Haunted Places in New York State: 26 of the Most Haunted to Visit
From Manhattan’s oldest house to a Cattaraugus County farmhouse that drove out every family that lived there, New York has some of the most famous haunted places in America. Here are 26 you can visit, tour, investigate or stay in, with the facts behind the stories.
We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are museums, which run ghost tours or hunts, which you can stay in and which you can only see from the road. Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts at seven New York venues, from Fort William Henry on Lake George to Mid-Orange Correctional in the Hudson Valley. For more places in each region, follow the city guides at the bottom of the page.
Where to look The front parlor, the third-floor servants' rooms and the balcony
Reported ghosts Eliza Jumel, a Hessian soldier, a servant girl
Visiting House museum; temporarily closed on weekdays during a roof and exterior restoration, with weekend and evening programs continuing
Hours and season Park open daily 10 AM to 5 PM; check the museum’s site for house openings
Ghost hunting The museum runs its own adult Paranormal Historical Investigations; join its waiting list
Manhattan’s oldest surviving house was built in 1765 for the British officer Roger Morris and served as George Washington’s headquarters for about a month in the fall of 1776. The merchant Stephen Jumel bought it in 1810, and his widow Eliza married Aaron Burr in the front parlor in July 1833. She filed for divorce within a year and died in the house in 1865.
Eliza is the ghost everyone asks about. The best-known story says a group of schoolchildren in the 1960s were shushed from the balcony by a woman in old-fashioned dress. Others tell of a Hessian soldier stepping out of a painting and a servant girl on the third floor. The museum’s own director told DNAinfo he had never seen anything, yet it now runs its own paranormal programs.
What investigators report
Investigators report K2 and EMF meter activity in Eliza Jumel’s bedroom during all-female question sessions and in Aaron Burr’s bedroom, where meters left on the chairs have lit up. One team also reported a basement motion light flashing on when they offered the ghost birthday cake.
Haunted Rooms tip: Watch the museum’s events page for its after-hours paranormal historical investigations, held on weekends and evenings during the current restoration.
Visiting Private haunted attraction; tours and hunts by ticket
Tours Daytime asylum tours and guided flashlight tours
Tickets Public hunts and flashlight tours from $49 per person; ages 18 and up
Ghost hunting Public ghost hunts of 3 to 6 hours and private hunts of up to 8 hours, booked through the site
Genesee County opened its poorhouse here in 1827, a working farm that took in widows, orphans, the elderly, the sick and the mentally ill. An infirmary was added in 1938, and from 1964 to 1974 the building was the Genesee County Nursing Home. The site says more than 1,700 deaths are documented here, with others unrecorded.
Now a privately run attraction in a 60,000-square-foot building with a tunnel, Rolling Hills is one of the best-known haunted sites in America. Visitors report shadow people, voices and poltergeist activity, and ghost lists often name a very tall former resident called Roy, a story we could not trace to a published record. It runs public and private ghost hunts, daytime tours and flashlight tours.
What investigators report
Investigators report Ovilus and Phasma Box word responses in the basement morgue and underground tunnels, and in the Shadow Hallway a noise reportedly came from the women’s restroom right after they asked for one.
Open to the publicGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 56 Main Street, Napanoch, NY 12458
Where to look Esther's Room, Rosie's Room and the bordello rooms, the Gentleman's Quarters, the Silent Room
Reported ghosts Beatrice Shanley; little Rosie Greger; Frank the bordello bodyguard; Esther Faughman
Visiting A working hotel; stay the night to experience it
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts and sleepovers; see our event page for dates
The Shanley is a big wooden hotel on Main Street in the Catskills hamlet of Napanoch. A hotel has stood here since 1845; the present building went up after a fire in 1895, and James Shanley bought it in 1906. He and his wife Beatrice lost all three of their babies in infancy, and the barber’s three-year-old daughter Rosie drowned in a well across the road. The hotel later stood empty for years before reopening as a ghost-hunting destination.
Today the Shanley lives entirely for its ghosts. Overnight guests take part in a staff-led ghost hunt and can then investigate on their own, and the owners say they have made contact with more than 30 spirits, from Beatrice and Rosie to a bordello bodyguard called Frank. Rooms are named for the people in its stories, and most share bathrooms. It has appeared on Ghost Hunters and Ghost Lab.
