Mar. 22—OGDENSBURG — The historic and believed to be haunted Claire House, featured on the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Hunters,” is now available for bookings through Airbnb.
Owned by Harold J. and Rachel L. Kench, the remodeled 709 Franklin St. stone manor — once a Catholic rectory and convent — went live on Airbnb several weeks ago and Mr. Kench said that the “reception has been wonderful.”
“Halloween night booked up immediately, it’s on a Friday this year, and we are super excited to welcome those brave guests. There seems to be lots of excitement, so anyone interested should definitely hop on Airbnb to secure a room sooner rather than later,” he said.
Guests will be able to use their guest suite, access to the downstairs library, the dining room and parlor, the music hall and gameroom.
“We decided to go the Airbnb route because it is a bigger platform and we thought we could reach more people. We still have our personal website, TheClaireHouse.com, and when guests want to book, there’s a link that brings them to Airbnb. We also felt like the Airbnb format is super user friendly and we like that they ‘vet’ potential guests, and let us learn a bit about before we approve a booking,” Mrs. Kench said.
The Claire House, built in 1884, has been used for a variety of purposes by the Diocese of Ogdensburg over the years. It had been the rectory for St. Mary’s Cathedral, offices for Catholic Charities and most recently, it was a convent housing the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart. More than 134 years after it was built, the Kenches remodeled the 10,000 square feet manor that boasts three levels and 38 rooms, nine of them bathrooms.
The couple, who are both teachers at East Islip High School in Long Island, purchased the manor in 2019. Mr. Kench is an Ogdensburg native.
In May of 2023, Claire House was feature on “Ghost Hunters” season finale titled “Diocese of the Dead.”
The description of the episode reads “TAPS is called to Ogdensburg, New York, to investigate a large family home. Once a church rectory, this imposing limestone manor is filled with terrifying entities that tie back to its religious beginnings. Alongside Jason’s son, Austin Hawes, and guest investigator Dustin Pari, TAPS hope to calm the family’s fear of being in their house.”
The couple believes that the haunted nature of the stone manor will draw visitors to the area.
“We definitely think the haunted house aspects lends itself to a certain demographic. There is a huge network of people all over the world who make a hobby out of visiting haunted places, and being feature on the season finale of ‘Ghost Hunters’ really put us in the public eye,” said Mr. Kench. “So, when we decided to officially open Claire House as a bed and breakfast, we knew we’d have to add that to our marketing to help us stand out in a unique way.”
They will also be offering a haunted/historical tours of the home for anyone who is interested. This would be for an additional fee of $20, a portion of which will be donated to St. Mary’s Cathedral, according to Mrs. Kench.
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