WEBVTT 00:00:14.060 --> 00:00:16.500 Welcome to Seneca Lake Mysteries, the podcast 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:20.039 where we explore the unusual, strange, and unexplained 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:23.859 on New York's largest Finger Lake. Thanks so 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:27.039 much for listening, and I'm not sure how many 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.800 of you have heard the announcement about an upcoming 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:32.219 study of Seneca Lake and the Seneca Lake drums, 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:36.240 but I did, and I'm pretty intrigued and excited. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:39.219 For those of you who are unfamiliar with the 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:42.020 story, the Seneca Lake drums, or Seneca Lake 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:45.990 guns, are... unexplained booming sounds coming 00:00:45.990 --> 00:00:48.210 from within Seneca Lake that have been heard 00:00:48.210 --> 00:00:51.189 for centuries. The lake drums have been written 00:00:51.189 --> 00:00:55.409 about, discussed, and researched and pondered 00:00:55.409 --> 00:00:58.890 by writers and journalists and scientists for 00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:01.810 almost as long as people have been hearing them. 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:06.189 They're described as sounding like distant thunder, 00:01:06.430 --> 00:01:10.769 gunshots, or drums. And some historians say that 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:14.640 stories Of the drums date back to the Owasco 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:17.719 people who lived near Seneca Lake but left the 00:01:17.719 --> 00:01:22.719 area around the year 1220 due to drought before 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:25.500 the Seneca people lived around the lake. Now, 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:29.260 similar sounds have been heard around the world. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:32.159 In Bangladesh, India, along the Ganges River, 00:01:32.340 --> 00:01:36.019 they call the sounds the beresol guns. In Japan, 00:01:36.099 --> 00:01:40.079 they're called minari, which means sounds of 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:43.030 the sea. People in Belgium and Netherlands call 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.950 them Mistpofers. In Italy, they're called Brontidi. 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:48.709 And in France, the sounds are referred to as 00:01:48.709 --> 00:01:54.310 Balm de Mer. And in the United States, not only 00:01:54.310 --> 00:01:57.010 on Seneca Lake, but in other places as well, 00:01:57.049 --> 00:02:00.670 they're commonly referred to as Seneca Guns. 00:02:00.989 --> 00:02:03.170 Different explanations have been offered for 00:02:03.170 --> 00:02:05.769 the lake drums, but the most widely accepted 00:02:05.769 --> 00:02:08.430 is that the sounds are caused by natural gas 00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:11.689 bubbles leaking through. fissures in the bottom 00:02:11.689 --> 00:02:14.610 of the lake and rising to the surface creating 00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:19.370 a booming sound and people who believe that theory 00:02:19.370 --> 00:02:22.330 claim that reports of lake drums stopped when 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:26.030 natural gas extraction and salt mining began 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:31.129 near seneca lake and but although the number 00:02:31.129 --> 00:02:34.030 of reports did drop off in the early 20th century 00:02:34.030 --> 00:02:36.009 people never stopped hearing the drums people 00:02:36.009 --> 00:02:40.099 still still hear them today Then a few years 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:44.319 ago, researchers began an effort to complete 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.740 the most comprehensive and detailed mapping of 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:52.340 the bottom of Seneca Lake ever done. And the 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:56.319 results were published last March. I really didn't 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:58.419 expect to see what I saw in those images when 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:00.860 I looked at them. In the southern one -third 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:04.060 of the lake, there are dozens of circular and 00:03:04.060 --> 00:03:09.000 oval holes in the bottom of the lake. a lot of 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.939 different depth maps of Seneca in the past, but 00:03:11.939 --> 00:03:15.939 none of them look like this. So it's really very 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:17.979 interesting to me, and I'm curious to know more 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:21.219 about how these holes were formed, how common 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:23.259 they are. Are there other lakes with these kind 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:26.400 of holes? I got a lot of questions. So it was 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.860 announced last week that researchers from Cornell 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:31.800 University and SUNY College of Environmental 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.080 Science and Forestry received a grant of around 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:40.650 $12 ,000 to study. these newly discovered holes 00:03:40.650 --> 00:03:44.349 in the bottom of the lake and to determine if 00:03:44.349 --> 00:03:49.389 methane, gas, or other chemicals are being released 00:03:49.389 --> 00:03:52.449 from these holes, which would explain the Seneca 00:03:52.449 --> 00:03:56.270 drums phenomenon. So I can't wait to see what 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:59.610 they find and see if they can finally solve the 00:03:59.610 --> 00:04:04.629 unsolvable mystery. So I'm going to post a link 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:09.060 to the... bathymetric mapping results from the 00:04:09.060 --> 00:04:13.080 DEC, as well as an edited version of the map 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:16.439 of the lake bottom. I'm going to put those in 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:18.939 the description. So keep in mind the study results 00:04:18.939 --> 00:04:22.639 from the DEC are really huge files that can be 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.540 difficult to manage and view on the average PC. 