What our team has found
The séance room is the heart of the activity: Estes sessions there have had two spirit boxes appearing to answer each other, and curtains have moved almost on demand. The third floor is very active, with footsteps heard on the ceiling all night, and the spirit box picks up voices in the bordello room. In Adam’s room an EMF meter was once flipped off a ball and thrown.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a room night that includes the public ghost hunt, then ask for Esther’s Room or one of the bordello rooms (Rosie’s, Maddie’s or Anna’s).
Where to look Gertrude's bedroom, the front parlor and the stairs
Reported ghosts Gertrude Tredwell and other members of the Tredwell family
Visiting Museum open during restoration work next door; entrance at 35 East 4th Street
Tours Guided tours Wednesday to Sunday at noon ($20); self-guided visits 1 to 5 PM ($15)
Hours and season Wednesday to Sunday; candlelight ghost tours on select October nights
Tickets Candlelight ghost tours $45; private ghost tours for up to 20 people by arrangement
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; the museum runs its own paranormal research and ghost tours
This red-brick row house on East 4th Street was finished in 1832, bought by the merchant Seabury Tredwell in 1835 and lived in by his family for almost a century. His youngest daughter Gertrude was born here in 1840 and died here in 1933, aged 93. The house opened as a museum in 1936 with the family’s furniture and belongings still inside, and it is a National Historic Landmark.
The museum says staff, volunteers, visitors, neighbors and passersby have reported sounds, sightings and smells since the 1930s, and that at least eight people died in the house. Most of it is blamed on Gertrude. The New York Times has called it Manhattan’s most haunted house, and its October candlelight ghost tours sell out.
What investigators report
Investigators have run EVP sessions with audio recorders and tri-field meters, starting in the upstairs servants’ quarters and asking whether the Tredwells were good people to work for. One team reported thumps and meter squawks while talking about family life in 1855.
Visit on a tourGhost toursOvernight investigationsHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 3830 McMahon Road, Hinsdale, NY 14743
Where to look The upstairs bedrooms, the pond and the woods
Reported ghosts A woman in white by the pond, a child named Eric, chanting from the woods
Visiting Privately owned research house; day tours, ghost tours and overnight investigations by booking
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts, 8 PM to 2 AM; the owner also offers private overnights
This small white farmhouse in the hills of Cattaraugus County was built in 1853. It became famous in the early 1970s, when the Dandy family moved in and reported lights switching on and off, objects flying, swarms of flies and chanting from the woods. A priest from nearby St. Bonaventure performed an exorcism that did not help, and the family left in 1974. Clara Dandy later told the story in Echoes of a Haunting.
Paranormal investigator Dan Klaes bought the house in 2015 and runs it as a research site. It has been on A Haunting, America’s Most Terrifying Places and Paranormal Lockdown. The most reported ghost is a woman in a long wet dress seen by the pond. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Trigger objects get strong reactions here. In Mary’s room something tried to pull the team’s robot toy under the bed, and a playful boy spirit who gave the name Kevin rolled the cat ball and moved the robot toward the group. Shadow people have also been seen in the kitchen.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of our Hinsdale nights, and bring warm layers: the house sits alone in the woods.
Visit on a tourGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 46 Canada Street, Lake George, NY 12845
Where to look The powder magazine, the barracks and the casemates
Reported ghosts The Limper, soldiers' voices, footsteps
Visiting Museum open seasonally; ghost tours late May to late October
Tours Museum’s own Haunted History Ghost Tours on select dates
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts, 8 PM to 2 AM; the museum also runs its own hands-on paranormal investigations and group investigations by appointment
Sir William Johnson had this timber fort built in 1755 at the southern tip of Lake George. In August 1757 the French general Montcalm besieged it for six days; Lieutenant Colonel George Monro surrendered on terms, but French-allied warriors attacked the column leaving under parole, an event James Fenimore Cooper made famous in The Last of the Mohicans. The French burned the fort, and the site lay empty for about 200 years until a replica was built in the 1950s.
