When October comes around in Upstate New York, our thoughts turn to cider donuts, apple pies, hayrides, Halloween and spooky places. And our region has plenty of spooky places for you to explore. Here are 11 Upstate New York places that are spooky, haunted or creepy. All great places to visit to get your “chill” on — if you dare.
Note: During this time of Covid-19, you are advised to check all websites before visiting. Some places are open, some hours may change and some places are closed now, but hope to open soon.
Rolling Hills Asylum in East Bethany.
Rolling Hills Asylum (East Bethany; Genesee County): Originally called “The Genesee County Poor Farm” or “The Old County Home,” the nearly 200-year-old asylum in East Bethany housed orphans, physically disabled people, the elderly, criminals, and convicts. The original institution was a working farm of 200 acres where (as per their website) “drunkards, paupers, lunatics, indigent children” and others toiled away in the fields and tended the livestock and the gardens. Because the asylum housed its own workers, it was run efficiently for about $1.00 per inmate (which is what they were referred to as).
Group tours of the site are available, and guests can see every room, including the kitchen and children’s bedrooms. Because the asylum was home to numerous families, some of the original strollers and children’s toys remain the building today. The asylum closed on July 20, 1965.
Ghost tours are available during Halloween as well as personal paranormal events. All tours (especially the flashlight tours) are fascinating but are restricted to those 18 years of age and older.
See photos inside Rolling Hills Asylum
A plaque near Big Moose Lake commemorates the murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette.
Glenmore Hotel (Big Moose Lake; Hamilton County): One of the most infamous off-the-beaten-path destinations in the Adirondacks. It was here that the (then) “crime of the century” took place on July 11, 1906. A young Upstate New York couple, Grace Brown (South Otselic) and Chester Gillette (Cortland) went for a canoe ride on the lake here. Only Gillette returned.
Accused of killing his lover, Gillette was arrested and brought to trial in Herkimer County. With all the passions, drama and sensationalism that could be served up, the nation breathlessly followed the trial in the newspapers from open to close. It was a gripping event. Gillette claimed Brown committed suicide. The jury was not convinced. Chester Gillette was found guilty of murder, sentenced to death and was executed in the electric chair on March 30, 1908.
The murder case has been the subject of several fiction and non-fiction accounts including several full-blown Hollywood movies and a famous novel, An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser. Time magazine called Dreiser’s 1925 book “one of the top 100 American novels of the 20th-century”.
This lakeside locale draws many history lovers and curiosity seekers every year. There is a historical marker located where the couple shoved off for their fateful canoe ride. It is an eerie, sad, and totally fascinating place.
Rapids Theatre
Rapids Theatre (Niagara Falls; Niagara County): The theater is one of Niagara Falls' venerable entertainment venues. First opened in 1921 as the Bellevue Theater, it was a showcase for early films, concerts, and touring vaudeville acts (including a very young Three Stooges).
Long known as one of New York’s most haunted places, it gained recognition after an appearance on Sy Fy’s “Ghost Hunters” in 2011. While shooting the show, producers said they heard a woman’s voice in the air ducts and the sound of a bottle being kicked and saw a shadowy figure walking across the stage and near the bar.
Small private “ghost hunts” are available to the public. Led by a paranormal expert, your group will go behind the scenes seeking spirits in the theatre’s old guest green room, the front and rear tunnels, the main floor, the large performing stage and the VIP balcony. Although expensive, these ghost hunts are quite lengthy and are among the best in Upstate.
Split Elm Cemetery
Split Elm Grave (Woodstock Cemetery; Ulster County): Catherine Van Debogart was a pretty 18-year old married to a much older man. Catherine was said to have had a pleasant and cheery personality and was liked by all who knew her. Her husband, much older, was a cantankerous man with a wild temper and a penchant for alcohol. On a dark and stormy night, August 2, 1821, John staggered home from a local pub inebriated and in a foul mood.
He entered the house to find Catherine gone. He assumed she was out having a rendezvous with a secret lover. The old man pulled a large elm branch off a tree in the yard and waited for her to come home.
When young Catherine, who was eight months pregnant with their first child, arrived home from an innocent visit with a neighbor, John flew into a rage and beat her severely with the branch. As Catherine lay sprawled on the floor gasping for breath and moaning in pain, John realized what he had done and picked her up and carried her to the bedroom upstairs.
A doctor was called, and he told John his bride would not live until morning. John said his wife had been injured in a fall. Later, left alone with his remorse, he leaned over to kiss his young wife. She opened her eyes and whispered to him that she forgave him. But her last request was that she be buried with the elm tree branch so that when he visited her in the cemetery, he would always remember what he had done to her.
By morning, Catherine and the baby were both dead. John buried them, and the elm tree branch, in the old rural cemetery in Woodstock.
Day after day, month after month the tortured old man trudged to the cemetery to visit his wife. One day he noticed a tree sprig crawling up the back of her gravestone. Despite ripping it out, it returned, stronger and taller with each visit. Maddened by the thought Catherine was reaching out to him from the grave, John took to his old habits of drinking and began making the visits more infrequently. On his last visit to the grave, a year later, he noticed that the elm tree branch had actually severed the gravestone in two! It is said this caused the old man to go mad.
True? Not true? No one is sure, but what is sure is that if you visit the Woodstock Rural Cemetery today you will see Catherine’s grave in the center, her stone marker clearly still split in half. Her tombstone, though old and faint, reads: “In memory of Catherine Van Debogart, wife of John Van Debogart. And her infant. Died August 2, 1821. Aged 18 years, 2 months and 13 days.”
