Post by safetytruck2 on Jan 21, 2010 13:47:10 GMT -5
When people first catch the ghost hunting bug, they have thoughts of exploring old abandoned homes and the oldest parts of cemeteries, searching for that which goes bump in the night. The truth be told, haunted locations don’t have to be places that feel creepy, sometimes they can instead be places that are very beautiful. Rich Eider soon found that out after he began ghost hunting. When he first caught ‘the bug” for ghost hunting it was difficult to keep him and his wife Liza from exploring old grave yards and other places of urban legend. Being a local native to Canandaguia Ny, he decided that one day he’d explore Woodlawn Cemetery. Woodlawn Cemetery certainly doesn’t fit the “stereotype” of what a haunted cemetery would be. It’s not a small family cemetery that’s been lost and forgotten. There are no local stories of ghost encounters. There’s no tales of ‘rituals” being performed among the marble stones there. In fact, Woodlawn Cemetery is one of the most breathtaking places of internment in the Finger Lakes. It covers well over sixty four acres of land and maintained very well. It was one fall evening just before dusk that the Eiders decided to take a leisurely drive through the cemetery. The car crept slowly among the tombstones through the winding trail among the dead - and Liza realized that she had become so incredibly at ease that her foot had come off from the gas peddle. The car was moving on it’s own as if being pulled to a certain place - as if the Eiders were being beckoned. As the car passed over a small stream, it came to rest in and older part of the cemetery.
Woodlawn Cemetery dates back to 1884 when a group of individuals purchased the original twenty eight acres of land from local farmer, Lucius Wilcox. It was was the first burial site in the city of Canandaguia and now has laid to rest over thirteen thousand people. Among the dead are those that date back to the revolutionary war. Many of the graves in this area were of the soldiers who were among the ranks of the Clinton-Sullivan Campaign which stretched across New York State during the final phase of the war. Their campaign was one of the most horrific to have been seen burning Seneca villages - killing man, woman and children along their path of devastation. The souls of these soldiers lie to rest here in this area. Cemeteries are commonly a place of sadness and mourning but spiritually one has to wonder the deeper darker connections that may lie to rest here given the violent actions of these individuals.
Compelled, the Eiders stepped from their vehicle to investigate. Beside the car was a tombstone made of light purple marble. Inside the marble appeared a ghost. Not one of unexplained phenomenon, in fact perhaps just a random gathering of flaws in the marble itself but resembling what looked like a ghost - similar to what a child may draw when asked what a ghost may look like. Because of the oddity of the discovery they took a photograph. It was actually one of several hundred photographs that they randomly took at the cemetery in hopes of finding some ghostly apparition that may be there.
Hoping to improve his chances of capturing a photograph, Rich had a compass in hand. He had read that compasses were useful in ghost hunting because they helped to detect magnetic fields. It is theorized that spirits are made of energy. If a spirit is in the area, they will often wreak havoc with electrical instruments, drain batteries, and can alter magnetic fields. Cases have been documented where compasses will move back and forth in the presence of a spirit when the needle should be pointing due North. When a photograph is taken, there often times will be an anomaly in the picture. Hoping this would be the case, Rich began to walk among the dead with his compass. Soon he walked among a small grouping of trees that formed the shape of a circle. As walked towards the center of the trees, the needle stopped. It dropped to the bottom of the compass and refused to move to matter which direction he turned. being the skeptic, he figured that there was a problem with the compass so he pulled the spare he carried from his pocket. It took was frozen but when he removed himself from the trees it would move freely again. He best described standing in the center of trees as a feeling of complete peace. A sensation that he was outside of things and separated. Areas like this in other places have been called vortexes or places of great energy. But why would it be here in this place?
Later, the Eiders returned home. Other than the interesting experience among the trees of the cemetery there had been nothing else of note. As Rich began looking through the photographs, he noticed something about that initial photograph he had taken while in the cemetery. Note believing what he seen, Rich handed the photograph to Liza. There sitting on top of the pink tombstone was the image of a young man in his late teens. He was wearing what appeared to be a Letterman jacket. His face though was sunken, and skull like. The next day, they returned to the cemetery and noticed in the new section a large stone memorial. The stone had engraved in it a football field and there lied to rest was a young man who had died suddenly. Was this the young man that had brought the Eider’s through the cemetery to that place among the trees? And for what purpose did it serve other than to perhaps entice their interest into the paranormal a bit deeper?