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:28.480 So you probably want to look at the image I edited 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:33.240 and reduced to a more manageable size. So with 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:37.500 that said, this is the first installment. about 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:41.399 the iconic Seneca Army Depot, the land where 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:43.500 it's located, the people who once lived there, 00:04:43.620 --> 00:04:47.379 and the depot's founding, and its extraordinary 00:04:47.379 --> 00:04:51.660 globally influential history, its ties to the 00:04:51.660 --> 00:04:55.879 Manhattan Project, and the massive nuclear arsenal 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:59.040 that was once stored in the secretive Q area. 00:04:59.199 --> 00:05:03.060 Then we'll leave the depot, cross Route 96A, 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.000 and get into some tales of the Sampson Naval 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.459 Training Center. including the truly odd story 00:05:08.459 --> 00:05:14.100 of an appearance by Adolf Hitler's nephew. And 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.819 finally, inspired by the newly announced study 00:05:16.819 --> 00:05:18.819 of the lake drums, we'll go through some of the 00:05:18.819 --> 00:05:21.660 old stories of underwater tunnels at the bottom 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:24.600 of Seneca Lake, which were rumored to be connected 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:27.939 to the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and a small 00:05:27.939 --> 00:05:33.269 lake down in Elmira. So yeah, if you enjoy the 00:05:33.269 --> 00:05:35.269 show, please subscribe wherever you get your 00:05:35.269 --> 00:05:37.730 podcasts and get over to SenecaLakeMysteries 00:05:37.730 --> 00:05:40.290 .com and sign up for the mailing list. I've got 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:43.470 some really cool new things to announce soon 00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:46.149 about the whole Seneca Lake Mysteries project 00:05:46.149 --> 00:05:48.589 and stuff I'll be doing in addition to the podcast. 00:05:48.889 --> 00:05:50.829 And I'm really excited about it. So subscribe 00:05:50.829 --> 00:05:52.569 to the mailing list and you'll be the first to 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:55.970 know everything coming up in the next few weeks. 00:05:56.569 --> 00:05:58.730 So thanks again for listening and let's get into 00:05:58.730 --> 00:06:06.970 it. The Seneca Army Depot, which operated from 00:06:06.970 --> 00:06:11.949 1941 until its official closure in 1995, was 00:06:11.949 --> 00:06:13.709 not only an important and central part of the 00:06:13.709 --> 00:06:16.829 lives of the people who lived in the communities 00:06:16.829 --> 00:06:20.990 around the installation, but it also played an 00:06:20.990 --> 00:06:25.009 outsized role in all American military actions 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:28.910 for those five -plus decades, including World 00:06:28.910 --> 00:06:32.519 War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War. the 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:35.199 invasions of Panama and Grenada, and the First 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.180 Gulf War. The story of the Seneca Lake Depot 00:06:39.180 --> 00:06:44.060 is unusual, often strange, and occasionally unexplained. 00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:46.740 So let's dive into the history of the facility 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:49.540 beginning more than a century and a half before 00:06:49.540 --> 00:06:54.600 it was built. Prior to the American Revolutionary 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:58.680 War, Kandaya was reportedly one of the oldest 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:02.350 villages. in the Iroquois Haudenosaunee Confederacy. 00:07:03.189 --> 00:07:07.149 Located not far from the eastern shore, about 00:07:07.149 --> 00:07:10.069 12 miles south of the northern tip of Seneca 00:07:10.069 --> 00:07:13.750 Lake, there were between 20 and 30 longhouses 00:07:13.750 --> 00:07:18.910 in Kendiah, each longhouse housing roughly eight 00:07:18.910 --> 00:07:22.949 Seneca Nation families. And nearby, there was 00:07:22.949 --> 00:07:25.810 an orchard of about 80 fruit trees, primarily 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:29.060 apple trees, but also... with a handful of peach 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:32.579 trees as well, along with a few small fields 00:07:32.579 --> 00:07:38.720 of corn. The Sullivan Campaign of 1779 was a 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.319 military offensive initiated by General George 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:44.459 Washington to stop the Haudenosaunee nations 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:48.519 from siding with the British. However, Sullivan 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:50.560 and his men weren't