From the Adirondacks to the Catskills, from The Big Apple to the orchards on Lake Ontario’s shores, from the Allegheny Plateau to the Tug Hill Plateau to the Helderbergs, and from Lake Champlain to Cassadaga Lake to Canandaigua Lake, ghosts exist. They always have, as long as human beings hunted, fought, farmed, worked and lived in the region now called New York State. David J. Pitkin, historian and ghost researcher, shares 120 true modern ghost stories garnered from all parts of NY State. Most of these have never before been published and should be enjoyable, if a bit scary, to lovers of history and mystery.

New York State Ghosts, Vol. 1

David J. Pitkin

Aurora Publications

All that State Police Sr. Investigator Dennis Girard wants to do is solve a smuggling case and then retire from a career that has recently been lackluster. Instead, he is killed by his quarry, and enters the world of near-death experiences. Eventually returned to duty, he must cope with visions, voices and spiritual experiences. Suddenly, the end of his career in 2008 is filled with a desperate attempt to catch devious strangers who, it appears, want to kill former President George H.W. Bush. Two explosive endings to a tale that spans Quebec and the northeastern U.S. A strong spiritual undercurrent.

The Highest Mountain: Death & Life in the Adirondacks

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Pitkin's second book of ghost stories from the Empire State is illustrated with photos. Again, as in previous ghost books, he doesn't aim for a scream response to the mysterious circumstances in which many people live and work. Instead, his motto is "Enlighten, Don't Frighten." These are non-fictional and researched stories, as much history as mystery.

New York State Ghosts, Volume Two

Here are 135 researched ghost stories that you have never heard before. Historian, investigator and storyteller David J. Pitkin spent 9 years interviewing across New England to present these tales of returned relatives, store ghosts, campus ghosts, spirits in old hotels and inns, and modern restaurants--and, of course, haunted residences. Aiming not to scare you, but to draw you into profound thinking about the life that continues after your body dies, he continues in his role of teacher. We must all pass through the state of being a ghost, he tells us. See whether or not you think he makes his case. Accompanied by 75 photos, his eighth book demonstrates how common are the appearances and antics of the departed, who have been experienced by the living for thousands of years. He often discovers who these unique personalities are and why they remain among us when something better still awaits them. Not that many of them are to be feared, as they are just continuing what they struggled with in life.

New England Ghosts

Warren County is one of the oldest of New York's State's counties. Its history is a lore of ancient Indian life followed by invading European armies that turned on one another in a Revolutionary War. Those struggles were follwed by lumbering, mining and transportation interests, which awakened urban vacationers' interests in the beauty of unspoiled wilderness. Many legends sprang forth from those adventurers, and a good number of those who remained troubled by their Adirondack struggles have been slow to move on. These entities provide colorful and exciting ghost appearances even today. A long-dead maid still works the upstairs of the old Pitcairn mansion. A deceased German immigrant woman still tidies the house she left in the '70s. The former owner of a Warrensburg hotel, who never married his lady co-manager still roams the upstairs with her. They chatted with the author. A 10-year-old girl, destined to be an outstanding American literary figure, still returns to her aunt and uncle's farmhouse to play kid games. A long-ago banker still strolls his mansion, carefully scanning the Civil War casualty lists in what is now a bed and breakfast.  A World War I doughboy on liberty occasionally is seen leaving the Lake George railroad station, which hasn't had a train in fifty years. Two prior hotels which burned once stood where the now famous Sagamore Resort is today. Ghosts from all three periods intermingle. A former activist NY State senator still roams his lakeside mansion, miffed that the old lady living there raises violets in his former bedroom. Though burned by the British in 1757 and destroyed, Ft. William Henry hosts an assortment of military and civilian spirits since it was restored. An Irishman, once a prominent Lake George druggist, still drops by for a special St. Patrick's Day party, though his old drug store is now a gift shop and closed in March.  Old Joe, former cook at a deer hunters' camp, still creates some odors and lots of noise, though he has been gone thirty years. He never seems to miss a hunting season, however. Former cowboys and waitresses still prowl an old dude ranch north of Lake Luzerne. Another old residence required the priest's exorcism to make the house salable. These are some of the everyday spirits that have remained behind--still working out the undone work of ended lives. The author has identified many of them and, many times, the cause of their hanging on.

Haunted Warren County