When they returned to look at the photograph again, it had turned completely black. Reports have been made by various groups throughout the world of this strange phenomenon. They would capture an incredible image or clear evp (electronic voice phenomenon) and suddenly have it disappear. Spirits that allow their presence to be known only to a select few and then to have any evidence of it to disappear forever. The message was only perhaps meant for a select few. Even though the photograph is no longer there, there experience still is and even to this day a presence can be felt visiting the Eider home. A mischievous spirit that like to play with Rich - playing hide and seek with keys and remote controls. To this day the Eiders continue their journey into the paranormal.
Woodlawn Cemetery dates back to 1884 when a group of individuals purchased the original twenty eight acres of land from local farmer, Lucius Wilcox. It was was the first burial site in the city of Canandaguia and now has laid to rest over thirteen thousand people. Among the dead are those that date back to the revolutionary war. Many of the graves in this area were of the soldiers who were among the ranks of the Clinton-Sullivan Campaign which stretched across New York State during the final phase of the war. Their campaign was one of the most horrific to have been seen burning Seneca villages - killing man, woman and children along their path of devastation. The souls of these soldiers lie to rest here in this area. Cemeteries are commonly a place of sadness and mourning but spiritually one has to wonder the deeper darker connections that may lie to rest here given the violent actions of these individuals.
Compelled, the Eiders stepped from their vehicle to investigate. Beside the car was a tombstone made of light purple marble. Inside the marble appeared a ghost. Not one of unexplained phenomenon, in fact perhaps just a random gathering of flaws in the marble itself but resembling what looked like a ghost - similar to what a child may draw when asked what a ghost may look like. Because of the oddity of the discovery they took a photograph. It was actually one of several hundred photographs that they randomly took at the cemetery in hopes of finding some ghostly apparition that may be there.
Hoping to improve his chances of capturing a photograph, Rich had a compass in hand. He had read that compasses were useful in ghost hunting because they helped to detect magnetic fields. It is theorized that spirits are made of energy. If a spirit is in the area, they will often wreak havoc with electrical instruments, drain batteries, and can alter magnetic fields. Cases have been documented where compasses will move back and forth in the presence of a spirit when the needle should be pointing due North. When a photograph is taken, there often times will be an anomaly in the picture. Hoping this would be the case, Rich began to walk among the dead with his compass. Soon he walked among a small grouping of trees that formed the shape of a circle. As walked towards the center of the trees, the needle stopped. It dropped to the bottom of the compass and refused to move to matter which direction he turned. being the skeptic, he figured that there was a problem with the compass so he pulled the spare he carried from his pocket. It took was frozen but when he removed himself from the trees it would move freely again. He best described standing in the center of trees as a feeling of complete peace. A sensation that he was outside of things and separated. Areas like this in other places have been called vortexes or places of great energy. But why would it be here in this place?
Later, the Eiders returned home. Other than the interesting experience among the trees of the cemetery there had been nothing else of note. As Rich began looking through the photographs, he noticed something about that initial photograph he had taken while in the cemetery. Note believing what he seen, Rich handed the photograph to Liza. There sitting on top of the pink tombstone was the image of a young man in his late teens. He was wearing what appeared to be a Letterman jacket. His face though was sunken, and skull like. The next day, they returned to the cemetery and noticed in the new section a large stone memorial. The stone had engraved in it a football field and there lied to rest was a young man who had died suddenly. Was this the young man that had brought the Eider’s through the cemetery to that place among the trees? And for what purpose did it serve other than to perhaps entice their interest into the paranormal a bit deeper?
When they returned to look at the photograph again, it had turned completely black. Reports have been made by various groups throughout the world of this strange phenomenon. They would capture an incredible image or clear evp (electronic voice phenomenon) and suddenly have it disappear. Spirits that allow their presence to be known only to a select few and then to have any evidence of it to disappear forever. The message was only perhaps meant for a select few. Even though the photograph is no longer there, there experience still is and even to this day a presence can be felt visiting the Eider home. A mischievous spirit that like to play with Rich - playing hide and seek with keys and remote controls. To this day the Eiders continue their journey into the paranormal.