while they were messing around with an Ouija board one night, spelling out “ha ha ha” over and over again on the board. She’s also known for pranking people by levitating objects to give them a scare!

Haunted Boston

We can’t promise she won’t torment you with similar pranks if you ever make the trip to the hotel. But if you ever find yourself up there, be sure to check out the tiles near the elevators and see if you can find one that resembles Elsa. 

If you liked this story and want to learn similar tales, check out our Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. They spotlight other offbeat ghost stories all over the United States. Checking our blog is another good way to stay up-to-date with all the latest ghost stories and haunted spots in America.  

If you want to explore Massachusetts ghosts specifically, a ghost tour with Boston Ghosts is the best way to do that. Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides can provide even more information on the area. 

Sources:

• https://today.emerson.edu/2019/10/29/was-the-charlesgate-dormitory-haunted/
• http://www.celebrateboston.com/ghost/charlesgate-hotel-ghost.htm#google_vignette
• https://buildingsofnewengland.com/2021/01/13/the-charlesgate-1891/