Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes

By Patti Unvericht

From spooky state parks to real-life haunted houses, Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes tells the stories behind the most supernatural sites around the shores of New York's famous Finger Lakes. Local paranormal investigator Patti Unvericht takes you on a journey to places such as the Elmira Civil War POW Camp, thought to be inhabited by the restless spirits of casualties of the war, to the State Theatre in Ithaca and even the tourist-friendly Geneva on the Lake, rumored to be haunted by past guests who have expired while staying at the historic hotel.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Jun 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781614235507

Patti Unvericht

Patti Unvericht is the History Press author of Ghosts and Hauntings of the Finger Lakes and a native to the Finger Lakes region, living in Rochester. She is a member of the Ogden Historical Society, Palmyra Historical Society, Victor Historical Society and the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery (Rochester), where she also gives tours. She is a wife and mother of two wonderful children.

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CAYUGA COUNTY

AURORA INN AND WELLS COLLEGE

AURORA

On the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake is the sleepy village of Aurora. In 1795, the post office was established, and the original name of the community was Scipio. It was officially named Aurora in 1810 when the federal government allowed the name of the post office to change. After Aurora became organized, the Morgan family was a huge influence. They were business owners and investors in important historic local and state ventures. They were also members of secret societies like the Masons.

Edwin Barber Morgan, one of Aurora’s most influential citizens, moved to Aurora from New York City when he was a baby. In 1833, Edwin built the Aurora House. It was used as a meeting place for village officials, and they often referred to it as Morgan’s Brick Tavern. The tavern had become a major stagecoach stop for weary, dusty travelers. The Aurora House soon became a famous establishment along the well-worn route.

Ownership of the Aurora House changed hands in the 1840s, when William D. Eagles bought it. William and his family never lived at the Aurora House; rather, his uncle, John Eagles, managed the property. John was quite an interesting character. He ran what would be called a traveling circus, complete with seventy horses and two elephants.

This is what the Aurora Inn looked like in 1848 when it was owned by William D. Eagles. Courtesy of Wells College.

Sometime in the mid-1800s, Edwin’s brother Henry Morgan (not of rum fame) acquired the inn. He owned it until he died on May 11, 1887. After his death, his family no longer wanted the property and sold it to Coral Smith.

A year later, in 1888, excitement hit the small village when the main building at Wells College was destroyed by fire. It displaced most of the students at the all-women’s school, and the Aurora House was contracted to be used as a student dormitory until the new one was finished in 1890. During their stay at the inn, the girls from Wells nicknamed it the Wayside Inn, and the name stuck for years.

Twenty-nine years later, the college would return the favor. In February 1919, a major fire broke out in Aurora’s tiny business district. As the flames got closer to the Aurora House, the college’s president, K.D. Macmillan, came to the rescue. When the cornice of the brick building caught fire, Macmillan lay on the roof and extinguished the flames.

The inn changed hands several more times, and in the early 1940s, R.L. Zabriskie took possession of it. On March 30, 1943, he gave the Aurora House to Wells College. The Aurora House/Wayside Inn officially became the Aurora Inn in 1948. The inn fell on hard times in the 1970s. Not being able to make ends meet, it closed its doors. It wasn’t reopened until 2003, after it underwent a major restoration, becoming the luxurious inn it is today.

Colonel Edwin Barber Morgan, original investor of the New York Times, U.S. House representative and builder of the Aurora House, was best friends with Henry Wells. In 1850, Henry came to Aurora from New York City, like Edwin had, with his family. He married twice and built his home twice. His first home burned down in 1851. He immediately began planning and building his new home, Glen Park. Perhaps Wells’s biggest claim to fame was the merging of his company American Express with Merchant Union Express Company in Aurora, forming the Wells, Fargo & Co. in 1868.

In that same year, Henry opened the Wells Seminary, an all-women’s college. Its name changed three times before it started classes, first as the Glen Park Institute, second as the Glen Park Seminary and third as it opened its doors as the Wells Seminary. In 1870, the name changed a final time, forever being called the Wells College.