Woodstock Cemetery is located on Rock City Road walking distance from the village business district.
Spook Hill (Middlesex; Yates County): There are several places in Upstate New York like this famous “gravity hill” or “mystery spot.” Spook Hill is one of the better known. Like here, these places mystify the visitor by appearing to have a parked car, in neutral, slowly roll back up a hill defying logic and reason. They are all fun, and almost all are inconsistent. Many say that Spook Hill offers one of the most reliable and dramatic examples of this phenomenon. Sometimes you will find two or more cars waiting to position themselves at Newell Road and the intersection of Spike Road to experience the thrill of this mystery.
Spanky's Diner in Massena N.Y.
Spanky’s Diner (Massena; St. Lawrence County): A haunted diner! Spanky’s is located near a cemetery that is reported to be haunted. Apparently, some of those spirits get a little hungry at times because owners, workers and patrons of the restaurant swear that even when they are alone in the establishment, well, they are not alone. The presence of strangers can be felt, windows close by themselves, knobs and buttons on appliances magically turn on and off, and noises, mostly human, can be heard when nobody is around. Did one customer have her shoes tied together under the table while she was dining? That’s what they say. Chills are a side dish at this popular Northern New York eatery.
Canfield Casino (Saratoga Springs; Saratoga County): Located in a gorgeous city park in the center of town, the Canfield Casino has been the site of lavish galas, extravagant parties, and storied weddings. This exquisite venue has been the crowning jewel of Saratoga society since it first opened in the late 1800s as the Saratoga Club. In fact, its restaurant created and named the popular menu item, the club sandwich. Rumors of hauntings and paranormal activity at the casino have been explored for generations.
Most ghost hunters believe the spirits encountered here are those who gambled and lost during the casino’s heyday over a century ago (it is not an operating casino today). In 2010, the popular SyFy’s Ghost Hunters show came to see what the fuss was all about. The hunters found strong paranormal activity on the third floor. An intermittent electromagnetic field was said to be a result of ghost activity. A museum here now tells of the glory days of this famous Saratoga landmark as well as its ghostly connections. Visitors can also book a ghost tour at the museum.
Bull’s Head Inn (Cobleskill; Schoharie County): One wonders what really got Mrs. Steacy so upset? Whatever it was, her ghost roams and rambles around this historic tavern, disrupting table service, slamming doors, and squeaking out eerie sounds. The fact that there really was a Mrs. John Steacy who over a century ago was a member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union might have something to do with it. At least she is not using an axe to chop up the bar like the Union’s most famous figure, Carrie Nation.
The Bull’s Head Inn is Cobleskill’s oldest building, with the tavern established in 1802.
Lily Dale Assembly (Lily Dale; Chautauqua County): This is one of Upstate’s most fascinating communities. Lily Dale is basically a cluster of dozens of small cottages and homes from which fortunes are told, palms are read, Tarot cards are examined, and futures are seen. More than 50 registered mediums are in the community during the peak summer months. Lily Dale has been called both “The Most Spiritual Place in New York” as well as “The Most Haunted Place in New York.” With a permanent population of under 300, each summer tens of thousands come here to commiserate with the spirits. The assembly was formed in 1879 as a commune for spiritualists and free-thinkers. A large hotel, the Maplewood, was built in the 1880s and is in the center of the community. It is said to be the most haunted place at Lily Dale, with stories being told of many spirits of guests from over the last 150 years still enjoying their stay there.
The New York State Capitol Building, completed in 1899, sits at the edge of Empire State Plaza. The most expensive building of its time, it combines a number of architectural styles, including classical Romanesque on the bottom floor, Renaissance classical on the upper floors and a Victorian-modified Romanesque fourth floor and roof; all changes that had to be made during construction due to increasing budget issues. It is open Monday through Friday until 7 p.m. Photos by Stefani Reynolds for NYup.com SYRSpecial to NYup.com
New York State Capitol (Albany; Albany County): Our state’s capital building is beautiful and graceful, elegant, and imposing and, well, just a little bit creepy.
Inside the dark confines of this sandstone, granite, and marble structure, are warrens, cubbyholes, secret rooms and one very grand and very expensive staircase. The Million Dollar Staircase is perhaps the building’s most famous feature. There are dozens of faces carved into the walls of the interior. Some are the visages of famous men from history, some are images of the stonecutters themselves and some just look positively evil. At night it is said you can hear the lone watchman jingling his keys and trying the locks on all the doors. The watchman was Samuel Abbott, a real-life employee of the building who died in a fire that almost leveled it on March 29, 1911. He was the lone victim of the terrible conflagration. Some say he is still loyally making the rounds, in spirit only.
Ghost tours can be arranged.
Bundy House (Binghamton; Broome County): This grand mansion was bult for Harlow and Julia Bundy in 1892. Bundy was one of Binghamton’s wealthiest and most important citizens. His Bundy Time Recording Company was the forerunner of IBM. After the Bundy family moved on, the house saw a myriad of other businesses, configurations and architectural changes take place. It finally went empty and sat deteriorating for years. Around 2000, great efforts were made to save this residence and turn it into a museum for the legendary original owner. Many unexplained happenings have been documented at this house over the years, and it is a regular destination for paranormal adventurers. Ghost tours may be arranged.
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