Imagine Western New York in the early 1800s. Settling within a mile or so of the Niagara River, people formed tiny hamlets that would in time become Buffalo, Niagara Falls and every other town from Lake Ontario south to Lake Erie.
Even the biggest settlements in those times had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, as the decades-old nation was just starting to flex its muscles and expand westward.
Within one week in 1813, British forces decimated just about everything in that stretch.
That and other tales from the War of 1812 are described in “Ghosts of 1812,” the latest effort from noted paranormal researcher Mason Winfield. Once again displaying a mastery of local history, Winfield intersperses humor and eloquent writing in this account of local fighting during that skirmish, all the while trying to determine the origins of many reported ghostly places on both sides of the border.
Winfield expertly lays the groundwork early on, detailing the hardships people in 1812 dealt with. Using poetic language, he quashed the notion of gentlemanly battle during this era, describing military altercations in such a brutish manor that imbibing was often the only to coerce men to fight: “Like dancing to disco, marching into cannon fire does best with a chemical palliative,” he wrote.
The books traces the war chronologically, with Winfield breaking up the historical narrative to discuss some of the specters spotted on the sites he’s spent that chapter discussing.
Canadians living in Niagara-on-the-Lake, site of fierce fighting early in the war, frequently report seeing the “ectoplasmic cavalier” General Brock making his way down the Niagara Parkway on horseback. Their neighbors in nearby hotels reportedly see so many ghosts, meanwhile, that some staffers have given the ghouls names.
Canadian/British forces leveled what existed of Western New York during a two-week stretch in December 1813, which Mason theorizes could serve as the basis for hauntings all along the river. Starting at Fort Niagara (it wasn’t so old back then), the “human storm” that was crown troops torched Youngstown, Lewiston, the village that became Niagara Falls, Tonawanda (except for one house) and Buffalo.
Their actions — for which U.S. forces extracted revenge in the new year — might have led to most of Fort Niagara being ruled by ghosts, soldier specters occupying Youngstown and the ghost of famed U.S. Army leader Winfield Scott riding around Lewiston near Center and Third streets.
Dead soldiers are also said to occupy numerous locales along Virginia Street in Buffalo, as well as most of the space around Symphony Circle, which housed a graveyard even before scalping victims were mass-buried there in 1813.
The war ultimately ended in a draw, and Winfield likewise doesn’t draw too many firm conclusions on the reported hauntings. Rather, he wisely offers up what information is available and leaves it to the reader to make up his own mind.
This book offers more information on local history than it does supernatural stories, but it’s a better read for just that reason. By basing the information in fact, Winfield adds credibility to the material, allowing for fewer nits to be picked by skeptics.
The War of 1812, while not a skirmish that was even worthy of its own noteworthy name, helped shape this region in many ways. The ghosts of that war, both literal and figurative, still linger in many ways, and Winfield’s must-read book give them new life.
Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.
IF YOU READ
• WHAT: “Ghosts of 1812”
• BY: Mason Winfield
• DETAILS: Published by Western New York Wares Inc., 178 pages
• GRADE: A-
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Dennis Stierer/Staff photographer
BOOK REVIEW: WNY’s ghostly origins explored in Winfield work
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