The main building of the college was built in 1868. It was used for everything from administrative offices to classrooms and an infirmary. The fire that destroyed it in 1888 was not the last fire to plague the college. Morgan Hall, named after Edwin, was built in 1879 and would later be leveled by fire in 1925 and rebuilt.

In 1869, the college bought the Pettibone House. The home was originally built in 1857 by George Pettibone. According to some historical records, he was a gambler, a major player in the New York City financial scene and had a very rocky marriage. The Pettibone House was first used as a home for the college president and then as student housing. In the 1920s and 1930s, it was used as the infirmary on campus.

Henry Wells and his wife, Mary, were involved in every facet of the college. On Friday nights, students often had dinner with them at their home. While traveling abroad in Scotland, Henry died in Glasgow two days before his seventy-third birthday in 1878. His body was brought back to Aurora and laid to rest in Oak Glen Cemetery. His death left behind some financial problems for his wife and family. Glen Park went into foreclosure, and Mary was forced to leave her home. In 1902, the college rented the home from the bank before the Alumni Association could buy it in 1905. Mrs. Wells was happy that Glen Park was able to become part of the college that her husband had loved so much.

Both of these locations in the quaint village have great histories that are written in books. But they also have tales to tell of a lingering history still roaming the college halls and the plush lawns of the inn.

The Pettibone House at Wells College.

During the fire in 1919, almost all of Aurora’s downtown area was reduced to ashes; homes and businesses were destroyed. An old building near the inn, along the lake shore, was a victim to the inferno. Legend throughout the village tells of three people trapped inside the burning structure, two men and a woman. The apparitions of the men have been witnessed over the years pacing along the lake near the ruins in the village park. The woman, dubbed the lady in white, makes her presence known to the staff and guests inside the Aurora Inn as she passes through the lobby and some of the guest rooms.

Wells College has its share of ghost stories and ghostly encounters. It has been labeled as the most haunted college campus in the country. While the Pettibone was used as dorm rooms for the upperclassmen at the turn of the twentieth century, two friends—Ann and Mary—were unpacking upon their return from spring break. It wasn’t long before their friend Edith came into the room. Edith was not acting like her normal self; she was very quiet and sad. Concerned, her friends asked her what was the matter. Edith told them she was worried that they would lose touch after graduation. Ann and Mary hugged her and told her she was just being silly. Edith walked out of the room, telling them that she was going to see Carol and would be back. When, after a while, she didn’t return, they went looking for her. Ann and Mary ran into Carol and asked if she had seen Edith, and Carol said she had not. It was then that the three girls were called to the dean’s office and told that Edith had been killed in a car accident on the way back to the college. She had never reached the campus.

Some ghost stories are associated with jealousy and secret love affairs. Such is the case of the Pettibone House. The original act happened before the college bought the building. A man in the village was having an affair with a woman boarding at the Pettibone House. His wife suspected he was running around on her, so she followed him as he sneaked out one night. The wife came across her husband’s mistress on the bridge between Glen Park and the Pettibone House and stabbed her to death with a knife she hid in her coat. Years after the murder, a light on the bridge will go off and the ghost of the jealous wife has been seen pulling a knife from her coat.

During the 1910s, this great country was gripped by a deadly influenza epidemic from which not even Aurora and Wells College were spared. Students began to become ill, and the fourth floor of the main building was turned into a small hospital where nurses worked to keep the patients comfortable. Unfortunately, some died. There was no place to store the bodies, so they were put in a room until their families could make funeral arrangements. The door of the room was painted red to distinguish it from the others so no one would stumble into the resting place. After the epidemic was over and all the bodies had been claimed, the fourth floor returned to being a dormitory. The red door was painted over, but no matter how much paint was applied, the red would always bleed through as a gruesome reminder of the tragic events. The red door, however, is not the only remnant of the great influenza epidemic. Students housed on that floor have awakened in the middle of