Haunted hotel guide · Cooperstown, New York

The Haunted Otesaga Resort Hotel, Cooperstown: Ghosts of the Lakeside Grand Hotel

A columned 1909 resort on Otsego Lake, a short walk from the Baseball Hall of Fame, where guests hear children running down empty corridors and furniture moving on a floor with nothing above it.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate hotels

3.8/5Haunted Rooms Score
1909Year opened
3rd & 5thMost haunted floors

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Otesaga Resort Hotel sits on the southern shore of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, the village James Fenimore Cooper made famous and baseball fans now visit by the thousand. Its long Federal Revival front and portico of 30-foot columns have looked over the water since 1909 and still draw summer crowds to the lakeshore.

It also has one of the best-documented ghost reputations of any hotel in upstate New York. Staff, guests and local historians describe giggling girls on the third floor, shadow figures on the fifth, and voices in the Glimmerglass Room, and in 2010 the TAPS team from Ghost Hunters spent days investigating it for the show’s sixth season. Here is what people report, where to look, and how the stories line up with the hotel’s real past. For more places to stay, see our guide to haunted hotels in New York.

The Otesaga at a glance

3.8/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation4
History5
Ghost hunter access2
$$$ · Over $300Hotel embraces its ghosts
  • Address 60 Lake Street, Cooperstown, NY 13326 (607-547-9931)
  • Opened July 12, 1909
  • Most haunted spots The third-floor corridor, the fifth floor, the Glimmerglass Room, the ballroom
  • Best-known ghosts Laughing schoolgirls and running feet; shadow figures in early 20th-century clothes; a voice that calls staff by name
  • Booking the haunted room No single room is singled out. Ask for a room on the third or fifth floor.
  • Good to know About 135 rooms; now open year-round (it used to close after Thanksgiving); a nightly resort fee applies

Check availability

The ghosts of The Otesaga Resort Hotel

The girls on the third floor

The most common report at the Otesaga is of children. Guests describe giggling young girls and loud, hurried footsteps running along the third-floor corridor, even when there are no children staying in the hotel. Historic Hotels of America says that on rare occasions the footsteps have been heard all the way to the front desk.

Many people connect the sounds to the Knox School for Girls. From 1920 the school used the hotel in the winter months, when it was closed to guests, and the hotel’s own history says it housed more than 150 young women each year. The Cooperstown Crier dates the school’s time in the building from 1920 to 1954. There is no record of a death behind the story, and the sounds are usually described as cheerful rather than sad.

The shadow figures of the fifth floor

The fifth floor is the top of the hotel, with only the roof above it, yet guests on the floor below and on the fifth itself report the sound of heavy furniture being dragged overhead. Shadowy figures have been seen in the corridor, some in early 20th-century clothes, and staff tell of figures walking hand in hand before they fade. In some fifth-floor guest rooms people mostly hear muffled talking with no one there.

The hotel’s stories describe these spirits as calm. They are said to keep to themselves rather than trouble guests.

The voice in the Glimmerglass Room

The Glimmerglass Room takes its name from Cooper’s nickname for Otsego Lake. A former cocktail waitress told the Cooperstown Crier that a low, flat voice called her name there when no one was near, and other staff say the same thing has happened to them. A security officer has also described hearing people walking on the second and third floors at night, and the sound of a music box somewhere between them.

What Ghost Hunters found

The TAPS team arrived in Cooperstown in March 2010 and the episode aired in August 2010, during the sixth season of Ghost Hunters. According to Syfy’s recap, the team heard faint voices in the ballroom, saw a flashlight switch on and off on the third floor while they played a music box, and on the fifth floor saw a figure cross a laser grid and a shadow vanish down the hallway. One investigator heard a whisper in a closet that later seemed to say a team member’s name.

The team told the owners they had found strong evidence of activity. As with any television investigation, it is entertaining rather than proof.

