New York Hotel Named Among America's 'Most Haunted'

NEW YORK CITY — New York travelers looking for a Halloween getaway with a little more baggage than they packed may find it at one of the country’s most famously haunted historic hotels.

Spanning decades or even centuries, the 25 properties featured on Historic Hotels of America’s Most Haunted Hotels list, released Tuesday, have built quite a collection of supernatural tales.

Both visitors and staff have encountered uncanny phenomena — from unexplainable cold spots and self-moving objects to ghostly sightings and phantom footsteps. To uncover who or what might be lingering in the rooms, a few locations have even hosted paranormal researchers.

Selections for the list were determined by the endurance of each hotel’s spooky legends and how eagerly they embrace them through Halloween specials, ghost tours, and themed packages.

In New York, hotels that made the list are:

• Hotel Saranac, Curio Collection by Hilton in Saranac Lake

The hotel was inducted into Historic Hotels of America in 1998.

The grounds are on the former site of Saranac Lake’s high school before it was relocated in 1926. Hotel Saranac was built on the site the following year.

Visitors and locals believe that the spirit of Howard Littell, a former superintendent of schools, still roams the hallways and basement.

"People have claimed to have seen him wandering the halls of the hotel," according to the Historic Hotels of America.

Littell is described as a man dressed in a black suit with tails and a top hat.

In addition, there have been spectral sightings near the ballroom on the second floor of Frances Peroni, who taught there when the hotel was owned by Paul Smith’s College, to the scratching of a ghost cat on the third floor.

You can view the full list here.