Hey everybody, welcome to Seneca Lake Mysteries,
the podcast where we explore the unusual, strange,
and unexplained on New York's largest finger
lake. If this is your first time listening, thank
you. I'm glad you found your way to the podcast
and I'm happy you're here. And if you've been
listening for a while, as always, thank you so
much for supporting the show and being a part
of this excursion into the offbeat, weird, and...
mystifying history around the seneca lake area
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know everything that's going on. And again, keep
those emails, messages, and voicemails coming.
Let me know what's on your mind. If you have
suggestions or questions or any feedback at all,
let me know and we'll keep this thing rolling.
Seriously, I love to hear from you guys. One
quick update, as I mentioned in the last episode,
I recently took a trip up to the Alpine Portal,
also known as Connecticut Hill, a spot with a
long and varied history of wild paranormal and
unexplained reports from Bigfoot to orbs to hauntings
and high strangeness and a lot more. I was invited
by a listener named Rick who has hunted on Connecticut
Hill for many years and is deeply familiar with
the area. So Rick generously took a big chunk
of time out of his Sunday morning and afternoon
to show me a few places up on the hill, including
something very unusual and intriguing that he
had found. We ended up finding something quite
unexpected and far wilder than I had anticipated.
Last time I promised to tell the story in a future
episode, and now I can tell you that it will
be the next episode of the podcast on the 27th,
and I'll tell you guys all about the crazy day
we had up there at the Alpine Portal. However,
for this episode, as a bit of a preview, I'll
be sharing a very strange experience that a listener
shared with me that they had up on Connecticut
Hill a few years ago. But first... In light of
the recent viral appearance of a large cat, most
likely a cougar, who was spotted wandering through
a residential neighborhood in Rochester, New
York, which is about 40 miles northwest of Seneca
Lake. It happened earlier this month. I'm going
to get into some stories about similar reports,
which are known in the paranormal and cryptozoology
communities as alien big cat sightings that have
happened. On the west side of Seneca Lake, specifically
reports of a large black cat similar to a panther
that was spotted in a field and in the woods.
Then next up is a story that has been written
about in various books and websites, probably
the most widely known UFO sighting in the history
of the area, which was the 1952 sighting by multiple
witnesses of... aerial round silver spheres that
floated over a Watkins Glen neighborhood with
one object seen just a few minutes later plunging
and disappearing into Seneca Lake a short distance
away but in all the places I've seen this story
there are some pretty important details missing
details that came to light a few weeks after
the event that for me really add to the impact
and the credibility of this famous sighting so
i'm excited to tell you guys this story along
with this quote -unquote new information and
finally as i mentioned i'll share a report verbatim
that was sent to me by a listener of something
that happened to them when they visited connecticut
hill cemetery a few years back now honestly i
personally think that all three of these stories
are bangers and i wanted to Almost wanted to
save one or two of them for a future episode.
But then I figured, you guys have been so supportive
and so cool to me, so why not do all three stories
now and think about future episodes when the
time comes. So that's what I'm going to do. And
one more thing, I want to remind everyone out
there that I'm always looking for stories and
guests for the podcast. So if you or someone
you know has had an unusual experience, whether
paranormal or spiritual or odd or mysterious.
