New York's Majorly Haunted Statler City Hotel is a Ghost Hunter's Dream

New York’s Haunted Statler City Hotel is a Ghost Hunter’s Best-Kept Paranormal Secret

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It’s pretty impossible not to recognize the stately Statler Hotel architecture dotting the skylines of many of of America’s major cities. The original Statler City Hotel was built in Buffalo in 1921, and at the time, was one of the area’s most luxurious stays. The hotel was so well-loved by the guests that many have made the journey back to the hotel time and time again.. even from beyond the grave.

Serving as the epicenter of Buffalo’s high society, the Statler City Hotel was the place to be from the 1920s to the 1940s, which is understandable when you consider just how decadent it was for the time. During its heyday, the hotel played host to cultural icons like Elvis Presley, Al Capone, and Richard Nixon, but like most things, the party couldn’t last forever.

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By the mid 80s the Statler Hotel was hit hard by the economic decline in Buffalo, and the doors to the once great hotel were closed, leaving the building abandoned for nearly 15 years. Fortunately, that wasn’t the end for the Statler, and by the mid 90s the building was sold and renovations began to bring it back to its full grandeur. That’s when things started to get weird.

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As renovations began on the building, workers noticed strange occurrences as they tore down walls, chipped away paint, and patched holes. The activity has continued on long after the renovations, and today many of the building’s guests continue to report hearing the sounds of ghostly voices echo through the halls, the appearance of full-body apparitions wandering the ballroom, and even the occasional phantom touch from an invisible entity.

The most active areas of the hotel have remained the Terrace Room, where legless apparitions, mysterious shadows, and glowing phantoms have been photographed countless times. Floor 18, which is said to be the center of much of the paranormal activity, is considered the most haunted floor of the building, but the Old Pool Area is where the really frightening stuff goes down. Visitors say that the pool is home to one of the Statler City Hotel’s darker entities, one with a fondness for aggressively grabbing the unaware, causing drastic temperature drops, and even screaming at paranormal investigators brave enough to visit.

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“I interviewed several employees and security guards who told me similar stories,” wrote one local investigator. “Hearing high heels every night on the 2nd floor, around 11pm. They check to find no one is up there. Voices coming from the Presidential Room, which is locked and empty. In the golden ballroom the chandelier will sway often during a party and glasses behind the bar will break for no apparent reason.”

Because the building isn’t used as a hotel anymore, exploring the many levels makes for an interesting investigations, especially when ghost hunters claim that you can clearly hear people moving about in the empty rooms above you. Those who spend a prolonged length of time inside the Statler City Hotel eventually begin to notice the distinct sound of the guests of yesteryear milling about in the suites which have sat abandoned since 1985. It’s not uncommon to hear luggage carts rolling through the hallway, or the elevator – which no longer reaches the suite levels – opening and closing as if guests are still checking in and out.

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Throughout the years, numerous paranormal investigation teams have spent the night searching for evidence of ghostly activity inside the Statler City Hotel, and usually, they don’t end up leaving the haunted building empty handed. The hotel is so active that they offer ghost hunts and guided tours that take investigators of any experience level to some of the most well known hotspots.

In fact, the Statler City Hotel is about to reach a whole new level of attention, as its slated to be one of the locations featured on the upcoming season of Paranormal Lockdown, which will see paranormal investigators Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman locked in the hotel’s abandoned upper levels for 72 hours.

If you’re a paranormal enthusiast, I’m sure you love it as much as I do when a beautiful haunted historic building is not only saved from the wrecking ball, but opens its doors to curious ghost hunters who just want to get to the bottom of the unexplainable activity. In that regard, the Statler Hotel is a paranormal investigator’s dream come true!


Would you spend the night locked inside the Statler City Hotel? We want to hear from you! Tweet us @WeirdHQ, drop us a line on Facebook, or start a conversation in the comments below!


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