Head toward central and upstate New York and discover this region’s ghostly history . . . photos included! The Mohawk River winds through upstate and central New York, and along its meandering path residents and visitors have encountered the supernatural. In Utica, ghosts grace the stage of the Stanley Theater. Spirits of Revolutionary War soldiers still march on the Oriskany Battlefield and linger in Schoharie’s Old Stone Fort. And some former residents of Beardslee Castle in St. Johnsville, Boonville’s Hulbert House, and the Seashell Inn of Sylvan Beach have resisted vacating. Here, authors Dennis Webster and Bernadette Peck, along with the other members of Ghost Seekers of Central New York, uncover the mysteries behind these and many other haunted places of the Mohawk Valley.

Mohawk Valley history is spirited with stories of the supernatural. Tales of hauntings enliven the rolling landscape where the blood of tenacious French and Indian War soldiers and loyal Revolutionary War patriots saturated the soil. Ingenious captains of commerce constructed stately homes and halls of hospitality where their restless souls still roam. Murderers slayed for taking lives hang on at their execution site. Although the eerie encounters arise from 18th century confrontations, 19th century trade and 20th century murder, the departed spirits who inhabit the region share a communal haunted history spanning centuries.

This part of New York, straddling the Hudson River from New York City to Albany, is rife with stories of the paranormal.

A ghostly journey into New York State history . . . photos included! Once a bustling hub on the Erie Canal, Utica and the surrounding region still harbor some spirits from the industrial age. “Old Main,” Utica’s shuttered psychiatric hospital, is one of the most haunted sites in New York State. John and Mary Jane Munn still walk the lavish halls of their castle on Rutger Street. Shrouded in secrecy, the Newport Masonic Temple’s “Brotherhood of the Leather Apron” includes a ghostly membership. Otherworldly visitors also inhabit the Stanley Theater, Forest Hill Cemetery, the Madison House, and many other historic locales. Follow Dennis Webster, Bernadette Peck and the Ghost Seekers of Central New York as they delve into the region’s supernatural past . . .

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 takes you on a 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 expired while staying at the historic hotel.

Spirits linger on the pine-covered slopes of the Adirondack Mountains that surround Old Forge. Books fly off the shelves at the Maxson House, and something--or someone--spies on the living from the attic window of the Goodsell Museum. The spirit of Mohawk Peter Waters is said to linger along the shores of First Lake, where an assassin killed him in 1833. The scent of a phantom cigar hints at the presence of the former owner of the Strand Theatre. Authors Dennis Webster and Bernadette Peck and the Ghost Seekers of Central New York take a chilling journey into the paranormal history of what may be the most haunted town in the nation.

Known as "Old Main," the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica opened in 1843 as the first institution of its kind to treat madness as a medical illness, not a curse. A series of groundbreaking administrators sought to save mentally ill New Yorkers from lives of confinement in sordid conditions and create a safe haven. A sense of normalcy was established for patients through Old Main's Asylum Band, the Opal monthly publication and other arts programs. The infamous Utica Crib was invented at the asylum, and visitors from around the world sought to tour the facility and its utopian structure. Though closed in 1978, Old Main was placed in the National Register of Historic Places, and its iconic columns still mesmerize the public today. Author Dennis Webster charts the history of the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica.