Photos and submission by Corinne Eberwine and Jen Parker:
It seems like everyone has some sort of story about the paranormal. They know someone who knows someone who once saw something that couldn’t be logically explained… they swore there was some sort of presence with them after the death of a loved one. We have likely all, in some way or another, at least toyed with the notion that there is something bigger than us in this world. Last night’s Haunted Allentown walking tour, featuring renowned local “ghost expert” Mason Winfield, certainly let us entertain this idea, while giving us on an informative and unique firsthand perspective on the history of our city.
Starting at the Hamlin House on Franklin Street, visitors were treated to speakers on topics such as “Buffalo’s Haunted Architecture” and “Halloween & Spirit Communication,” along with wine tastings, hot apple cider and cinnamon doughnuts, the opportunity for personal spiritual readings, and walking tours featuring some of Buffalo’s most haunted homes. The tone was set for a momentous and earth-shattering spiritual experience. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit of an overstatement. But if that was the expectation set then I am happy to say we were not disappointed. What started as a somewhat whimsical and typically spooky Halloween event–complete with carved pumpkins and witch icons on the shirts of all of the event coordinators–became something much more. Maybe we were still spinning from the incredibly insightful and powerful personal readings we each got with Astrologer/Reader Cassandra Joan (she certainly started off the event for us as a moving experience)… or maybe it was all the delicious wine! Perhaps it was the walking tour of Allentown, on which we received new, supernatural insight on an area of the city we already frequently “haunt” and enjoy regularly.
Whatever the case may be, my friends and I took in all of these festivities and thoroughly enjoyed strolling through the old Buffalo streets together in what turned out to be a beautiful and breezy fall day… while imagining the possibilities of who else might be with us. I’d highly recommend an advance mark on your calendar for next year’s event!
Photos: Martin Kemp, owner, 68 Designs (donated all the linens and beautiful fall flower arrangements for the event). Elizabeth Licata, Allentown Association board member (and “wine tasting overseer” extraordinaire!). Kelli Galucki, one of Mason Winfield’s Haunted History Ghostwalks, Inc. tourguides (right).
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