Guides tell of a ghost they call The Limper thumping across the bastions, the Slammer who shuts doors, a whisper of “hurry up” and a voice that warns visitors away from the powder magazine. Ghost Hunters investigated here in 2010, and the fort is on New York’s Haunted History Trail. Haunted Rooms runs after-dark ghost hunts here.
What investigators report
On the Ghost Hunters visit, investigators recorded heavy footsteps above the gift shop area where no one could be standing, heard a cough in the colonel’s office, and caught a male voice on tape.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Visiting Herkimer County Historical Society buildings; open for events and by arrangement
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts in the jail and the Suiter House, 8 PM to 2 AM
Herkimer’s Four Corners is a cluster of county landmarks in the Mohawk Valley. The stone jail went up in the 1830s after inmates set a fire that destroyed the old jail and the courthouse, and it held prisoners until 1977. Chester Gillette was held here during his 1906 trial for the drowning of Grace Brown at Big Moose Lake, and Roxalana Druse, hanged here in 1887 for murdering her husband, was the last woman hanged in New York.
Across Main Street, the 1884 Suiter House was the office of Dr. A. Walter Suiter, who testified at the Gillette trial. Visitors and investigators describe shadowy figures, voices and noises in the halls, and Druse’s rocking chair is among the artifacts said to be part of the story. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts in both buildings.
What our team has found
Estes sessions in Dr. Suiter’s mansion are consistently strong, keeping conversations going and once saying a guest’s name, and EMF meters and dowsing rods respond there too. The jail is often the busier building: teams have seen shadow people, heard bars rattling and voices, set off tripwires and held a long Estes conversation in the deputies’ office.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Read up on the Gillette trial before you come; the courthouse where it was held stands at the same crossroads.
Visit on a tourGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 132 and 140 Market Street, Palmyra, NY 14522
Where to look Sibyl Phelps's upstairs rooms, the frozen store and the hotel basement
Reported ghosts Sibyl Phelps, children's laughter
Visiting Museums open year-round with seasonal hours
Tours Daytime ghost tours, 2 to 4 PM during open hours
Hours and season Summer Tuesday to Saturday; winter Tuesday to Thursday
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts, 7 PM to 1 AM; private investigations through the museum
The W.M. Phelps General Store on the old Erie Canal town’s Market Street was built in 1826 and bought by the Phelps family in 1868. The store closed in 1940, but the family kept living upstairs without electricity or plumbing until the last of them, Sibyl Phelps, died in 1976, leaving the shop almost untouched. Down the street, the 1826 St. James Hotel and Rifenberg’s Saloon was moved in 1976 to a lot where, in December 1964, a house fire killed Anna Breeden and her six children.
Historic Palmyra calls itself one of the most haunted places in the Finger Lakes. Sibyl, a music graduate drawn to fortune-telling and Spiritualism, is the ghost staff name most: one says her figure told him “Don’t touch my stuff.” Staff and visitors also describe a child’s touch, opening cabinets and footsteps. The museums run daytime ghost tours, and Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
The Estes method gets the best responses in the hotel, including one session that talked about the fire, and a curtain rod fell right after a team leader asked if something had been moved. In the Phelps house guests have played hide and seek with dowsing rods with a spirit called Holly, and in the general store a light turned red on command.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Take the museum’s daytime ghost tour, then book our night investigation to see the store after dark.
Open to the publicGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 362 South Salina Street, Syracuse, NY 13202
Where to look The balcony and the backstage areas
Reported ghosts Clarissa, a stagehand called Oscar
Visiting Working theater; guided tours by reservation
Ghost hunting Group investigations by appointment
Thomas Lamb designed this ornate movie palace on South Salina Street, and it opened as Loew’s State Theatre on February 18, 1928. When it faced demolition in the 1970s, a citizens’ group saved it, and it is on the National Register. It is still a working theater with 2,900 seats and is on New York’s Haunted History Trail.
Its best-known ghost is Clarissa, said to be a young actress who fell for a stagehand named Oscar. In the story he was electrocuted at the lighting board and she died soon after, in a fall from the balcony or a dressing room accident, depending on who tells it. She is described as a pale figure in a white dress. The Onondaga Historical Association says there is no proof behind the tale. The theater offers tours and group investigations by appointment.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a group tour by reservation and ask to see the balcony.
