The original inn on the current site of the Nottingham Road Hotel in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, was built in 1854. The hotel was originally called Railway Hotel and guests enjoyed the comforts of acetylene gas lighting, tennis courts and other activities.

During the 1800s, soldier stationed at Fort Nottingham during the Bushmen wars as well as British soldiers traveling by horse-drawn coaches and trains often stopped at the hotel for a little fun before continuing on into deeper Africa.

Like many haunted hotels, one of the ghosts who hangs out at Nottingham Road Hotel is that of a heartbroken lovely lady who died at the establishment. This hotel’s resident ghost is called Charlotte or Miss Nottie.

Although written records from that time are incomplete, Charlotte is said to have been a beautiful bar maid or a chambermaid who worked at the hotel. One story indicates that she fell in love with a soldier who either didn’t return her feelings, or was killed in battle, and she subsequently killed herself by jumping from a balcony at the hotel.

Some, however, believe Charlotte was a lady-of-the-evening murdered by a client she fought with over money she was owed for her services.

Paranormal activity reported at the hotel include full apparitions of Charlotte wearing a cape with a hood traveling up the staircase, shadows, electrical devices and sink faucets turning themselves on and off, footsteps and creaking noises, voices, and neatening of bedding and clothing, especially in room 10, the room from which she supposedly jumped to her death. Charlotte also likes to move flower arrangements and mirrors around in the room, and when in a playful mood, enjoys ringing for room service to room 22…although that room does not exist.

One guest saw a little boy dressed in old-fashioned clothes in her room. He just stood there looking at her, and then appeared to have an angry expression on his face. Another lady heard a child crying in the room.

In the old pub, doors open and close and objects move on their own.

One time when pictures of soldier hanging on the walls at the hotel were taken off to be dusted, and then put back up in different locations, the pictures started falling down off the walls breaking the glass.

An investigation conducted by Ghost Hunters International in May of 2008 caught some male EVPs in the kitchen, but no female voices were captured. They also recorded some ion readings indicating that there was a storm going on, although there was not.

References and additional information:
http://donnette.squidoo.com/nottingham-road-hotel

http://www.nottieshotel.co.za/about-us/tales-of-the-hotel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlyclTLms-M