My Life | Travel

Missing Room 873 Banff Springs

March 27, 2012

I love travel and hands down one of the most picturesque travel destinations that screams ‘Canada’ has got to be Banff AB, and a visit wouldn’t be complete without a stay in one of the oldest, most beautiful hotels in the country. Listed as a world Heritage site: The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, opened in 1888 during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

But before you stay there, there is something you need to know, or more specifically, a room you need to know about

Room 873

The Missing Room.

As the story goes, decades ago a family was killed in this room. After a lengthy investigation the room was refurbished and booked out to travelers. Soon after, reports of disturbances flooded the front desk.

The rumor is told that guests would fall asleep in the room only to be awoken by hollow screams and when the lights were turned on they would be startled to find bloody handprints on the mirrors inside the room. By the time staff could rush to the room to investigate, the prints would have disappeared.

In efforts to cover up the horrific tale it was decided the room would be sealed off. The door was removed and the opening covered with drywall, flush to match the rest of the hallway.

It is undeniable that something has happened to room 873 and I questioned the hotel staff on my latest trip to Banff.

Although the hotel employees are forbidden to speak of the room and when questioned, their scripted answer are as disturbing as the missing room itself.

Here are the facts:

  • There are rooms ending in ’73’ on each floor and a room is located on the floor above and below the missing room on the 8th floor.
  • If you head down the hallway, there are only lights above each doorway. There is one above where the missing room’s door would be, in the middle of the hallway.
  • The baseboard is cut where the door would’ve been.
  • When you knock along the walls, you’ll notice they are made of thick plaster… As you knock down the hall on the 8th floor it suddenly changes to a ‘hollow’ sound right below the light, where the door to room 873 would have existed… It continues for the length of a standard doorway.

So as you travel across our great country make sure to make a pit stop at the Fairmont Banff Springs, maybe you’ll get to the bottom of this creepy mystery!

Or at the very least it’ll give you something to wonder about for the rest of your life.

Mr. Fab 73

UPDATE... Late one night, the hotel attempted a cover up... Read our story and see our exclusive photos HERE.
  1. Great post!
    Recently I was given an “Alberta Ghost Stories” book for camping trips. The story that really stuck out in my mind was of a ghost cat that would come cuddle you at night when you least expect it, oOoOooHh scary! …I’m not kidding, that story is in the book.

  2. Room 873 was combined to enlarge 875. no mystery.
    book room 875 and you can see quite obviuosly that it is 2 smaller rooms combinded.
    i am not disputing the story of 873. Just saying 873 is not blocked off, you just enter the space through the door of 875.. Beautiful room with a great view.I book it 50% of my visits there.
    I stay there 3-5 times a year.

  3. I used to work housekeeping there, its true. They just made it part of 875. When you walk in there the sitting area and to the left, where 873 was, is the bedroom. So people are actually sleeping in the ‘murder room’ almost every night. I’ve never heard a guest complain though.

  4. This is the perfect website for everyone who really wants to
    find out about this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough
    to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa).
    You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject that’s been discussed for many years. Excellent stuff, just excellent!

  5. My husband and I are in the “murder room” as I write! We have stayed at the hotel many times over the past 30 years- this long weekend is our first in room 875. 30 years ago (before the recent renovation) we had stayed in some very small rooms here; room 875 does indeed take up the “hallway length” of 2 small rooms- the entire room is narrow and long, with a total of 3 windows overlooking the beautiful Bow River Valley- lovely! We have an entrance/ sitting room with large TV , 2 windows and chairs, and bedroom, with bathroom between, and spectacular view through the window. I am highly sensitive and empathic- and aside from visitors tapping on the hallway walls (looking for evidence of a previous 873 , as I discovered tonight in chatting with a family outside our room as I was returning) there has been absolutely NO evidence of anything unusual. Too bad….!

  6. As said by many staff prior, I worked there. Room 873 is now part of 875, and it is not a hollow space. All staff were never informed to ‘ not speak of it’. Just my two cents.

  7. It’s kind of you to comment… But I encourage visitors to go ask staff members themselves and see what they receive as a response.

  8. Worked there for five years. The room was removed and the adjacent rooms were expanded. No ghosts here! In five years of steady midnights I never saw a thing.

  9. This isn’t even close to the spookiest ghost story told in the Hotel…

  10. This is just another one of ’em posts where people don’t thoroughly look up facts,.. like most bloggers/reporters should.

