History of the Lake House Hotel

You think you know, but you really don’t. And do you really want to? Well, step right up and be ready to learn all about the insanity within the walls of the Lake House!

The history of the infamous Lake House goes way back. It’s not just a creepy looking house that we decorate for Halloween. The house has a lot of history within its walls. And it all began more than 200 years ago. The stories that lurk in the dark halls of the house will give you goose bumps. If you’re in the house, maybe the residents will give you goose bumps, too. The history begins in the late 1700s with the original stage coach stop. In 1847, Charles Saylor built The Saylorsburg Tavern on t he foundation of the stage coach stop remains. Many changes have occurred since then, and the house was expanded. The original mansion still exists within the grand hotel addition that was built between 1894 and 1900.

Births, deaths, and crazy tales have happened on the property. Local mines and railways used the hotel to house business operations and an infirmary. Many men died on the front porch of the hotel due to injuries sustained at the local mines and railway. Then the fun really began. In October 1929, The Great Crash of the New York Stock Exchange changed the economy in a bad way. Many devastated New Yorkers headed to the Lake House for their final nights on Earth. This was the time Saylorsburg became known as “The Place to Hang Yourself.”

For years, the basement area saw many businesses come and go. The hotel was eventually closed for good. In 1990, the hotel was turned into an antique co-op, but that only lasted two years. (Perhaps the house residents weren’t fans of antiques.) In 1992, the Lake House became its first haunted attraction. This is where the fun really begins for you.

Since Hotel of Horror/Altered Nightmares has begun to call the Lake House its home, new terror has been taking over. In addition to scaring the pants off of any and all visitors to the house each Halloween season, the house also starred in the locally written and filmed movie, “6 Degrees of Hell” in summer 2011. The film is loosely based on the events that take place inside Hotel of Horror/Altered Nightmares. And the actors in the movie are the ones who will visit you in your nightmares after you visit them in their house. Corey Feldman was also in the movie and said he felt creeped out inside the house. And he’s been in plenty of horror films, but this particular house had an effect on him and everyone else; including the battery life of the cameras.

Besides having actors of the living sort in the house to help the frightening experience along, there are many reports of “others” in the house as well. So the history of the Lake House continues to grow and evolve, and with your screams, it will continue on.