SALAMANCA — From a popular hotel to a local movie house to a former sanitarium, the city of Salamanca has its share of reportedly haunted haunts that locals for generations claim have spirits lurking just on the other side.

Celebrating more than 150 years in Salamanca, the Dudley Hotel on the north end of Main Street is one of the oldest buildings in the area — and comes with its share of stories.

Former Dudley owner Laura Dorfman told the Press in 2010 of a painting crew touching up the hotel’s laundry room located in the basement. A member of the crew notified Dorfman that someone was walking around down there.

When Dorfman asked for a description of this potential intruder, the painter was able to describe the clothing a maintenance worker who had passed away had worn during his two decades at the hotel — down to his signature hat and coat.

“I went down to the basement immediately to see who — if anyone — was there, but there was no one there,” she said.

When a psychic had been invited to come to the hotel and conduct research about possible hauntings, Cummings said there were many times when the psychic would describe what happened in a particular room without being previously told.

“She was able to verify some of the things that had happened in those rooms,” she said. “For example, she saw a gentleman using the bathroom when a man had died of a heart attack in the bathroom years ago.”

In all, Cummings said the physic told them there were 12 different entities who haunt the hotel, including a previous owner. While guests reporting paranormal activity is rare, Cummings shared a couple of instances that have made her wonder about the hotel herself.

One night when a gentleman had come down to the lobby to get ice only to go back up to his room to see his light and television turned off and the window shut — the complete opposite of when he had left.

Another couple reported someone knocked on the door and asked them to leave their room in the middle of the night, only to find no one at the door. A woman once saw a man standing by the elevator only to find out there was no one there. The man was described exactly as an old railroad worker who had died in a train wreck.

“It’s very difficult to find anyone in this town or community who does not have a connection to the Dudley,” Dorfman told the Press. “The incidents that have happened here range from A to Z, although stories may not necessarily be true.”

Much like the Dudley has watched the city experience its ups and downs since 1868, it will most likely continue its presence as one of the region’s oldest landmarks well into the future. Whether or not its visitors will be joined by the spirits of years past will remain a mystery.

Cast members Colleen McClure (left) and Austin Schapp in an unaltered 2015 picture in the house of Ray Evans Seneca Theater in Salamanca with a ghostly figure appearing to be sitting in the back right near the wall.

HEAD SOUTH down Main Street to its intersection with Broad and Clinton streets and you’ll see another reportedly haunted spot — a well-loved and well-used local theater that isn’t even 75 years old.

The Ray Evans Seneca Theatre has an event-filled history, but for anyone who has worked in the theater — whether preparing shows or maintaining its condition inside and out — it may very well also be the home of a ghost.

Back in 2015, Cattaraugus County Living Arts Association board member and theater coordinator Janette McClure remembered the door of an old telephone booth in the lobby flew opening and closing with no one around.

“It didn’t just creak open from the wind,” she said. “It actually opened and closed itself.”

During one production two cast members took a selfie before one rehearsal when no one else was in the theater itself. But in the picture, a ghostly figure appears to be sitting in the back, looking down towards the stage.

“I was up on the catwalk by myself doing a scene change,” recalled “Rent” cast member Vanessa Kavanagh during a rehearsal. “And I saw a shadow walk past me near the upstairs costume room, but when I looked again there was no one there. I didn’t hear anyone, but I know I saw something.”

From shadowy figures walking around to the mysterious case of the telephone booth, no one quite knows who or what it could be, but many believe something is lurking around the theater just out of site.

Dee Garcia-Moon attempts to talk to spirits in a third-floor bedroom during a 2018 live-stream episode of “The Ghost Box Chronicles” at the Wildwood Sanitarium in Salamanca.

AT THE east end of the city, the Wildwood Sanitarium has an interesting history. Originally purchased in 1903 by two doctors who met at an osteopathic college, it became a sanitarium in 1906 and served as a healing facility. It’s believed that the spirits of patients, nurses and doctors from long ago still lurk in the halls and walls of the former sanitarium.

After serving as a multi-family dwelling for decades, the property was up for sale in 2017, and Laurie Wagatha, a psychic medium and Reiki practitioner, knew she had to have it.

“It’s kind of funny because the place is not your typical normal haunted-kind of location,” Wagatha told the Press in 2021. “The spirits in the house want it to go back to being a healing place. A lot of people come here and leave with some sort of healing message.”

Over the past five years, the place has been transformed into a destination for supernatural enthusiasts and ghost hunters with dozens of seances and hunts held, most notably around Halloween.

Paranormal activity at the property has been tested with an electronic recording device called a “spirit box” and, as a result, contact has been made with two distinct entities.

One, a female spirit named Linda, was encountered on the second floor of the building and identified herself as a burn patient. Cooling baths were used to treat her badly burned legs, but Linda complained that she wasn’t fond of the treatment. Another encounter was made on the third floor, with a male who identified himself as Thomas, who suffered from rickets.

Wagatha said the sanitarium brings people into the area from all over the country and as far away as Singapore, Australia and England.

Located at 71 Prospect Ave., the sanitarium is open for ghost tours, special events and overnight private investigations. For more information, visit online at wildwoodsanitarium.com or call (716) 801-5270.