  11. I actually went to visit the hotel on my own accord and set up a tour with the Fairmont Marketing team. I did my research. Thanks for blindly commenting on a matter you have no knowledge on

  12. Fairmont staff here. During our orientation we were told to deny any paranormal activity.

  13. I stayed in room 875 for three nights a few years back while traveling for work and can confirm the room is two smaller rooms combined. As previously described, the “missing” door where 873 should be is actually the bedroom where the bed sits right up against the “missing” doorway. Lots of people knocking on the wall looking for the “missing” room all day and night. However, unlike the others who have posted, I did have an experience in that room causing me to leave the hotel after my third night at 5 am in my pajamas, as well as many odd occurrences leading up to my departure including the radio turning on by itself, towels I had thrown on the floor being hung back up on the shower rod (in the time it took me to get dressed), a wake up call at the wrong time from a staff person who did not exist, and basically having the bed made while I was still in it (which caused me to grab all my stuff and bolt from the room in my pajamas.)

    Call it crazy, but I definitely had a unique experience. I loved the hotel and even though I had the *&#% scared out of me, I would definitely go back.

  14. ahhhhh a lady is walking up the staircase.if thers something weird in the neighbor hood who are you gonna call ghost busters

  15. I visited Fairmont with my family back in 2010 late summer, I remember looking into My. Stephen’s and got a weird feeling for that room, also in our room we stayed, we had shut the closet door (all the way shut with no air vent, plus door was too heavy to get pushed by a vent) before all going to bed, it was wide open next morning. I asked a staff if they experienced anything and one was like, “I don’t like to talk about that stuff.” Anyway, I didn’t bother them after that but I guess they had something happen or didn’t want to get written up. It’s cool, whatever…

  16. I toured the hotel today and am sorry I cannot report any creepy experiences or ghost stories but the Sunday brunch was “to die for”!

  17. We’ll my husband and I are book for this Friday for are 10th year anniversary. I myself have encounter some very odd things some good some bad so I hope this will be good lol! I’ll keep youz updated.

  18. Sorry if I have missed it, is it the only “doubled up” room in the building? That would throw up a flag if so.. I mean why get rid of one room to make a bigger room.. Especially important why pick the one people have allegedly died in? Has there ever been any nnews clippings found? Official word from owners or management?
    In the words of one of my favourite TV characters “I want to believe”

  19. Some hotel staff deny any oddities, others secretly will talk about it.
    It is the only ‘doubled up’ room in the floor plates.
    And it was only ‘extended’ into that during the hotels last renovation.
    Prior to that it was a smaller room which matched the rooms of all the other ’73’s

  20. I stayed in the hotel last week. We weren’t anywhere near the room but I saw the “missing” door and it definitely seems odd to double up the rooms on a completely random floor… Also I was tapping on the wall so I apologize to whoever was trying to sleep! I did have some creepy experiences… The 8th floor in general has a haunted feel and in my room the radio kept turning on and off by itself (it was a new Bose, I have the same one at home and it never does that) and as well lights turned on and off and curtains were opened and closed without us touching anything. Great place!! it was very interesting to experience

  21. When I was at the Banff Springs Hotel I went to check the missing room out. The first time i brought my cousins while the rest of my family hung out at the lounge on the Gold floor. That time there was no staff near the room and I did some experiments. Yes the spot where the door would be makes a solid sound. The second time I went to check it out there was a maid cleaning the room down the hallway. I was with my entire family and so we were whispering about it and knocking on the wall. After about a minute or so the maid called down the hallway to stop knocking on the wall because the room now connected to the room beside it. We stopped but we saw some other people walking over to it to do the same thing so I expect the story must give the staff loads of trouble.

  22. 8-7(3) 13 oh no lol we went last summer. It didn’t even feel creepy being outside the door but my husband freaked out when he said he saw a little girl run across the hall. We seemed to have been the only ones in the hall but what ever. The mind is a powerful thing. I went with the intentions of wanting to see something and saw nothing he wants to not believe and didn’t want to see anything and claims to of seen something.

  23. I am currently in 875 and it is REALLY ANNOYING having people knocking on the wall of the bedroom. Yes it is obvious there is a room missing so you don’t need to annoy those inside who would like peace and privacy……….. just like you do……

  24. Maybe that is why my cousin’s plate containing his steak crashed to the floor in the dining room while the lady was playing the gold harp in July 1977. Perhaps it was wrong to blame him for his carelessness, it could have been paranormal activity. the ladies with the tiaras thought it was hilarious though. I would go back in a heartbeat!

  25. How much is an average night at that hotel? It looks very gothic; I beleive the Queen likes to stay there when she visits Canada.