Where to look The front stairs, Sally Townsend's West Room and the servants' entrance
Reported ghosts Robert Townsend, Sally Townsend, a rider on a white horse, an Irish servant
Visiting House museum
Tours Guided tours Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 1 and 3 PM; self-guided visits other afternoons
Hours and season Tuesday to Sunday, 1 to 5 PM
Ghost hunting No ghost hunts; occasional spirit-themed evening events
Samuel Townsend bought this house in 1738, and his son Robert became “Culper Jr.”, one of George Washington’s most important spies in the Revolution. British officers were quartered here during the war, including John Simcoe, who sent Sally Townsend what the museum calls the first recorded Valentine in America, and Major John Andre is said to have visited shortly before his capture.
The house has a long list of reported ghosts: a figure on the front stairs that a family member identified as Robert Townsend, the swish of petticoats, a ghostly white horse and rider some link to Andre, a cold West Room where Sally lived until her death at 82, and a young Irish servant seen at the back door in 1999. Visitors also report smells of pipe tobacco, apple pie and roses.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go on a guided tour day and ask about the museum’s Historic Spirits evenings in the fall.
Visit on a tourOvernight investigationsHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 4049 Root Road, Gasport, NY 14067
Where to look The basement, the Green Room and the Gold Room
Reported ghosts A man in the cellar, a laughing lady, a tall shadow on the stairs
Visiting Private home and B&B; visits only on booked events
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts and overnight VIP nights in the most active rooms
This farmhouse in Niagara County’s fruit country belonged by the 1860s to Curtis Root. In 1889 Root was crushed when his racehorse reared at a passing train; he died weeks later in the room now called the Green Room. His wife Melissa died here in 1901 and a young son before that, and the Roszman family who followed lived here from 1923 to 1999.
The owners and visitors describe a man in the cellar who calls for help, a laughing lady upstairs and a tall shadow at the top of the stairs. The house has appeared on Kindred Spirits and is on New York’s Haunted History Trail. It is the owners’ home, so ghost hunts cover the most active rooms. Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Dowsing rods have drawn responses in every room, and Estes in the pool room area has come with cold spots and cat balls going off. The children’s room is a focus: its door has opened by itself every time it was closed, and its curtain was seen pulling back during an Ovilus session outside. Cups strung on ropes have also been moved repeatedly.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: See our event page for the next dates; the owners are on hand to share the house’s history.
Address 1 East Congress Street, Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Where to look The gaming rooms and the dining room upstairs
Reported ghosts A woman in Victorian dress, cigar smoke, unseen hands
Visiting History museum in Congress Park
Tours Staff-led ghost tours Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 AM in July and August
Hours and season Wednesday to Sunday, 10 AM to 4 PM
Ghost hunting Occasional fundraisers include a live investigation
Former boxing champion John Morrissey opened the Saratoga Club House here in 1870. Richard Canfield bought it in 1894, added the grand dining room in 1902 and ran the most famous casino in America until reformers ended gambling in 1907. The city bought it in 1911, and it now houses the Saratoga Springs History Museum.
Museum staff say paranormal events grew more frequent after an exhibition of antique clothing worn by prominent local families. Ghost Hunters investigated in 2010, and visitors describe having their hair pulled, cigar smoke and a woman in Victorian dress. Staff lead their own summer ghost tours.
What investigators report
A televised investigation reports most of the activity on the third floor, including intermittent EMF readings and investigators feeling their hair pulled or being touched while recording.
Open to the publicGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 7171 East Lake Road (Route 18), Appleton, NY 14008
Where to look The doorway where Lewis Merritt died and the tasting rooms
Reported ghosts A Victorian boy, the Merritt family, a dog called Duke
Visiting Winery tasting room
Hours and season Monday to Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM, Sunday noon to 6 PM
Tickets Tastings $7, or $10 with a keepsake glass
Ghost hunting Pre-scheduled ghost hunts and medium events
Shubal Scudder Merritt bought this land near the Lake Ontario shore in 1834 and built the brick house in 1854. His wife died here in 1864 and his son Lewis in 1865; the Haunted History Trail says Shubal accidentally shot him. It was later a peach farm called Appleton Hall and, from 1933 to 1993, a camp and retreat of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Since 2004 it has been a winery.
