From mansion and hotel ruins throughout the Hudson River Valley, Catskills and Adirondacks to myriad former foundries, schools, hospitals, airfields and other abandonments state-wide, New York abounds in vestiges of its empire-building days. Intriguing, too, are the state’s enduring imprints on the imagination, from the New Yorker’s Addams Family cartoon and Long Island’s Amityville Horror house to The Twilight Zone, created by Binghamton native Rod Serling.
With Halloween just ahead, here are some captivating suggestions, most available year-round, for discovering “the other side” of meetings and events in New York.
Heads of State
Albany, originally Fort Orange (1624) and New York’s capital since 1797, has group “energy” to spare.
“The New York State Capitol is haunted with more stories that I can begin to tell,” says Schuyler Bull, director of marketing for the Albany CVB. “Intrigues include the death of a night watchman in the 1911 Capitol Fire, and a secret demon carved into the stone,” Bull says. “These stories are featured during October’s special Capitol Hauntings Tours, and sprinkled on regular tours offered year-round.”
Built in 1787, Cherry Hill was the scene of a nationally publicized 1827 murder that led to the city’s last public hanging. Opened as a museum in 1964, this local landmark showcases rare items from its 70,000-piece collection and offers programs such as behind-the-scenes restoration tours.
In nearby Scotia, Glen Sanders Mansion was built as a trading port in 1658 along the Mohawk River. With spiritual energy reported in the original cellar, the stone mansion became an inn in 1961. Offering 22 newly renovated guest rooms, the venue also has a main ballroom accommodating up to 400 people for functions, with space for 26 to 120 guests in three additional private rooms.
Fresh blood on the group scene includes the long-anticipated Albany Capital Center convention facility, now under construction and on schedule for an early 2017 debut. Restoration of the historic 204-room Renaissance Albany, located across from the Capitol complex, is slated for completion this fall.
Established in 1791, Saratoga Springs is another Capital Region draw with tales to tell. With a legacy that includes the decisive American victory in the 1777 Battle of Saratoga, this compelling group destination is active on New York’s official Haunted History Trail, a statewide, multi-county collaboration highlighting haunted locations.
These include Yaddo Gardens, offering docent-led ghost tours; the nine-room Victorian-era Batcheller Mansion Inn, offering haunted history tours by appointment; and the Saratoga Springs History Museum, housed within the landmark Canfield Casino.
According to museum Director Jamie Parillo, unusual events at the institution accelerated after the opening of an exhibition of antique clothing once owned and worn by members of some of Saratoga Springs’ most prominent first families, now all deceased.
Other local venues with a haunted reputation include the Olde Bryan Inn, Crandall House in Ballston Spa and Saratoga National Historical Park in Stillwater, commemorating the 1777 battlefield.
This spring saw the opening of a new 149-suite Embassy Suites in the heart of downtown Saratoga Springs, while groundbreaking took place in May for a long-planned hotel at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway. In July, the venue unveiled its newly renovated historic lodge as a year-round private event option, accommodating 100 guests inside and up to 200 for tented gatherings.
Revitalized Spirits
Groups of up to 350 will find supernatural reanimation at The Otesaga Resort Hotel (1909) in Cooperstown. Following last year’s renovation of all 132 guest rooms and the lobby, this Federal-style treasure on the shore of Lake Otsego celebrates its 106th season with the opening of the Hawkeye Spa. Guests now also have recreational use of stand-up paddleboards and bikes. For meetings and functions, the Otesaga (Iroquois for “a place of meetings”) offers a 2,600-square-foot ballroom, equal-size main dining room and 10 versatile conference rooms.
With some possible repeat customers of its own, the hotel can arrange private tours of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, where paranormal activities have reportedly included the voice of baseball legend Ted Williams.
The nightly Cooperstown Candlelight Ghost Tour includes locations reportedly haunted by Cooperstown’s founding family, the Coopers. More spooks await on The Farmers’ Museum guided-lantern lit “Things that Go Bump in the Night” tour.