just interested in fighting 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.480 the native people. They also destroyed homes, 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:59.600 crops, food supplies. devastating the populations 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.660 of the Haudenosaunee in a horrific and brutal 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:07.939 way. Sullivan's forces arrived at Kandiah on 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:11.779 September 3rd, 1779, but most of the residents 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:15.620 had already fled. So the soldiers destroyed the 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:18.819 longhouses, they burned the cornfields, and either 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:22.759 cut down or girdled the fruit trees. And girdling 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:26.620 a tree means you tear off all the bark on the 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:29.829 lower part of the trunk, which eventually kills 00:08:29.829 --> 00:08:34.129 the entire tree. And the Seneca people would 00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:40.129 never return to Kandaya. Then in 1823, the land 00:08:40.129 --> 00:08:45.129 was purchased by Gerard Van Vliet and remained 00:08:45.129 --> 00:08:47.690 in the Van Vliet family for several generations. 00:08:48.649 --> 00:08:52.809 While the Van Vliet family uncovered numerous 00:08:52.809 --> 00:08:55.629 Indian artifacts while plowing the land, Gerard 00:08:56.299 --> 00:08:59.039 made a promise to the Seneca people at the time 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.759 that their burial grounds would never be disturbed, 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:05.240 and the family kept that promise. And today, 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:10.720 the old Van Vliet Family Cemetery remains inside 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.340 the boundary of Sampson State Park, along with 00:09:14.340 --> 00:09:19.600 the burial grounds of the Seneca people. Then 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:23.919 in 1941, the U .S. War Department and President 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:27.850 Franklin Roosevelt believed that the U .S. was 00:09:27.850 --> 00:09:31.769 about to get drawn into World War II and made 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:36.769 a decision to build four army depots roughly 00:09:36.769 --> 00:09:40.289 in the four corners of the United States in New 00:09:40.289 --> 00:09:43.529 York State, Alabama, California, and Oregon. 00:09:44.049 --> 00:09:48.429 Not only were these weapons at these armories 00:09:48.429 --> 00:09:51.750 to be used in overseas battlefields, they were 00:09:51.750 --> 00:09:55.460 also stored in the event of an enemy attack on 00:09:55.460 --> 00:10:00.679 the United States. So the army found the perfect 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:05.879 location in New York on roughly 11 ,000 acres 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.460 of farmland between Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. 00:10:09.659 --> 00:10:14.379 Now there were two reasons why the army found 00:10:14.379 --> 00:10:17.779 this location to be perfect. At least two reasons 00:10:17.779 --> 00:10:21.590 that they gave. One, there were... railroad lines 00:10:21.590 --> 00:10:24.870 going up and down both sides of the site, which 00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:28.730 was ideal not only for transporting supplies 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:32.690 to build the depot, but also shipping and receiving 00:10:32.690 --> 00:10:36.669 ammunition and other materials. The second reason 00:10:36.669 --> 00:10:40.370 they gave was the shale bedrock, which is just 00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:43.610 a few inches underneath the topsoil in some places. 00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:48.250 And they found that that was ideal because in 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:51.429 the event of an explosion, the layers of shale 00:10:51.429 --> 00:10:54.509 would break and absorb the impact rather than 00:10:54.509 --> 00:10:58.549 possibly creating a chain reaction to the other 00:10:58.549 --> 00:11:03.850 nearby storage igloos that held ammunition as 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:08.169 well. So once the decision was made to build 00:11:08.169 --> 00:11:12.549 the new depot on this land, an immediate effort 00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:17.309 to remove the roughly 130 families from their 00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:22.379 homes on this land began. Residents received 00:11:22.379 --> 00:11:25.100 letters in the mail telling them that the government 00:11:25.100 --> 00:11:28.460 would be buying their land and they would need 00:11:28.460 --> 00:11:31.059 to move out immediately, anywhere from three 00:11:31.059 --> 00:11:34.600 days to three weeks to move their entire lives 00:11:34.600 --> 00:11:39.179 off of the land. Many of them were young families 00:11:39.179 --> 00:11:41.899 who suddenly had to gather whatever they could, 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:45.259 load it onto wagons or other vehicles and find 00:11:45.259 --> 00:11:49.019 somewhere else to live. Their crops, their gardens, 00:11:49.179 --> 00:11:53.269 their homes. were all left behind. A few lucky 00:11:53.269 --> 00:11:56.429 people were able to have their houses physically 00:11:56.429 --> 00:11:59.610 moved, but most of the people had to leave behind 00:11:59.610 --> 00:12:03.710 their homes and everything. The government did 00:12:03.710 --> 00:12:07.570 offer payouts for the land, but those payouts 00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:09.909 were much lower than what the actual value of 00:12:09.909 --> 00:12:13.570 the homes in the land