Staff tell the ghost stories during tastings: a Victorian boy seen standing in the doorway where Lewis died, a voice asking “Who’s in my house?”, lights that switch on and bottles that fall from shelves. Others name Shubal, his daughter Sophia and Duke, a dog kept by the Sisters, among the spirits. The winery hosts pre-booked ghost hunts and psychic teas.
Haunted Rooms tip: Do a tasting and ask the staff to tell you about Lewis.
Address Ellis Island, New York Harbor (ferries from Battery Park)
Where to look The unrestored hospital wards on the south side
Reported ghosts Children's voices, crying, doors moving in the hospital
Visiting Museum open daily; hospital by guided hard hat tour only
Tours 90-minute hard hat tours of the hospital, daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas
Tickets Hard hat tour $55, plus the ferry ticket
Ghost hunting None; tours only
About 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. Those found to be ill were treated in a 29-building hospital complex on the island’s south side, opened from 1902, where tuberculosis, measles, scarlet fever and trachoma were common; roughly 4,000 people died there and about 350 babies were born. The main building reopened as a museum in 1990, but the hospital was left to decay.
Stories of children’s voices, crying and doors opening in the empty wards are passed on by visitors, though we found no solid published account behind them. Save Ellis Island runs hard hat tours through the unrestored hospital, the only way to see it, and in October has added shorter storytelling tours of the contagious disease wards and morgue.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a Save Ellis Island hard hat tour (minimum age 10) and take the first ferry from Battery Park.
Where to look The fifth floor, the hallways and stairwell, the bar
Reported ghosts Mary, the Titanic widow; Nancy Spungen; Dylan Thomas
Visiting A working hotel; stay the night to experience it
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Hotel Chelsea was built in 1883 and 1884 as one of New York’s first co-op apartment houses and became a hotel in 1905. Its red brick front with black iron balconies is a New York City landmark, and its guest book reads like a cultural history: Mark Twain, Dylan Thomas, Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith all lived here. After a long renovation that began in 2011, it reopened to overnight guests in 2022.
The Chelsea’s ghost stories follow its residents. Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death in Room 100 in 1978, and guests say she still lingers. Dylan Thomas, who collapsed at the hotel in 1953 and died days later in hospital, is said to haunt the bar. The most told story is of Mary, said to have hanged herself on the fifth floor after her husband died on the Titanic. Actor Michael Imperioli described seeing a crying woman there on Celebrity Ghost Stories in 2010.
Haunted Rooms tip: Ask for a room on the fifth floor, Mary’s floor, and walk the famous stairwell late at night.
Address Fort Niagara State Park, Youngstown, NY 14174
Where to look The French Castle and the grounds
Reported ghosts A headless French soldier
Visiting State historic site museum
Hours and season Daily 10 AM to 4 PM most of the year (5 PM in July and August); fewer days from mid-October to March
Tickets Adults $17; children 6 to 12 $12
Ghost hunting None advertised
The stone “French Castle” was built in 1726 at the mouth of the Niagara River, and the fort around it was expanded in 1755. The British took it after a 19-day siege in July 1759, the United States gained it in 1796, and the British captured it again on the night of December 19, 1813. The army stayed until 1963, and it is now a state historic site with reenactments and events.
Its best-known ghost is a headless French soldier. In the usual telling two officers fought over a woman, one beheaded the other, and the body went down the well in the French Castle. The headless figure is said to sit by the well on full-moon nights or roam the halls looking for his head. It is a legend with no record behind it.
What investigators report
Ghost hunt organizers say the chapel is a focus, with reports of heavy benches heard dragging and, during one investigation, a whisper calling a guest by name that about 20 people heard. Hunts also cover the 1726 French Castle, its tunnels and the castle well.
Where to look The concourse and the empty upper floors of the tower
Reported ghosts Footsteps, voices, figures in the concourse
Visiting Interior closed during a multi-year restoration; outdoor events and a self-guided outdoor audio tour
Ghost hunting None at present
The New York Central opened this 17-story Art Deco terminal on June 22, 1929. Trains ran until October 28, 1979, when Amtrak moved out, and the building was stripped and left to decay. A nonprofit restoration group now owns the main building and has run tours and events since 2003.
