Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Good evening, I'm Ben and welcome to do you want to hear a ghost story? The show where you and I gather around this virtual campfire to share our scariest experiences.
Small town America is often overlooked, but these towns are littered with history. If you're from one, you've likely heard the tales of former residents who never left.
In tonight's episode, we're headed to the greater Niagara region of New York state to hear Brian's experience when he spent a night at the Van Horn mansion in Burt, New York.
So, without further ado, do you want to hear a ghost story?
I love spooky things and my best friend Mike shares this passion.
While I'm more into horror movies and Halloween decor, Mike is an amateur ghost hunter and often convinces me to tag along on his investigations.
These trips, especially in the fall around Halloween, are always a thrill.
However, our trip to Newfane, New York is one I will never forget. Mike had convinced me and my then girlfriend, now wife Sarah, to join us on this trip to the west side of the state to a town and building we had never heard of.
Mike watched ghost hunters religiously and based his entire paranormal investigative operation on the show down to the Black Yukon. He would drive almost exclusively to investigations. The trip from Albany to New Fein is about 4 hours and the scheduled itinerary was to head to the location and meet with a woman named Rose. With an hour left on the drive, Mike began his location information dump, imitating the drama of his favorite show. Alright, team, Mike started, his voice low and intense.
I tried to hold back a laugh as I glanced at Sarah.
I was nervous to see how she would react to all this. We had not been dating very long and I was uncertain for a shared passion for spooky things between us. I was very hopeful she would enjoy this. Otherwise, I was unsure what I would do because on one hand I really liked her, but on the other, this was a big part of my life, too.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: Tonight we're headed to the Van Horn mansion in New Fane, New York. This historic mansion, built in 1823 by James Augustus van Horn, has a history as rich as it is eerie.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: He glanced back at us in the.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Rearview mirror, ensuring he had our attention.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: James Van Horn, the original owner was.
[00:02:40] Speaker A: A simple blacksmith who moved to Niagara.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: County in the early 18 hundreds. He built the first flour mill in the area, but it was destroyed by the British during the War of 1812.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Despite these setbacks, he rebuilt and expanded.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: His operations, eventually constructing the Van Horn mansion.
[00:03:01] Speaker A: Pikes enthusiasm, I must admit, was contagious. I found myself enthralled.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: The mansion, Mike continued, has seen its share of tragedy and mystery.
James son, James Junior, married a beautiful.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: Young woman named Melinda Niles.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Sadly, Melinda died under mysterious circumstances just a year after their wedding. Some say it was childbirth. Others whisper of more sinister causes. Her ghost is said to haunt the mansion, and her presence is always marked by the scent of perfume.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Lilac, I think. I glanced back at Sarah to see she, too, was glancing at me. In that shared glance, I sensed a mix of excitement and apprehension in her eyes.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Mike wasn't done yet, and that's not all.
Over the years, the mansion has changed hands many times, serving as the Van Horn family home, then a restaurant, then a boarding house. It fell into disrepair, becoming a hotspot for vandals, until the newfound historical society eventually took it over, restoring it to its former glory.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: He paused for dramatic effect, letting the weight of his words hit as we pulled into the Van Horn mansion itself.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: But the van horns, according to legend, never left.
[00:04:42] Speaker A: It was a crisp autumn evening, but Rose was waiting outside for us. After brief introductions, she quickly brought us inside and gave us all a tour of the building, rehashing the same information Mike had just given us. The mansion was stunning, yet also unsettling. Rose informed us that we had until 10:00 p.m. to do our investigating. I believe it was about 630 by the time we finished our tour.
This was still the early days of ghost hunting gear, so all we had were flashlights, an EMF detector, and a digital voice recorder.
With our equipment in tow, we began our investigation in the parlor. Almost immediately, Sarah leaned over to me and said that she was feeling very cold, which wasnt necessarily unusual besides the fact that the heat in this building was turned up and both Mike and I were visibly sweating. We shrugged it off and moved cautiously to the second floor, but as we got about halfway up the stairs, I caught a whiff of something.
It was floral, like a perfume.
The story of Melinda rushed back into my head.
Lilac perfume is meant to be a sign of her presence.
I quickly asked if anyone else smelled it, to which Sarah was the only one to respond.