I'd love to hear from you. I'll protect your
anonymity. If you prefer, just let me know. Also,
if you are someone who investigates or studies
anything considered fringe or arcane or strange
around Seneca Lake, hit me up. I'd love to hear
what you're up to and talk about it on the podcast,
if you're all right with that. Because ultimately,
I want this podcast to be more than just a way
for people to learn cool history and folklore
about the area. I really want it to help connect
us together and build a community of people who
are open -minded and curious about this beautiful
and mysterious spot in the middle of New York
State. Of course, I love the wineries and the
waterfalls and the breweries and the restaurants
and the state parks. and the boats and the recreation
and the farms. But I also think it's time more
people knew that there's a lot more to this area,
a lot more this area has to offer for those who
believe that there's more than meets the eye
in our world and that there's something enigmatic
and mystical in the landscape in and around Seneca
Lake. So again, I appreciate you all. Let's get
to it. So on the evening of July 9th, 2025, a
resident of Rochester, New York, about 35 miles
northwest of Seneca Lake, captured something
completely unexpected on their... Ring doorbell
camera. The video caught what appears to be a
very large cat, possibly a mountain lion or a
cougar, walking down the street in a residential
neighborhood. The local police received reports
from numerous witnesses and the video clip and
story went viral and Big Cat Mania has been all
the rage in Rochester since then. After a day
or two, the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation issued a statement saying that if
the video is unaltered, then it appears to show
a cougar. Now, because there is no wild population
of cougars in New York State, or there hasn't
been since the late 1800s, it's believed that
the cat sighted in Rochester was a wild pet that
had escaped. They checked with the local zoos
and all the local zoos reported that no big cats
were missing. So in light of this story, I was
wondering, is there any history of out of place
big cats being seen near Seneca Lake? And it
turns out the answer is yes. And I'll get to
that in a minute. But first of all, I want to
give a brief summary. of what's known in the
cryptozoological and paranormal circles as the
alien big cat phenomenon. So the alien big cat
phenomenon, or ABC, refers to sightings of large
cats in unusual locations or circumstances, often
accompanied by reports of strange behavior or
unexplained events. Now, these sightings have
occurred all over the world for well over a century.
And while the locations around the world are
varied, the United Kingdom is considered a hotspot
for these ABC sightings, especially locations
such as Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor, and Surrey. And
in the U .S., multiple sightings have been reported
in several states, including Connecticut, Delaware,
Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.
Now these cats are frequently described as appearing
out of place with some witnesses suggesting that
these cats seem to glitch or phase in and out
of existence. Some reports include descriptions
of the cats having unnaturally large eyes or
exhibiting unusual agility or disappearing suddenly.
Some of the more unusual theories Explaining
these cats range from the cats being interdimensional
beings to the result of government experiments.
Now, the reports frequently originate from rural
areas, forests, and near bodies of water, suggesting
some kind of connection to wild or remote environments.
Specific locations mentioned in various reports
include Areas near military bases, locations
with historical paranormal activity, and regions
with high rates of UFO sightings. Hmm. Now, with
that in mind, I want to move on to the article
from the Canandaigua Daily Messenger. It was
published on April 7th, 2021. Written by Len
Lissenby, the outdoor columnist. for the Daily
Messenger. The title of the article is Cougars
in the Finger Lakes? Of course they're here,
at least kind of. So the article goes over the
more recent history of big cat sightings in and
around the Finger Lakes area. And one of them
specifically is from the town of Benton, which...
The town of Benton, the southern border of the
town of Benton is just north of Penyan and it
extends northeast to Benton Center and Bologna.
And then it hits the western shore of Seneca
Lake about three or four miles north of Dresden.
So here's the sighting that is described in this
article. Quote, three young Mennonite women,
all daughters of Earl Martin. were visiting in
the kitchen of one of their homes in the town
of Benton. The lady that lived there happened
to look out the window and she said a large black
animal and she saw a large black animal walking
on the edge of a hay field less than 100 yards
away. She had a clear view of the animal. She
also had a pair of 10 by 50 binoculars. She and
her sisters spent nearly 15 minutes watching
the large critter mouse in the field. According
to all three of those women, they watched a large
cat. Its body was about four feet long and its
long slender tail was about three feet long.
It had a cat's face and ears and it was jet black.
They all felt it was about the size of a Labrador
retriever. Earl went over to the house two days
later, hoping to find some tracks. Despite what
his daughters had described, he was still skeptical.
Well, he found tracks. Lots of them, if the truth
be known. He followed them for quite a distance,
observing them in snowdrifts and muddy places.
