The Pandemonium Witches: Murders, Mystery, and Mayhem · TPW3MPodcast

S1.E112 - Canada’s Haunted Crown Jewel: Banff Springs

·1 hr 8 min·4 clips

Benny Goodman made the hotel build an airstrip so his private plane could land nearby.

1. The Pandemonium Witches: Murders, Mystery, and Mayhem episode covers the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff National Park, Alberta. 2. Meg leads the segment as the host who researched the hotel’s history, celebrity visitors, and reported hauntings for the show. 3. The episode asks what makes Banff Springs both a luxury destination and a haunted landmark. 4. Meg says the hotel sits in Banff National Park beneath Mount Rundle and within the present-day territories of Treaty 6, 7, and 8. 5. She describes the property as Canada’s first national park area and says the park grew from a 26-square-kilometer hot springs reserve to 6,641 square kilometers. 6. She calls the hotel the “castle” or the “castle of the Rockies” and says the Canadian Pacific Railway opened it in 1888. 7. Meg explains that a fire destroyed the original wooden building in 1926 and that the hotel was rebuilt in 1928. 8. She adds that the first construction contained a room with no windows or doors, which was only discovered after the fire. 9. Meg says the hotel now has 768 guest rooms, while a typical large hotel starts around 400 rooms. 10. She lists amenities including a grand ballroom, a spa, a terrace garden, golf, tennis, hiking, swimming, biking, skiing, dog sledding, snowshoeing, and skating. 11. Meg names Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Ginger Rogers, Benny Goodman, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Susan Sarandon, and Bryan Cranston as notable visitors. 12. She says Marilyn Monroe stayed while filming River of No Return in 1953 and that Ginger Rogers spent a weekend at the hotel in 1937. 13. Meg notes that Benny Goodman required a nearby landing spot for his private plane, which led to the creation of the Banff airstrip. 14. She also mentions a celebrity sports invitational that included RFK Jr., Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Douglas, Fran Drescher, Clint Eastwood, Farrah Fawcett, Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, Michael Keaton, Alicia Silverstone, Robin Williams, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Meg Ryan, Amini Rogers, Martin Sheen, and Lyle Lovett and his band. 15. The ghost stories center on Sam McCauley, an elderly Scotsman who served as bellhop and is seen in uniform on the ninth floor. 16. Meg says Sam turns lights on, carries bags, avoids conversation, and is linked to an old office that is now a guest room, plus sightings on the sixth, seventh, and ninth floors. 17. She tells a service call story where two women found their room unlocked by an employee matching Sam’s description after waiting at the front desk. 18. Meg also describes a bride who died on the grand staircase and is said to appear in a veil or dance in the ballroom, while later renovations removed the original staircase railings. 19. The episode is loose, conversational, and full of side comments about travel, prices, pets, and Canadian geography. 20. Listeners who like haunted hotels, Canadian history, and celebrity trivia will get the most from it, while people wanting tightly focused storytelling may skip it.

As heard by us

A haunted-hotel story with lively banter, strong Sam lore, and just enough unease.

Pandemonium Witches' take on Fairmont Banff Springs leans into the ghost-story material while keeping a loose, conversational pace. The Sam lore is the standout: a bellhop in a 1960s uniform who turns on lights, helps with bags, appears on the ninth floor, and vanishes when…

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Want a haunted hotel story with chaotic hosts and a ghost bellhop?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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