Grand Midway Hotel
Windber, PA
In the late 1880s, the Grand Midway Hotel mostly provided modest accommodations for local coal miners, now it is in the Guinness World Records for the largest Ouija board and tarot card.
Blair Murphy, the owner of the Grand Midway Hotel in Windber, Pennsylvania, says that his inspiration for the 1,302.54 square-foot Ouija board atop the hotel came to him one night as he was using an Ouija board in an attempt to communicate with spirits from within the hotel’s Edgar Allen Poe Room. This attempted communication was essentially a way to stir things (paranormal activity) up in the hotel amidst a period of what Murphy calls a two-year lull. The idea seemed to work, shortly after the hotel returned to its old self, abuzz with new activity as Blair and his team got to work on the roof.
The Grand Midway Hotel atop which the giant Ouija board sits happens to be a 3-story building. Ironically the original inventor of the Ouija board, William Fuld, died due to injuries sustained falling off of the roof of a 3-story building after a railing he was leaning against gave way.
In 2017 Murphy recruited painter Terrence Kauffman and together the pair created a work of art 21 ft 1 in long, by 16 ft wide that would become the world’s largest tarot card. The card represents good fortune and can be viewed suspended from the ceiling of the hotel’s first-floor library.
Visit
The Grand Midway Hotel may be known for its oversized Ouija board and tarot card, but that is not the end of its one-of-a-kind attractions. The hotel also boasts some 32 rooms with several suites extensively decorated in their own theme; Vampire Suite, Frankenstein Suite, Werewolf Suite, Mummy Suite, Mermaid Suite, Dragon Suite, Phantom Suite, and Beatnik Suite. In addition to the suites, the hotel also includes a Titanic Bar, Seance Parlour, Deerhead Hall, Monkey Room, the Poe Room, Canopy Room, and Zombie Library Room.
Standing next to the Midway is the Shakespeare House bed and breakfast and just across the street is the Alan Freed sidewalk star, a memorial for the Windber, PA native who coined the term Rock and Roll.
For more information visit www.grandmidwayhotel.com
1303, Midway Avenue, Windber, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, 15963
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