historicrealestate.preservationnation.org
If your own house is already haunted and your poltergeists have finally gotten on your last nerve but they have nowhere to go, here’s your answer. This is a castle in need of a spook! If a spirit was looking for a new home, a groovy place to haunt and lots of ghost-friendly opportunities, then this would be it.
First, you need to convince your own ghosts that this scary looking castle would be a wonderful upgrade from your own boring home. You could start by leaving photos of the castle all around your ghoul-infested home where they will see it during their nighttime marauding, floating through walls, and bouncing your family pictures and dishes off your walls. Write a glowing description of the castle in terms they will recognize, like “dungeons, clawfoot tub, turrets, vine covered, tons of room to haunt”, you know, . . . set the stage. The more you elaborate on the unlimited potential for ultimate ghost fun, the quicker they’ll leave for this grand new haunt! Just be sure to tell them it’s in Amsterdam, New York! They’ll never be short of ghoulish friends there. In fact, just a hop across the nearby Erie Canal is the Green Hill Cemetery with its glowing orbs caught on film, heavy fog and vapors, leaves rustling, and Widow Susan Road where a figure of a woman wearing a white nightgown is frequently seen walking in the cemetery late at night crying, looking for her husband’s grave.
Be sure to tell your resident haints that if they’re a little starstruck, the castle also has a celebrity filled history. John F. Kennedy gave a speech there during his 1960 presidential run, in what later became known as the Kennedy Room. Hollywood has also shown interest and TV producers have already used it for ABC’s Wife Swap and Talon Films shot scenes for the PBS movie American General, about Benedict Arnold. HGTV also hopped on board featuring the redo on You live in a What?. Suggest to your ghosties that they may get the chance to rub elbows (do they have elbows?) with JFK and Benny!
Though it is said that the 1894 castle that was originally built as a National Guard Armory didn’t come with resident goblins, it has been totally restored and renovated into a charming bed & breakfast. After your goblins move in, guests can prepare themselves for things that go bump in the night by first practicing in the castle’s rifle range, and if all else fails, they can make a hasty retreat into the fallout shelter or the weapons vault! Or, . . you could go for a visit and BYOG. Ghosts, that is!