And Earl knows his animal tracks very well. Photos
of the tracks were taken, by the way. He described
those tracks to me. He said, They were about
three fingers wide, roughly three inches, and
a little longer, possibly three and a half to
four inches long. And they were definitely cat
tracks. Over the past few years, I have received
more than a dozen other unconfirmed sightings
of cougars, both black and tawny colored. The
black cat sightings seem to range from around
Pen Yen and Dundee, north to Benton Center. and
from Seneca Lake west to Rushville, end quote.
Now keep in mind this article is not just about
the Seneca Lake area. It also extends over to
the South Hill, East Hill area of Canandaigua
Lake. So a little further in the article, the
author says, quote, The sightings of large tawny
cats come from all over, but seem to be most
common around the South Hill, East Hill area,
and many, if not most of them, are really hard
to refute. Like the two spring turkey hunters
who were walking to their hunting area when they
heard a loud animal -like scream. A few seconds
later, a large black cat ran directly in front
of them and jumped eight feet up in a tree. Then
it sat there as they observed it from a few yards
away. I'd bet they had their turkey guns loaded
and ready. They finally walked away with it still
in that tree. Now that's hard to refute. End
quote. Now it's unclear from the article if the
sightings from the three women in Benton were
at around the same time as the sightings by these
two turkey hunters. But regardless, it's certainly
intriguing and it certainly implies that there
may have been or could still be a large black
cat running around in the area west of Seneca
Lake and east of Canandaigua Lake. Now, further
in the article, the author, Mr. Lisenby, who
was a former, I believe, Department of Fish and
Wildlife law enforcement officer, retired, gives
his professional opinion on what exactly would
explain the sightings of this large black cat.
Quote, I believe it is someone's pet leopard.
It may have grown too large to safely handle.
Then it either escaped or they foolishly let
it go. rather than suffer the personal pain of
having to put it to sleep. That would also explain
why it was not afraid of the two turkey hunters.
And the reason I believe it is a leopard and
not a black cougar is the footprints that were
carefully observed and measured in the mud and
snow. A cougar has very broad footpads that enable
it to move over any type of surface, including
deep snow. African leopards never encounter snow
and their feet are noticeably smaller. And there's
one other thing. While cougars are fairly good
tree climbers, leopards literally live in them.
That would explain why the black quote cougar
end quote jumped eight feet up in a tree and
sat there while the two hunters watched. There
is a very good chance that this cat has undergone
the same inhumane treatment. most large pet cats
are put through. Its sharp canine teeth were
probably removed, as were its claws. That would
explain why it had to jump into the tree and
not climb it, or climb higher in it. Such a condition
would also explain why a large cat was observed
mousing in a field. Small animals are all it
can hunt. because it cannot easily kill a deer
without canine teeth and claws, end quote. Now,
I absolutely can see how the author's theory
on this large black cat, the species being a
leopard, the reasons for its behavior, all make
sense. It's not out of the question that someone
in the area was illegally keeping an African
black leopard as a pet, and that the animal somehow
escaped. And the observations of the cat's behavior
seem to point toward Mr. Lisenby's theory being
plausible or even likely. But still, I have to
wonder, were there more reports of this black
leopard in the area, considering it was spotted
in the town of Benton, which is mostly flat farmland
with... only pockets of forested areas, it would
seem at least possible that someone else would
have seen it, especially in the winter when a
big black leopard would stand out against all
the white snow. Also Benton is at least 10 to
12 miles from the wooded area where the turkey
hunters got screamed at by a large black cat
that then jumped up into a tree and sat there
watching them. And where did it go? Did it eventually
starve and die deep in the woods? Or was it something
else? Was it an alien big cat, some sort of glitch
in the matrix, a creature that pops in and out
of our reality in the fields and meadows around
Seneca Lake, where unusual paranormal events
and UFO sightings are just part of the landscape?
