Mysterious hauntings more than legends

I believe in ghosts. There are definitely those spirits among us, and I'm nervous to go to Hartwell after dark. Though the village of Brockport isn't too haunted, my hometown boasts one of the most haunted places in New York state.Chittenango, N.Y., home to the author of the Wizard of Oz and our very own Yellow Brick Road, sits nestled away east of Syracuse. Rumor has it that in the early 1900s, cults formed in the village and sacrifices of domesticated animals occurred at the house. At the end of a curvy, steep, stone-and-oil road, lies a single home, where the cult sacrifices would allegedly take place. Gulf Road, a now infamous spot on the Chittenango map, is haunted. Hands down, not believing anything that anyone says differently.


Many have claimed to see a burning cross in the woods, which closely surround the road. Headlights have formed the shadow of a woman in the road, though there has never been a woman standing there. Many have seen white, glowing orbs in the dense woods and unexplained noises on the road.


The second haunted place in Chittenango is outside the village, two doors down from my house. Creek Road is another unpaved, curvy road. It runs along the Canaseraga Creek, and has a vacant house at the base. Throughout my childhood, the house was vacant, but it had always been rumored that an old man had died there. My parents vehemently disagree, but I have heard it from more than one source. None the less, I have spotted multiple black cats at the house, and have randomly seen the moth-bitten curtains flowing and being pushed aside in the tightly closed house, where the power is turned off. Furthermore, 911 calls were being placed from the home, despite the lack of operating phone lines going to the home. The latter was blamed on faulty lines, but it definitely means something. Through the woods of the road, lies very thick woods, again, closely surrounded to the road.

In high school, two friends and I went off to investigate these areas, as well as a few more for added affect. Late in the evening, we set off first to Gulf Road. After going up and down it twice, we didn't see the mysterious burning cross or the woman in the headlights. We did see multiple, random huts made of twigs, appearing to be man-made. The only problem? I wasn't in an area where man would be able to make them. No Chittenangoan that I know of would possibly want to frolic in those woods.

We saw little specs of white light throughout the trees, but on a second look through the video camera we brought, they weren't there (yeah, we were nerds. Taping the hauntings and all.) According to a Web site devoted to the paranormal, "white orbs can be deceased relatives or guides who are around to help us. They seem to be attracted by strong emotion, or excitement."

When we made it down to Creek Road, nothing out of the ordinary happened. It was just a legitimate, creepy, dark road. Other than my personal experiences with the nearby ghosts in the vacant house, the road was quite boring. Many claim to see a white ghost-like image in the woods of the road, with one Chittenango resident claiming to have seen it on six separate occasions.

Finally, my friends and I made it to a cemetery in the next town over. We got out of the car, and turned on a brand-new, perfectly operating flashlight. It switched on, and then suddenly dimmed until it was no longer operating. It is rumored that ghosts and spirits will drain batteries to manifest their own lives.

I used to see a ghost in my backyard. He was an older man, dressed in military attire. He was in the backyard a lot, but there were never any footprints. He would watch as I got in my car or walked to the garage. I named him Ernie so that my parents didn't have to hear me say, in front of company, "Oh yeah, that ghost is in the backyard again ."


I have also seen a figure in my car often. He would chill in the backseat of my car while I roamed Rochester for my summer job. I would look up and see him, then look again and he would be gone. Weirdly enough, I stopped seeing him after I got in a physical altercation with a taxicab. Perhaps my driving even scares the nonliving.

I love Halloween time because it always gives me an accepted time to talk about haunted places and believing in ghosts. I even think we have a ghost in The Stylus office sometimes. The printer will randomly print 300 pages from an unknown computer, or the vents above will rattle. But perhaps the latter is a failed burglary attempt.