Pratt Event Center hosts paranormal enthusiasts in Albion visit
NY’s Haunted History Trail brings busload of people to sites in WNY
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Brian Cano of Staten Island led a group of 23 people on a paranormal exploration on Sunday night at the Pratt Event Center.
The group arrived by bus as part of a two-day journey around Western New York on the NYS Haunted History Trail.
Cano is shown on the stage of the former Pratt Opera House. On the walls are old play advertisements and programs from theater shows in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The wall is covered with signatures of stage hands, and advertisements from comedy and theater shows. For more than a century, they were hid behind a tin barrier in the Pratt Opera House.
Brian Cano started hosting paranormal TV shows back in 2002 with “Scared in Staten Island.” He said there has been growing interest and acceptance of the paranormal, partly through the popularity of shows such as “Ghost Hunters.”
He led people over two days to several sites in Western New York on the Haunted History Trail. Before coming to the Pratt on Sunday night, the group was at the Buffalo Naval Yard touring a WWII ship.
Cano said the Haunted History Trail highlights interesting places and communities, and isn’t just for people interested in paranormal explorations.
State tourism officials offered the bus tour for the first time, and 23 people signed up.
“Some are just curious, and others are more investigation minded,” Cano said.
Michael Bonafede gave the group some background on the three buildings they would be touring. Bonafede and his wife Judith Koehler have worked more than 20 years of restoring the Pratt Event Center and turning the site from near vacancy to buildings with many tenants.
The Pratt Event Center is made up of three interconnected historic buildings, including the former Grand Opera House, the Day and Day Building and the Stone Building. The site features a preserved Grand Army of the Republic meeting room where Civil War veterans from three Orleans County brigades gathered from 1884 to 1930.
The Pratt has hosted paranormal investigations the past five years. Albion resident D.J. Button leads the groups. He has EMF readers, light balls and motion sensors.
Button leads group tours throughout the year, with October and November the busiest months. Click here for more information on the Pratt paranormal tours.
Michael Bonafede shows the group Beaver Alley, a sandstone paved street next to the Pratt Opera House.
The Gold Medal Flour mural was added to the building at 120 North Main St. The tried to replicate a Gold Medal Flour sign from the early 1900s.
The building from 1882 has an intact GAR Room used by the Grand Army of the Republic, and many programs and posters from performances at the opera house, as well as several other artifacts.
Photos courtesy of Taylor McCabe
The group on the Haunted History Trail gathered in a circle on the stage of the Pratt Opera House before their paranormal investigation on Sunday night.
The group is shown in the Grand Army of the Republic room where Civil War veterans would meet regularly.
Some of the group in the theater saw shadows moving in the rear of the opera house where John Pratt is often believed to come up the back stairs and toward the stage. Many felt energy or presence on stage during their circle around the Ghost Light. Others also heard words related to performances, one observer said.
In the GAR room, they received direct responses through paranormal equipment to questions pertaining to the time period in which the room was used by soldiers, the observer said.
For more on the Haunted History Trail, click here.