I don't know. Let me know what you all think.
In any case, it's just one more piece in the
esoteric jigsaw puzzle around the mysteries of
Seneca Lake. So this is the story of the Watkins
Glen Silver Sphere Splashdown from 1952. Now,
it's helpful to provide some context into the
events that were happening around the United
States at the time of the... Sighting in Watkins
Glen. So that's where I'm going to start. Now,
just under a month before the sighting in Watkins
Glen on July 29th, 1952, the United States Air
Force Director of Intelligence, along with the
United States Air Force Director of Operations,
conducted the largest press conference at the
Pentagon since World War II. In the historic
statement, the Air Force. publicly acknowledged
for the first time their keen interest in flying
saucers or ufos and they revealed that they'd
investigated between a thousand and two thousand
ufo reports since 1947 now they stated that their
investigations found explanations for the vast
majority of the reports however they admitted
there were a handful of reports for which no
explanation could be found. But they went on
to assure the public that none of the unexplained
reports posed any threat to national security.
Now, the reason for the Air Force's sudden transparency
was in response to a massive increase in UFO
sightings during the previous two or three months
across the country, most notably in Washington,
D .C. where multiple sightings over the final
two weekends of July had generated international
news headlines. The illuminated objects over
the nation's capital were simultaneously detected
on radar and observed visually by both military
and civilian pilots, which resulted in the scrambling
of fighter jets and... undoubtedly a lot of freaking
out inside the White House and the Pentagon.
Now, during that same time frame, numerous sightings
were reported to the east of the Finger Lakes
in central New York and to the southwest of the
Finger Lakes in the southern tier. But it wasn't
long before the so -called flying saucers began
showing up near Seneca Lake. So on July 28th,
which was the day before the Pentagon press conference,
and the morning after the final saucer sightings
over the nation's capital, an elliptical object
was observed hovering over Geneva, New York,
at the northern tip of Seneca Lake. Witnesses
watched as vapor trails, ostensibly from fighter
jets, closed in on the objects, but before the
fighter jets could reach it, the object flew
upward, disappearing into the clouds. Now, the
sighting was significant enough to draw the notice
of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial
Phenomena, NICAP, who included it in their 1964
book, The UFO Evidence, which was a detailed
examination of hundreds of UFO reports. the organization
had compiled through 1963. And that book, The
UFO Evidence, is considered one of the most important
books written on the subject of UFOs in the 20th
century. Then on Friday, August 1st, at around
9 .45 a .m., just three days after the Geneva
sighting, Byron Cronk of Dundee which is a village
about 10 miles north of Watkins Glen and a few
miles west of Seneca Lake, was looking at what
he first believed to be a bright star in the
northeast sky in the direction of the lake. Then
suddenly the light shot straight upwards, then
briefly paused before traveling abruptly to the
north while it was emitting what appeared to
be a smoke or a vapor behind it until it was
out of sight. The object made no sound, and then
within seconds, Byron Cronk saw what looked like
the same strange light moving southward until
he lost sight of it in the morning sun. And meanwhile,
that same day, newspaper offices in Elmira were
inundated. Elmira, which is about 20 miles south
of Watkins Glen, the newspaper offices there
were inundated with hundreds of calls. from people
reporting shiny and round as well as pancake
or disc -shaped flying objects. Also that same
day in Afton, just east of the Finger Lakes,
locals had gathered in the streets and watched
round objects passing across the sky in large
numbers for around two hours. And there were
additional sightings reported in south -central
New York State as well as the eastern and western
regions. making it one of the largest single
-day UFO flaps, if not the largest in New York
State history. Then, just a few weeks later,
multiple witnesses in two locations not only
saw something strange above Watkins Glen, but
also above and in Seneca Lake. And the story
was so incredible, it ended up being reported
by newspapers across the state. It's been cited
in... UFO books over the years, and at the time,
it even drew the attention of the United States
Air Force. So the story begins at around 9 .30
a .m. on Monday, August 25, 1952, when Watkins
Glen resident Marion Granston looked up to see
two objects gliding silently just above the top
of the big elm tree in her yard on Glen Avenue.
