Mount Washington Hotel is situated in the Bretton Woods Ski Area of New Hampshire. To get to the Mount Washington Hotel one drives East on 302E if coming from the I91. If the visitor is coming in from the Atlantic Ocean side on I95 then it's a drive west on 302E towards the town of Carroll.

Here's a little information that could have you packing your bags for a vacation with a twist of the bizarre and a whole lot of enjoyment on ski hills or on a world class golf course.

The construction of the Hotel was a project underwritten by the railroad tycoon Joseph Stickney. This was no small undertaking. Mr Stickney put up 1.7 million dollars in 1900 and brought 250 of the finest Italian craftsman who assisted other construction workers who put up the monumental wooden frame structure. The Mount Washington Hotel was open for business in 1902 and remains standing today and still in business while being an heritage site.

The term Bretton Woods is familiar to anyone who follows currency exchanges and economics. The Bretton Woods Accord was signed in 1944 by a select group of countries who agreed to peg their currencies to the US dollar in order to stabilize the economy. In the same year the World Bank also known as the IMF, or International Monetary Fund was established. Pegging major world currencies to the US dollar was no small matter. It meant the end of an era where the UK pound sterling had been the dominating currency of the world. All of this was happening in the rooms of the Mount Washington Hotel. The Bretton Woods Accord also stipulated that the US dollar would be pegged to a 35 dollar gold price. This was a new Gold Standard.

If your grandparents had bought 100 ounces of gold at 35 dollars an ounce in 1944 with 3500 US dollars and had passed those down to you as an inheritance those 35 ounces of gold would be worth 100 thousand dollars today.

Doesn't that thought haunt you somehow.

If it does then you might consider another aspect of the Mount Washington Hotel that has some scare factor in it.

The railway tycoon, Mr Joseph Stickney was married to a lady named Carolyn. After the Mount Washington Hotel was completed in 1902 the time came to break up a champagne toast for the grand opening. The tycoon is reported to have toasted his grand project, which was deemed foolhardy by many critics, with the expression Here's to the "damn fool who built this white elephant". Unfortunately the tycoon wouldn't live long enough to see his creation prosper. In 1903 he passed away and the widow Carolyn Stickney inherited the 10000 acre estate and the Hotel and the 18 hole golf course and the Italian furniture and decor and the whole nine yard.

Prince Lucinge of France (Aymon de Faucigny-Lucinge) became her new husband and she remained the owner of the estate until her death in 1934. The Hotel remained in the family for another ten years and was transferred over to a Boston Syndicate in 1944. Ironically this is the same year that the Bretton Woods Accord was being negotiated.

Now I always say that wherever there is money being exchanged or there is even mention of money then there is likely to be a thief within earshot.

This may or may not be the case here but the plot thickens as we learn more about the post mortem faith of the widow Stickney.

Now I know that paranormal is not normal but this is where this goes.

The Mount  Washington Hotel is haunted by the ghost of Carolyn Stickney. 

I will let the following video tell the story of the Prince and of the Black Widow of Bretton Woods who occupied Room 314 at Mount Washington Hotel. It is a story told by a few plumbers turned Ghost Hunters and the founders of TAPS or The Atlantic Paranormal Society. 

What others are saying the Widow Princess of room 314 is capable of.

In an article on msnbc.com called Haunted Ski Resorts we are told that the Widow Stickney has been reported by guests to have written on walls and to turn the lights on and off sporadically.

The article may be all hype but the Ghost Hunter video does have some possibility.

Why do people buy into this paranormal stuff anyways. The Ghost Hunter plumbers are Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson and they have been attracting audiences for 5 years now with all types of ghost stories. Maybe they are just out to cash in on the pandemonium phenomenon that sees people herd towards a certain piece of information. Perhaps there is more to it.

It nevertheless makes one wonder what types of evils the diplomat dignitaries who met at the Mount Washington Hotel in 1944 to decide your economic faith were up to.

Perhaps a seance with Carolyn Stickney could bring some reasonable answer to that. 

Meanwhile however we are at the mercy of the new dignitaries with old agendas maybe.

A vacation to the Bretton Woods wouldn't be much if it didn't contain a bit of fairy tale lore to go along with the luxuries that people look for while trying to get away from it all.

By having visited and stayed at the Mount Washington Resort you will have joined a club that has been the domain of presidents, poets, and other dignitaries who have enjoyed themselves in health spas, who have sipped brandy by grand fireplaces designed by some of the finest Italian craftsmen available.

Who knows you may even be able to hear the footsteps of the lady of the house while you are there.