Author: Mason Winfield

The founder of New York’s original “supernatural tourism” company Haunted History Ghost Walks, Inc., Mason Winfield studied English and Classics at Denison University and earned a master’s degree at Boston College. In his 13 years as a teacher/department chair at The Gow School (South Wales, N.Y.), he won a 50K cross-country ski marathon and was ranked among the Buffalo area’s top ten tennis players. A specialist in upstate supernatural folklore and an award-winning fiction writer, Mason has written or edited 11 books, including the regional sensation Shadows of the Western Door (1997) and Iroquois Supernatural (Inner Traditions International/Bear & Company, 2011). A lecturer whose talks have been sponsored by Poets & Writers, New York Council for the Humanities, “The Big Read,” and the National Endowment for the Arts, Mason is also a spoken word artist who has appeared at City of Night, Buffalo; Rochester Fringe Festival; and Piccolo Spoletto Festival (Charleston, S.C.).

Mason Winfield’s Twilight on the Western Door – The Spiritual, the Supernatural, the Paranormal Most of you know the feeling: The moment seems surreally familiar. You pause and search within your thoughts, scarcely believing your sensations; then the wave sweeps over you: You have been here before. The experience may be just a flicker, and it may last several breaths, maybe even long enough for you to step out of yourself and wonder about it as you live it. This is deja vu. I had one of those experiences last month, after a tennis match. My opponent/friend and I chatted as we…

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Mason Winfield’s Twilight on the Western Door – The Spiritual, the Supernatural, the Paranormal Some of you have seen the new History Channel program The Search for the Lost Giants. A Facebook friend gave me a tag while discussing his enthusiasm for the show, and it’s gotten me updating my comments on the subject. I wrote about the giant skeleton reports in Western New York’s past in Shadows of the Western Door (1997) and its sequel Spirits of the Great Hill (2001). Each book is a paranormal survey devoting two pages to the subject, which to me is a mere curiosity. I gave the matter a quick and…

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Some of you may have seen the new History Channel series The Search for the Lost Giants. A Facebook friend gave me a tag while discussing his enthusiasm for the show, and it’s gotten me updating my comments on the subject of Giant Skeleton Reports (GSR from now on). In the earlier article in this series (see here) I commented on the historic reports of human giants, the program, and my meeting with its host.  Western New York is no slouch when it comes to GSR. In fact, the territory of the historic Seneca nation was actually quite rich in them, as…

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Some of you may have heard of the new History Channel program The Search for the Lost Giants. A Facebook friend gave me a tag while discussing his enthusiasm for the show, and it spurred me into updating my comments on the subject. For the uninitiated, what’s often called “ancient mysteries” is a major component of the contemporary paranormal industry. The way it is, ancient mysteries overlap into other general paranormal areas of interest, including earth energies, occult conspiracy, and even the UFO/ET mythology. (The paranormal is a broad field. It’s also a morph.) Ancient mysteries aren’t in themselves supernatural;…

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Part 7 in a series by Mason Winfield “In yon strait path a thousand May well be stopped by three: Now who will stand on either hand And keep the bridge with me?” “Horatius at the Bridge” (1842) Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay 1 History and legend are full of battles at bridges. One story attributed to one of Rome’s early heroes comes most likely from the latter source. Around 510 BC Publius Horatius Cocles was said to have fought single combats over the Tiber River against an Etruscan army, giving his comrades behind him time to tear up the timbers…

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Part 6 in a series by Mason Winfield: Niagara Falls, ONT July 25, 1814 1 It was the evening of July 25, 1814, on a pastoral tract above the river that would become part of today’s Niagara Falls, Ontario. In view were some dirt cart-roads, cleared fields and quaint buildings, including a couple of homes and a church, as well as stands of trees and patches of wood. The natural world was at that precious equipoise between day and night, before the gaudy summer sunset gives fully over to the thick turquoise of the summer eve. It was that identical…

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Part 5 in a Series by Mason Winfield: Dread seemed to forbid his advance and Shame to forestall his retreat. – John Norton Niagara Falls, ONT | July 25, 1814 1 July 1814 had been a good month for the U.S. The American Army of the Niagara had been on the Canadian side only a few weeks, and victories at Fort Erie and Chippawa Creek seemed to announce the turning of a tide in the American military and in the national position in the war. With that single victory at Chippawa, its commanders–Major General Jacob Brown and Brigadier Generals Winfield Scott and…

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Part 4 in a Series by Mason Winfield: Chippawa, ONT July 5, 1814 I would as soon be besieged by hobgoblins as by the Iroquois. – Father Vimont, S. J. It’ll be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla when I get the gorilla in Manila! – Muhammad Ali 1 It was mid-afternoon on July 5, 1814. On the Canadian side of the Niagara a bit north of today’s Peace Bridge, two armies were drawn up at opposite ends of a cleared area a couple football-fields in size. To their west was dense, old-growth forest. They were sandwiched between two substantial creeks,…

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Part 4 in a Series by Mason Winfield: It was the morning of July 4, 1814. The Niagara Campaign–the American invasion of the Canadian side of the river–was twelve hours old, and the sailing had been smooth so far. An important target, Fort Erie, had been taken without the loss of a single American life, and a large American force had camped the night safely outside it. The supply lines back to Buffalo were short and sweet, and it looked like American high commander Jacob Brown could keep his army armed, fed, and reinforced. Brown’s ultimate goal was Kingston, the…

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Part 3 in a series by Mason Winfield: By the spring of 1814, the War of 1812 had entered its last phase. The first move on the Niagara was that of the Americans. It had to be. Only one thing would save Buffalo and the whole of Western New York from a devastation worse than that visited upon them in the preceding winter: an attack. The situation was looking good for the British and Canadians. The Empire held Fort Erie, Fort George and Fort Niagara, hence points of entry from Lakes Erie and Ontario. Their supply lines were strong. They…

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