They were large silver balls about four feet
across with narrow platforms around their circumferences.
Now, Mrs. Granston wasn't the only person observing
these objects, though. There were three neighborhood
boys, ages 5, 8, and 9, who were also watching
these strange aerial spheres. Now, the boys got
excited. They ran home to tell their mother,
but by the time they returned, The objects were
gone. Now, five minutes later, three carpenters
from Schuyler County were working on the roof
of a house at Glen Eldridge Point on the eastern
shore of Seneca Lake, about two and a half miles
northeast of Marion Granston's home. The three
men watched as a single, shiny, metallic silver
ball about four feet across floated through the
air above the lake. When it was about 150 feet
from shore, the object, which the men described
as shining like a big sheet of silver, abruptly
plummeted down into about 40 feet of water, generating
an 8 -foot splash before it vanished under the
surface. So the New York State Troopers in Horseheads,
New York, about 18 miles south of Watkins Glen,
were contacted to investigate these reports.
Marion Granston also contacted civil defense
authorities. And meanwhile, in the town of Trumansburg,
about 15 miles northwest, or excuse me, about
15 miles northeast of Watkins Glen, multiple
witnesses saw five jets chasing a flying saucer.
So before long, news reporters contacted the
United States Air Force at Hancock Field in Syracuse.
who confirmed that fighter jets from the 32nd
Air Division were on maneuvers in the Watkins
Glen area, but they had no information about
anybody pursuing any flying saucers. Still, the
Air Force told reporters that they would, quote,
investigate the Seneca Lake incident, end quote.
So that evening, the troopers told reporters
that they were considering doing a grappling
operation on Seneca Lake the next day to locate
and see if they could recover the Silver Sphere
off of Glen Eldridge. However, the next morning,
a trooper spokesman stated that they would not
move forward with the recovery effort, and he
gave the following explanation. quote, we'll
have to look into the matter, but we can't say
just how far this thing will go. If this thing
did land in the lake, it would be pretty hard
to find, as there are parts of the lake in which
we have no idea how deep the water is. It would
be foolish to begin grappling operations until
such time as we can pinpoint the locale better,
end quote. Now, the troopers were well advised
to exercise some caution because although the
object landed in about 40 feet of water the lake's
depth drops to over 400 feet just a short distance
from that point of entry still there were three
witnesses no more than a few hundred feet away
from the object when it dove into the lake and
it would seem those witnesses could pinpoint
the locale with enough accuracy to justify a
grappling operation in the immediate area, but
ultimately the state police would not do any
grappling for a flying saucer. So how did the
troopers attempt to explain the pair of four
-foot -wide silver spheres that Marion Granston
and the three boys saw floating over Watkins
Glen and the single four -foot -wide silver sphere
that a trio of... Schuyler County carpenters
saw flying over and diving into Seneca Lake.
Well, Sergeant J. Edward Maloney of the Horsehead
State Police offered one possible explanation,
saying that one of the Air Force fighter jets
flying in the area may have jettisoned an empty
fuel tank, an occurrence that he said happened
frequently. Now, while this might seem like a
plausible scenario, it would also mean that an
American military plane on maneuvers over a populated
Watkins Glen area dropped an empty gas tank a
couple hundred feet from a private home. So at
minimum, this would have been some cause for
alarm and a request for answers from the Air
Force at Hancock Field. And that's not to...