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Buried Treasures
In Westchester County, where developments include the newly opened 155-room Hyatt Place New York/Yonkers, offering 990 square feet of flexible space, plans include an expansion of the existing 38,000 square feet of meeting space at Doral Arrowwood. Also, the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow returns for more mayhem next month at Philipsburg Manor’s annual “Horseman’s Hollow” haunted house experience.
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, meanwhile, is a singular sanctuary for tours and customized programs.
“One of the first rural cemeteries in America, Green-Wood, a 177-year old National Historic Landmark, is the final resting place for more than 570,000 souls,” says Jeff Richman, Green-Wood’s historian. “Among New York City’s most unique visitor destinations, Green-Wood’s rich history is matched only by its stunning 478-acre landscape and panoramic views of Manhattan’s skyline.”
Established in 1838 and today welcoming more than 250,000 visitors each year, Green-Wood’s famous residents include Leonard Bernstein, Frank (The Wizard of Oz) Morgan and more than 5,000 Civil War soldiers.
“Our staff works tirelessly to preserve what we call New York’s buried treasure,” Richman says.
From guided moonlight walks to customizable trolley tours for up to 60 guests, the cemetery offers a growing variety of public and private programs suitable for groups.
“Hosted by the Green-Wood Historic Fund, we offer year-round events honoring the lives of those interred here, including tours, concerts, social gatherings, book readings, historic exhibitions, theater productions and installation art,” says Chelsea Dowell, manager of programs and membership. “We’re always looking for innovative programming that will enhance public appreciation for this very special urban oasis.”
Groups can also book the historic 1911 Chapel for events and meetings.
Spirited Encounters
Based in East Aurora, 25 miles from downtown Buffalo, Haunted History Ghost Walks (HHGW) is Western New York’s original “supernatural tourism” company. Incorporated in 2004 as a walking tour outfit, HHGW, the brainchild of supernatural historian Mason Winfield, has since expanded into vehicle tours and partnerships, all focused on illuminating history, architecture, and culture via the supernatural theme.
“We are not ghost hunters or psychics, and our tours do not promise psychic experiences or encounters,” explains Winfield, a former educator and author of 11 books on the supernatural and paranormal in Upstate New York. “Rather, we are storytellers and folklorists, preserving and interpreting legend and site tradition.
“Our outlook incorporates parapsychology and general paranormal studies with a focus on Native American tradition,” he continues.
Centered around historic sites in the greater Buffalo region, HHGW tours include the Buffalo Theatre District; Canalside, the terminus of the Erie Canal; and in East Aurora, the Roycroft Inn, and its symbolic Arts and Crafts architecture.
“One of our innovations is the Haunted History Academy, which helps cultural organizations do what we do,” Winfield notes.
Possessing Possibilities
Moved to its present location in 1766, the Beekman Arms Inn, located 100 miles north of New York City in charming Rhinebeck, has credible claim as America’s oldest continuously operating hotel. Former staffers have reported sudden chills and other phenomena in the colonial-era tavern and cellar, but hotel manager Oliver Silva offers this persuasive point about the nature of legends.
“While hard to pinpoint without documentation, the many stories passed down through the generations can make the reputation of a place,” he says, adding that, “I’ll believe in ghosts when I actually speak with one.”
Verifiably alive and well is the spirit of welcome at the newly refreshed Beek, which offers versatile space for upward of 80 guests in the 13-room main house. With additional guest rooms in the adjacent Old Firehouse and Townsend House buildings, the 1844 Delamater Inn, one block away, is a pleasant mini-campus with 57 rooms in seven guest houses and a conference room.
Across the street, Terrapin, a restaurant housed in a converted church, is reportedly visited by a spirit called “El Nino,” while nearby historic haunts include a trove of group-capable Hudson River mansion-estates such as the FDR Home and Presidential Library and Museum, and Olana, the magical hilltop home and studio of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church.
Other group venues with ghost stories include the Red Coach Inn in Niagara Falls, Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, aptly named Reunion Inn in Rochester and famed Boldt Castle in the Thousand Islands, where tragic couple George and Louise Boldt may still be home.
Irresistible reality or marketing fiction? There is nothing like a little suggestive intrigue to heighten the meetings experience.
Based in Brooklyn, longtime Meetings Focus contributor JEFF HEILMAN regularly haunts Green-Wood Cemetery.
