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 . . .

Discover the spooky history of New York's central region From the edge of the Adirondacks, to the heart of Syracuse and everything in between, central New York boasts some of the most haunted history in the state. Utica, Rome and Cazenovia all have historic tales of ghostly moments and unexplained aparations. Join author Dennis Webster as he reveals the hidden haunted history of central New York.

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.

• More than 60 frightening tales • Covers all regions of the state An entertaining look at supernatural phenomena in New York, including the ghost of a British soldier at Fort Ontario, Champ the Lake Champlain monster, the haunted castle of Captain Beardslee, spirits in Manhattan's oldest house, the alien abduction at the Brooklyn Bridge, and many more.

Discover the paranormal past of this little town in the Adirondacks . . . photos included! 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. In this book, 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.

An organized and comprehensive guide to Illinois' haunted and legendary places, Haunting the prairie contains 130 mystery sites and 60 individual illustrations and maps, plus a bibliographic timeline of paranormal and folklore research in Illinois. The author examines the sites and the history, as well as the hobbyists and professionals who explore the strange and unusual in the state. Divided among eight distinct regions and listed by county, each location features a description, directions, and information drawn from a diverse variety of books and articles.