Not to mention that a jettisoned fuel tank would
fall to the ground. It wouldn't travel across
the sky as all the witnesses described. But regardless,
the troopers evidently closed the book on their
one -day investigation. Then on August 27, 1952,
two days after the Watkins Glen sightings and
the splashdown, one local news report. stated
that local residents had come up with another
theory to explain away the sightings, in which
they hypothesized that some local children lost
control of a kite which flew into the lake. Then
the article went on to note that life on Eldridge
Point had returned to normal, with kids swimming
and adults fishing for panfish instead of mysterious
flying saucers. And that would be the last news
update for a little while from the state police
or the United States Air Force. And no more newspaper
stories about saucers flying over Watkins Glen
and diving into Seneca Lake. Everyone seemed
to have moved on from the Watkins Glen UFO story,
except Marion Granston. And an article in the
Watkins Glen Review on September 17th, 1952,
23 days after the Silver Sphere sightings, provided
more background into Marion Granston and what
she did after the local authorities refused to,
or failed to, meaningfully investigate the event.
So it turns out that back in World War II, Marion
had been a trained observer in Pleasantville,
New Jersey. Now, although the specific type of
work Mrs. Granston performed is unclear from
the article, there are two likely possibilities.
One, she may have been trained as a weather observer,
monitoring weather conditions for various military
flights and training activities in the area.
of Pleasantville, New Jersey, which included
the Naval Air Station Atlantic City and the Atlantic
City Training Center for the U .S. Army Air Forces.
Now, two, Marion may have been trained as an
aircraft observer, monitoring and reporting on
both U .S. military and other aircraft along
the New Jersey coast, because in 1942, German
submarines had attacked and sunk and sunk at
least two dozen ships off the coast of New Jersey.
So that area was under constant surveillance.
But regardless of the exact nature of her job,
Marion Granston would likely have developed above
-average observational skills due to her receiving
training during wartime at a major U .S. military
hub. on the east coast of the U .S. So when two
strange metal balls floated over her yard in
the summer of 1952, Marion was able to provide
a more reliable and accurate firsthand account
than the majority of people in Watkins Glen.
And being trained to observe and report, she
reported, she observed the... silver spheres
and then reported her observations to local and
state authorities but mrs granston didn't stop
there it seems it seems that she believed that
her experience was important enough to relay
it directly and in great detail to the highest
authority in the country so marion granston wrote
a letter to the President of the United States,
Harry S. Truman, describing her sighting of the
floating metallic spheres. And just over two
weeks later, she received a reply in the form
of a letter, not from President Truman, but instead
from the Director of Legislation and Liaison
of the Department of the Air Force, a General
Robert E. L. Eaton. General Eaton's letter stated
that Marion's report was under evaluation and
had been made a matter of record by the Air Force.
The general also sent Mrs. Granston a lengthy
report that mirrored the statements made in the
historic press conference in Washington, D .C.
just a few weeks prior. And here's what the general
relayed to Mrs. Granston. Quote, To date, the
Air Force has undertaken to investigate and analyze
about 1 ,500 reports dealing with these phenomena.
Most of the reports were identified and disposed
of as friendly aircraft erroneously reported,
known electronics and meteorological phenomena,
light aberrations, hoaxes, and other known natural
occurrences or man -made objects. The unexplained
reports, which are in the order of 20 % of the
total cannot be definitely associated with these
familiar things. The Air Force has stated in
the past and reaffirms at the present time that
these unidentified aerial phenomena are not a
secret weapon, missile, or aircraft developed
by the United States. None of the three military
departments nor any other agency in the government
is conducting experiments, classified or otherwise,
with flying objects, which could be a basis for
the reported phenomena. As far as is known, there
is nothing in them that is associated with material
or vehicles that are directed against the United
States from another country or from another planet.
End quote. So while the 1952 silver sphere sightings
and splashdown are remembered as an interesting
and bizarre moment, little piece of folklore
from 20th century history of Watkins Glen and
Seneca Lake. This additional information to me
provides some critical missing context from the
story that's been repeated and republished for
the last 70 years. It certainly seems to me that
Marion Granston did not observe. A military jet
fuel tank falling from the sky and misidentify
it as two four -foot -wide shining silver balls
with a small platform around their circumferences.
