Casa de Sierra Nevada — the colonial ghosts of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

The Casa de Sierra Nevada Hotel in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, is a luxury hotel occupying several interconnected colonial-era buildings in the heart of this UNESCO World Heritage city. The hotel is reportedly the site of an intelligent haunting, with ghosts that interact with guests and seem aware of changes to the building. Staff describe encounters with a colonial-era woman who appears to be the mistress of one of the original houses — she has been seen rearranging furniture, adjusting curtains, and inspecting the guest rooms with a proprietary air. Some guests report being woken by the sensation of someone straightening their bed covers or adjusting their pillow. The woman has been described as elegant, authoritative, and apparently satisfied when the rooms meet her standards. Other phenomena include the sound of a harpsichord playing in the courtyard, footsteps on stone floors, and the scent of colonial-era cooking. San Miguel de Allende, one of the most perfectly preserved colonial cities in Mexico, creates a natural environment for such encounters — its cobblestoned streets, Baroque churches, and colonial mansions look much as they did in the 18th century.