In New York State

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2016 SECTION T ON ON3 MARKET VALUE Start the holiday festivities with a tour of some of Germany’s best Christmas markets, T6 TRAVEL Ghost hunting in New York State The Rolling Hills Asylum in rural East Bethany is straight out of central casting. AMITY PHOTO JENNIFER BAIN TRAVEL EDITOR ACROSS NEW YORK STATE—Casper Cop chucks coins across the darkened Treasureland arcade at the Sylvan Beach Amusement Park and lets them ricochet on the ancient wooden floor. “It’s James. I’ve got a friend here who’d like to meet you. I’ve got recorders going. You gonna do something for us? We’d really love to meet you.” Casper Cop is private investigator James Pendell by profession and ghost hunter by passion. He has a seasonal gig leading the Park After Dark Ghost Tours. “I’ve got a penny,” Pendell says cajolingly to the darkness. “Will you throw it back to me? Where’s my little girl?” A prankster spirit child sometimes tosses the coins back or jingles them. She’s one of the many ghosts said to roam this paranormal paradise in a vintage amusement park. Pendell’s tours start just as the park is closing and contin- ue when he has the place to himself for several spooky hours, making for a “high freakout factor.” He has earned one of 65 spots on the Haunted History Trail of New York State, which launched three years ago and keeps adding places such as creepy inns, parks, thea- tres, museums, restaurants and cemeteries, offering ghost stories, tours and hunts. JENNIFER BAIN PHOTOS/TORONTO STAR Ghost hunters use Maglites (a type of flashlight), cam- Left: The Iron Island Museum, a former church and funeral home, was declared haunted in a 2008 episode of Ghost eras, dowsing rods, video recorders, audio records, elec- Hunters. Everyone gathers in the chapel at the start of an overnight investigation led by museum president Linda tronic voice phenomena recorders and other tools to Hastreiter. Right: At the Palmyra Museum, executive director Bonnie Hays uses dowsing rods to reach spirits. communicate with the spirit world. GHOST HUNTING continued on T2 WINTER WARMUP DEALS! Santiago de Cuba ALL INCLUSIVE Camaguey ALL INCLUSIVE Cayo Coco ALL INCLUSIVE Brisas Sierra Mar ###+ Brisas Santa Lucia #### HotelColonialCayoCoco #### January5•7nights January5•7nights January4•7nights SAVE $100 SAVE $140 SAVE $240 $658 $688 $708 FREE TOUR +$210 taxes&fees FREE TOUR +$210 taxes&fees FREE TOUR +$210 taxes&fees EXCLUSIVEFREETOURSfor Hola Sun passengers when booking a package to Varadero, Cayo Coco, Holguin, Havana, Santiago de Cuba or Camaguey. www.holasunholidays.ca Prices are in CAD, per person, based on double occupancy and subject to change without notice. Space is subject to availability at time of booking. Rates based on lowest category offered. All departures are fromTorontoonCubanaAirlines.EBBSavingswhenapplicablearealreadyreﬂectedinthepublishedrates.Refertoourcurrentbrochureforfulltermsand conditions. Hola Sun Holidays • 146 West Beaver Creek Road, Unit 8, Richmond Hill, L4B 1C2.OntReg.4062527 T2⎮TORONTO STAR SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2016 ON ON3 >> TRAVEL The art of phantom chasing requires patience GHOST HUNTING from T1 We explore numerous frozen-in- time rooms, like the one that once You don’t have to be a true believer housed tuberculosis patients. In the to be captivated by the haunted trail. windowless basement morgue, you Fans of shows like Ghost Hunters, see how spirits use a suit suspended Ghost Adventures, Haunted Collector from the ceiling as a pendulum to and Scariest Places on Earth are communicate. drawn to it. So are the merely “para- I lay on a gurney and play sick, normal curious.” Coyle calls for help, and the suit “Could you do something for us to- starts swinging around. day?” Pendell pleads with his prank- “Ghost hunting is called hunting for ster spirit. a reason,” she says. “It’s like hunting Not tonight. We hunt in other dark, for deer or fish or watching paint empty buildings, inviting the spirits dry.” Patience is essential and the to play knocking games, mess with spirits apparently “may not think salt and pepper shakers, and manip- you’re interesting enough to com- ulate flashlights, but nobody wants municate with.” to play. Hmph. Luckily, 14 of us take part in Getting shunned by spirits is just a final ghost hunt at the Iron Island like getting snubbed by babies and AMITY PHOTOS Museum in Buffalo — and the spirits dogs, but Pendell makes things fun. The Rolling Hills Asylum, about an hour outside of Buffalo, opened in 1827 as a “poor house.” sure liked somebody. The Lovejoy He sure picked a fitting nickname. neighbourhood museum has be- Casper Cop pays homage to the fa- come a magnet for paranormal tour- mous friendly ghost and conveys his ists since starring in the 2008 season mantra that “the unknown isn’t evil, opener