Mrs. Granston was trained by the U .S. military
to observe things in the sky. So if she says
she saw mysterious silver spheres in the air,
I believe her. And she obviously felt strong
enough that... her sighting, about her sighting,
to write a letter to the President of the United
States. So to me, I think the 1952 sightings
were not only credible, but considering the numerous
reports in the coming years of flying objects
entering the lake, they were also deeply important
to our understanding of the subject of UFOs in
the Seneca Lake area. So back in early June,
I received a message from someone who lives in
the Seneca Lake area. And they said they had
a strange story to tell me about their experience
visiting Connecticut Hill. So I replied to them
and said, sure, I'd love to hear the story. If
you want, you can tell me the story here or you
can send me an email. So they ended up sending
me an email. which I received in early June.
And it's really quite a remarkable, intriguing,
weird story. And I'm going to tell you the story
here. Now, keep in mind, the author of this,
the person who went through this experience,
was very, very adamant that they did not want
their identity used. or exposed in any way on
the podcast. So I assured them of that. And that
also, I believe that also had something to do
with their sort of reticence to go into too many
more further details on their experience, which
I understand completely. This is a pretty crazy
story. And I understand that not everyone wants
to put themselves out there like that. Without
further ado, let me read you the initial email
that I got from this person. Quote, All right,
this is the first time I've written this story
down. This takes place in the late winter or
early spring of 2020, right in the beginning
of COVID when things started to shut down the
first time. It was the week when our local officials
actually requested a lockdown. Midway through
the week, my wife and I, feeling a bit of cabin
fever, decided to go for a drive or a hike. We
live not far from the Connecticut Hill area but
have never been up there. One of us had recently
heard a story of a witch buried in a cemetery
up on the hill and we thought we should go check
out the area and maybe stumble on an old cemetery.
When we left the house, I think it was around
11, maybe close to noon, but it was late morning.
This is important for later. We drove up towards
Alpine and navigated the few roads to get to
Connecticut Hill Forest. Only about a 10 to 15
minute drive from our home. Once you reach this
area, it's all seasonal use dirt roads. I remember
there was a small dusting of snow on the ground.
Within a few short minutes, we were looking at
a cemetery. We didn't have to search at all.
We got out and walked up the path into the cemetery.
The first thing I noticed was that there were
already footprints in the snow up there. Didn't
think much of it since I'm sure it's a popular
spot to hike around. I walked some more into
the graveyard and right up to a headstone that
immediately gave me goosebumps. It was a headstone
on the ground, broken to pieces, and had all
kinds of offerings and little dolls and things
like that on it. Very creepy. This was the grave
of Elizabeth. If you Google this, you will see
photos of exactly what I saw. I looked at it
for only a few seconds trying to imagine who
would do this and why. This feeling overcame
me that seemed like the more I questioned why
this happened, the more I felt like I should
leave. So I turned around and met my wife who
was already back at the car. She said she felt
the same way. We drove down the road the way
we came. and were quickly realizing things didn't
look the same. The road to get to the cemetery
was one road with maybe one turn in it. Not hard
to backtrack. Sure enough, we were lost. Driving
in one direction way too long, coming to a dead
end or a bridge that was out, and turning back.
This was very strange. But the moment when things
really got strange is when the sun started to
go down. From the time we left the cemetery,
we were driving around lost for maybe 20 minutes.
It should have only been around 1 or 1 .30 in
the afternoon, but it was getting dark. My gas
light came on and we had no cell service. This
was really weird. We drove around a little more
and finally popped out into a spot we recognized
and got home as the sun was setting. Now, I know
I took photos on my phone and I wanted to reference
those for the timestamp. The photos were gone.
