LA man buys 32-room Pennsylvania hotel on eBay and moves in. But says the seller never mentioned it was haunted: ‘the building found me’

Blair Murphy bought a 32-room hotel on eBay for $11,000 in 2001, but the seller reportedly left out one major detail – that the building is supposedly haunted. Murphy was living in Los Angeles at the time and wanted a break from city life, according to People.

A friend’s wife told him about the Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania, which was facing demolition. He moved in within a week. “It always felt like the building found me more than we found the building,” Blair Murphy, now 61, says.

He did not know about the ghost stories when he reportedly signed the deal. Murphy says he grew up around funeral homes as his parents were funeral directors, so death was not something that scared him. However, living in the Grand Midway Hotel apparently turned out to be a different experience. He says unusual events happen almost weekly, and paranormal teams who visit on weekends report strange sounds and moving objects.

Murphy says something odd happens in that building almost every week

Murphy recalls one incident in which a woman’s ghost-hunting device apparently alerted a team to a presence behind them. A lamp on a nearby shelf fell seconds later. He admits it could be a coincidence. However, he says incidents like this happen often.

Two stories stand out to him. One involves Martha Cerwinsky, who Murphy says died at 19 on the hotel’s front porch in 1911 after being hit by fireworks. He says she appears in his dreams frequently. The other is a presence he calls the “Man in the Hall.” Murphy says he noticed it shortly after moving in, before he knew the Grand Midway Hotel’s reputation. He says it constantly felt like someone was walking about 10 feet behind him.

Then there is the Canopy Room, which he describes as “clammy” and unsettling. He reportedly believes something “violent” happened there. “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 adds.

The Grand Midway Hotel no longer functions as a normal hotel. Murphy tried using Airbnb, but moved away from it because guests often didn’t read the description and expected a standard experience. He now hosts paranormal teams on Friday and Saturday nights, generally from March through Halloween.

Murphy claims he has no plans to return to traditional hospitality. “I like that it’s very specific, it’s not a place for everyone,” Murphy says, comparing the vibe to the hotel in The Shining. The property has a giant tarot card on the ceiling and a massive Ouija board on the roof, both Guinness World Records holders.

Guinness lists the Grand Midway Hotel’s rooftop board at 1,302.54 square feet and points to an eerie coincidence, as early Ouija manufacturer William Fuld died after falling from a third-story roof. Murphy created the record-setting tarot card with tattoo artist Terrence Kauffman in 2017, choosing The Universe card from the Thoth deck, according to Guinness World Records. 

The boards have since fueled films like Ouija: Origin of Evil and viral TikTok claims, such as a Ouija board predicting one woman’s death at 28. Murphy also built an outdoor graveyard, which Guinness recognized last year as the largest cenotaph collection. “It’s really creepy to be alone in there,” Blair Murphy says, adding that it has gotten creepier than it was 25 years ago. Murphy says his next goal is a world record for the largest collection of Anne Rice memorabilia, and paranormal teams are expected to return when the overnight season reopens in March.