Hey everyone, welcome to Seneca Lake Mysteries,
the podcast where we explore the unusual, strange,
and unexplained on New York's largest finger
lake. Thanks so much for listening and supporting
the show, and if you're new here, thanks for
giving it a listen, and I hope you dig it. For
a couple of weeks now, I've been excited to tell
you all the story of my trip to the Alpine Portal,
also known as Connecticut Hill, so I'm anxious
to finally get to it. We're going to hear a conversation
I had last week with Rick, who was the guy who
made the whole trip happen. Rick contacted me
because he wanted to show me something he found
in a remote wooded area of Connecticut Hill.
On July 6th, I met Rick at his home, hopped in
his pickup truck, and he brought me with him
up onto Connecticut Hill where we found something
extraordinary way out in the woods. On July 17th,
we recorded the following conversation for this
podcast. Now, for some background on native stone
piles, which have been found around the United
States and the world, including the northeastern
U .S., they range from small piles to large,
elaborate groupings that may include chambers
or internal features. Some were used to mark
trails and burial sites. while others held ceremonial
importance to the people who constructed them.
It can be easy to confuse more recent stone piles
with these ancient native stone piles. There
are stone piles that were created by farmers
clearing fields, by early colonialists who constructed
stone piles as fences or to mark property lines,
modern hikers or artists. Native stone piles
are differentiated from modern piles by their
location, the arrangement and types of stones,
and sometimes archaeological data. So Connecticut
Hill, which was populated by Europeans from around
1795 through the year 1900, a large amount of
logging. took place there and around two -thirds
of all the trees on connecticut hill were gone
by the year 1900 so much of the wooded areas
on the hill have regrown in the last 125 years
there were also many farms residences and mills
on connecticut hill so there are a lot of old
foundations and stone structures that can be
found pretty much everywhere. So it's important
to note that when I talk about native stone piles
on Connecticut Hill, I'm not talking about those
remnants of colonial occupation. Now, unfortunately,
there were some technical issues when Rick and
I recorded our conversation, which caused us
to start late. And then there were... echo problems
during the show so if i sound distracted it's
because i was hearing my own voice loudly echoing
in my headphones the echoes also ended up on
the final recording so i had to do a lot of editing
and audio adjustments to make it sound presentable
so you might hear some glitches and edits but
i didn't really lose anything important from
the conversation after i edited the discussion.
Also at the time of the recording I hadn't really
reviewed the photos and the video I took on that
day so some of the details we talk about aren't
entirely accurate so immediately following the
recorded portion I did an additional segment
providing more information and background on
our findings up on Connecticut Hill. So make
sure after the conversation part, you stick around
and listen to that follow up segment. So thanks
again for listening. I'm so glad you're here.
And let's get to my conversation with Rick. Thanks
for talking to me tonight, Rick. Hey, Jim, it's
great talking to you. How you doing? I'm doing
great. How are you? Pretty good. A little. hectic
uh schedule going on but you know that's nothing
there yeah yep yeah we had some technical issues
and and other uh other issues but uh but thankfully
we're getting into it now so um so how long have
you lived in alpine and kind of what brought
you to the area so actually living here that
uh we bought a farm in 2018. So that puts us
right around the seven -year mark. We've been
coming to the area, though, for at least 15 to
20 years, hunting and fishing up here. And you're
a listener of the podcast, which I appreciate.
And then you heard episode six that I recorded
at Willard Cemetery with Soraya Azkath from Where
Did the Road Go podcast. What was it about that
episode that grabbed your attention and prompted
you to email me? So the state of New York up
on Connecticut Hill every fall has a rifle season
for hunting deer. And during that time, you pretty
much walk almost every foot trail through the
woods and traverse all these ledges. small uh
i call them hills but some might call them a
mountain but it um you're you're searching for
deer and you're not leaving any area untouched
while you're doing these things so there's a
good amount of walking involved uh you do definitely
get your 10 000 plus steps in during deer season
and i had come down from one of the trails off
of uh the hill here and it's actually an old
logging road which makes it easier to get through
the woods and when it came down into the ravine
i had noticed a pile of rocks and just from talking
with one of the neighbors up here he had said
that there are several Um, he, he terms them
as Indian burial areas where they would find,
uh, arrowheads and stuff like that when they
were kids. Uh, so I took a couple pictures of
them and I never thought anything about it. And
it kind of just sat on my phone. I never really
showed anyone the pictures. And then when I was
listening to the show, I, it kind of like. sparked
a memory that I had a photo of a mound. So I
searched my phone and went back a few years.
