Upstate New York is home to two of the best haunted hotels in the United States, ranked

There’s only one good way to become a ghost.

Two lodges in upstate New York have been named among the best haunted hotels in the country – just in time for the peak of spooky season.

A perennial favorite among paranormal fans, the Fainting Goat Island Inn was voted the second best haunted hotel in the United States by USA Today’s 10Best. A small Southern Tier inn has been thrown into disarray after being ranked number one on the list of best places for a ghoulish getaway two years in a row.

But Fainting Goat wasn’t the only lodge to make the 10Best list: The Saranac Hotel, an iconic Adirondacks hotel, was ranked fifth on the list of best haunted hotels.

The list, released just days before Halloween, didn’t leave travelers much time to book a spooky stay in October.

Luckily, the ghosts that call upstate New York’s haunted hotels home never leave, making spooky nights possible year-round.

Check out some of the top tier spooky spots in the Upstate… if you dare.

Inn Fighting Goat Island

1311 West River Road, Nichols | (607) 972-9849

“Sometimes the house can be very noisy even if there are no guests.”

That’s how owner Marnie Streit once described the resident ghostly tenants of the Fainting Goat Island Inn, the No. 2 haunted hotel on the 2024 10Best list.

Fainting Goat is home to a herd of goats. It overlooks the 17-acre island in Susquehanna River. It is near the Pennsylvania border and less than 2 miles from Tioga Downs Casino Resort.

The Victorian inn, built in the late 1800s, has five cozy bedrooms named after different breeds of goats. It is filled with antique decor: from gramophones to antique dolls.

For a small inn, the Swooning Goat boasts plenty of hauntings—legends that have attracted goosebumps-seeking guests, ghost hunters, and even the Travel Channel.

“Guests at the Fainting Goat Island Inn… have reported numerous ghostly encounters, such as being awakened at night by voices or seeing two women sitting drinking tea in the fainting room,” 10Best wrote in its rating. “Others reported hearing footsteps on the non-existent stairs or finding a child’s chair that had somehow moved next to the bed in the Nubian Room.”

Consider that we crawled out happily.

Hotel Saranac

100 Main St., Saranac Lake |(518) 891-6900

The preserved Saranac Hotel is a symbol of enchanting Saranac Lake, from the touches of old world charm that are scattered throughout its interior to the illuminated sign located on the roof.

It was built in 1927 on the site of a former high school and has long served as a base camp for adventurers looking to explore the Adirondacks.

After falling into disrepair, the Saranac Hotel underwent a major renovation and reopened in 2018, restored to its former glory. It now includes a spa, restaurant and spacious Great Camp suites adjacent to the hotel.

But aside from its connection to the Roaring Twenties, the Saranac Hotel is also rumored to be linked to several ghostly guests.

“According to local reports, the spirit of Howard Littell, the school’s principal, still haunts the grounds,” writes 10Best. “Other encounters at the Saranac Hotel include mysterious scratching noises heard on the third floor, the appearance of a young girl on the fourth floor, and ghostly singing heard on the sixth floor.”

While some hotels ignore hints of ghosts, the Saranac Hotel has embraced the legends – even including a page titled “haunts” on its website.

Want to test reports? Grab a drink in the hotel’s historic Grand Bar, where the hotel says it’s not unusual to encounter “unexplained footsteps, closing doors and flickering lights.”