of Ghost Hunters. just misunderstood.” Museum president Linda Hastrei- “People say when I die I’m going to ter feed us Lovejoy Pizza and briefs haunt this place, and I say I just us on the building’s storied past as a might — the legend of Casper Cop.” church and then funeral home. Ghost hunting is often likened to What stands out is the true story of fishing. Sometimes the fish bite like the abandoned boxes of cremated mad and sometimes they don’t, but remains found in the basement. The fishing is so pleasurable it hardly spirits gave staff the name Edgar and matters. the staff then identified the war vet’s I spent three days driving New remains and tracked down his fami- York’s haunted trail, visited 12 spots, ly. met countless characters, such as JENNIFER BAIN JENNIFER BAIN Hastreiter regales us with tales of Pendell, and embarked on five ghost James Pendell leads the Park After Dark Tours at Sylvan Naples Hotel owner Dominick Gallo uses a Maglite to orbs, voices, shadow men, full-body hunts. Beach Amusement Park. reach spirits in one of the guest rooms. apparitions, moving objects and Did I see, hear, feel or photograph a even a ghost cat before taking us to ghost? Not definitively. what inspired Genesee County > WHEN YOU GO the chapel to watch the Ghost Hunt- At the Historic Palmyra Wm. Chamber of Commerce tourism ers episode that confirmed spirit ac- Phelps General Store/Palmyra Mu- marketing director Kelly Rapone to Take the trail: The Haunted Histo- tivity. seum, executive director Bonnie create the haunted tourist trail. ry Trail of New York State (haun- She and her volunteer ghost hunt- Hays tries to communicate with a “There are a million statewide tedhistorytrail.com) currently ers — Tom MacDonald, Lorraine girl named Holly who died in a fire trails,” points out trail publicist Doug boasts 65 stops across 13 counties Woiccak, Gina Keller and Patrick with her mom and five siblings. Sitler, “but this one is certainly in New York. I went to spots be- Burke — set up all kinds of equip- We sit in the parlour where Holly unique.” tween Alexandria Bay and Buffalo, ment in the chapel and the adjoining likes to hide under a table with a The Rolling Hills Asylum opened in with a focus on the 1000 Islands- room, where we climb a ladder and basket of toys, but she pretty much 1827 as a “poor house” for the men- Seaway, Central New York, Finger Cam Hoffberg leads the Thousand peer into the fairly terrifying attic ignores our overtures. Eventually tally and physically challenged, wid- Lakes and Greater Niagara regions. Islands Ghost Tours. featured in the TV show. someone else seems to reach out via ows, war veterans and other outcasts. The trail is open year-round, We turn off the lights. the Maglite we set out. It later became an infirmary and although some spots may be sea- exandria Bay (rileysbytheriver.com), Thumps, bangs, flashes, alarms, ex- With these small flashlights, you ro- nursing home, sat empty and sonal. Eddie’s Restaurant (ed- citement, terror and confusion en- tate the heads until they illuminate, bounced among private owners. Get there: This is a road trip so dies1934.com) and the Pancake sue. twist them back to the barely off po- Sharon Coyle took charge in 2010 you’ll need a car. House in Sylvan Beach, Aster Pantry What it all amounts to, I don’t sition and put them on a flat surface. and has been “resuscitating” the 100- Stay: Sunset Cottages in Sylvan & Parlour in Syracuse (asterpan- know, but Burke nails it when he Ask yes or no questions and the spir- plus rooms ever since. She oversees Beach (sylvanbeach.com/sunset), try.com), Kismet Bistro (kismet- says, “ghost hunting is 99 per cent its just might answer by flashing the private and public ghost hunts and the Naples Hotel in Naples (na- newamericanbistro.com) and the boredom, 1per cent freakout.” lights. guided and self-guided tours — pleshotelny.com) and the Mansion Grainery in Naples, the Big Tree Inn Jennifer Bain was hosted by the Haunt- At the Naples Hotel in the Finger strictly by reservation — and hosts on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo in Geneseo (bigtreeinn.com) and ed History Trail of New York state and its Lakes, innkeeper Dominick Gallo al- horror movie nights, special events (mansionondelaware.com). Marble & Rye in Buffalo (marblean- partners, none of which reviewed or so favours the Maglite approach. and paranormal celebrity events. Eat: Riley’s by the River in Al- drye.net). approved this story. “I know you’re here. Could you please give us a sign? Turn on one of the flashlights. Please don’t skunk me tonight.” (Getting skunked is a fishing term for when you don’t catch anything.) Gallo instructs us to take pictures, Buy 1, Get 1 especially in the corners of haunted guest rooms, and look at them later to see if we caught any orbs, figures or 1 faces.

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