Full article published in The Buffalo News
by Toni Ruberto | October 6, 2021
John Koerner is pictured in Hamburg’s Memorial Park where he witnesses strange occurrences as he leads people on his Paranormal Walks.
Robert Kirkham
Every time John Koerner leads his Paranormal Walks tour through Hamburg’s Memorial Park, things happen.
Orbs appear.
Meters go off.
It gets spooky.
For Koerner, an author and local historian, it’s a fascinating experience as he leads the tour, one of his annual seasonal walks in places with a lot of history like Hamburg, Buffalo’s Cobblestone District and Lockport.
“Bodies were buried here in the 1880s and then moved,” Koerner said of Memorial Park. “But a lot of the remains were left in the ground – sometimes because they didn’t know who they belonged to – and they turned to dust. Because they treated the remains with such disrespect, it could be the reason why I’m getting so much activity here. Our meters go off every week.”
For those looking for ghostly stories, Koerner’s Paranormal Walks and Mason Winfield’s Haunted History Ghost Walks are just two of the types of activities you can enjoy this Halloween season. If haunted attractions that can make you jump in fright are more your thing, we’ve got that too at multiple frightful festivals. Here are some of your options; check individual websites for hours, costs and Covid protocols.
Paranormal Walks
Koerner promises new stories on his interactive walks of ghosts, legends, demons and angels and secret societies. Here is what he’s doing this season
Cobblestone: 7 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 30. Meet outside Buffalo Iron Works (49 Illinois St.). Downtown’s Cobblestone District is one of the oldest parts of the city and with that history comes plenty of stories including why it has the highest concentrations of deaths in Western New York.
Hamburg: 7 p.m. Fridays through Oct. 29. Meet at Main St. Ice Cream (35 Main St.). Hear stories of little girl ghosts, strange murders and the strange anomalies surrounding a former burial ground.
Lockport: 7 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 30 in Lockport. Meet at Lake Effect Artisan Ice Cream Café (79 Canal St.). The oldest walk in the company’s history is filled with stories from a decade of research.
Medina: 7 p.m. Oct. 10, Iroquois Walk. Meet at Shirt Factory Café (115 W. Center St., Medina). The only walk planned for Medina this year will honor Native Americans and the Iroquois Confederacy with stories from their rich folklore, along with tales of haunted churches and theaters, occult murders and UFOs among other topics.
Ellicottville. 8 p.m. Fridays through Oct. 29. Meet at Town Pavilion (1 Jefferson St., Ellicottville). Haunted tales from Ellicottville along with firsthand accounts from previous ghost hunts.