It was actually 2021, I believe, the photos from.
And I was like, I'm going to send this to Jim
and, you know, just see what he thinks about
it. And I don't know if he wants to show it to
that other fellow there, but that's what had
happened. Yeah. And when I got the photos from
you, I took one look at them. I'm like, yeah,
that looks, you know, depending on where it's
located. And that's the other key with these
kind of stone piles is, you know, some of them
could be colonial fences. Some of them could
be the result of land clearing or a property
line. But from the looks of the photos, those
look to me like one of the ancient stone piles
or Indian stone piles, whatever you want to call
them. I think they're also called stone cairns.
So yeah, the photos definitely got my attention.
And you graciously offered to bring me up on
the hill and take a look at the mounds of stones.
So we went back and forth. We worked out a date.
And then one Sunday morning a few weeks ago,
I drove down from Geneva. Took me about an hour.
It's a beautiful drive coming down. Because Geneva's,
the upper area of the lake is relatively flat.
There's some rolling hills and stuff. But as
you go further south, there's more woods. There's
more hills. The hills get bigger. It was a beautiful
day. It was a hot day with all the. Very hot.
Yeah. Very, very hot day. Yep. So, but I got
down there and got to your house. And right off
the bat, you gave me two. Wonderful gifts. One,
a pair of topographic maps covering Connecticut
Hill and some bug spray. I don't even think that
we actually... I was more thinking of ticks in
the woods. I was not even considering horseflies,
which the hill is just riddled with them right
now. Right. Being a hunter, I never... in the
woods at this time of year. We usually don't
go up there until, you know, October time and
then right into January. So the actual thing
that I was more worried about were ticks, not
horseflies, which was just amazing when we rolled
the car up and there had to be what, 5 ,000 horseflies
attacking your car at once. Yeah, they saw us
coming and it just came in a big cloud. But overall,
I mean, for the day, I didn't have any ticks
on me. I know you didn't. And, you know, I think
I might have gotten nipped a few times by the
horseflies. But fortunately, it was not that
bad of a day up there in terms of bugs. So we
got in your pickup truck and we went up on the
hill and we parked at a spot that you were familiar
with. We didn't go to like a trailhead. or anything
like that for the Finger Lakes Trail, we went
and parked near a field that you're familiar
with, right? Yeah. And the real reason being
was the actual point of where that stone pile
is. A lot of logging and overgrowth of the fields
made it difficult to actually get into that area.
Right. So, yeah, we got out of the truck and
we started walking through the field. And immediately
I realized that I'm not in the physical shape
I thought I was in. I mean, I was prepared. I
was prepared to walk. I mean, I expected we were
going to get in there and it was going to be
rough terrain and it was going to wear me out
a bit. But the field hadn't been a mode for a
long time. So the grass was like up to our waists.
That's just like walking through sludge or like
snow. I had traversed in there one time when
there was about eight to 10 inches of snow during
muzzleloader season through here. And it's one
of the hardest things to walk through. But that
grass was just amazing how hard that was. Yes.
Pulling at your body as you're walking through.
But man, I really thought we were going to have
to take the problem after we got out of there.
But either way, we made it out. Yep. So we got
through the field. And then I don't remember
exactly how it all played out from there, like
where we went. But you had your phone with you
and you had the location where the photos were
taken. However, there's no cell service up there.
Right. So the actual area is like a dead zone
for cell phones. So it makes it very difficult.
