Delaware Road in Wolcottsburg

Most spots noted for being spooky seem pretty tame at 10 o'clock in the morning, at least until you get out of the car. Even Delaware Road, which was known as Kupferschleeger Road in the old days.

Located in Wolcottsburg, in the northern area of Clarence, it is a mere 1.5 miles long. It's so narrow that it's difficult for 2 cars to pass in opposite directions.


It's long been rumored to be haunted:

"In the early morning hours of spring and fall driving down this old carriage road you can feel a presence of old world culture. If on the right night one can make out a man standing roadside holding a lantern, and two feet on the right or left you can see a young girl waiting with the man for something...Please do not stop, it may not be safe."

Yeah right...In order to explore a bit, one has to park at an end and walk in. The first and last half mile segments have had the trees cut pretty far back. It's that middle part you have to look out for. The trees soon surround you, reaching up in the sky and also reflected in the water on the ground. The atmosphere starts making you think that maybe there's something to those stories...



There are a few places where a path has been cut through. One area even has a clearing. The kids have found it. If it wasn't for the mud and the fact that I was illegally parked on a deserted road I might have walked back there. Really.


Some other time. Surely the ghosts don't come out until late afternoon or dusk...dusk to dawn...the haunting hours. Or maybe they're always there, hidden in the forest pools, waiting...


Happy Halloween!

Weird Tale in Lockport

Saturday as I was wandering about in Lockport I saw a sign for some caves and decided to at least go by and check it out, little knowing that they would be mentioned in Sunday's newspaper. Apparently I was moving too slow for the tailgater behind me, so I sped up a bit and soon found myself making a snap decision to turn right, and then turn right again into a gravel lot.

The sign said I was at Ceramics Plaza and Gooding Street. Ceramics Plaza does not come up on any Google search engine, but there I was. Hmm.


It's across Gooding street from an old electric company.


Anyway, I looked up a long driveway off the back of the lot and saw an old factory up ahead. Being ahead of schedule, I decided to drive up it and explore a bit. After the driveway ended I got out and walked up a path and over some railroad tracks that went over Gooding Street that had dipped down to my right.



It was an old factory or warehouse, which I found interesting enough to take a few pictures of.



Now comes the strange stuff...After I left I went to my mom's and told her about my expedition. She sat up straight and said that it sounded like the place that Harbison Brothers used to store barrels maybe 10-15 20-25 years ago (not possible it was the shorter span of time). My parents had gone there with my dad's cousin Bobby and wife. She said there was talk of selling the building to someone who was going to build a plaza (see sign above).

Mom remembered looking out a 3rd story window, where down below Walter Kohl had a motorcycle shop in the same building. She's not into motorcycles, but remembered the name because his brother* father Ernest married a Muggelberg, who is a distant cousin on the...well, you know how these conversations can get sidetracked.

There were some motorcycle seats lying next to the building too, behind an old cart.



We still weren't sure if it was the same place, but upon arriving home I did a closeup on a Google map and there was the motorcycle shop, looking like it's in Upson Park! No mention of the building itself though.


So how weird is it, that of all the places I could have explored in Lockport, I pick one with a bit of family history that I had never heard before? Eerie.

And I still don't know anything about the building. Does anyone know where I was? Well, I know where I was, but I don't. Anyone?

Just don't tell me it doesn't exist anymore...I have pictures!



* change per genealogy records.