Is This Tioga County Inn the Best Haunted Hotel in America?

On the border of New York and Pennsylvania is a cute little inn, but don’t let it’s look fool you. Here’s the crazy part - this inn is supposedly one of the most haunted hotels in the United States.

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The Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols was voted the Best Haunted Hotel in America in 2022 in USA Today's 10 Best Readers' Choice Travel Awards and is up for the title again this year.

The Fainting Goat Island Inn was built in 1850 as a railroad hotel. It only has five bedrooms, making it the smallest haunted hotel on the list. So, why is this little inn so haunted? My daughter, Tara and I had a chance to spend the night and when we arrived, we met Marnie Streit, the owner who had a lot of crazy stuff to tell us.

Marnie bought Fainting Goat Island Inn back in 2007 and had to do a lot of work to fix it up. But as soon as she stepped inside, she knew it was going to be an awesome space but she had no idea it was going to become famous for being haunted. Actually, she didn’t really believe in haunted ghost stuff...at first.

Marnie and her partner Bill took us on a tour of the inn and shared stories of spooky stuff that's happened to them and their guests. During the restoration, they found a knife falling out of the ceiling in one room and clothes stuffed in the floorboards. Talk about creepy!

The inn has an island you can check out near the riverside seating and they even have goats that sometimes act like they're fainting which is why the inn is called what it is.

Inside the inn is decorated in Victorian style. They've got antique dolls all over the place and old photos on the walls. It's like stepping back in time.

It isn’t just the owners and guests who have been spooked out. The Fainting Goat Island Inn has been on the Travel Channel's "Hotel Paranormal" and ghost hunting groups have also come to check it out.

The Fainting Goat Island Inn's Rooms

Every room is named after a different kind of goat and every room has some kind of haunted experience. One room has an apparition of a Civil War soldier who appears. Another one has a little boy who likes to hide under the bed and laugh in the middle of the night.

There’s the room where two women sip tea and my personal favorite is the room that my daughter and I stayed in. It had dolls that moved in their chair and a toy car that rolled under the bed.

While we didn’t see it, rumor has it that there’s also a ghost cat that jumps on beds and walks around while they're sleeping. There are real cats that live at the goat but the guest who has had encounters with the ghost cat swear that it’s just that – a ghost and not the real thing.

Vote 'Fainting Goat Island Inn' For Best Haunted Hotel

Fainting Goat Island Inn has been nominated again for the title of Best Haunted Hotel in America by USA Today and we can help them win again by voting for them. If you want to help a local business get national recognition again this is how you can vote.