You'll go into SOS mode quite a bit. So without
knowing the hill, you can get lost. hunters that
just get lost up there. They get turned around.
And from what you saw with me, I'm pretty sure
that you were kind of like, gosh, I hope he knows
where he's going next. Yeah, that was in my head,
but I just kept trusting him. I was like, all
right, he's been here. He's been coming here
for years. He knows where he's going. I tried
to kind of keep the location in my head or just
kind of keep my bearings. as to where we were
going, but, but, you know, the combination of
it being totally unfamiliar to me and being really
hot and being, you know, I was exerting a lot
of energy. At some point I was just like, I don't
even know. I have no idea where I am. So, so
I'm just following you. Yeah. And we wound up
catching up with one of the loops to make some
of it a little bit easier. Yep. Once we got to
the end of the trail. We had to come off the
trail to get to where these stone piles were.
And I really think that at the time when I took
the pictures, the satellite must have been in
SOS mode because it wasn't giving us like a true
final bearing to follow. Right. To actually get
to the exact spot, which was, I guess it was
a little frustrating, you know? Yeah. But I know
that from looking at when I took the photos,
the time that the photos were taken, we were
probably walking around for about an hour. And
I do distinctly remember right before we found
the stone piles, we were at the bottom of a ravine.
And we were just kind of looking around like,
not sure where it is. Where can it be? And I
remember I said to you, I said, you know what?
Honestly, if you just want to call it a wash,
we can. And you were like. I think it's up here.
Let's go up this hill, back up the ravine. What
kind of like stirred my thing is because I don't
remember being at the very bottom of the ravine.
I remember being kind of like halfway to almost
like a third of the way up from the bottom. And
you got to remember, I was just hunting deer.
So to see it and then take a picture. You know,
it kind of went out of my mind after that. So,
you know, it's not like it's not like something
you would walk up on at any given moment. They're
pretty concealed in those woods. They're off
trail. And if you don't really know that woods,
you're going to get lost. Right. Right. And they're
also I mean, they're concealed because they're
so overgrown. There's trees growing through.
you know, small trees growing through some of
the, some of the ones that we found. So, so we
headed back up the ravine, you know, walk for,
walk for a few minutes, stop, catch our breath,
walk for a few minutes. And then, so we were
going up the hill in the direction of where you
thought the stone piles were. And before we got
to that point, all of a sudden you look down
and you're like, wait a minute, there's, this
looks like a stone pile. That was just. utterly
bizarre i mean to actually find another one would
be like you know to be so far off the beaten
path and off the trail and then just walk up
on it it was just incredible that it was there
like yeah just it was there and it was on a different
it's different than the ones i found on the other
side of the ravine which is a whole nother story
You know, I mean, you can tell what you saw.
I mean, I saw what I thought would be like a
giant arrow. That's the way I would describe
it. It had like straight section of about, I
don't know, 100 feet with stones that were like
at least four foot by two foot wide and a straight
line. And then at the head of it. was a triangle
-shaped pile of stones which looked like an arrowhead.
So, I mean, that's what we found. And it was,
you know, just utterly bizarre that we just walked
right into it. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean,
we were looking for a completely different stone
pile and it just, it was in our path. I mean,
we didn't, we weren't looking for that specifically.
It just ended up being in our path. And yeah,
what we, what it looked like to me, I agree that
it looked, it did look like, like the one main
pile that we first found, which was at a somewhat
large size boulder at the, at the quote unquote
tip of the arrow, which is pointing almost due
north from what, from what I remember. Yeah.
And at first I'm looking at the pile and I'm
like, wow, this is a big pile of stones. In the
whole ravine, I mean, you see a stone here, a
rock there, but you don't see more than two of
them in any given area. And there were probably,
I don't know, dozens of them all in this big
pile. And as I'm looking at it, I was kind of
going to the south end of it. I was like, where
exactly does this pile end? And then I look to
my left and there's another boulder like a little
further up. maybe 10 feet, 15 feet away. So I'm
like, oh, I wonder if that's part of this. And
I walk over and that one also is surrounded by
stones, other smaller, different sized stones
all around it. I look up again, there's another
boulder. Walk up to that one, same thing. There's
stones around it. It was hard to tell if it was
all one big long pile or not. And then there
was another boulder. I think there ended up.