  26. I stayed in that room in 2013, with my then boyfriend and had a pretty weird encounter. My ex surprised me with a trip to banff to stay at the banff springs, I’ve done my research prior and knew of the ghostly tales such as the bride and the bellhop I hadn’t come across any about the room 873 otherwise I would have made sure we had a different room than 875. As soon as we went in the room before we even had our luggage I got a weird feeling from the closet and it didn’t help that the closet door hinges were off balance a bit so if the door wasn’t completely shut it would come open again. The first night I didn’t notice a thing, however I did have a lot of wine that night. The second night, later in the evening around 2 am, arriving at our room I was looking at the numbers to the rooms, and noticed there was no 873. Bringing it to my boyfriends attention and walking up the hallway to see if it was maybe on the other side. Him being a non believer of anything beyond coincidence just shrugged me off. I brought it up again once we were in the room and was shrugged off again.
    After getting into my PJ’s, crawling in bed, and watching maybe a half hour of TV we decided it was lights out. As I was drifting off to sleep I was startled by 3 loud knocked coming from the wall inside the closet, which also woke my boyfriend, then another 3 loud knocks on the wall above our bed from the hallway, and then another 3 coming from the door. As I was asking “what the hell was that” 3 knocks were coming from all 3 places at sporadic times with a second between locations. This lasted a fairly long time long enough for me to ask him if he somehow did this to frighten me, to which he replied ” yes, Nadine I put things in the walls to scare you” and then I said it must be a ghost, knocking is still occurring until he said ” if theres something here than show yourself” and it stopped. I had a few choice words but still thought about taking a picture, 2 actually. One there is a circular spot (which could very well be dust) and a sort of diagonal line of light( which could have come from the reflective running jacket in the background), if you zoom in I think its a face of a man (that could be my imagination) but on the second which was taken directly after there is nothing out of the ordinary. It was during my research the next day while on the way home that I found this website and the story of room 873.
    If anyone would like both of these pictures I would love another opinion,
    my email is
    nadinespurvey@gmail.com
    or
    nspurvey@hotmail.com

  27. This is an interesting story for anyone, especially a history enthusiast. I’d like to know if anyone can find any old copies of newspaper articles or police reports that might shed light on what happened in room 873? The main questions I would like to see answered would be:

    1) When did the murder occur, and under what circumstances?
    2) Was the perpetrator brought to justice?
    3) Do we still have anyone alive who had a firsthand experience in 873 before the renovation?
    4) When did the renovation occur which took out the door to 873?

    If I were the Banff Springs hotel I would have brought in an old construction person who knew how to work with plaster and lathe, so that it would not sound hollow over the former doorway like it does now. Just my 2 cents, as this could cut down on people trying to sound out the wall. But seriously, if anyone can start digging and finding answers to any of the above questions, I’m sure we would all like to know!

  28. Holy crap, that is terrifying! I’m glad I read about this room before I go book my stay.

  29. immrfabulous (May 7, 2014 at 1:51 pm) wrote:
    “I actually went to visit the hotel on my own accord and set up a tour with the Fairmont Marketing team. I did my research. Thanks for blindly commenting on a matter you have no knowledge on.”

    They could have phrased their comment more politely, but I think they are referring to some potential knowledge you lacked, or at least information which if you did have, you decided not to include in your article. Numerous people who claim to have actually worked at the hotel have commented here, and other places, that room 875 was enlarged to include 873. That doesn’t definitively prove there was no murder or haunting, but it does possibly reveal that there isn’t just some sealed room, enclosed like a tomb, which may deflate some of the sensationalism, as well as the more extreme claims that the murder was so brutal and the room so haunted that they sealed it off so no one could spend the night. Regardless, I do appreciate the article. Thanks.

  30. Thanks for the comment Mike.
    I do agree it has now been combined into the neighboring room… but that wasn’t always the case. the room was indeed sealed for a time. I have some new updating coming soon with photos of how they have removed the light above the door and plastered the wall. They tried to do it quickly hoping no one would see or notice what they were doing…. just so happens a reader was there the day they did it trough the night and took photos for me. Just continues the denial and coverup saga

  31. @immrfabulous I would defiantly like to see this pictures. I was thinking of going here for mine & my boyfriends one year & my 20th, but that time frame is a bit pricey. I defiantly believe in these stories & would like to see some more on the topic. Thank you.

