Get ghosted: Small Upstate NY inn named best haunted hotel in America (photos, video)

Several fainting goats reside on the grounds of the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. This myotonic goat breed is well-known for stiffening and falling over ("fainting") when startled. (Katrina Tulloch)

Owner Marnie Streit and Bill Gamble say they have heard many guests describe ghostly experiences at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. The inn was voted the second most haunted hotel in America by USA Today readers in 2019. (Katrina Tulloch)

The Fainting Goat Island Inn, located in Nichols, N.Y., won second place for Best Haunted Hotel in the 2019 USA Today's 10 Best Readers' Choice Travel Awards. (Katrina Tulloch)

Larry the cat walks by a statue in the front yard of the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. (Katrina Tulloch)

A peek inside a room at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y.

Owner Marnie Streit added some quirky decorations inside the bar area of the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. The inn was voted the second most haunted hotel in America by USA Today readers in 2019 (Katrina Tulloch)

Guests have reported hearing footsteps and humming on the second floor landing at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. (Katrina Tulloch)

A doll on display at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. The inn was voted the second most haunted hotel in America by USA Today readers in 2019 (Katrina Tulloch)

Several fainting goats reside on the grounds of the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. This myotonic goat breed is well-known for stiffening and falling over ("fainting") when startled. (Katrina Tulloch)

The downstairs parlor at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. (Katrina Tulloch)

Owner Marnie Streit added some quirky decorations inside the bar area of the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. The inn was voted the second most haunted hotel in America by USA Today readers in 2019 (Katrina Tulloch)

A pig named Porkchop lives in the old smokehouse at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y.

A old-fashioned oil heater in one of the rooms at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y., built in the 1850s.

The staircase to the second floor at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, N.Y. (Katrina Tulloch)

One of several phonographs in the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, NY. It has been repeatedly voted one of the most haunted hotels in America. Guests have reported that the phonographs wind themselves in the middle of the night. Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@nyup.com

A room at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, NY. Located in the Southern Tier, it has been repeatedly voted one of the most haunted hotels in America. Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@nyup.com

The Alpine room at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, NY. The inn has been repeatedly voted one of the most haunted hotels in America. A little boy is said to mischievously hide under the bed in this guest room. Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@syracuse.com

The front entryway to the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, NY. It has been repeatedly voted one of the most haunted hotels in America. Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@syracuse.com

A doll sits in a room at the Fainting Goat Island Inn in Nichols, NY. It has been repeatedly voted one of the most haunted hotels in America. Sunny Hernandez | ahernandez@nyup.com

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A small Upstate New York inn is winning big this year after being named the best haunted hotel in America by USA Today’s 10 Best Reader’s Choice awards.

Fainting Goat Island Inn, located on the border between New York and Pennsylvania in Nichols, NY, has once again been put on the haunted map. This Southern Tier guesthouse has been in the top five on USA Today’s list for at least four years running and is part the New York state Haunted History Trail.

At the top spot this year, it is also the smallest haunted hotel on the list with just five bedrooms. Other notable hotels on the list include grand historic relics like the Hotel Saranac in the Adirondacks, the Stanley Hotel in Colorado and Georgia’s Marshall House.

The Victorian home has been featured on the Travel Channel’s “Hotel Paranormal” and was once a railroad hotel filled to the brim with guests and travelers in the 1800s.

Each room is named for a different goat breed and each room has different ghosts that frequent them.

“The house can sometimes get really noisy, even when there are no guests here,” owner Marnie Streit said.

Guests make note of their experiences in books Streit keeps in each room. They report on everything from ghostly voices, footsteps, and laughter to apparitions like two women often seen drinking tea.

There are also porcelain dolls throughout house and working antique phonographs. Tales of dolls switching positions throughout the guest rooms and phonographs playing music on their own are among the hauntings people say they experience.

Streit, a self-proclaimed skeptic, even has stories she can’t quite explain.

In addition to the once-living spirits that infuse the Fainting Goat Island Inn, there is a bar on the first floor of the hotel where Streit said many guests meet and scheme to ghost hunt in the middle of the night together.

And if ghosts are a little too scary to think about, this quaint inn along the Susquehanna River is also home for many rescue animals and a whole pen of, you guessed it, fainting goats.

For the full list, see USA Today 10 Best Awards.

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