Spooky Things to Do in Lily Dale, New York—Spiritualism's Enchanting Birthplace

If you’re hoping to connect with Spirits and see some ghosts, your first stop should be Inspiration Stump. Locals claim that visiting the spot, a ten-minute walk from town, will open your ability to be receptive to those energies. This is also where for $15 a person, you can participate in one of the original Spiritualist practices and get a reading from a trained medium. If the Spirit of a deceased loved one is present, the medium will let you know—and whatever messages they may have carried from the beyond.

There’s no one better to guide you through a possibly haunted town than a medium. It’s even spookier because this walk takes place at night. They’ll walk you through how Lily Dale was started, give you an introductory glimpse into Spiritualism and the unseen, and how it became so popular while pointing out the history of the town itself. There’s no guarantee that you’ll see any ghosts or Spirits, but you’ll walk away with a deep understanding of the town and how it connects to the otherworldly. It’s $20 per person and takes around an hour.

With over fifty registered mediums in the hamlet, you are all but guaranteed to find someone willing to do a reading with you. The prices range anywhere from $60-$100 a person, and results will range as well. Depending on what time of year you go, be sure to make an appointment in advance. Medium demand fills up quickly at the height of the tourist season, and you may not find any openings last minutes. But if you have specific questions or want to call the spirit of someone special, this is your best bet.

As far as we know, no pets buried here have come back to life with murder on their mind. And as sweet as the idea may be, it’s still a graveyard for dead pets. If you go during the day, you might tear up at the heartfelt inscriptions on the gravestones. But like all graveyards, visiting at night might conjure a slightly different experience. If you visit a haunted hamlet, a graveyard at night is one of the spookiest places to be—no matter how charming it might be in the sunlight.

Admittedly, a fairy trail isn’t the spookiest activity. The trail is a lovely and easy scenic walk through the forest, and there are myriad fairy houses to peek into. But the forest is said to have spirits roaming through it, and fairies can get up to plenty of other mischief, so you never know what kind of haunting or otherworldly experience you might encounter while on the path.

Perhaps the idea of getting healed isn’t spooky. But having a complete stranger ask you if you injured your knee out of the blue can be a bit alarming. As with most things, the line between uplifting and uncanny is in the eye of the beholder. They hold services daily, where you can allow the healing energy to flow through you or request a “laying on of hands”, where a medium channels the spiritual power directly through their hands. They also have a healing area for pets. Is it spooky? We’ll leave that up to you.

The Assembly Hall itself isn’t exactly spooky. But it is said to be haunted. If you’re one of the lucky seers, you might spot a man in Victorian clothing and spectacles walking around the Hall’s podium. It’s unclear when he appears, or if he follows a pattern. But it is one of the few ghosts rumored to be consistently present.