Pursuing the Lady in White: Part One

For this Halloween season I decided to visit destinations tied with the production of the movie Lady in White (1988) and the legend which inspired the movie. Despite having lived in the Rochester, New York area for most of my current life and having been a Lady in White fan since the late 1980s, I had never gone to the towns that were used in the making of the movie despite them being only an hour's drive away. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I finally visited Durand-Eastman Park, right here in my very own city, where the legend of the White Lady stems from. This October, I decided it was about time I finally took an in-depth look at these local dark destinations.

I decided to begin with the source of the legend, Durand-Eastman Park. The park was created in the early 20th Century on land donated by Kodak founder George Eastman and Doctor Henry Durand. The park borders Lake Ontario and contains a pair of smaller lakes. The spot where the three lakes come the closest to each other is generally the focal point for the legend of the White Lady ghost of Rochester. A picnic area known as the 3-Lakes Pavilion is claimed to be site of the former home of Eelissa, the Lady in White. The pavilion is a hill with a cobblestone wall built into the side that faces Lake Ontario.

The legend states that a vengeful feminine wraith cloaked entirely in white stalks the park in the vicinity, searching for male victims. The reasons for White Lady's wrath and where exactly in the park she manifests vary from story to story. Often, the legends have the ghost motivated by a tragedy involving her daughter and a pre-existing distrust/dislike for men on the part of Eelissa. In this semi-sympathetic version of the story, the ghost is searching for her long-lost daughter and may attack any mortal men who have the misfortune to interrupt her search.

In some tales the White Lady is a woman who was driven to madness and murder by the actions of an unfaithful husband. Still blinded by her jealous rage, she is said to stalk the roads of the park, mistaking unfortunate young lovers in cars for her husband and his mistress whom she seeks to slay again and again, doomed to re-enact her crime with fresh victims over the centuries.

My recent visit to the park was on an over-cast and gloomy afternoon, the next best thing to visiting the park at night. The stretch of beach along Lake Ontario was my first stop. The first stories I had heard of the White Lady had her prowling this rocky beach with a pair of spectral dogs that she would sic on any man unfortunate enough to choose the wrong evening for a nighttime stroll.

I then moved on to the 3-Lakes Pavilion and the two smaller lakes across the street from Lake Ontario. The cobblestone wall of what some legends refer to as the “White Lady's Castle” has long cracks running through a few spots, but has held up otherwise well over the nearly 100-years since it was built. The view from the pavilion was wonderful, though there was a disquieting silence in the area. The only sign of wildlife I spotted were some swans quietly skimming through the water of Durand Lake when I wandered deeper into the park and away from the pavilion. Some legends claim that the White Lady forms from the mists of that very lake.



Overall, it was a nice fall hike with a with a slightly spooky ambiance. It made me want to return again during evening hours and take a stroll... hopefully not on a night when Eelissa is on the hunt.

My next journey was to Lyons, New York and a number of locations used in the filming of Frank LaLoggia's nostalgic supernatural mystery Lady in White. I will write about this in a future second installment.

In the meantime, you can click here to read our full article on Durand-Eastman Park for further details about the legend and photos I took during my last visit.


-Tom G

Investigators Needed for Possibly Haunted Theatre

I was recently approached by The Little Theatre, an art house movie theater in Western New York, about writing an article about their Halloween film festival. In the process of gathering information about the place, I found that some employees of the 80-year-old movie theater had experienced some possible paranormal activity over the years. Theater workers have witnessed doors opening and closing with no apparent physical cause and a voice that calls out the name "Anne."

While I was writing my article, one of my relatives came by and asked what I was writing. When I told him I was writing about The Little Theatre, he told me that he had been hired to install a pair of stained glass windows there. The windows were originally from the Powers Building. I instantly had an odd sensation and a vague memory about the Powers Building. I zipped over to my bookshelf and pulled out a couple of books about hauntings in Rochester, NY. Sure enough, there it was... the Powers Building and the attached Powers Hotel with their stories of haunted elevators that sometimes kill... and the first elevator victim back in the 1890s was a woman named "Annie."

I passed this information along to my contact at The Little Theatre and she asked if I could possibly find a group of paranormal investigators who might be interested in performing an investigation of the historic theater. I told her I would pass the word along. If you represent a group who is interested in conducting an investigation of The Little, you can contact their management through the contact information on their Web site. Ask for Beth.

If you'd like to learn more about The Little Theatre, it's possible haunting, and their upcoming Halloween event click here.