were. But if the residents 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:17.250 turned down the offer for the payout, The government 00:12:17.250 --> 00:12:19.769 would just condemn the homes and push the families 00:12:19.769 --> 00:12:25.690 out anyway. Ultimately, about 160 parcels of 00:12:25.690 --> 00:12:29.649 land owned by roughly 130 different families 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:33.789 were deeded to the U .S. government. And during 00:12:33.789 --> 00:12:36.870 that time period, the U .S. government and the 00:12:36.870 --> 00:12:41.250 media offered a narrative of proud patriotic 00:12:41.250 --> 00:12:44.929 Americans who happily gave up their homes for 00:12:44.929 --> 00:12:47.320 the war effort. While this may have been the 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:51.159 case with a small number of the displaced residents, 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:54.720 there were also many stories of people whose 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:57.379 lives were never the same, who never trusted 00:12:57.379 --> 00:12:59.259 the government again, who went through incredible 00:12:59.259 --> 00:13:02.919 stress and pain and difficulty and trauma during 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:06.799 that time. But thankfully, in more recent years, 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:11.600 a more authentic and balanced story of the dispossessed 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:15.159 families of the Seneca Army Depot is being told. 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.000 And also, it is hard to overlook the parallels 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.299 between these families and the residents of Kandaya 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:28.159 who were forced from their homes 162 years prior. 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:33.440 And coincidentally, Kandaya was located not far 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:39.480 from the southern end of the Army Depot. Now, 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:44.159 the U .S. Army needed this area that would contain 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.190 the depot. to be completely flattened for security 00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:53.809 reasons. And once all the people had moved out, 00:13:53.870 --> 00:13:57.169 the effort to completely clear and flatten the 00:13:57.169 --> 00:14:03.090 entire depot property began. So bulldozers ran 00:14:03.090 --> 00:14:06.409 railroad ties on steel cables between them and 00:14:06.409 --> 00:14:09.629 ripped through homes, churches, and anything 00:14:09.629 --> 00:14:12.129 else that was in their way. They burned down 00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:15.740 barns. As soon as the residents had left, they 00:14:15.740 --> 00:14:19.600 burned the crops. Everything was leveled until 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:22.460 nothing was left standing in a 17 square mile 00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:26.179 area where families had lived just weeks before. 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.539 A 24 mile fence was built around the entire property 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:34.720 and the $8 million project to build the Seneca 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:39.620 Army Depot began. And just to note, $8 million 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:45.250 in 1941. is the equivalent of $174 million in 00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:51.509 2025. So this was a massive effort. And right 00:14:51.509 --> 00:14:56.509 away, a few thousand workers were hired at first 00:14:56.509 --> 00:14:59.070 to build the depot, with the majority of them 00:14:59.070 --> 00:15:01.629 from larger cities like Syracuse, Rochester, 00:15:01.669 --> 00:15:05.309 and Buffalo, but also from nearby smaller cities 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:09.429 like Geneva and Seneca Falls. However, at some 00:15:09.429 --> 00:15:11.570 point they realized they needed more workers. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.799 to complete the project on time. So they hired 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:21.220 more until eventually there was a total of around 00:15:21.220 --> 00:15:27.840 8 ,600 new workers on site. Now, this massive 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:35.039 influx of people into this rural area was incredibly 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:38.059 disruptive. All the area hotels were booked. 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:41.460 Workers had to sleep in vehicles. Tent cities 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:44.919 popped up around the area and even residents 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.899 were renting out rooms in their homes for the 00:15:47.899 --> 00:15:51.620 workers. Pretty soon, very serious issues with 00:15:51.620 --> 00:15:55.299 sanitation and the lack of housing led the feds 00:15:55.299 --> 00:15:58.240 to come in and build a trailer park for workers 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:02.940 at the county fairgrounds in Waterloo. So the 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:08.179 Seneca Army Depot required 500 solid concrete 00:16:08.179 --> 00:16:12.950 structures. called igloos to be built. Now, each 00:16:12.950 --> 00:16:17.049 one of these ammunition igloos were 15 feet tall, 00:16:17.389 --> 00:16:21.529 20 feet wide, and 60 to 80 feet deep inside. 