Nothing on my phone or hers from that time. I'll
end my story here as I'm not going to speculate
on what I think happened. It was very strange
and I still feel like I don't want to go back
there, even as curious as I am. If you have questions
about the story, please let me know. But this
is the basics of it. So after I read this, I
immediately checked to see approximately the
time of sunset in the month of March in this
area. Because this event would have happened
in mid to late March in 2020. And at that time
of year, sunset is around, it's after 7 o 'clock,
somewhere between 7 and 7 .30. So right off the
bat, we're looking at... a loss of hours of time,
four, five hours of time that this individual
lost while driving around on Connecticut Hill
when it only felt like 20 minutes. Also, the
issue with none of the photographs coming up
in the phones after they left, the gas light
coming on, the loss of cell service. These are
all kind of things that have been reported around
Connecticut Hill before. Vehicles, batteries,
electronic failures, time distortions, getting
lost and disoriented, and odd experiences around
the cemetery. So I had a lot more questions.
So I asked this individual several more questions,
and they gave me a response. It didn't seem like
they wanted to go into... any more details, which
they mentioned in a future email. But I'll also
give you the last few details that this person
gave me when I asked more questions. Quote, to
start, I want to emphasize that the big takeaway
I have from this is how quick and effortless
it was to find not only the cemetery, but the
grave. It was like we were being led to it. However,
the return was not that at all. In the moment,
nothing seemed really too strange. Our mood during
it was, well, this is weird. Not nervous or uncomfortable
feeling like you may expect. I would say amused.
When we returned home, we went about everything
as normal. I only think of this story every once
in a while." So to be honest, when I started
reading the story, up until the part where this
person and their wife got lost, I was kind of
thinking that it could have just been a case
of someone getting weirded out when they went
to an unfamiliar area deep in the woods that
has a lot of folklore about ghosts and a haunted
cemetery. I figured it was possible that... They
simply stumbled upon the cemetery, saw the creepy
old overgrown forgotten graves, including the
well -known grave of Elizabeth and her shattered
tombstone and all the little trinkets, and their
imaginations got carried away. Then being somewhat
shaken and spooked, they got in their car, took
a wrong turn, and got lost, which is entirely
possible up on that hill. They had no cell service,
which is... common on connecticut hill and they
coincident and maybe they coincidentally were
low on gas causing their gas gauge alarm to go
off all of that i thought could be explained
but the lost time part i can't think of a reasonable
explanation because we're not talking about a
half hour or just a simple case of losing track
of time it was possibly five or six hours Also
very weird is the fact that neither of the two
people in the car were even remotely freaked
out by all that lost time. If it was me and I
realized that four or five, six hours had gone
by, I would be wondering what happened. But they
got home and went about their lives like the
only thing that happened was a visit to a creepy
cemetery that led to them temporarily getting
lost on the way home. And with the lost time,
I also had to reconsider the way they found the
cemetery, which isn't terribly easy to find if
you're just driving up that hill with no direction
and not knowing exactly where you're going. So
I really want to thank this person for telling
me this story. In my other messages to them,
I could tell that they still felt very uneasy
about what happened on that day. And in my opinion,
I think that these two people are just part of
a long history of... people having experiences
of high strangeness at the Alpine Portal, which
is another name and actually my preferred name
for the Connecticut Hill area. So what do you
guys think? Have you had anything strange happen
up on the Alpine Portal? What could explain such
a loss of time? Let me know. And also keep listening
because I'm going to be looking into the Alpine
Portal a lot more in future episodes of the podcast.
And... If you haven't been there and you live
close enough, it might be a good time for you
to take a trip up on Connecticut Hill and see
what the Alpine Portal has in store for you.
Well, that's it for this time around. I hope
you enjoyed it. Thanks so much for listening.
And if you have any thoughts on any of the topics
in this episode, please let me know. And remember
to like and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts
and get over to SenecaLakeMysteries .com and
subscribe to the email list so you don't miss
anything. A new podcast comes out every month
on the sevens. I'll talk to you then.