Somewhere Spooky This Way Run

Weather: Cloudy, 33°F, No Wind, 90% Humidity.
Route: Around east side of Rochester, NY, past haunted/cursed sites.

Looking for new and unique approaches to local running routes, it occurred to me to search for haunted houses in the Rochester, New York area.Surely a product of our times, nearly all top results when searching for “haunted houses Rochester NY” are October Halloween attractions held in empty department stores. Efforts to dig more deeply for smaller, creepy, residential homes revealed many buildings I have spent time in over the last 50 years of my life; with this in mind, I selected a few of these common locations in and around the Center City area to include on my route this morning. Four of the five spots on the route are listed on Haunted Rooms America website, a national website that lists haunted locations in communities across the country. In addition to a ranking (the criteria for which is unstated), there was a very brief amount of background information which I've quoted in the captions for each. The fifth is a street corner in downtown Rochester, which I first learned about while reading Michael T. Keen's entertaining local history book Folklore and Legends of Rochester.

Each locale is presented in the order I passed them while running this morning. Shout out to the weather for being cloudy, thereby supplying a creepier vibe.

#2 Rochester Public Library: “It is apparently haunted by the spirit of a young
woman who is believed to have drowned when she fell into a nearby aqueduct.
Her body was swept away and became wedged in a tunnel that runs under
the library./ She seems to spend most of her time wandering among the stacks.”
(Picture by me (3/24/20)) 

I have been frequenting the downtown Rochester Public Library for nearly 35 years. Most often nowadays it is to borrow some out of print book which they still have in their stacks. While the Haunted Rooms website includes a photo of the more recent addition to the library, it is the older Rundel Memorial structure via an underground tunnel, that looks the part of a proper "haunted house." An architecturally impressive structure with high ceilings, stained glass, secret rooms and tall shelves, this is the space I envision when thinking about the downtown library, which is in stark contrast to the modern, open floor styling of the "new" library. According to a related article found on the City of Rochester's site, a SyFy cable network show called Ghost Hunters investigated the library in back in 2012.

Still Hoodoo Corner, but no longer the site of McCurdy's department
store in Downtown Rochester. (3/24/20)

This one is of special interest. As a high school student, our after school activities bus would drop us off on Main Street each day and friends and I would walk around the area before ultimately picking up the next bus home. Of course, thing were much busier downtown back then. There were few days we didn't walk though Midtown Plaza to stop at Wegmans or the food court, and McCurdy's was one of the staples of the indoor mall. Folklore and Legends of Rochester includes quite a bit of interesting background information on the building of the plaza and the inclusion of the McCurdy's Department Store all of which connects at the corner of  Main and Elm Streets “Hoodoo Corner.” A slightly less interesting vibe now with modern construction taking place where the iconic plaza once stood.

#6 Auditorium Theatre “The Auditorium Theatre in Rochester, NY was originally
built as a Masonic Temple in 1928. These days it is a popular venue for
Broadway shows, but it is not only popular with the living, but also
the dead as well!” (3/24/20)

#6 and #4 are nearly directly across the street from one another (and just down the road from the local comic book shop I frequent). As a high school student, the Rochester Transit bus that would serve as the final leg home from Midtown would pass both buildings. Like the Rundel Memorial Building both are older structures with local history. Apparently the Armory (pictured below) has also been on a cable ghost hunting show.

#4 Main Street Armory “The Main Street Armory dates back to around 1905
when it was built by the United States Army and ... remained in use right up until
1990 and then lay vacant for several years." (3/24/20) 

Easily the most recognizable of these buildings for those locals who don't live in the city, the George Eastman House Museum is three blocks from my home. Bertie, our dog, and I walk by it almost daily during our recent COVID-19 work breaks. The house/museum is also currently under construction as they add a new visitor's center. Not surprisingly, much of the ghostly nature of this site is due to owner Eastman having committed suicide there.

#9 George Eastman Museum: “The George Eastman Museum is the oldest museum
in the world that is dedicated to photography and it houses one of the world’s
oldest public film archives. ... many believe that it is him [Eastman] who is haunting the
property today, perhaps keeping an eye on his estate!” (3/24/20) 

The scariness level of these local haunted locations (or lack thereof) is likely based wholly on my own familiarity. To the Rochester tourist, these buildings are capable of evoking a level of spookiness due to their scale and architecture, especially in the right lighting. For those like I who have lived in Rochester for any period of time, and actually walked around and visited them, they are so familiar as to be ubiquitous. That is not to suggest they are not haunted by spirits or cursed due to past ghostly indiscretions.  On the right night in the proper (improper?) moonlight, one could certainly be forgiven for being nervous about darkened walks on the premises.