00:16:21.950 --> 00:16:26.309 The concrete floor was roughly 18 inches thick, 00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:28.070 but the concrete at the top of the structure 00:16:28.070 --> 00:16:31.389 was thinner so that the force of any potential 00:16:31.389 --> 00:16:34.990 explosion would go up instead of out to the side 00:16:34.990 --> 00:16:39.039 where it could possibly cause explosions. other 00:16:39.039 --> 00:16:43.720 igloos. And the 500 igloos were completed in 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:46.899 just three months, with the final igloo being 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:51.039 done on November 15, 1941. Three weeks later, 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.000 Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U .S. entered 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:57.399 World War II. For the next three years and nine 00:16:57.399 --> 00:17:00.899 months, the Seneca Army Depot stored, manufactured, 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:04.400 and shipped a large percentage of the weapons, 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:08.329 along with other supplies, vehicles, etc. that 00:17:08.329 --> 00:17:12.309 were used in the war effort. The depot was basically 00:17:12.309 --> 00:17:15.289 also a self -sufficient small city with its own 00:17:15.289 --> 00:17:18.589 police and fire departments, post office, and 00:17:18.589 --> 00:17:23.009 rail stations. It also became a live ammunition 00:17:23.009 --> 00:17:26.089 training area after the Sampson Naval Training 00:17:26.089 --> 00:17:30.089 Center opened less than a year later. Sampson 00:17:30.089 --> 00:17:35.650 was built in 270 days on a 66 -acre parcel between 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:39.039 the east shore of the lake and the depot. By 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:44.700 the end of World War II, over 411 ,000 recruits 00:17:44.700 --> 00:17:48.660 had been trained at Sampson, with between 4 ,000 00:17:48.660 --> 00:17:52.160 and 5 ,000 naval personnel also working on the 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:56.500 base at that time. And Sampson was closed due 00:17:56.500 --> 00:17:59.799 to the end of the war. After a few years of being 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:03.799 used as a college for 15 ,000 GI Bill students, 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:08.099 It was then used by the U .S. Department of Agriculture 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:12.940 to store wheat and beans. Then in November 1950, 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:16.019 with the start of the Korean War, the facility 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:18.400 was taken over by the Air Force and became the 00:18:18.400 --> 00:18:23.500 Sampson Air Force Base. And by 1956, over 300 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:26.799 ,000 Air Force recruits had been trained there. 00:18:28.059 --> 00:18:33.910 Meanwhile, in February of 1955, 1 ,120 acres 00:18:33.910 --> 00:18:37.069 at the Seneca Army Depot was designated for a 00:18:37.069 --> 00:18:40.049 new facility that would be built to store quote 00:18:40.049 --> 00:18:43.549 -unquote special weapons. This area was called 00:18:43.549 --> 00:18:47.309 the Q Area, and it had the highest level of security 00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:52.309 designation available. And by July of 1956, several 00:18:52.309 --> 00:18:56.950 new buildings plus 64 brand -new specialized 00:18:56.950 --> 00:19:02.559 storage igloos were built. Three barbed wire 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.099 and chain link fences surrounded the queue area. 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:10.019 The middle fence was electrified with 4 ,800 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.660 volts, which is more than double the electricity 00:19:12.660 --> 00:19:17.099 of an electric chair. So anyone who touched that 00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:21.720 fence, it would result in immediate death. Of 00:19:21.720 --> 00:19:26.140 course, numerous military police officers would 00:19:26.140 --> 00:19:29.440 shoot to kill orders. Guarded the entire perimeter 00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:32.839 of the queue area 24 -7, along with state -of 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:35.279 -the -art camera surveillance, even back in the 00:19:35.279 --> 00:19:38.819 50s and 60s, when camera surveillance was extraordinarily 00:19:38.819 --> 00:19:42.000 rare. Now, to backtrack just a little bit, back 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:47.660 in the 1940s, around 2 ,000 barrels that were 00:19:47.660 --> 00:19:51.440 marked Manhattan were delivered to and stored 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:57.529 in igloos EO -181 through EO -811. at the southern 00:19:57.529 --> 00:20:00.890 end of the depot. It was later learned that those 00:20:00.890 --> 00:20:04.049 barrels contained uranium pitchblende, which 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:07.549 was used in the Manhattan Project that created 00:20:07.549 --> 00:20:10.750 the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima 00:20:10.750 --> 00:20:15.190 and Nagasaki. When the Q area opened, it became 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:19.150 the largest single storage area for nuclear weapons, 00:20:19.309 --> 00:20:23.460 parts, and materials in the entire country. And 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:26.259 if the story of the Seneca Army Depot isn't strange 00:20:26.259 --> 00:20:30.240 enough for you, in 1949, a military officer at 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:33.779 the depot spotted two white -tailed deer on the 00:20:33.779 --> 00:20:36.619 grounds of the facility. But these weren't ordinary 00:20:36.619 --> 00:20:40.940 deer. They had all -white fur, and thus began 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:44.799 the era of the Seneca white deer, a story we 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:48.940 will be exploring a lot more in a future episode 00:20:48.940 --> 00:20:52.250 or episodes. But before we move on, there's one 00:20:52.250 --> 00:20:54.690 more story from the Samson Naval Training Base 00:20:54.690 --> 00:20:58.730 that sounds so offbeat you might think it's a 00:20:58.730 --> 00:21:03.609 weird, dark joke. But it isn't, and here it is. 00:21:03.990 --> 00:21:08.190 In 1944, a new recruit arrived at Samson, and 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:10.990 that recruit was the nephew of Adolf Hitler. 