The Best of the Adirondacks’ Haunted Places
It’s the spooky season, and the Adirondack Mountains are home to myriad mysterious and eerie experiences for you to enjoy.
You may have read our recent article on ghosthunting in Lake George. But that’s just the start of the mystifying hi-jinx and otherworldly encounters you can experience in the Adirondacks.
Just in time for Halloween, ADK Taste brings you a trick-or-treat bag full of spooky spots to visit now or any time of the year.
Barkeater Chocolates’ eerie history in North Creek.
In 2013, Deb and Jim Morris converted a 19th-century home in North Creek into a chocolate factory for their rapidly expanding business, Barkeater Chocolates. However, strange things started happening after the remodel, and it wasn't the colorful Willy Wonka kind of weird.
The couple and Barkeater employees reported seeing doors swinging on their own. Then they heard mysterious footsteps and a steady banging. But the hustle and bustle of their growing business overshadowed any weird doings.
It wasn’t long before other phenomena demanded to be acknowledged: fluctuating temperatures, flickering lights, and muffled voices soon caught the attention of the Morrises, their staff and even visitors. Eventually, the activity reached a fevered pitch when chocolate actually started flying off the shelves.
The Morrisses decided to delve into the history of their property. They discovered that over the past 140 years, the property’s occupants had a storied history of natural and mysterious demises, various business ventures, heartbreaks, the tragic death of a young boy, and several scandals. There was also a missing person’s case that mystified residents for years.
Still doubtful? Be advised two different paranormal research teams visited the property and performed investigations. Both teams report experiencing spirit-world encounters using specialized equipment. More importantly, they each independently revealed information that significantly impacted what the Morrisses thought they knew about the property’s history.
To get the tasty details, visit Barkeater for one of their Haunted Chocolate Making Sessions. Hear all about the ghostly history of the property and learn to make chocolate while you’re there. Sounds like a sweet deal to us.
Fort Ticonderoga: a fortress of freaky occurrences on Lake Champlain.
As we’ve shared many times, Fort Ticonderoga has a rich history dating back to the mid-18th century. Over the years, many visitors report strange experiences and hauntings at the Fort, adding to its already fascinating allure.
Fort Ticonderoga
For many years, visitors claimed to have seen the spirit of a young Native American girl walking around the walls of the Fort. Allegedly, she jumped from one of the high walls and committed suicide in the 1750s rather than submit to the demands of a man she did not love.
Another often repeated tale is that of Nancy Coats, the mistress of General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. When Wayne left her for another woman, Coats is said to have committed suicide in Lake Champlain. Her spirit now haunts the Fort, floating along the pathways or waiting at the Fort’s gate. Some even report hearing her sobs at various places on the property.
Other witnesses recount seeing apparitions of soldiers in the upper windows of the barracks. Purportedly, the ghost of Sarah Pell (of the family that began restoring the Fort in the early 20th century) looks out over the King’s Garden from a window above the Fort’s Pavilion. There have also been claims that red glowing orbs float throughout several different rooms around the Fort.
There is even a complex trans-Atlantic story involving a Scottish soldier named Duncan Campbell, who died in battle at the Fort. Years before the battle, when Campbell was still living in Scotland, he gave shelter to a stranger who, unbeknownst to Campbell, had murdered his cousin.
As the legend goes, Campbell’s cousin’s ghost appeared and said he’d meet Campbell at a place called Ticonderoga. This strange event occurred before the Fort’s construction. It's an eerie death prediction, for sure.
Whether or not you believe in ghosts, visiting Fort Ticonderoga is an experience that will leave a lasting impression. With its storied past and eerie legends, this historic site is a must-see for anyone interested in the supernatural, American history or both.
More ghostly sites on Lake Champlain: the ruins of Fort Crown Point.
As long as you’re at Fort Ticonderoga, travel a few miles north to visit the windswept headlands known as Crown Point. This stunning setting overlooking the southern end of Lake Champlain has a long history as a strategic stronghold. Soldiers from three nations – French, British, and American – occupied Crown Point during different periods in Colonial and Revolutionary times.
Ruins of Fort Crown Point
The French built the first Fort at Crown Point, Fort Saint-Frédéric, in the 1730s. During the French and Indian Wars of the 1750s (part of the more significant global Seven Years Conflict), British troops laid siege to the Fort twice before French troops retreated in 1759, destroying the Fort as they departed.
The British built their Fort immediately after the French took leave, naming the new stronghold His Majesty's Fort of Crown Point. In 1774, a chimney fire ignited and spread throughout the Fort, burning for days and reducing much of the Fort to rubble. A small contingent of British troops salvaged, repaired and occupied the least damaged part of the Fort. However, a Patriot American militia in 1775 overtook the encampment. The Fort changed hands between the British and American forces several times throughout the Revolutionary War and was finally abandoned when that war ended.
Today, the ghostly ruins of two stone barracks remain, and the US Government designated the property a National Historic Landmark in 1968. The skeletal structures are missing stairways and roofs, and their visage evokes feelings of primordial unrest.
