The Shaker settlement site has a long history. One that began centuries ago with a search for religious freedom and one, according to rumors, that has trouble letting go.
Last year did not mark the first paranormal investigation at the Shaker site, 25 Meeting House Road, but it did mark the first year of the Shaker Heritage Society teaming with Tri-City Paranormal Society to investigate reported paranormal activity there. This year, Tri-City is back for another tour Friday, Aug. 21, to let people see for themselves if the original Shaker settlers still wander the site.
“There’s always staff experiences of things being moved and sounds,” said Samantha Hall-Saladino, Shaker Heritage Society’s education director.
Hall-Saladino said the tour will likely consist of the 1848 Meeting House, 1825 Ministry Workshop and 1915 Barn. There’s also the possibility of exploring the Brethren’s Workshop, the site’s oldest building from 1822.
Proceeds from the night will go toward the Shaker Heritage Society’s preservation work and educational efforts at the museum. Last year’s investigation resulted in $919 raised.
As well, last year’s investigation yielded several results, which can be found on Tri-City’s website. Audio recordings play voices and sounds captured in empty rooms, while a video in the Brethren’s Workshop shows a ball of light shoot across one side of the screen to the other, splitting in two.
“One staff member says she did see a little boy,” said Hall-Saladino. “She said it looked like a real person and she thought someone was there.”
However, said Hall-Saladino, “That’s all anecdotal. It’s however the person wants to interpret it and open to their own personal viewpoint. But there are things that have happened that I can’t explain.”
According to Tri-City, in one audio recording in the Meeting House gift shop, a very faint voice on a recorder whispers, “Amy,” who is a paranormal society investigator. Another plays audio of a digital recorder falling from a staircase toward an investigator, while in a third, listeners can hear footsteps the investigators say are from no one on their team.
Hall-Saladino said Shaker Heritage Society’s staff has no idea who, if anyone, is still wandering around the Shaker site, but she said paranormal groups believe they have found the spirit of Mother Lucy Wright. Wright was an early Shaker leader and inventor of the Shakers’ iconic dance.
Paranormal investigations at the Shaker site have always filled quickly, Hall-Saladino said, resulting in wait lists. In part, this has to do with the Shakers’ connection to spiritualism and belief in the afterlife and otherworld.
“They held séances and they attended séances with the Fox sisters,” she said. The Fox sisters were a Western New York trio who communicated with spirits in the late 1800s. The sisters later confessed to their routines being a hoax.
A hoax or not, Hall-Saladino said the historical connection is strong when it comes to the Shakers and spiritualism, and the groups often designated a sacred site for each community.
“There is a definite trend in the museum world to focus on the paranormal and hauntings. These programs have been wildly popular. In almost every tour, there’s at least one person who asks if the place is haunted,” said Hall-Saladino.
For the people who want to sign up, but don’t want to tour the site at night they can stay and watch any possible activity on monitors set up to get surveillance of each room and building.
But, if there is anything, or anyone, paranormal on the Shaker site, Hall-Saladino assured no staff has ever felt anything malevolent. “Nothing here has ever felt bad. It just kind of creeps you out a bit.”
From 8 to 11 p.m. Friday night, Tri-City Paranormal will take the public around the site to buildings usually not open to the public and investigate claims of the paranormal. Admission is $25, and registration is required as the programs is popular and fills quickly.
For information on the Shaker Heritage Society or to register for the paranormal investigation, go to shakerheritage.org.
