HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1860 stone manor near Little Falls, twice gutted by fire, now a restaurant trading on its ghost lore
123 Old State Road, Little Falls, NY 13365
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Dinner entrees and event/banquet pricing; reservations recommended. No charge to view the grounds from the road.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved approach and parking; the stone building sits on a low rise above Old State Road
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1860 · Mohawk Valley Stone Architecture · Twice Rebuilt After Fire · French and Indian War-Era Site
Beardslee Castle sits on a rise above Old State Road in the Mohawk Valley, between Little Falls and St. Johnsville, Herkimer County. Augustus Beardslee, son of civil engineer John Beardslee, built the stone house in 1860 as a replica of an Irish castle. The family land had been associated with the area since the late eighteenth century, and the property's grounds carry older stories tied to the French and Indian War era.
The building's modern history is defined by two fires. The first, in February 1919, gutted the structure. Arson was suspected at the time but never proven. The house was rebuilt, and by the later twentieth century it had become a restaurant. A second fire on August 30, 1989 destroyed the kitchen and closed the operation. Owner Joe Casillo restored the building and reopened it, for a period under the name Beardslee Manor, before it returned to the Beardslee Castle name.
Today the stone building runs as a full-service restaurant and banquet venue, describing itself as one of central New York's longstanding event destinations and staging monthly murder-mystery dinner theater. Reservations are handled by phone. The combination of the building's age, the deaths recorded on the property over its long history, and the two fires has kept it a fixture in regional accounts of haunted places.
Sources
The most-repeated figure in Beardslee Castle's lore is Abigail, an apparition the venue and regional accounts describe as a young woman associated with the house. Staff have circulated reports of objects moving on their own and of a presence in the dining rooms, the kind of ambient haunted-house reputation the restaurant leans into rather than stages as a formal investigation.
A second, older strand of folklore predates the 1860 building and attaches to the land itself. Local tradition holds that during the French and Indian War era, black powder was stored in tunnels or a cache on the property, and that a group of Native American scouts entering with torches set off an explosion. The story is folklore rather than documented event, and accounts of the grounds' Indigenous and colonial history vary widely between tellings.
The third recurring report is environmental: bright lights near the castle said to have startled or disoriented drivers on the road below at night. Like the Abigail accounts, these stories circulate through regional haunted-travel writing and the venue's own marketing. Beardslee Castle treats the haunted reputation as ambient atmosphere for its restaurant and event business, and supplements it with scripted murder-mystery dinners rather than ghost hunts.
Notable Entities
The stone building operates as a full-service restaurant. Reservations are taken by phone at 315-823-3000. The dining rooms occupy the rebuilt interior; staff and patrons have circulated accounts of moving objects and an apparition the venue calls Abigail.
Beardslee Castle stages monthly murder-mystery dinner theater in its banquet room, a scripted entertainment rather than a paranormal investigation. Dates and tickets are arranged through the venue.
The exterior of the stone manor is visible from Old State Road for travelers passing through the Mohawk Valley between Little Falls and St. Johnsville. There is no public interior access outside of dining and event hours.
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