I do, but I didn't want to be the one to bring it up first.
Mike instinctively asked out into the ether.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Of the building, Melinda, are you here with us?
[00:06:18] Speaker A: That was in the attic. Mike took off. Sarah and I followed again.
[00:06:23] Speaker B: Mike asked, are you here with us, Melinda?
[00:06:26] Speaker A: But it was met with nothing but silence, and the rest of the night was quiet until we packed up and headed outside to pay our respects. At Melinda's grave. Sarah leaned in once again and whispered to me, I smell it again, don't you? She was right. I did.
But we were outside, so I thought maybe, maybe it's just the outside smells. Either way, we didn't share that experience with Mike. As we packed up our equipment and left the van Horn mansion, the experiences of the night were played in my mind. I reached into the back of the van and pulled out Mike's voice recorder and forwarded to when we were on.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: The stairs, Melinda, are you here with us?
[00:07:12] Speaker A: Awesome.
Sarah just looked at me, moving her eyes from the voice recorder to meet mine.
We both looked towards the rearview mirror to see Mike, wide eyed, looking back at us.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Holy shit. Shit.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: No way.
[00:07:28] Speaker B: Thats so clear.
[00:07:30] Speaker A: Mike let out in excitement.
We all laughed. I mean, what else was there to do when you could clearly hear a ghost in your recording?
We were all very excited. But I was excited for another secret reason.
Because it was over the course of this night that I fell in love with Sarah. I decided I would marry her on that very drive home.
Its been 15 years and were still married.
The investigation of the Van Horn mansion did not disappoint.
Its mysteries came alive for us that night, leaving us with unforgettable memories and a story that continues to haunt and enchant me to this day. So if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend a visit to the Van Horn mansion.
It's an experience you won't forget.
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Look, I bet you're glad you went on that investigation.
15 years, that's wild. That's half my life, man.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: No, this is a good one. This is.
This feels pretty similar to a lot.
[00:08:40] Speaker C: Of the experience that people send in, that they're kind of.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Like they think.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Something happened, but they're not entirely sure. But it lingers with them, you know, and smelling things and then getting the EVP. That's really cool.
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Check your email if you still have.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: That EVP, I'd love to hear it, man. That'd be pretty cool.
Maybe, maybe I can share that after next week's episode. But Brian, that's awesome, man. Congratulations on 15 years.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: The main horn mansion is really cool.
[00:09:13] Speaker C: Because also being from like a small town, right, small town, the middle of central Illinois, there are a lot of just of those historic buildings. Some of them are run down, some of them are restored, but a lot of them do come with ghost stories. And I'm sure much like me, like I like so many friends and friends of friends that have experiences at those buildings.
[00:09:33] Speaker A: And I just.
[00:09:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so many people from, like, podunk little places, just that there's.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: A lot of very overlooked hauntings there.
[00:09:43] Speaker C: That people don't think about because they're thinking about these larger cities like New Orleans, Salem, you know, like these hot spots for where people go and experience paranormal. There's a lot of places like this that there is rich history there, but it's not very well known outside of the town or the region, you know.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: So that's really cool.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: If you have any more stories like.
[00:10:02] Speaker A: This, anybody else listening, please send them.
[00:10:05] Speaker C: I love these stories. These are kind of like the heart of how ghost stories and folklore and local histories can kind of be mixed, right? Like, a lot of ghost stories and folklore are just that, ghost stories, right. And sometimes you kind of got to go in and you gotta decipher, okay, what's local history, what's local legend, what's ghost story? But then a lot of ghost stories are really intertwined with the local history, and they're, in my opinion, a really.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Fun, entertaining way to tell history.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: So if you have any other stories like this, please reach out, send them in. It'd be really fun. I'd never heard of the Van Horn mansion, and now you have as well. So with that, I'd like to thank.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: You for listening to this episode of do you want to hear a ghost story?
[00:10:49] Speaker C: If you enjoyed it, please share it.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: With your friends and family. I am incredibly grateful for the influx of new listeners that I've received since.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: My last episode, and I have you personally listening right now to thank for that. So thank you. Thank you very much for sharing my show.
[00:11:04] Speaker A: As always, if you have a story on my emails in the episode description, until next time, stay spooky.