Over the years, tales of unusual and supernatural activity have swirled around the abandoned Fort. Allegedly, a bound and dripping Highlander who looks as if he was tortured appears periodically. Ghostly figures and phantom hoofbeats have been known to startle visitors. There have even been a few sea monster sightings (despite there being no “sea” nearby).
Given the amount of violence and bloodshed at this historic spot, it’s not surprising restless souls roam over the dramatic and striking landscape.
Historic Hotel Saranac in the Adirondack Tri-Lakes & High Peaks region: host to specters and spirits?
Every Halloween, the town of Saranac Lake hosts goblins, ghouls, spirits, and specters of all manners. But the plushly carpeted hallways of historic Hotel Saranac are said to host spirits all year round. In fact, USA Today’s Readers’ Choice Best Haunted Hotels ranks Hotel Saranac #3 in the nation.
Among the reported supernatural sightings is of a man in a top hat and a black tux with tails, who is believed to be the ghost of a former superintendent of schools at Saranac Lake High School (the hotel sits on the ground once occupied by the school). Visitors also report phantom singing on the sixth floor and the sounds of a cat scratching on the hotel’s third floor. Some have heard the sounds of a rustling skirt or footsteps behind them, only to turn around and discover nothing there.
During an extensive remodel of the hotel in 2015, a team of professional paranormal researchers stayed at the property for several nights and recorded disembodied voices, a shadowy figure in the hallway moving toward an open door that suddenly and inexplicably closed, sounds of people humming and singing, and the heavy feeling of a spirit presence.
Researchers were careful to note that the presence was not ominous or threatening. In their words, the presence was “just trying to be recognized.” And aren’t we all?
Lake Placid Palace Theatre’s ghostly feature show.
Lake Placid is known for many things, especially its history as host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games. National publications also rank the village as a top Halloween destination. The annual parade of Lil ADKers (and not so Lil’) is a sight to behold, as are the yearly town-wide festivities.
Historic Palace Theatre in Lake Placid
But, for ghost-hunters and fans of the phantasmagoric, the iconic Palace Theatre, a fixture in the heart of the village for nearly 100 years, is a spooky reason to visit the town any time of year.
Among the supernatural activities recorded or witnessed at the theatre are a glass mysteriously flying off a shelf, bodiless footsteps, and workers hammering when none were on site.
Town legend has it that it is the spirit of the theatre’s long-time, dearly departed contractor, George Bola. Hotel employees once held a séance and asked for a sign from George, and a nearby bathroom door opened inexplicably.
A creepy tale from the Central Adirondacks: The Rhinelander Estate on Lake Pleasant
Our final tale takes us to Lake Pleasant in the Central Adirondacks, close to Speculator, NY, and near Wells and Indian Lake.
The tale begins, though, in New York City. Philip Rhinelander, the son of one of the city’s oldest and wealthiest families, took possession of 300 acres of land near Pleasant Lake, given to him by his brother in 1815. He soon built an impressive estate on the land, including a mansion for his wife, Mary Colden Hoffman, a descendant from another prominent New York family. Her father, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, was a NY State Attorney General and later Superior Court Judge.
Historical marker in Lake Pleasant
Rhinelander’s motives for moving north were due to his excessive jealousy regarding his wife. A prominent member of New York society, Mary enjoyed a very active social life in Manhattan. Her possessive and controlling husband grew highly jealous of her friendships and attachments in New York City. Once the blueblood couple moved to Lake Pleasant, Philip kept Mary a virtual prisoner in the lavish mansion he built on the estate.
According to historical accounts, anyone who tried to befriend or get close to Mary would mysteriously disappear. Mary attempted to write letters to her family in New York City and entrusted them to Philip to mail. Unfortunately, she discovered he was setting them on fire instead of sending them, further isolating her.
At one point, desperate to contact the outside world, she befriended a traveling salesman who agreed to mail her letters. When Philip discovered this, the salesman disappeared, and there were rumors that he had been thrown down a well and was never seen again.
Just three years after moving north, Mary died in 1818. The town was filled with rumors that Philip wouldn’t allow a doctor to visit Mary while she was sick and that he may have poisoned her. Nevertheless, by all reports, Mary’s death was a devastating blow to Philip. He built a vault on the property to hold her remains for a year before he allowed them to be transported to Manhattan to be buried.
Philip remained on the estate for another five years, holding several local offices. In the summer of 1823, after being overcome with paralysis, Rhinelander left his property to return to New York City permanently.
Rhinelander Estate ruins
Over the ensuing years, Philip hired people to care for the property. Locals claimed that Mary, as well as several former servants, haunted the mansion. Then, almost 50 years after he left the property, the estate burned to the ground under suspicious circumstances.
Today, all that remains are the ruins of the Rhinelander Estate. They can be found via a long, winding drive down Elm Lake Road. The ruins lie past where the road turns to dirt; you’ll have to get out of your car and enter the woods to see a few rock walls and bits of the foundations.
Visitors report feeling overcome by a cold, quiet presence. They believe it’s Mary Colden Hoffman Rhinelander reaching out to make a friend.
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