Ghost Walk returns Sept. 28 at Mount Albion
File photo by Tom Rivers: Ryan Krenning portrays Hiram Curtis (April 1804 – May 17, 1871) during last year’s Ghost Walk on Sept. 30. Ryan was one of the Albion High School students who was a ghost, portraying a prominent person at the cemetery. Curtis owned a foundry along the Erie Canal currently occupied by the Lake Country Pennysaver and Orleans Hub. He manufactured agricultural implements including plows, cultivators and reapers. His company made 1,000 plows annually in a variety of patterns. The Erie Canal was a perfect place for his business allowing him to receive raw materials and ship finished product throughout the state and beyond.
ALBION – The annual Ghost Walk at Mount Albion Cemetery, featuring many Albion High School students, returns on Sept. 28 with students portraying 16 people at the cemetery, including three who haven’t been highlighted before.
This is the 11th annual Ghost Walk, and the tours typically attract about 400 to 500 people. The tours start at 5:30 and go until 8:30. There are tours every 15 minutes and they last about an hour.
RSVPs are required and can be made by calling Sue Starkweather Miller at the school, 589-2087. There is a $5 suggested donation. Everyone will be bused in and out of the cemetery from the elementary school.
High school students will perform as actors, singers and tour guides. Students also perform technical duties, making sure there are batteries, lights and microphones.
New ghosts on the tour include:
• George Bullard, a former NYS Assemblyman who donated 24 acres of land to the Village of Albion it what is known as Bullard Park.
• Hank Porter, an Albion graduate, worked for Walt Disney and created illustrations for the full length film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” He also updated the image of Donald Duck, was responsible for the “Disney” design, and sketched numerous emblems and insignias for all military branches to be used on war planes, tanks, and ships. It built comradery and identity with the troops.
• Anna Dann Mason will tell the story of her time as Susan B. Anthony’s housekeeper and personal secretary. She was married in Anthony’s parlor and the famous suffragette was her maid of honor. Mason’s husband, Gilbert Mason, lived in Albion.
Other ghosts featured on the tour include:
• Charles Howard opened his Santa Claus School in 1937. There he taught people from all over the world how to play Santa. In addition, he opened Christmas Park which included many attractions and a toy shop. He was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa and a consultant on the movie Miracle on 34th Street.
• Virginia Sheret will share the story of her brothers James, Andrew and Eugene as their Company F broke through the Hindenberg Line. Two of her brothers paid the ultimate price for their efforts.
• The Barnum brothers and their stint in WWII will be highlighted
• Alice Wilson will tell the story of her death by strangulation. Her philandering husband was her killer. He was the only person ever hanged in Orleans County.
• Sidney Eddy played an important role during WWI. He was stationed in France and was an ambulance driver, putting himself and his Model T in danger as he transported the wounded from the front lines to hospital.
• Emma Hunt will share how she was murdered by the jilted William Lake. Then Sheriff Rice will tell how he put together a posse to apprehend Lake, who was on the lam. He was caught, tried and put to death at Auburn State Prison. At the time, he was the 7th person to die by the electric chair.
• David Jones will share how he and his brother Claudius patented the Delusion Mousetrap. What made is special was the fact that it was a multi-catch mousetrap that would repeatedly kill mice. It was “always set and never out of order.” At its peak of popularity, they were producing over 1,000 traps a day!
• Isaac Signor, Orleans County Judge who wrote the book Landmarks of Orleans County (a resource used for the Albion ghost walks).
• C. Royce Sawyer, a 30-year member of the Dye Hose Company (Albion Fire Department). As Fire Chief, he worked to have the entire company motorized. Albion was the 2nd department in NYS to become motorized, with NYC was the first.
• Emma Ingersoll will show off her family statue and share details of her will, which gifted the water fountain and bench to Mount Albion Cemetery – as long as they promised to supply the water.
• Robert Capstick, a down and out Civil War soldier, gave Sarah Harling his prized possession, a George Washington button, for taking him in and nursing him back to health when he was so destitute.
• Charles Nelson Brown was a minor league baseball player who suffered from severe depression. He was institutionalized in Batavia, but left the facility on snowy night, walked home to Albion and took his own life.
The tour will start and end at the Pump House.
