A murderer whose last words at the gallows were “Hurry up! I want to be in Hell in time for dinner?”
A red door and a ghostly nurse that serve as a reminder of a deadly influenza epidemic?
A long dead caretaker who still plays the organ?
Deep lakes, scenic waterfalls, charming villages – all are intrinsic parts of New York’s Finger Lakes region. But behind this beauty, the spooky and ghostly reside. From spooky state parks to real-life haunted houses, Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes tells the stories behind the most supernatural sites around the shores of New York’s famous Finger Lakes. Local paranormal investigator Patti Unvericht of the group Chasing Shadows Paranormal takes you on a chilling journey to places such as the Elmira Civil War POW Camp, thought to be inhabited by the restless spirits of casualties of the war, to the State Theatre in Ithaca and even the tourist-friendly Geneva on the Lake, rumored to be haunted by past guests who have died while staying at the historic hotel.
In an 2012 interview with the Daily Messenger, Patti Unvericht said:
“Paranormal investigators do what they do because of history. I don’t know any paranormal investigator that history isn’t part of their passion. There are a lot of ghost stories in the Finger Lakes region as opposed to other areas of the country, because it has a long history…. The older the location, the longer the history, the more ghost stories are attached to it.”
Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes is part of the Local History Collection located in Special Collections of the second floor of the Bartle Library.