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:15.769 William Patrick Hitler, whose father was the 00:21:15.769 --> 00:21:19.200 half -brother of Adolf, was born in 1911 and 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:24.579 raised in Liverpool, England. After William had 00:21:24.579 --> 00:21:28.099 reconnected with his father around age 18, his 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:30.000 father had abandoned the family when he was very 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:33.279 young. So he reconnected with his father around 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.980 age 18 and he traveled to Germany and met, for 00:21:37.980 --> 00:21:40.799 the first time, his uncle Adolf, who gave him 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.359 an autographed photo. And then William returned 00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:49.259 to England in 1931. and ended up publishing several 00:21:49.259 --> 00:21:52.259 unflattering articles about his uncle Adolf. 00:21:52.779 --> 00:21:58.079 And this enraged his uncle, who demanded that 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:02.140 the articles be retracted, and even threatened 00:22:02.140 --> 00:22:07.119 suicide if William ever published another article 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:10.619 with personal information about him again. Now, 00:22:10.619 --> 00:22:14.500 eventually, William's relationship with Adolf 00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:17.779 Hitler became public. And he was fired from his 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:21.059 job and shamed in his home country of England. 00:22:21.660 --> 00:22:25.740 He later tried to return to Germany, but Adolf 00:22:25.740 --> 00:22:28.299 Hitler publicly denied that they were related. 00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:32.400 So William began gathering evidence to prove 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:37.680 that he was Adolf's nephew with the plan to blackmail 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:40.319 Adolf Hitler into allowing William back into 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.599 the country. And in 1933, William again went 00:22:43.599 --> 00:22:46.309 to Germany. And this time he confronted his uncle 00:22:46.309 --> 00:22:49.210 with the proof that he had found. And his uncle 00:22:49.210 --> 00:22:51.730 Adolf ended up giving him some money and helping 00:22:51.730 --> 00:22:55.750 him find work. But after a few years, William 00:22:55.750 --> 00:22:59.849 was fired again. And after he had a meeting with 00:22:59.849 --> 00:23:05.190 his uncle Adolf, and in this meeting, his crazed 00:23:05.190 --> 00:23:08.269 uncle was cracking a bullwhip and was completely 00:23:08.269 --> 00:23:11.470 enraged. And William said, OK, enough is enough. 00:23:11.609 --> 00:23:14.559 He returned to England. And now he was determined 00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.539 to fight in World War II in the war effort against 00:23:18.539 --> 00:23:23.579 his uncle. But the British Armed Forces rejected 00:23:23.579 --> 00:23:30.000 him due to his last name. So in 1939, William 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:33.220 moved to the United States and began writing 00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:36.160 to President Roosevelt begging to be allowed 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:39.960 in the U .S. Armed Forces. And it took a few 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:42.460 years, but eventually... President Roosevelt 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:46.700 relented and William Patrick Hitler was sworn 00:23:46.700 --> 00:23:51.420 into the U .S. Navy on March 6, 1944 in New York 00:23:51.420 --> 00:23:55.680 City before he departed for basic training at 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:59.359 Samson Naval Training Center. Now, William Hitler 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.339 served three years in the U .S. Navy as a pharmacist's 00:24:03.339 --> 00:24:09.220 mate before he was discharged in 1947 and awarded 00:24:09.220 --> 00:24:12.569 a Purple Heart. for an injury he apparently suffered 00:24:12.569 --> 00:24:16.470 during his service. After leaving the military, 00:24:16.869 --> 00:24:20.009 William unsurprisingly changed his last name 00:24:20.009 --> 00:24:24.450 to Stuart Houston. He married and ran a blood 00:24:24.450 --> 00:24:28.150 analysis laboratory on Long Island in Patchogue, 00:24:28.250 --> 00:24:34.190 New York. William had four children, and strangely, 00:24:34.390 --> 00:24:38.750 he gave each of them the middle name of Adolph. 00:24:44.140 --> 00:24:46.660 So last week it was announced that researchers 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:49.920 from Cornell University and the SUNY College 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:52.900 of Environmental Science and Forestry received 00:24:52.900 --> 00:24:56.640 a grant to study the recently discovered holes 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:59.400 in the bottom of Seneca Lake and to determine 00:24:59.400 --> 00:25:02.460 if methane or other chemicals released from those 00:25:02.460 --> 00:25:05.319 holes could explain the Seneca drums phenomenon. 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:10.200 So I thought it was an opportune time to... Look 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:12.859 at those longtime rumors of underwater tunnels 00:25:12.859 --> 00:25:15.920 in the lake, where those tunnels may lead, and 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:18.779 if those tunnels were tied to the Seneca drums. 