The Hudson Valley and North
Rockland County up through the Catskills and Adirondacks into Vermont and Maine — a haunted hayride, a UFO museum, a kaleidoscope inside a silo, and the world's tallest filing cabinet.
6 stops · 4 days · New York, Vermont, Maine · roughly 384 miles point to point
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Every one of the 6 places in the index. Plan a route and the map narrows to what's actually near it.
North and east from the New York suburbs, through country that has been telling these stories since before the country existed.
The Hudson Valley
Spook Rock Road first, then Pine Bush, which spent the 1980s and 90s as one of the most reported UFO hotspots in the eastern United States and has the museum to show for it.
Headless Horseman near Esopus is a large seasonal operation rather than a roadside stop, running autumn only. Washington Irving set the original story about fifty miles south, and the whole valley has been trading on it ever since.
The Kaatskill Kaleidoscope at Mount Tremper is built inside a converted grain silo and is, by a considerable margin, the largest in the world. It is a proper attraction with a ticket.
Adirondacks and Vermont
Rt 30 Alien near Lake Pleasant is a quick photograph on a long drive.
Burlington has the world's tallest filing cabinet — thirty-eight drawers stacked by an artist as a protest sculpture, which is a better reason than most.
Into Maine
Rumford has Paul Bunyan and Babe, which the Midwest would dispute but Maine claims regardless. Then a long run up the coast to Addison and the world's largest lobster trap.
Practical
Four days, and the last leg to Addison is further than it looks — Maine's coast road is slow by design.
Autumn is the season for this route. It is also when the haunted attractions run, which is either convenient or crowded depending on your view.
The Route
Spook Rock Road
Rockland County, New York
Stop on Spook Rock Road at US 202, put the car in neutral, and it appears to roll uphill. The slope is an illusion — the surrounding land hides the true horizon, so a gentle descent reads as a climb — which has never once stopped anyone trying it with a bottle of water. A public road, so pull over sensibly and watch for traffic.
Pine Bush UFO Museum
Pine Bush, New York
The Pine Bush UFO & Paranormal Museum explores the Hudson Valley area's long history of UFO sightings through interactive exhibits, witness accounts, displays and alien-themed experiences. This is clearly a UFO-focused attraction and belongs in the `ufos` category rather than `haunted`.
Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses
Town of Esopus, New York
Headless Horseman Hayrides & Haunted Attractions is a large seasonal Halloween destination in the Hudson Valley combining theatrical hayrides with multiple walk-through haunted attractions. The experience runs on select fall nights and is designed as a full evening horror event.
Kaatskill Kaleidoscope
Mount Tremper, New York
The Kaatskill Kaleidoscope is a roughly 60-foot silo converted into an immersive walk-in kaleidoscope at the Emerson Resort in Mount Tremper, not Shokan proper. It opened in 1996, and visitors today buy admission to stand inside while projected imagery and sound transform the silo interior.
World's Tallest Filing Cabinet
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington artist Bren Alvarez created “File Under So. Co., Waiting for…” in 2002 from stacked filing cabinets as a joke about decades of paperwork surrounding the long-delayed Southern Connector highway. The sculpture was moved and revised in 2020 and now stands at an art park outside 208 Flynn Avenue, where visitors can view it freely from the public-facing site.
Paul Bunyan & Babe the Blue Ox
Rumford, Maine
Rumford’s Paul Bunyan is an approximately 18-foot fiberglass Muffler Man that has stood in the area since at least the mid-20th century and was later donated to the town and rebuilt with internal supports. Babe the Blue Ox joined him at the visitor-center site much later, and travelers can photograph the pair for free beside Route 2.
2 stops on this route are no longer in the index and have been left out.