From, from the main pile that we stumbled upon,
I think there were like three or four other boulders
all lined up in a perfectly straight line, um,
connecting the whole thing. And yeah, I see where,
uh, where you could, where you could get that.
It's, it's the shape of an arrow because it was,
it was such a, it was, it was a straight line.
And then the, the stones came to the point right
at the end. Yeah. And, um, so I. I was curious
because once I started to take a picture of that
group of stones there, I wanted to see what it
would show me as a GPS plot location for the
picture. And ironically enough, it was dead straight
across from where my map was showing the other
stone pile. So it was almost as if the arrow...
head was pointing directly to that other stone
pile yeah which was kind of amazing to me as
well yeah and that is something that they found
with these with different earthworks different
stone piles as you think you found one but it's
actually part of a of a bunch of them or part
of like a complex of uh of piles and then also
when you were looking on the uh on the gps that
particular area where we were on on google maps
on the satellite was blurred out. Yeah, that,
that was kind of tricky too. I don't know why
just that one area where we were was, was almost
like a blur on the Google maps. It wouldn't come
in clear, but yet you could go to another point
on the Google maps and it was clear and you could
see the ground and, you know, see trees and all
that stuff. Like you would. But where these things
were was all a blur. Right. And yeah, so I took
as many pictures as I could. I took some video.
And I'm going to take that video and edit it
and add some commentary to it and post that along
with this episode so people can kind of see what's
going on. Oh, and the other thing I was going
to say is when I did a little bit more research
about stone piles, a lot of these have been found.
to be constructed around a central boulder. So
whoever built them would put a large boulder
in the middle and then stack stones around or
on top of the boulder, sometimes leaving the
center empty or leaving kind of an indentation
in it. So when I saw all these larger stones,
I'm calling them boulders, but like you said,
they were two feet by four feet, something like
that. They're big stones. If someone had to move
them, that would have taken a whole lot of work,
especially... whether they were going up or down
that ravine. But it intrigued me that a lot of
these were piles, the stone piles were each around
these central boulders. It makes me wonder if
they're so old that they were actually stacked
up higher at one time, but because it's in a
ravine and, you know, a lot of erosion over hundreds
of years or who knows how long, maybe the stones
kind of fell around. I'm not sure, but... It
was, I mean, not only was it a really intriguing
and crazy thing to stumble upon, but it wasn't
the one we were looking for. That's the oddity
of it all. And I think the other oddity is how
it actually was pointing to where we should have
been. But at the condition we were in and the
heat, the scale that other side of that ravine
would have been. An undertaking to say the least.
Oh yeah. I don't, I don't know if I would have
made it. There's definitely another trip in the
future here. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, after we
took a, took a good look at the pile, we headed
back up the ravine, which ended up connecting
with one of the main trails and found our way
back to the truck. I think we found our way back
a little bit easier than we found our way in
for sure. Yeah. And also all those all those
trails. Once I realized which one we were on,
I knew right where I had to go and where I had
to be. Yeah. At that point. But it's you know,
you're talking to go off trail like that. If
you don't have someone with you that knows the
woods or whatever, you could get into trouble
out there for sure. There's some nasty drop offs
into the. The ravine where the creek flows through
there and it's quite a drop. I mean, you would,
you've got a good chance of breaking a leg and
trying to get yourself out of there. If you did
do that would be a catastrophe. Yeah. Yeah, for
sure. Also, I just, I did want to mention that
when we earlier on, when we were in there, probably,
I don't know, 20 minutes into our walk, we came
upon a point where. The trail split off in like
three directions. And you made the mistake of
asking me which direction we should go in. So
I was like, I think the middle, I think the one
that I picked. And that was how we ended up getting
turned around in the first place. Yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, sometimes I just like to just
let the person that's with me make a choice on.