TAPS investigated here for Ghost Hunters in 2008, returned for Ghost Hunters Academy, and Syfy broadcast a live five-hour Halloween night special from the terminal on October 31, 2010. The concourse is closed during a multi-year restoration, but events continue outside and a self-guided outdoor audio tour is available.
What investigators report
The Ghost Hunters team investigated with thermal imaging and audio recorders and report voices stating names, while visitors describe flashlights flickering on and off and odd lights in photos of the main hall near the old restaurant.
Reported ghosts Charles B. Rosna, the murdered peddler
Visiting Memorial park; the enclosure by appointment with the caretaker
Tickets Free, donations welcome
Ghost hunting None
On March 31, 1848, Kate and Maggie Fox challenged the knocking in their family’s Hydesville cottage and the raps answered. The “spirit” was said to be a murdered peddler buried in the cellar. The sisters became famous mediums, and the night is counted as the birth of Modern Spiritualism. In 1888 Maggie publicly confessed it was a hoax done by cracking her toe joints, then took it back a year later.
Bones reported in the cellar walls in 1904 turned out to be random fragments, at least partly animal. The cottage was sold to Spiritualists and moved to Lily Dale in 1916, where it later burned; its foundation survives here in a small memorial park, and some visitors say the rappings can still be heard. Visits are free, through the caretaker.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call the caretaker ahead to see the enclosure, then continue to Lily Dale, the Spiritualist community the sisters inspired.
Address 110 Sagamore Road, Bolton Landing, NY 12814
Where to look The former Trillium dining room and its elevator, the old Mr. Brown's dining room, the golf course near the Club Grill, second-floor rooms
Reported ghosts A Victorian couple at dinner; a tall woman in white; Walter, the portly man in the elevator; a boy on the golf course
Visiting A working hotel; stay the night to experience it
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
The Sagamore stands on Green Island in Lake George, joined to Bolton Landing by a causeway. The first hotel opened in 1883, burned in 1893 and again in 1914, and the white clapboard hotel you see today opened on July 1, 1930. It closed in 1981, was restored by developer Norman Wolgin in the 1980s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now part of the Opal Collection.
Historic Hotels of America publishes the Sagamore’s ghost stories itself. A couple from the 1880s is seen coming down from the second floor to the old Trillium restaurant, a woman in a white gown once walked through a prep cook, and staff call a portly man in a brown three-piece suit Walter after he appeared in the Trillium elevator. Golfers tell of a boy from the 1950s who chased lost balls and was killed by a car.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book a room in the historic main hotel rather than the lakeside lodges, and play a round on the Donald Ross course at dusk.
Where to look The front lawn facing Seneca Lake, the bar, the main staircase, the old casino room
Reported ghosts Isabella, the opera singer in white; Dick O'Brien, the prankster caretaker
Visiting A working hotel; stay the night to experience it
Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; stay the night instead
Belhurst Castle is a red sandstone Romanesque mansion on the west shore of Seneca Lake, built between 1885 and 1889 for Carrie Young Harron, who bought the estate the day she first saw it. Fifty men worked on it for four years. In the 1930s Cornelius “Red” Dwyer ran it as a speakeasy and gambling casino, and today it is a hotel with chambers in the castle, two restaurants, a spa and its own winery.
Its best-known ghost is Isabella, an opera singer in white said to have died when a secret tunnel to the lake collapsed as she fled with her lover. Guests report her on the lawn at night. The other regular is Dick O’Brien, a caretaker who died in 1972 and gets the blame for flying glasses in the bar, showers switching on and off and tablecloths tied to chandeliers.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book one of the Chambers in the Castle rather than the newer Vinifera Inn if you want to sleep in the building the stories come from.
