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| The old Phelps General Store, a completely untouched time capsule. It draws visitors from all over the country...as well as those from the afterlife. |
If you're like me, you go full spoopy for Halloween. Listening to horror podcasts and playlists of Top5s and Chills videos on Youtube, while carving pumpkins and hanging skull lights in the bedroom window. Taking bike rides to cemeteries around town, hoping for your own fateful encounter with the enigmatic forces of the afterlife.
Sadly, that wonderful time of year has come to a close. Halloween has passed, and the air will only grow colder until snow blankets everything in gray once more. The good news for us connoisseurs of anything spoopy, however, is that the unknown doesn't take a vacation.
Last summer, I had the opportunity to join a group of renowned ghost hunters on an investigation of the historic Palmyra complex of museums. For years, I'd been a skeptic of the paranormal, questioning its existence, though never denying it. After six hours within the many museums, however, I became a believer.
What follows is the story I had originally written for the Sun & Record/Wayne County Mail, edited to give more insight into my personal experience. Strap in, folks, because this will definitely be the cure for your Halloween Hangover:
August 11, Palmyra --
It’s time once more to ask the age-old question; what happens when we die? Does our soul still remain on Earth, in places we felt the most attached to when we were alive? That’s what Bob Christopher and Gina Bengtson, famed paranormal investigators and co-founders of Ghostly Excursions, believe. The duo have explored paranormal hotspots all across the Eastern Seaboard in search of ghostly evidence, and for the fifth time, their hunt has brought them back to Historic Palmyra.
Whereas most towns and villages keep their history locked in dusty cabinets, Palmyra’s history is on full display. The archaic buildings that comprise the village are all original. Historic Palmyra has gone to great lengths to maintain the town’s 1800’s aesthetic, even saving the buildings on the north side of town from forced urban renewal by the federal government.
“I always get incredible evidence when I’m here,” said Christopher, who, in addition to Ghostly Excursions, stars on the TV series Haunted Destinations: Ghost Detectives. Voices, strange energy, apparitions, the sensation of being touched by invisible hands…these events and more have all been reported at the museum, and confirmed by the duo on their subsequent investigations. It seems, in their effort to preserve the past, Historic Palmyra has inevitably preserved many souls as well...
“The history of Palmyra is completely unique, compared to the rest of the Finger Lakes,” said Bonnie Hays, President of Historic Palmyra and the main proprietor of the five museums. It’s this unique history, at times dark and troubled, that she believes fuels the spirits of Historic Palmyra’s five museums. Under the quaint buildings and modern conveniences of this thoroughly modernized Wayne County village lies the canal town of old, where building fires and street fights rage on in the afterlife.
Most of the paranormal activity is experienced in three of the museums: the Historical Museum, the Phelps General Store, and the Alling Coverlet. Before the investigation even began, however, we experienced a tremendous amount of activity in the apartment above the General Store.
It was during our initial tour of the area. I had followed Bengston to the top floor of the Store apartment, when we heard a commotion from the downstairs living room; the group's flashlights were switching on and off on their own accord! We returned to the room to, indeed, see the lights flickering on their own.
The skeptic in me found this easy to write off, at first. The three flashlights in question were all twist-style lights, which are relatively easy to switch on even without a guiding hand, especially on a table surface in a room with many moving people. It was happened next, however, that truly set the mood for the night's events.
To give a bit more perspective, the second floor living room is believed to be haunted by young children who'd died in a mysterious fire in the 1800's. Believing we were in the presence of child spirits, we spoke benevolently to our apparent hosts.
"Do you like playing with the flashlight?" one of the hunters said. On cue, the middle flashlight shuffled across the table, as if guided by a young person's curious hand. No wind, no fan, no pockets of air were present on that warm summer's night. It hadn't taken long for the unexplained to make its presence known.
We started the actual investigation in the main Historic Museum. Formerly a Prohibition tavern and hotel, it houses over 200 exhibits packed with historical artifacts. It’s here that the ghosts of children frequently mock and touch guests, and the energy of Dr. Reuben Reeves can be felt in the Doctor’s Room. It was in this room that we captured a compelling voice on a spirit box, a device that rapidly scans through radio frequencies and allows spirits to communicate through the white noise. When asked who resided in the Doctor’s Room, an eerie voice came through.
“Reuben…Reeves.”
Upon hearing the voice, the feeling in the room completely changed. It was hard to describe, although at the time I recall comparing it to that initial feeling of coming down with an illness. When your body becomes warm, almost numb, and every pocket of air feels like icicles scraping your skin.
Most of the evening’s activities, as you already know, centered on the Phelps General Store. Skeptic or not, the Store is a must-see. Time quite literally stands still in this post-Civil War marketplace and home, which has remained unspoiled by indoor plumbing and electricity. All of the items on the shelves, from detergents to sugar, harken back to those older days.
Above the store is the aforementioned two-floor apartment, where multiple residents lived over the years. One of these residents was Sibyl Phelps, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and lifelong resident of Palmyra. She returned here after finishing her studies, where she would remain until her death in 1976.
One employee reported coming across the apparition of Sibyl in a bedroom on the top floor, who turned to him and said “don’t touch my things.” He refuses to go upstairs alone to this day. During the ghost hunt, Bengtson captured something stunning in this very room on her thermal imaging camera, which captures temperature readings in the surrounding area; a peculiar cold spot in the shape of a human torso staring out the window. This image only appeared in this window, and lasted for a good twenty minutes. Was this Sibyl Phelps, observing the village she once called home?
The Alling Coverlet was the final stop of the hunt, and is a personal favorite of Bengtson.
“The ghosts here like to make fun of my Massachusetts accent,” she admitted. The Alling House is already a phenomenon in its own right, boasting the largest collection of American hand-woven coverlets in the United States. The beautiful tapestries hang from the ceiling like banners.
On the hunt, two different spirits came through the white noise of the spirit box, answering the many questions of the attendees. Over an hour was spent communicating with these spirits, as they smartly answered every question asked of them.
History is alive and well in Palmyra, and Historic Palmyra has many more ghost hunts and walks planned in the coming months, so that others can experience firsthand the voices of the village’s past.
Postmortem:
I should add that, as I was typing this, the door to my office shut on its own accord several times. It is a windy day out, which more than likely explains that, but after seeing that flashlight move on its own I'm just not sure anymore...