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:23.900 So 1908 was a big year for claims of tunnels 00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:27.380 connecting not only to the Atlantic Ocean, but 00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:31.839 also the Pacific. So in 1908, local residents 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.599 had already believed for years that Seneca Lake's 00:25:35.599 --> 00:25:38.460 waters had moved in conjunction with the tides 00:25:38.460 --> 00:25:40.720 of the ocean, and that there were parts of Seneca 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:45.299 where no bottom had been found. So in April of 00:25:45.299 --> 00:25:50.680 1908, a lone fisherman, unnamed in a news report, 00:25:50.859 --> 00:25:53.960 was rowing across the lake just north of Beloy 00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:58.359 around 9 p .m., a time when the lake drum sounds 00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:01.099 were commonly reported, especially in that area 00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:04.339 of the lake. And the man not only said he heard 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:09.940 the lake guns, But then there was a violent eruption 00:26:09.940 --> 00:26:15.059 on lake surface. The man leaned over and he decided 00:26:15.059 --> 00:26:17.960 he would taste the water. So he tasted a sample 00:26:17.960 --> 00:26:20.200 of the water and said that it had a strong, distinct 00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:24.019 taste of salt. And then he spotted a piece of 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:28.299 wood bobbing in the waves and reached down, retrieved 00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:30.940 the piece of wood and realized it was the bow 00:26:30.940 --> 00:26:34.980 gunwale, which is the front upper edge of a large 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:38.960 whaling boat. And inscribed on that piece of 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:43.740 wood were the words, John P. Sullivan, Gloucester, 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:47.900 Mass. And after investigating later on, it was 00:26:47.900 --> 00:26:51.819 revealed that there was a whaling boat from Gloucester 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:54.920 with the same name that had wrecked off of Cape 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:58.559 Hatteras on the Atlantic Ocean just over a year 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:04.740 prior in the winter of 1906 -1907. And then... 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.180 A few months later, in June of 1908, E .C. Havens, 00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:13.200 who was a local pharmacist and Watkins Village 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:17.900 trustee, began telling people the story, publicly 00:27:17.900 --> 00:27:22.460 sharing the story about a highly unusual marine 00:27:22.460 --> 00:27:26.099 species that had been caught near Hector Falls. 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:30.799 The witness was identified as a Mr. Hausner, 00:27:30.859 --> 00:27:36.470 and he provided... E .C. Havens with a detailed 00:27:36.470 --> 00:27:38.869 description of this strange fish that had been 00:27:38.869 --> 00:27:41.829 caught. He said it had the general shape of a 00:27:41.829 --> 00:27:45.430 trout or perch but with a hooked lower jaw that 00:27:45.430 --> 00:27:48.369 fit into a groove or a cavity in the upper jaw. 00:27:48.589 --> 00:27:52.690 The fish's teeth were pointed backward and its 00:27:52.690 --> 00:27:58.049 head and back were a gold brown bronze color 00:27:58.049 --> 00:28:02.220 that gradually shaded into a lighter color. It 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:06.599 had a white belly and a white tail and an iridescent 00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:10.259 stripe that ran along the body and small, oddly 00:28:10.259 --> 00:28:13.160 colored spots on the entire back. So he had a 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.799 very detailed description. It was around 18 inches 00:28:15.799 --> 00:28:18.220 long and weighed about two and a half pounds. 00:28:18.500 --> 00:28:22.500 And local scholars concluded that the fish was 00:28:22.500 --> 00:28:25.019 a type of shark normally found in the Pacific 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:28.680 Ocean near California and the Mediterranean Sea, 00:28:28.859 --> 00:28:34.369 known as... a starry smoothhound, a skate -toothed 00:28:34.369 --> 00:28:39.430 shark, or a ray -toothed dog. And the species 00:28:39.430 --> 00:28:45.309 name was Mutellus henulus. And now the witnesses 00:28:45.309 --> 00:28:49.430 concluded that because this species of shark 00:28:49.430 --> 00:28:52.690 had never been previously found in any freshwater 00:28:52.690 --> 00:28:55.529 and couldn't have been born in the lake, the 00:28:55.529 --> 00:28:58.410 only explanation was that the shark had arrived. 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:03.019 to Seneca Lake via an underground passage with 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:05.980 an opening that they believed existed just north 00:29:05.980 --> 00:29:09.079 of Valois where the lake guns were most commonly 00:29:09.079 --> 00:29:11.759 reported. Now, there's no further information 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:16.059 about what happened to the Raytooth Dog or Skate 00:29:16.059 --> 00:29:19.220 Tooth Shark or Starry Smooth Hound or whatever 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:22.660 you want to call it. But still, now, there were 00:29:22.660 --> 00:29:27.680 two stories. One telling of a tunnel to the Atlantic 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:31.339 Ocean. telling of a tunnel to the Pacific Ocean. 