One of America’s Best Haunted Hotels Is Here in Upstate New York

'Tis the season for all things haunted. Would you stay in a proven haunted house or hotel?

One of America’s best haunted hotels is right here in the Adirondacks, and apparently, some guests have been hanging around a little longer than expected.

Hotel Saranac in Saranac Lake landed at #5 in USA Today’s 2026 Readers’ Choice poll for Best Haunted Hotel. It also earned induction into Historic Hotels of America in 1998. Pretty impressive for a place where your overnight stay might come with an unexpected roommate.

Who Haunts Hotel Saranac?

According to HotelSaranac.com, there are various ghosts throughout this haunted hotel. Near the second-floor ballroom, people have reported sightings of Frances Peroni, who taught at the hotel when it belonged to Paul Smith’s College.

On the third floor, mysterious scratching has been blamed on a ghost cat. A young girl has reportedly been spotted wandering the fourth floor, while unexplained singing has been heard on the sixth.

I enjoy a good ghost story, but hearing scratching and singing when I am trying to sleep? I might be checking out early.

Hotel Saranac's Most Famous Ghost

Then there is Howard Littell, a former superintendent of schools whose spirit, according to local legend, still wanders the hallways and basement. He is reportedly dressed in a black suit with tails and a top hat. Apparently, even the ghosts here dress for the occasion.

The connection goes back to the property’s history. Saranac Lake’s high school once stood on this spot before relocating in 1926. Hotel Saranac opened there in 1927, during the Roaring Twenties.

The school moved on, but legend suggests its former superintendent never quite left the grounds.

If you would like to book a room in this historically haunted hotel, click HERE.