Mason Winfield

The first White settlers of the Niagara Frontier marveled at its relics and earthworks, evidence of still-unknown earlier cultures whose settlement may have been more constant and populous than in any other region of the Americas. By the middle of the nineteenth century Western New York seemed miraculous as a source of religious zeal that led to cults, communities (most of them counter-cultural), and two major modern religions. Many thought some occult energy native to the area must be behind this and its many other manifestations; this site dedicated to paranormal study of Western New York is, at the heart of it, an informal consideration of just that subject.

If the paranormal defies earth's physical laws, you wouldn't expect it to obey human geographical boundaries; but every study has to have a focus. Ours is Western New York, the old Genesee Country: that part of the Empire State west of a line dropped south from Sodus Bay, along Seneca Lake through Elmira. Cities in this tract include Buffalo, Rochester, Jamestown, and Elmira. This was also the general territory of the Seneca Nation, the historic inhabitants of Western New York. Their old title was "The Keepers of the Western Door," the guardians of the western entrance to the landscape-longhouse of the Iroquois Confederation.

Like my books, this site is a regional survey into the "fuzzy fringe" (we'll use the term "paranormal" for almost all of it): UFOs, mystery monsters, haunting's, earth energies, ancient anomalies, offbeat religious groups, magical societies, "Fortean phenomena" (named for Charles Fort, collector of worldwide mysteries), Native American supernaturalism, and even old-fashioned ghostlore. (Some of this, of course, with the fuzz off, represents real opportunity for understanding.) We run the comb over Western New York and talk about what comes up. You'll find frequent-updates in each of the rough categories modeled after my research books, SHADOWS of the WESTERN DOOR (1997) and its sequel SPIRITS of the GREAT HILL (2001).

Unlike a book, though, here you can interact with the writer and with its other visitors. Do you have something to report? Do you have a question about a paranormal subject? Let us know. We'll pick some good ones and share them with everybody. Enjoy your tour; don't get lost.