The Haunted Tilton Inn: Laura, the Girl in the Sanborn Room

The Tilton Inn, often called the 1875 Inn after the year it was built, is a three-story white hotel with two tiers of porches on Main Street in downtown Tilton, at the southern edge of the Lakes Region. It is a small, informal place: nine themed guest rooms upstairs, each named for someone tied to Tilton’s history, and Onions Pub and Restaurant on the ground floor.

Its ghost is a child. According to the inn, one of the fires that has struck the building killed a 12-year-old girl named Laura, whose family lived at the inn in the 1800s in what is now the Sanborn room. Guests and staff report meeting her upstairs in the rooms and downstairs in the pub, and in 2010 the Ghost Hunters team from The Atlantic Paranormal Society investigated the inn on television. This guide covers what people report, what we could and could not confirm, and how to plan a stay.

The ghosts of the Tilton Inn

Laura

The inn’s own account is short and direct. The building has burned down three times, roughly a century apart, and one of those fires is said to have killed a 12-year-old girl named Laura, who “never left.” Her family lived at the inn in the 1800s, in the part of the building that is now the Sanborn room. The Laconia Daily Sun calls her Laura Sanborn, daughter of Samuel Sanborn, the man the room is named after. A portrait said to be of her hangs in the lobby.

We could not find a newspaper report, death record or other document that confirms Laura’s death, and the inn does not say which fire it was. The Ghost Hunters team said its own research turned up three fires and at least eight deaths in the building’s history, including three children, and the Laconia Daily Sun says some of those deaths were from disease. Laura’s story is still best treated as the inn’s own legend, handed down by owners and staff.

The girl in the rooms and hallways

New Hampshire Magazine reports that multiple guests have seen a young girl in different rooms and hallways. The inn adds that encounters happen both upstairs in the guest rooms and downstairs in the pub and restaurant, and the Laconia Daily Sun lists doors closing on their own, apparitions of children and guests feeling their hair stroked. The Sanborn and Tilton rooms are considered her main haunts. In 2012 the psychic writer David Pitkin told Yankee Magazine that a girl in a tan, ankle-length jumper ran into the room where he was sitting, jumped on the bed and smiled at him; the owner at the time suggested Laura sees herself as the inn’s greeter.

Ghost Hunters at the 1875 Inn

Under a previous owner, the inn invited TAPS, The Atlantic Paranormal Society of Warwick, Rhode Island, to investigate. The visit aired as “Uninvited Guests,” season 6, episode 13 of Syfy’s Ghost Hunters, on September 8, 2010. According to Syfy’s recap, the team recorded a male voice saying “help” in the apartments, got knocks in answer to questions and saw the bed move in the Sanborn room, picked up a girl’s voice saying “Daddy” on later review, and watched a flashlight in the Tilton room switch on and off by itself. Co-founder Jason Hawes said there definitely seemed to be some paranormal activity.

The same episode looked into reports of a gargoyle-like creature in the dining room, which the team could not explain or capture. It is the inn’s strangest story and comes up far less often than Laura.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

• The Sanborn room: Named for Samuel Sanborn, said to be Laura’s father; on Ghost Hunters the bed moved here and a girl’s voice was recorded.
• The Tilton room: Where guests say their hair has been stroked, and where a flashlight switched itself on and off for the Ghost Hunters team.
• Onions Pub and Restaurant: The ground-floor pub, where staff and diners have also reported Laura.
• The porches over Main Street: A good place to sit at night and watch the quiet village street.

History of The Tilton Inn

Tilton grew up on the Winnipesaukee River. A bridge crossed the river here as early as 1763, leading onto what is now Main Street, and the town is named for the Tilton family, one of whom, Nathaniel Tilton, opened the area’s first hotel, the Dexter House.

The most famous Tilton was Charles E. Tilton (1827 to 1901), a mill owner and the richest man in town, who filled it with statues and built the 50-foot granite memorial arch on the hill across the river in Northfield. His 1861 mansion, Tilton Hall, is now part of the Tilton School campus.

The inn itself dates its original building to 1875. Its own history says Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were among past guests, a claim we could not confirm independently. The inn also says the building has burned down three times, with roughly a century between fires, which suggests the story of the site is older than the current building. Yankee Magazine’s account says Laura died when a rooming house on the same site burned. We could not match the fires to published records.

Under earlier owners the inn traded as the 1875 Inn and Olive Branch Tavern. Today it is the Tilton Inn, a modest place with nine themed rooms named for people from Tilton’s history, two third-floor apartments and Onions Pub and Restaurant on the first floor. It is a short drive from Lake Winnipesaukee, which makes it a practical, inexpensive base for the Lakes Region.

Tips for a haunted stay

• Call the inn and ask for the Sanborn room, the room tied to Laura’s family.
• Eat downstairs at Onions Pub and Restaurant and ask the staff whether they have seen Laura themselves.
• Choose a room on an upper floor overlooking Main Street for the porches and the view of the village at night.
• Lake Winnipesaukee is a short drive north; the Nutmeg Inn in Meredith, home of Charlie the friendly ghost, makes a good second night.
• Watch the 2010 Ghost Hunters episode, “Uninvited Guests,” before you go, so you know which rooms the team investigated.

More haunted hotels nearby

• All haunted hotels in New Hampshire: Six places to stay, from Portsmouth to the White Mountains
• Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods: Princess Carolyn and Room 314
• Green Mountain Inn, Stowe, Vermont: Boots Berry, who still tap dances on the roof
• Haunted hotels in New Hampshire

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

• The Tilton Inn: About us
• Laconia Daily Sun: Resident ghost at Tilton Inn makes her presence known
• Syfy: Ghost Hunters episode recap, Uninvited Guests
• Yankee Magazine: Laura, the 1875 Inn (2012)
• New Hampshire Magazine: The most haunted places in New Hampshire
• Granite Post News: Rooms with a boo, New Hampshire's 9 most haunted hotels

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