Address Nissequogue River State Park, Kings Park, NY 11754
Where to look Building 93 seen from the park roads
Reported ghosts Screams, faces at windows, a woman at a nearby bar
Visiting State park grounds open; all abandoned buildings are off-limits and patrolled
Hours and season Park grounds sunrise to sunset, year round
Ghost hunting Not allowed: entering the buildings is trespassing
Kings County opened an asylum farm here in 1885, and the state hospital grew into a small city that held 9,303 patients at its peak in 1954. Its landmark is Building 93, a 13-story WPA tower finished in 1939. The hospital closed in 1996, and about 90 percent of the campus is now Nissequogue River State Park; many buildings were demolished between 2012 and 2017.
It has one of Long Island’s strongest haunted reputations, with stories of screams, figures in the windows and doors that move on their own, plus a female apparition said to visit a bar just outside the grounds. Entering the abandoned buildings is illegal and the State Park Police patrol, so see Building 93 from the park roads and trails.
Haunted Rooms tip: Walk or bike the park’s trails by day and keep out of the buildings.
Where to look The old dormitories, the infirmary and the school building
Reported ghosts A teenage inmate, prisoners from the infirmary
Visiting Closed prison campus; access only on organized events
Ghost hunting Haunted Rooms ghost hunts, 8 PM to 2 AM
This campus in Warwick opened in 1932 as the New York State Training School for Boys, a reformatory for about 500 boys, most aged 13 to 15. The state turned it into Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, a medium-security men’s prison, in 1977 and closed it on October 1, 2011. The town took over the land in 2014; much of it is now parkland and a business park, and the old buildings stand empty.
Our team and guests describe footsteps, voices and shadow figures in the empty halls. The best-known story is of 15-year-old Charles McBride, whose death in 1962 is said to have been a suicide; visitors say he still haunts the dormitories. Others tell of men who spent their last days in the infirmary during the AIDS crisis. These are stories, not documented history. Access is only on organized events, and Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts here.
What our team has found
Activity here usually builds after midnight. The chapel and dining hall are the hot spots, with Estes sessions where spirits have said a guest’s name, cat balls going off on command and people reporting touches, while the cottages bring EVPs, cat ball and EMF activity and intelligent spirit box replies. On one night about a dozen tiles came off the dining hall wall.
From Haunted Rooms event reports
Haunted Rooms tip: Bring a good flashlight and sturdy shoes; the campus is large and unlit.
Visiting State records building; exterior view only
Ghost hunting Not allowed
The New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica opened on January 16, 1843, one of the first state-run mental hospitals in the country. Captain William Clarke designed its Greek Revival Old Main, with a portico of six fluted limestone columns 48 feet tall. Superintendent Amariah Brigham introduced the “Utica crib”, a lidded bed that locked a patient inside, used until all were removed in 1887.
The last patients left in 1977, and Old Main, a National Historic Landmark since 1989, now holds records for the state Office of Mental Health on the working Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center campus. Ghost stories of faces at the windows and screams from empty wards come from local lore; we found no published accounts behind them. The building is not open to visitors.
Haunted Rooms tip: See the colonnade from Court Street; the grounds are part of a working state campus, so do not wander.
Where to look The stairwells and the front of the house
Reported ghosts Mark Twain in a white suit, a lady in white, a gray cat
Visiting Private residence: see it from the street only
Ghost hunting None; it is private housing. Village ghost walks often pass by
This Greek Revival brownstone in Greenwich Village went up in the late 1850s and was split into ten apartments in 1937. Mark Twain lived here in 1900 and 1901. Actress Jan Bryant Bartell, who lived in its top-floor apartment, wrote in her memoir Spindrift of a “monstrous moving shadow.” In November 1987 six-year-old Lisa Steinberg was fatally beaten in an apartment here, a case that shocked the city.
Its nickname comes from the claim that 22 people died in the house. Legend adds Twain himself in his white suit on the stairs, a lady in white and a gray cat. None of it is documented beyond these accounts, and the building is private housing today.
Haunted Rooms tip: See it from the sidewalk on a Village walk, and remember that people live here.
Address Fire Island National Seashore, near Robert Moses State Park Field 5, NY
Where to look The tower stairs and the keeper's quarters
Reported ghosts A grieving keeper, his daughter, shipwreck victims
Visiting Museum and tower open to visitors
Hours and season Museum daily 10 AM to 4 PM; tower climbs on weekends
Ghost hunting Paranormal investigators visited in 2022; no public ghost hunts
The present 168-foot tower was lit in 1858, replacing an 1826 lighthouse. The Coast Guard shut it down in 1974, and it returned to service in 1986. The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society runs it today.