00:29:31.779 --> 00:29:34.539 And now we have a third story from a few years 00:29:34.539 --> 00:29:38.400 later in 1953. And the story actually begins 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:42.200 in Elmira, New York, which is about 20 miles 00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:48.559 south of Seneca Lake. So in 1953, an Elmira city 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:53.319 councilor named Walter Wichtowski was looking 00:29:53.319 --> 00:29:56.480 into different ways to address the city's need 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:00.849 for... increased amounts of drinking water. So 00:30:00.849 --> 00:30:04.329 he wrote a letter to the city water board with 00:30:04.329 --> 00:30:07.509 a proposal suggesting that they build a 20 -mile 00:30:07.509 --> 00:30:11.349 pipeline to carry water from Seneca Lake to Elmira. 00:30:11.990 --> 00:30:17.829 He received a response from the city water board 00:30:17.829 --> 00:30:21.349 stating that not only would such a project cost 00:30:21.349 --> 00:30:26.130 a staggering $7 million, which is about $83 million 00:30:26.130 --> 00:30:30.150 in 2025, that it would also create unspecified, 00:30:30.269 --> 00:30:34.250 quote, political and international complications, 00:30:34.670 --> 00:30:37.990 end quote. So this was clearly something the 00:30:37.990 --> 00:30:41.589 city water board wasn't going to approve, but 00:30:41.589 --> 00:30:44.490 Walter Wichtowski wasn't going to give up so 00:30:44.490 --> 00:30:49.069 easily. So the next week, Walter recommended 00:30:49.069 --> 00:30:52.589 that the city request a survey of Eldridge Lake 00:30:52.589 --> 00:30:55.660 to discover. whether there was any truth to the 00:30:55.660 --> 00:30:58.460 legend of an underground connection to Seneca 00:30:58.460 --> 00:31:02.279 Lake. Wichtowski cited numerous stories from 00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:06.220 local residents pointing out that if the connection 00:31:06.220 --> 00:31:09.119 was already there, drinking water could be pulled 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.400 from Seneca Lake without the need to construct 00:31:11.400 --> 00:31:14.799 a pipeline. And what was Eldridge Lake? Eldridge 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:22.490 Lake is a small 11 -acre glacial lake. in the 00:31:22.490 --> 00:31:28.089 city of Elmira. In 1857, a Dr. Edwin Eldridge 00:31:28.089 --> 00:31:33.269 purchased the lake and the surrounding 200 acres 00:31:33.269 --> 00:31:38.049 around it. And after he performed extensive landscaping, 00:31:38.089 --> 00:31:41.750 he installed Victorian statues, he made the lake 00:31:41.750 --> 00:31:45.569 larger, he built a turtle and frog pond, he constructed 00:31:45.569 --> 00:31:48.529 a casino with a restaurant, an ice cream parlor. 00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:53.200 And finally, in 1870, he opened Eldridge Park 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:56.619 to the public. Sadly, Dr. Eldridge died about 00:31:56.619 --> 00:32:00.160 six years later in 1876, and his family members 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:02.599 took care of the park before they sold it to 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:07.059 the city of Elmira in 1899. And later attractions 00:32:07.059 --> 00:32:12.359 included boat rides, carousels, and even bear 00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:17.289 pits, because bear fights were a popular... spectator 00:32:17.289 --> 00:32:20.869 activity of the time and it's exactly what it 00:32:20.869 --> 00:32:23.849 sounds like pits with bears and them fighting 00:32:23.849 --> 00:32:29.109 according to locals as mentioned eldridge lake 00:32:29.109 --> 00:32:33.049 was also connected to seneca lake via underground 00:32:33.049 --> 00:32:36.470 tunnels so there were stories of people and animals 00:32:36.470 --> 00:32:40.349 who disappeared in eldridge lake only to have 00:32:40.349 --> 00:32:43.529 their corpses surface in seneca lake sometimes 00:32:43.529 --> 00:32:47.500 those corpses were covered with strange unexplained 00:32:47.500 --> 00:32:52.660 bite marks. Another story from around 1903 said 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:56.019 that two boats had an accident on Seneca Lake 00:32:56.019 --> 00:33:00.039 with debris from both of those boats later showing 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:04.019 up in Eldridge Lake. And then there was a sawmill 00:33:04.019 --> 00:33:07.220 that would treat its logs by floating them in 00:33:07.220 --> 00:33:10.099 Eldridge Lake. But then they started having numerous 00:33:10.099 --> 00:33:13.700 logs simply disappearing from Eldridge and... 00:33:14.250 --> 00:33:18.390 appearing in Seneca Lake. So the Elmira City 00:33:18.390 --> 00:33:22.410 Council agreed to the request to have Cornell 00:33:22.410 --> 00:33:26.869 University send experts to determine if the underground 00:33:26.869 --> 00:33:29.329 tunnel between Eldridge Lake and Seneca Lake 00:33:29.329 --> 00:33:32.130 actually existed. So they did the survey and 00:33:32.130 --> 00:33:35.670 they determined that, unsurprisingly, the tunnel 00:33:35.670 --> 00:33:39.930 did not exist. And not only that, but Eldridge 00:33:39.930 --> 00:33:45.089 Lake was not bottomless. Its deepest point. was 00:33:45.089 --> 00:33:50.710 39 feet. Well, that's it for this time around. 00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:52.869 I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for listening, 00:33:52.950 --> 00:33:55.730 and if you have any thoughts on any of the topics 00:33:55.730 --> 00:33:58.369 in this episode, please let me know. And remember 00:33:58.369 --> 00:34:00.630 to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, 00:34:00.690 --> 00:34:02.990 and get over to SenecaLakeMysteries .com and 00:34:02.990 --> 00:34:05.170 subscribe to the email list so you don't miss 00:34:05.170 --> 00:34:08.369 anything. A new podcast comes out every month 00:34:08.369 --> 00:34:10.289 on the 7s. I'll talk to you then.