Haunted hotel guide · Niagara Falls, New York

The Haunted Red Coach Inn, Niagara Falls: The Bride in the Victoria Suite

A 1923 Tudor inn built for honeymooners, a short walk from the falls. Its best-known ghost is a bride whose wedding night never ended.

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

3.0/5Haunted Rooms Score
1923Opened August 30
Victoria SuiteMost talked-about room

Check availabilityMeet the ghosts

The Red Coach Inn looks as if it was shipped over from an English village: half-timbered gables, leaded windows and a big fireplace in the Grill Room. It stands on Buffalo Avenue overlooking the Upper Rapids, a few minutes on foot from Niagara Falls State Park, and it still runs as an inn with suites upstairs and a restaurant below.

It opened when Niagara Falls was the honeymoon capital of the world, and fittingly its most famous ghost is a bride. The inn is a stop on New York’s Haunted History Trail and one of the best haunted hotels in New York for a short break.

Red Coach Inn at a glance

3.0/5
Haunted Rooms Score
Haunted reputation3
History4
Ghost hunter access2
Hotel embraces its ghosts
  • Address 2 Buffalo Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14303
  • Opened August 30, 1923
  • Most haunted spots The Victoria Suite on the third floor, the upstairs hallways, the restaurant fireplace
  • Best-known ghosts A bride in a white lace dress; a young girl; music and dancing overhead
  • Booking the haunted room Ask for the Victoria Suite when you book. It is a large multi-room suite, so it sells out early.
  • Good to know Suites rather than standard rooms, a restaurant and bar on site, and a five-minute walk to the falls.

Check availability

The ghosts of The Red Coach Inn

The bride

The story most told is of newlyweds who died on their wedding day or night. The versions do not agree. The Haunted History Trail says a bride and groom took their own lives on their wedding day. Oyster’s 2016 overnight report tells it as a murder: a couple checked in around midnight, were given the Victoria Suite on the third floor, and by morning the bride had been found bludgeoned to death on the bed. Oyster places it about four years after the inn opened, so around 1927. We have found no newspaper record of either version, so treat both as legend.

What guests and staff describe is consistent, though: a young woman in an old-fashioned white lace dress seen in the halls. Actor Bernie Kopell, Doc on The Love Boat, told his story on the paranormal TV series The Haunting Of… in an episode first aired in January 2014, returning to a Niagara Falls hotel with medium Kim Russo. The inn’s own blog links the Victoria Suite to that appearance, and Oyster reports his account of a young woman in a wedding dress gliding through a wall.

A little girl

Staff have told visitors that they unofficially believe a young girl also haunts the inn. One local story says horse stables stood here before the inn and that a girl was found dead after a fire destroyed them. Like the bride, this has not been confirmed in records.

Music, dancing and moving jewelry

The Haunted History Trail lists jewelry moving across dressers, music playing in the middle of the night and the sound of people walking and dancing overhead, even for guests on the top floor. Staff have described a stuck cabinet swinging open by itself, a purse thrown to the floor, a motion alarm going off with only the manager in the building and the old ship’s bell ringing with no one near it. A child once asked who the man in the restaurant fireplace was.

The most haunted rooms and places to look

  • The Victoria Suite: The third-floor suite of about 1,100 square feet where the wedding-night story is set. The one to ask for.
  • The Windermere Suite: A ground-floor one-bedroom with period decor and creaky floorboards.
  • The upstairs hallways: Where the bride in white lace is seen and where guests hear dancing overhead.
  • The Grill Room and restaurant: Home to the double fireplace, the painting of Lafayette’s red coach and the ship’s bell that rings on its own.

History of The Red Coach Inn

The Red Coach Inn opened on August 30, 1923, built by William Schoellkopf and Charles Peabody for the honeymooners who were pouring into Niagara Falls. They modeled the three-and-a-half-story Tudor building on the Bell Inn at Finedon in England, an old coaching inn said to have been licensed in the days of the Saxon King Harold.

The name comes from the red carriage of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, who was welcomed at the Eagle Tavern that stood across the street in the early 1800s. A painting of that scene by Buffalo artist A. Rafael Beck hangs over the fireplace in the Grill Room.

A century on, the inn still overlooks the Upper Rapids and still serves as a restaurant and inn, now managed by Coakley Williams Hotel Management. It has been featured on national television and is part of the Haunted History Trail of New York State.

Tips for a haunted stay

  • Ask for the Victoria Suite when you book, and ask for a rapids-view room if it is taken.
  • Have dinner in the Grill Room by the fire and ask the staff for their own stories.
  • Walk to the falls after dark; Niagara Falls State Park is a few minutes away and the falls are lit every night.
  • Bring your passport and cross the Rainbow Bridge to spend a night at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
  • Book early for summer weekends and fall foliage season, when the inn fills quickly.

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.

See all New York ghost hunts

More haunted hotels nearby

Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened

We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Red Coach Inn haunted?

It has a strong reputation and is on New York’s Haunted History Trail. Guests and staff report a bride in a white lace dress, a young girl, music and dancing overhead and jewelry that moves across dressers.

What happened in the Victoria Suite at the Red Coach Inn?

Legend says a bride died there on her wedding night, in one version murdered, in another a suicide with her groom. We have found no record confirming either, but it is the inn’s best-known story.

When was the Red Coach Inn built?

It opened on August 30, 1923, designed after the Bell Inn at Finedon in England.

Why is it called the Red Coach Inn?

After the red carriage of General Lafayette, who was greeted at the Eagle Tavern across the street in the early 1800s.

How far is the Red Coach Inn from Niagara Falls?

A few minutes on foot. The inn overlooks the Upper Rapids just upstream of the falls.

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.

Get new haunted hotel guides by email

New guides, haunted hotel picks and ghost hunt dates near you. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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.

Booking links on this page are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.