Local legend says a 19th-century keeper’s daughter fell ill one winter and died before a doctor could reach her, and that the grieving keeper hanged himself in the tower. Visitors tell of a pale figure, footsteps on the stairs and doors opening and closing. Shipwreck victims and the writer Margaret Fuller, drowned nearby in 1850, are named in other stories. No record confirms the keeper tale.
What investigators report
Investigators working in darkness with a spirit box, EMF detectors and the EchoVox app reported a voice in the basement they believe gave the name of author Margaret Fuller, plus a night-vision figure in the gift shop.
Where to look The headless angel and the receiving tomb
Reported ghosts A bleeding angel statue, figures among the graves
Visiting Closed to the public: entry only with Town of Brunswick permission or on the annual historical society walk around Halloween
Ghost hunting None; trespassing is not allowed
Troy businessmen incorporated Forest Park in 1897 as a grand garden cemetery east of the city, laid out by Garnet Baltimore, the first Black graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; some graves date to 1856. The company went bankrupt in 1914, a successor failed, and the grounds went unattended and overgrown until the Town of Brunswick took control. Vandals have toppled stones and beheaded statues.
It is called the Gateway to Hell, but the legends are easily picked apart: the headless angel that “bleeds” is stained by a moss that turns red when rubbed in humid weather, the mausoleum said to hide empty coffins was a winter receiving tomb, and the town historian has never found the LIFE magazine list it supposedly appeared on. The cemetery is closed to the public; the only legal way in is with town permission or the historical society’s annual Halloween-season walk.
Haunted Rooms tip: Go by day, park on Pinewoods Avenue, and treat it as the cemetery it still is.
These places appear in older lists of haunted spots. We keep them here so you know the facts before you go, but you cannot (or should not) visit them.
The Amityville Horror house, Amityville
This Long Island house was the scene of the 1974 DeFeo family murders. The Lutz family who moved in next left after 28 days, saying it was haunted; their story became a book and films and has long been accused of being a hoax. It is a private home.
Letchworth Village, Thiells
This state institution for people with developmental disabilities opened in 1911 and closed in 1996. Most buildings are derelict, many vandalized and some burned, and the town is weighing redevelopment. Ghost Adventures filmed here in 2011. Its cemetery of numbered steel markers, for residents who died between 1914 and 1967, is a place for remembrance rather than ghost hunting.
Haunted New York by region
Haunted places in NYC: the Merchant’s House, Grand Central, the Dakota and Broadway’s theaters
Changed from our older guide: Letchworth Village and the Amityville house are not open to visitors, so they now sit in the off-limits section. Forest Park Cemetery’s bleeding angel is reported to be stained by moss that turns red when rubbed. We dropped Gurnsey Hollow in Frewsburg because we found no reliable source for its legend. New in this update: our seven ghost hunt venues, the Merchant’s House, Raynham Hall, Kings Park, the Fire Island Lighthouse, Old Fort Niagara, Buffalo Central Terminal, the Fox sisters’ Hydesville and three haunted hotels.
Visited one of these places? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from visitors and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your visit. We read every story before it’s published.
Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany and the Hinsdale House in Cattaraugus County are the most famous upstate; in New York City, the Merchant’s House Museum and the Morris-Jumel Mansion have the strongest stories.
Where can I go ghost hunting in New York?
Haunted Rooms runs ghost hunts at Fort William Henry, the Historic Four Corners in Herkimer, Historic Palmyra, the Hinsdale House, Graestone Manor, Mid-Orange Correctional and the Shanley Hotel. Rolling Hills Asylum and several museums on New York’s Haunted History Trail also run their own.
Can you visit the Amityville Horror house?
No. It is a private home on Ocean Avenue in Amityville; please do not trespass.
Is Letchworth Village open to visitors?
No. Most of its buildings are derelict and vandalized, and some have been destroyed by arson. Its cemetery of numbered markers is in Stony Point, about a mile from the campus.
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story. Each place shows how many independent sources we checked it against; our own Haunted Rooms pages are not counted.
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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 place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
