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In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their legendary “bed-in” in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. This two-week stint in the hotel was part of an ongoing “sit-in” style protest of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. This event led to the release of Lennon’s first solo single, “Give Peace a Chance,” a song that has become an ongoing anthem for anti-war movements and protesters.

The hotel also has another claim to fame: a mysterious guest who seems to have never checked out. There are multiple reports of an eerie “Lady in White” who has been seen wandering the hallways and occasionally making an appearance inside rooms in the hotel.

The downtown hotel, which was built by the Canadian National Railway and opened in 1958, boasts one thousand and thirty-nine rooms on its twenty-one floors. It is the largest hotel in Quebec and, behind the Royal York in Toronto, is the second-largest Fairmont hotel in Canada.

A Paranormal Studies and Inquiry Canada article reports that one particular hotel guest claimed that they had experienced spirit phenomenon in their room. They explained that they didn’t feel threatened by the presence, but that, starting at about 6:00 a.m. they heard what sounded like a person pacing back and forth beside the bed and around the room, as well as the sounds of movement inside the bathroom.

This unidentified hotel guest said that they heard something that almost sounded like a person involved in the ritual of getting up and getting ready for their day. Then, they explained, there was a sudden physical push as if someone had struck the mattress. They said that the message to them was quite clear: It was time to get up and get the hell out of bed.

There are several ideas about the identity of this spectral guest. In their book Haunted America, Michael Norman and Beth Scott detail the story of Pierrete Champoux, a distinguished writer and broadcaster, who had been attending a gathering of journalists at a convention at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on Saturday, November 18, 1961. During her stay, something truly uncanny happened.

When she was on her way outside to take a short break from the events, the touch of a hand on her arm caught her attention. She turned to see writer Émile-Charles Hamel, a good friend she had not seen for quite some time. Hamel reached out and kissed her hand and the two spoke at length about the various experiences and work they had each been engaged in. According to Champoux, Hamel told her that he had “a great deal of work” he had to do at the time. She felt that there was certainly something on his mind, since he appeared a bit distracted during their conversation. After a few more pleasantries, they shook hands and parted ways.

She thought nothing of the incident until, a couple of days later, Champoux’s sister mentioned that she had read in the newspaper that their mutual friend Émile-Charles Hamel had unexpectedly passed away that Saturday morning, hours before Champoux had spoken to him. She told her sister that the newspaper must have made a mistake. She had, after all, had a lengthy conversation with the man that very morning at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

“It isn’t as if I merely recognized him across the dining room,” Champoux exclaimed. “He stopped me as I was leaving, he kissed my hand and we chatted together for quite a time.”

Champoux confirmed the time of death with the hospital. The only explanation for what had happened, she felt, was that Hamel had, beyond his mortal time on this earth, stopped in at a gathering of other writers and had engaged in this one final parting with a dear old friend.

Other unexplained phenomena have been reported at the hotel over the years, including mysterious knocks and echoing footsteps, disembodied voices, cold spots, and people being pushed, shoved, or touched by unseen hands. Could the Queen Elizabeth Hotel be haunted by more than memories of the infamous bed-in by Lennon and Ono? Thousands of hotels around the world are purported to be haunted by some sort of resident spirit or spirits. Hotel rooms, having seen a multitude of guests and an entire range of various emotional states — loneliness, anger, love, hate, passion, angst — are among the most probable locations to capture at least some essence of residual energy over the years.

The hotel was closed for more than a year between the summer of 2016 and 2017 for extensive renovations, but the true believer knows that no remodelling, no upgrades, and no reimagining of the decor (unless an exorcist was involved), can shake the ghosts and residual energy that might still be lingering in the hallways and suites, like the ear-wormlyrics of a beloved song.