Shanley Hotel is nestled in the Shawangunk Mountains of Ulster County, Napanoch, New York. A traditional 1845 style bed and breakfast, it offers vintage-inspired rooms and an atmosphere perhaps not fit for everyone; that is, if you believe in ghosts and paranormal activity. Shanley features 300-year-old Dutch, Colonial style architecture. This hotel has gained a reputation throughout the years. Known for supposedly being one of the most haunted hotels in the state, Shanley is still functional and rents out nightly rooms to the public. Mental Floss claims that the supposedly haunted building will have guests sign a waiver if they plan to sleep over.
Apparently, managers are said to have found the hotel so haunting that anyone under 16 is not permitted to spend the night there. Reviews on Yelpstate that the Stanley Hotel owners provide actual ghost hunting equipment for guests to use if they wish to perform their own investigative research. Out of five stars, Yelp reviewers have given their stay four and a half. Pretty great reviews for an allegedly spooked creep-house. Those who have spoken about their stay note that the hotel is very clean, though has sparse decor, saying the staff is very friendly. One reviewer, Julia Z left a five-star rating for the Shanley, saying that the experience is best when involving a group rather than an individual stay.
Yonkers Ghost Investigators, explains that the Shanley has passed through 20 different owners. These investigators claim that the bordello is a hot-spot for electromagnetic field (EMF) and electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) activity, citing that room as the most haunted inside the hotel. Ghost hunters swear by EMF meters and EVP readings as their proof for haunting activity.
If a belief in the paranormal is not in your books, the sheer history of the hotel, once a mansion, could be enough to bewitch those who are curious. Both Mental Floss and Yonkers Ghost Investigators have done full write ups on the long life of this hotel and the many lives who had passed on inside its walls. Yonkers goes so far as to provide blue prints of the ground and actual photographs of previous owners; also on their website are a few shots of the supposed bullet holes that appear on walls of the second floor rooms in the main building.
The most recent owner, Sal Abril, passed away on July 5, 2016, leaving his wife, Teresa Abril, and her son-in-law, Mike Lazdauskas, to operate the hotel. This hotel has free wifi, free breakfast, and free parking.
