Haunted Misperceptions
Posted April 26, 2013 at 7:00 pm
By David Mack-Hardiman, Contributor
While the computer age has revolutionized the world and forever changed the way that information is received, it has also given almost unlimited ability for people to stretch the truth, distort reality, and give imaginary thoughts a non-fictional spin. Hidden behind pseudonyms and user names, people are given an unchecked license to lie.
A few years ago, I was trying to find more information about the Wheater Road Cemetery in Collins, NY, which had served patients of the Gowanda Psychiatric Center. Not surprisingly, very little facts were available. What I did find was a website which listed the cemetery as “haunted." There was even a picture of a ghostly form near the Clear Creek side of the burial grounds. Somewhat skeptical as I am, I thought I needed to open up a bit and perhaps then I might see a ghost!
On many hot summer days over a three year span, I would go out to Wheater Road to set up for our restoration work. I would step out onto the dewy grass and breathe in the beauty of this long abandoned place. Once I saw cagey red fox near the entrance. Red winged blackbirds would chatter away at me. Hawks and turkey vultures could sometimes be seen in the higher sky, searching for a new meal. Small snakes could be found slithering through the tall grass. Woodchucks had constructed an elaborate network of tunnels throughout the cemetery. One day, as I was talking to a co- worker, I stepped right into one of these holes and my right side was suddenly about six inches shorter! But, I never saw a ghost.
I guess some of the haunted lore comes from the perception that institutional life was full of daily torture and that the souls of those departed still wander the earth. While sensationalized images of electro-convulsive therapy provoke strong sentiments, the institutional life that I saw was not quite so news worthy. Yes, there were out-dated behavioral approaches and excessive use of psychotropic medication. The patients seemed to be lonely but it would be hard not to be lonely when one lives with thousands of other people.
On another website, I found that parts of the Allegheny National Forest and specifically, Camp Cornplanter, are also haunted. Apparently, in my many years of working at the first residential camp for people with disabilities in North America, I had overlooked the wandering spirits. I recall the stunning flight of the ruffed grouse, the pokey porcupines wandering about in the dark, the deer snorting in the woods at dawn, and the Eastern black bear lazily eating black raspberries. Not only was the camp haunted, I was “shocked” to learn recently that the nearby forest has also been home to Bigfoot for years. While I do admit to hearing some strange hoots and hollers in the woods at night, I attributed those to owls or young folks, sowing their wild oats in the woods!
Camp Cornplanter served the Polk State School and Hospital, a sprawling institution in Western Pennsylvania. Each summer there would be “Polk Week," in which several of the cabins would be exclusively for Polk residents. My first Polk Week was rainy and exceptionally cool, so the campers whom I served wore long black raincoats which had been sent with them. These gentlemen took a lot of medications so we could not stray far from the nurse during the day. They drank a lot of coffee and many of them smoked heavily. We built campfires where we could so that we could stay warm. One gentleman had hearing difficulties but could sing, usually spiritual hymns, in a way so unique I can’t adequately describe it. He would do a little jig around the fire and eventually, we all would join him in song. The only thing that haunts me is how beautiful that song sounded and how well I can remember it to this day………………
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Sister help to trim the sails, Hallelujah
Sister help to trim the sails, Hallelujah
Jordan’s river is deep and wide, Hallelujah
And I’ve got a home on the other side, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael’s boat is a music boat, Hallelujah
Michael’s boat is a music boat, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
The trumpets sound the jubilee, Hallelujah
The trumpets sound for you and me, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Michael row the boat ashore, Hallelujah
Written by Charles Ware, circa 1860
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