Lake House Hotel in Saylorsburg, PA: The horror isn’t just for Halloween
This coming Halloween season Rob Dimension, Pigamortis and myself will be helping to entertain the masses at The Hotel of Horror & Alternate Nightmares in the old Lake House Hotel located in Saylorsburg, PA.
Now when Rob, Sal and I first went up there to meet with the owners we had no idea what was in store for us. We figure it was you basic standard haunted attraction for the Halloween haunting season. How wrong I would be about this…how about dead wrong? You see in talking with the owners it turns out that the Lake House is in fact haunted and while we did not get into details of stories and experiences I did get the sense that they had some to share. I mentioned to them that I had been a paranormal investigator for well over 5 years now and was wondering if they would allow me to conduct an investigation. We talked a bit about the possibilities and then went on our ways as we figured out the logistics and involvement of our show with their attraction. Once it was all said and done we went about our ways and prepared to do some filming in September to prepare a special show based out of their attraction.
So rewind now back to September 9th as I was on my way to have a meeting with Rob and Sal I stopped at a Barnes & Nobel to pick up some books, as I am a big into reading; especially when it involves the strange and bizarre. Now as I walked into the PA Travel section and began to thumb through a book about ghosts of the Lehigh Valley, written by Kenneth Biddle, I did not expect to see what I saw next. I thumbed through and as if by a strange force the book opened up to page 61 the chapter entitled The Lake House Hotel. I was floored and began to read, and of course I had to purchase that book right then and there. I mean how could I not?
I read about how it was considered the “place to hang yourself” as close to 15 hangings had apparently taken place in the hotel. While most of these hangings are difficult to find and proves based upon lost records and carless organization at least 3 had been confirmed. These were people who lost it all and simply checked into the hotel, went to their room & then hung themselves. As odd and harsh as this might seem, I have done some background checking and this was not an uncommon act for a man to do if he had lost everything and in other words, nothing to live for.
One story is that of a bartender who was savagely beaten and he was not mentally or physically right again, now I tell you this story in particular as you shall see later on in this article. Another story is of a injured mine worker who worked at now long gone brick factory next to the hotel, he was injured so severely that he passed away on the front porch of the hotel. In fact in a lot of the stories I have found in books and online the front porch seems to possess the most likely area for paranormal activity as hangings, deadly beatings and injured people passed away there. Just keep in mind that just because it happened on the porch does not mean that the spirits can’t go into the house and “play” as it were.
Some of the paranormal activity that takes place within the Lake House is of usual “haunting” standard or as standard as haunting can be. Things can go missing that were just laid down or other small items like rocks or caps may be thrown across the room as the walls or people. In the book it talks of a chair that appeared out of nowhere when there wasn’t one there 2 minutes earlier and everyone had been accounted for. Now there are the two things in particular that sparked my interest the most, the first being a telephone that mysteriously rings. This may not sound mysterious if it weren’t for the fact that the wires are completely cut and it’s not plugged into anything. Why did this spark my attention, well when I showed the owners the book I had found and they began to thumb through it they both stopped at the telephone and excitedly said “Look! There’s the telephone!”. So I knew there was another story to be discussed in relation to the phone.
The second thing that sparked my attention was the appearance of shadowmen/figures, now remember the story of the bartender I told you about earlier. Look at the picture below. This photo was taken I the bar next to the front porch and you can see that in the red circle there is the figure of something resembling that of a person. Now let the speculations commence, but let me fill you in with the details first. I was the only person in the room and the other people were on other floors or in other hallways. The skeleton head on the bar I thought may be casting a shadow, but if you look based off of its own reflection in the mirror, it couldn’t have been that. Could it have been the shadow of the bar tender or that of a miner or a hanging victim, who knows, but all I can say is that it’s very interesting to say the least. I know some may say”Oh you’re quick to assume” not so in my case for this reason. I actually studied this photo for a week trying to figure it out and actually sent it to some of my closest paranormal research friends who did their best to debunk it to no avail.
I am excited to get the opportunity to investigate this location and as well I encourage everyone to come and visit. It is a slice of history where maybe the past just doesn’t want to let go fully. So remember this as you begin to walk through the haunted attractions of the Lake House Hotel; is what I am seeing part of the attraction or am I looking at the real deal? You never know.
Be safe and happy ghost hunting,
John Cannon
