Van Horn Mansion
Burt (Town of Newfane), New York, United States
Historic house · local-legend
The Story
The Van Horn Mansion in western New York is a living-history museum with a familiar name in its ghost stories: Malinda. Attic disturbances, unexplained whistling and figures at the windows accompany the family history. Seasonal candlelight tours and year-round private historical tours offer authorized ways inside.
The Hauntings
An old family home can outgrow its first household without losing its sense of people coming and going. At Van Horn Mansion, rooms used to explain nineteenth-century domestic life also carry stories of closed doors moving and an upstairs presence. The historical society gives both kinds of memory a place in its tours, with candlelit evenings devoted more particularly to the ghost lore. Malinda Niles Van Horn is the name most closely associated with the haunting. She married James Van Horn Jr. in 1836 and died the following year. The society’s stories connect her with fleeting appearances around the house, keeping her name familiar long after the Van Horn family ceased to occupy it. Other accounts are less personal. The Haunted History Trail describes an attic bedroom door closing without an apparent hand, another attic door slamming and a shadow noticed upstairs. Whistling is associated in the telling with a former servant, while the second-floor smoking room sometimes seems to retain the smell of tobacco. These are the little interruptions that make the house’s ordinary domestic spaces the center of its ghost stories. Restoration has contributed its own encounters. The trail recounts workers noticing faces at windows and figures inside the mansion. Such stories sit comfortably beside the older Malinda tradition, but do not all identify the same presence. The room, the sound and the moment often remain more definite than the person behind them.
The History
James Augustus Van Horn developed mills and businesses along Eighteen Mile Creek before building a substantial brick home. Construction began in 1819 and was completed in 1823. The mansion hosted Newfane’s first town meeting in April 1824, linking the family residence directly to the formation of local civic life. The house now serves as an event center and living-history museum. Guided interpretation follows its rooms, family associations and changing architecture, while the historical society’s seasonal program keeps it in public use. Its candlelight events are one part of that broader life, not the building’s only reason for opening its doors.
A sense of place.
Visitor Experiences
Have you experienced something here?
This future chapter will bring together stories from the PHASM community. An unexpected encounter, a lingering feeling, or a quiet visit—your experience will be welcome.
Submissions are not open yet.
Sources & further reading.
- Town of Newfane Historical Society — Van Horn Mansion — history and 2026 visitor program (history)
- Town of Newfane Historical Society — 2026 Candlelight Tours (history)
- Town of Newfane Historical Society — Van Horn Mansion — history and 2026 visitor program (reports)
- Haunted History Trail of New York State — The Van Horn Mansion (reports)
- Town of Newfane Historical Society — Van Horn Mansion — history and 2026 visitor program (visiting)
- Town of Newfane Historical Society — 2026 Candlelight Tours (visiting)
Plan Your Visit
The society offers year-round private historical tours requested at least two days ahead, subject to volunteer availability, alongside seasonal public openings. Use its current mansion page for arrangements and its candlelight page for October tickets. The published visitor address is 2159 Lockport-Olcott Road. A private historical tour is not automatic permission for a paranormal investigation.