He Bought a 32-Room Pennsylvania Hotel on eBay for $11,000 to Escape City Life. Then the Unexplained Activity Started.

When filmmaker Blair Murphy shelled out $11,000 on eBay in 2001 to buy a condemned 32-room hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania, he was looking for a quiet one-year creative retreat away from Los Angeles. Instead, the historic structure became his permanent home—and an active hotspot for unexplained phenomena.

The former Grand Midway Hotel was facing demolition when Murphy placed his winning bid within a week of discovering the online listing. The seller left out one critical detail during the transaction: the property carried a long-standing local reputation for being deeply haunted.

More than two decades later, Murphy still lives inside the sprawling estate with his 10-year-old daughter, Luna. Rather than running a traditional lodging business, he opens the doors on weekends strictly to paranormal researchers investigating things that go bump in the night.

“It always felt like the building found me more than we found the building,” Murphy said.

From Funeral Roots to Unexplained Hotel Encounters

Murphy was not easily rattled by grim environments. Growing up with parents who worked as funeral directors, he spent his childhood around embalming rooms and caskets, developing an early immunity to the macabre.

Even so, daily life inside the Grand Midway Hotel presented anomalies he never anticipated. Paranormal investigation teams frequently detect anomalous electronic voice phenomena (EVP), unprompted movement of heavy objects, and unexplained auditory disturbances on a near-weekly basis.

Interior spaces inside the Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania.

During one recorded session, a ghost hunter’s monitoring device flagged an anomaly directly behind the group. Seconds later, a heavy table lamp on a nearby shelf crashed to the floor without anyone standing near it.

While Murphy readily acknowledges that single events can be written off as coincidence, the volume of occurrences inside the property makes the environment impossible to dismiss.

Blair Murphy at the historic Grand Midway Hotel.

The Spirits That Never Checked Out

Among the countless accounts documented over the years, two entities remain central to the property’s lore. The first is Martha Cerwinsky, a 19-year-old woman who died on the front porch in 1911 following an accidental fireworks explosion, who Murphy reports encountering frequently in dreams.

The second presence, known among residents as the “Man in the Hall,” made himself known almost immediately after Murphy moved into the building. Murphy constantly felt shadowed by an unseen figure that stayed precisely ten feet behind him down the corridors.

A hallway inside the historic 32-room property.

The Secrets of the Canopy Room

No area in the hotel carries a heavier atmosphere than the Canopy Room. Murphy characterizes the space as cold, clammy, and distinctly unsettling, leading him to believe an act of severe violence occurred there in decades past.

“Whatever’s going on in the Canopy Room is kind of locked in the Canopy Room and it’s not an issue in the rest of the building,” Murphy noted. “The spirit… it stops at the doorway with that room.”

The Canopy Room inside the Grand Midway Hotel.

Separating Fact from Fiction: How the Property Operates

A common misconception is that the Grand Midway Hotel operates like an everyday bed-and-breakfast or conventional inn. It does not.

After a short-lived attempt to list rooms on standard vacation rental platforms—where unsuspecting guests arrived expecting standard hospitality—Murphy overhauled the entire booking model.

• Paranormal Group Rentals: Private access is reserved exclusively for investigation teams on Friday and Saturday nights.
• Seasonal Calendar: Bookings run strictly from March through Halloween weekend each year.
• Full Access: Teams receive overnight run of all 32 rooms while Murphy remains on-site as host.
• Private Residence: The building serves full-time as the personal home of Murphy and his daughter.

Blair Murphy and his daughter Luna at their Pennsylvania home.

Guinness World Records and Gothic Ambitions

The hotel’s offbeat profile is not limited to its spectral residents. The property holds official Guinness World Records for housing the world’s largest Ouija board across its rooftop and the largest Thoth deck tarot card painted across a ceiling.

Outside, Murphy established a yard decorated with artificial tombstones. His upcoming ambition includes securing an official world record for assembling the largest private collection of memorabilia honoring Gothic novelist Anne Rice.

For Murphy and Luna, living inside a 32-room labyrinth is simply everyday life, even if solitary nights remain chilling.

💬 Living in an abandoned hotel sounds like a dream to some and a nightmare to others.

✨ From world-record curiosities to unexplained late-night footsteps, this $11,000 purchase turned into an extraordinary piece of Pennsylvania history.

👇 Would you spend an entire night alone in the Canopy Room? Share your thoughts in the comments below!