A restless night for a radio host

In June 2011 Jeff Levack, a host on radio station 104.5 The Team, stayed at the Otesaga while covering Hall of Fame induction weekend. He later said he slept badly and was sure he heard something all night, and only afterwards learned about the hotel’s reputation and the Ghost Hunters visit.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The third-floor corridor: Giggling and running feet, linked in local telling to the Knox School girls.
  • The fifth floor: Shadow figures, furniture dragging overhead and muffled voices in guest rooms.
  • The Glimmerglass Room: Where staff say a voice calls their names.
  • The ballroom: Where the Ghost Hunters team heard voices moving around the room.
  • The ground and first floors: Local ghost tour guide Bruce Markusen says activity has been reported here too.

History of The Otesaga Resort Hotel

Cooperstown was founded by William Cooper in the 1780s and is the hometown of the novelist James Fenimore Cooper, whose Leatherstocking Tales are set around Otsego Lake. Edward Severin Clark and Stephen Carlton Clark, heirs to a fortune from the Singer Sewing Machine Company, started building a grand hotel on the lakeshore in 1908. Designed by architect Percy Griffin, the Otesaga opened on July 12, 1909, with ice-cooled refrigeration and a telephone in every guest room. Its name comes from a Native American word said to mean a place of meeting.

The Clarks laid out the Leatherstocking Golf Course the same year, and Devereux Emmet expanded it to 18 holes in 1919. From 1920 the Knox School for Girls used the hotel in the winter months, while it was closed to summer visitors. In 1927 the Clarks turned the old Phinney house in the village into the Cooper Inn, still the Otesaga’s sister hotel.

Stephen Clark went on to found the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in Cooperstown in 1939, and the Otesaga became the place where Hall of Famers stay and play golf on induction weekend. The hotel’s history says Babe Ruth’s round on the Leatherstocking course began that tradition, and in 1976 rain moved the induction ceremony itself into the hotel ballroom.

The Otesaga joined Historic Hotels of America in 1994 and is a contributing building in the Cooperstown Historic District. It was renovated in 2002 and redesigned again in 2014. Recent additions include the Fire Bar, the Hawkeye Spa and the 1909 steakhouse. Once a summer-only resort that closed after Thanksgiving, it now opens year-round.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Ask for a room on the third or fifth floor of the main hotel when you book. Rooms are not sold by number online, so call reservations.
  • Have a drink in the Glimmerglass Room and ask the staff about the voice. Many have a story.
  • Hall of Fame induction weekend in late July fills the hotel, and the village, months ahead. Visit in spring or autumn for quieter corridors and better prices.
  • Budget for the nightly resort fee, which covers parking, Wi-Fi and many activities.
  • Pair your stay with the Historic Four Corners ghost hunt in Herkimer, about 45 minutes north, or stay a night at Hotel Utica and its famous Room 410.

Want to investigate, not just sleep?

Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Otesaga Hotel haunted?

It has a strong ghost reputation. Staff and guests report children running and laughing on the third floor, shadow figures and dragging furniture on the fifth, and voices in the Glimmerglass Room, and Ghost Hunters investigated it in 2010. These are reports, not proof.

Which floors of the Otesaga are haunted?

The third and fifth floors are named most often. A local ghost tour guide says activity has also been reported on the ground and first floors.

Was the Otesaga on Ghost Hunters?

Yes. The TAPS team filmed there in March 2010 for season six, and the episode aired in August 2010.

Was the Otesaga a girls' school?

In part. From 1920 the Knox School for Girls used the hotel during the winter months when it was closed to guests. Many people link the giggling heard on the third floor to the school.

Is the Otesaga open all year?

Yes, it now opens year-round. It used to close after Thanksgiving, and some outdoor activities, like the heated pool, are still seasonal.

How far is the Otesaga from the Baseball Hall of Fame?

It is a short walk. The hotel is on Lake Street at the edge of the village, and Stephen Clark, one of the brothers who built it, founded the Hall of Fame.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.

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About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.

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