-Tom G

Balloon Manor Canceled for 2009

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Balloon Manor is a haunted attraction created entirely from balloons that pops up each year in the Rochester, New York area. The story behind Balloon Manor is a romantic one. Artist Larry Moss's wife, Judy, fell into a coma in 2003 due to complications from cancer treatments. Larry would talk to her in the hopes he could bring her out of her unconscious state. One day he promised her that if she would please wake up and return to him, he would celebrate their Halloween wedding anniversary by building her a haunted castle out of balloons. When Judy finally came out of her coma, the one thing she remembered was Larry making that promise to her. In October of 2004, Larry and a team of volunteers fulfilled his romantic promise to his wife and built a 10,000 square foot haunted castle completely out of latex balloons. Everything, including the walls, furniture and monsters were made from balloons: an undertaking that took six and half days and over 100,000 balloons to make. One hundred percent of the profits for Balloon Manor went to cancer charities (and still do). Balloon Manor became a yearly tradition, with the exception of 2005 which was skipped.

Sadly, due to the current state of the economy and a lack of sponsorship this year, there will not be a Balloon Manor in 2009. There has been news coverage of Larry's struggles to drum up the support necessary for creating Balloon Manor, and while it brought in new volunteers and donations, it just wasn't enough to make Balloon Manor 2009 a reality. Larry informed me through email that he was going to make a public announcement about the cancellation later this week. He gave me the go ahead to break the news in advance through Dark Destinations since I was already in the process of updating our entry on Balloon Manor (see Balloon Manor). This is not the end of Balloon Manor, which Larry intends to bring back in the future. This also doesn't mean that Larry Moss doesn't have some other magic up his sleeve; he will also be announcing new upcoming projects that he has in development. To receive the official announcement (as well as future Balloon Manor announcements) you can sign up through http://balloonmanor.com/ or by following Balloon Manor on Twitter. Also, should you wish and are able, you can make monetary donations towards next year's Balloon Manor or even volunteer to help in its creation through the Balloon Manor Web site.

Click here to learn more about Balloon Manor and to view photos from past Balloon Manors.


-Tom G

The Desecration of a General's Grave

Today marks nine years since it was discovered that someone had desecrated the remains of Civil War General Elisha G. Marshall at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, NY. The dead man's bones were discovered scattered around his place of interment. His skull wasn't discovered among the littered remains and still has not been recovered all these years later. Was the act a misguided and sick prank or was it part of one of a dark ritual; one of the ones said to take place within the confines of the large cemetery from time to time? Odds are that someone out there knows the truth... and the current whereabouts of the missing skull.

The crime isn't the only one to occur inside the cemetery's gates. Wander to the Mt. Hope Cemetery to discover what horrible thing happened there on Halloween night last year.


-Tom G

The Botched Execution of Ira Stout

Today marks 150 years since the state of New York executed murderer Marion Ira Stout (who went by his middle name). It didn't go according to plan and Ira suffered a prolonged death that shocked and horrified witnesses. It would prove to be one final bit of bad luck for a criminal for whom karma just seemed to have it out for.

Ira murdered his sister Sarah's husband Charles on December 19, 1857. The murder was planned by the siblings and Sarah assisted with aspects of the crime. The murder was perpetrated on the edge of the Genesee River gorge, just north of the High Falls, with the intention of throwing the body into the water and making it look like an accident. Ira killed Charles with a single blow to the head from a steel hammer. It would be the last aspect of the crime to go smoothly for Ira and Sarah.

The two ran into so many problems disposing of the body that it became a macabre comedy of errors. By the time they were finished, both murderers had broken bones, were covered in dirt and still had not succeeded in actually disposing of the body. They managed to leave so much evidence at the scene of the crime that even with the poor quality of forensic science during the era, the entire Stout family was brought in for questioning within hours of the body's discovery the following morning.

Months later, while awaiting execution, Ira twice attempted suicide with the assistance of others. Both attempts were failures, including one where someone else ingested the poison that had been meant for him! His case was major news in the area and he drew support from notable Rochester citizens Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. They, along with a number of others sought to have Ira's sentence commuted to life in prison rather than the death penalty.

While the efforts delayed his execution for a few more months, Ira was still executed on October 22, 1858. Ira was executed by hanging from an indoor scaffold. In one final insult from fate, the rope slipped during the 8 foot plunge that should have snapped his neck. Instead, Ira slowly strangled to death. For a full 10 minutes, Ira danced a ghastly violent jig at the end of the hangman's rope. Witnesses to the execution are said to have been shocked horribly by the incident; covering their eyes and looking away. It took yet another 20 minutes for Ira to finally slowly strangle to death. Ira Stout, unlucky to the end.

Pay a visit to Ira's grave in Rochester's historic Mt. Hope Cemetery or visit the crime scene and find out all the things that went wrong following the murder of Charles Littles.

-Tom G