  32. Hate to be that guy but my mother used to be in management of the hotel back in the 80s… when I asked her about room 873 and showed her the photos she said that spot on the 8th floor had a laundry shoot to drop laundry into the basement. While she does have some different creepy stories about the hotel, room 873 isn’t one of them.

  33. Interesting… but then I question why the 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1st floors all have 73 rooms below the missing one.
    Where did the laundry shaft go if not down?

    I don’t think this is at all possible.

  34. Just visited and spoke with the kindest staff member, she stopped in the middle of her work to show us where the haunted stairwell and ballroom are and then told us about this room. She said it’s very haunted and she has heard her names being whispered while cleaning it, as well as small things moving around the room. She let us know we can go explore the 8th floor but the reason staff usually don’t disclose the info about the room is tourists knock on the room door. Don’t do that as it’s annoying to the travellers staying there.

  35. Back in 2001 to 2007, I used to spend a lot of time at that hotel, and many other resort type hotels in Alberta and BC. I worked in audio/visual, so most of my time was spent in the ballrooms and convention centres, though I always spent the night in a VERY SMALL hotel room, as many of them are at this particular hotel. I’d estimate I’ve spent approx 50+ nights in that hotel over that 6 year period, and became good friends with many staff members. Here is what I learned in that time: Room 873 was in fact a room at one point in time. As to what happened in that room, that is the mystery. However, it is no mystery that the hotel ultimately decided to seal the room off after the mysterious incident, and it sat empty for many many years. It was initially sealed off(but not yet annexed to 875) because the hotel did not want to have guests staying in room 873 as room 873. That is, they have no problem with people staying in the actual physical space, but don’t label it as 873. It’s like an elevator that goes from floor 12 to floor 14. We all know 13 was skipped, intentionally. The hotel made the decision to annex the space to 875 so they could charge more for room 875, all the while using the space of 873. Problem solved, no more 873 by name, but yes the space and room did once exist. The staff don’t speak of it to guests because it’s bad form to create a witch hunt type of scenario in a hotel. Deny, deny, deny. And in all fairness to most of the staff, they often know less than the guests. Many of them are in their late teens and 20’s, relocated from out East or elsewhere in Canada, as they travel and begin to work. There are very few actual Albertans that work at that hotel. Now. With that said. A few of the staff members (of the mid age and Albertan variety) did tell me that 873 is know amongst management as a topic to be avoided with guests. It’s not a formal training procedure, but it’s mentioned intentionally and repeatedly. The mystery truly is what happened in 873 decades ago.

  36. I stayed at Fairmont Banff Springs in 2010 as a visiting travel agent. I have no clue what floor or room I was on, but it was not near 873. We were given a tour by two staff members. Of course we asked about room 873. They told us that officially they were not allowed to talk about it, because people knock on the wall where the door used to be, and annoy the other guests on the 8th floor. However they did show us where the door was blocked out and unofficially told us that there had been an incident years earlier that had led to the room being blocked off. At that time you could see the ridge in the wall and the skirting. I would be curious to know when the room was converted. At that time it was the off season (late October between the summer and winter seasons) and there was work going on at the hotel and some floors were closed. I can’t clearly remember but I think floor 8 might have been one of the closed floors, since it was dark and the staff had to turn the lights on to take us down there. It would be interesting if that was when the room was changed.The staff never mentioned the connection to room 875. But then if it was already converted and they had told us, we would have asked to see inside, so maybe that’s why.
    Some of my colleagues and I decided to take a 2 am ghost tour and went back to room 873 among other areas. Sadly we saw nothing spooky.

  37. Room 875 is connected with Room 873. If you go to the bedroom you will see the line of the Room 873. Room 875 should be sealed

  38. I went there just to check out the room with my cousins and my aunt and uncle. My cousin knocked on the door and all of us heard a scream and we ran down the hallway and left

  39. To the person that said the laundry chute was there…. no, you can see where the laundry chute was, and its between (past) 873 and 875. The (past) door/pot light is many feet to the left of the laundry chute

  40. I love this story. I’d love to know if someone finds a newspaper article or something about the incident.

  41. I’m from the states but love to visit the hotel and perhaps stay in room 875 by myself. Lol immrfabulous, your last comment made me laugh. Sorry

  42. i was at banff spring this past weekend, the th floor is under renovation. still made my way there. found the actual door to room 873.

  43. IF I ever stayed there and IF they actually made room 873 and 875 into one room – and someone knocked on the wall to check for hollow sounds – I would totally knock back and scare the crap out of someone. Maybe knock and plead thru the wall to let me out, please let me out
    hahahahahahahaha

Looking forward to reading your comments!