Which way to go. I would have stopped you if
we were going somewhere we shouldn't have been.
Yeah. But you were, you had, you had, there was
a sense of direction there. So, you know. Yeah.
And yeah, I mean, usually I'll rely on intuition
or whatever, but I don't think my intuition was
working. I think I was, I was hot and a little
disoriented or whatever. So, so we got back to
one of the main trails and found our way back
to the truck, but it wasn't done. We weren't
done yet. You. Took me for a trip up to the Connecticut
Hill Cemetery, or I think it's also called Snyder
Hill Cemetery. Yep, that's correct. And this
is the location of the witch's grave. Right.
So, yeah, we went in there. We took a look around.
We saw the famous grave of Elizabeth, which someone
had knocked the tombstone down a few years ago.
And there were little trinkets and offerings
that had been left in coins by the people who
visited there. Um, there were a couple of people
there when we got there and they were just leaving,
but also it's, I do want to mention to anybody
who's getting any ideas of going up there is
make sure you have four wheel drive, whatever
you're bringing up there, um, or at minimum all
wheel drive and don't get too creative on which,
which roads you're going to go down because some
of them are really washed out. And, um, Yeah,
there's a couple of Jeep clubs that go up there,
which we ran into on the way out. But, you know,
those roads, some of the ditches are over three
foot deep. So even a four wheel drive truck would
get stuck on their bottom of the truck and not
be able to get out of there if you didn't have
four wheel drive or something. So after we were
done with the cemetery. I wanted to show you
the schoolhouse foundation, which there used
to be a schoolhouse up there. And a lot of stories
tell about people hearing children playing in
the school grounds, which is actually a dense
woods now. There's hardly anything that resembles
a school there. Schoolhouse road is the one that
takes you out there and I would not traverse
that without four wheel drive. No, no, no. And
a lot of these roads, once you get going, you
can't turn around until you come to either the
end where there's a bigger opening to turn around.
Right. In the middle there, you're not going
to turn around. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So
we visited the cemetery. Nothing crazy happened.
I didn't I didn't have any strange feelings or
hear any voices or but I could I could get us
I could kind of tell why why it is a popular
place for people because it does have a it definitely
does have a weird vibe because it's so old and
it doesn't look like a cemetery. It looks like,
you know, a wooded area. But then as you look
through the weeds and everything, there's just
there's a tombstone here, a tombstone here. Yeah.
They date back quite a bit, some of them, into
the 1700s and early 1800s. So you see, you know,
the past of Connecticut Hill is there for sure.
Yep, for sure. And same thing with the schoolhouse.
It was really cool to see, but, you know, nothing
paranormal or whatever happened when we stopped
off there. I remember we were there at 2 o 'clock
in the afternoon, so we would have time to...
like through the trails there without getting
into dark or something like that. Right. But
I, I liked your comment about the schoolhouse
and how remote it was and how, how would you
bring your kid all the way out to that school?
Right. I mean, I guess, you know, years ago there
was, there were a lot more people living up on
the hill, but yeah, it, it didn't, it, it was
just a weird place to find a schoolhouse. Like
how. And why would you find a place and put your
schoolhouse? Seems like a place that's so hard
to get to. Yeah. I couldn't even imagine trying
to take a carriage, a horse and carriage out
there. You would have to walk to all these places.
That's the only thing I could think of. Right.
You know? So it took you two hours to get to
school in the morning and two hours to get back
home. So, yeah, then we. Then we kind of headed
back. We did go by, I remember, you know, you
were pointing out different things. We went by
like a pond, a pond that's up there. Yeah, they
referenced it as the Beaver Pond. There's similar
stories that there once was a mill there. I don't
know for sure if there was or wasn't. I'd never
found the foundation of it or anything, but that
pond is spring fed. So there's always water in
there and it's cool. And it's a good place to
take a swim, which should have probably jumped
in and cooled off a little bit. Yeah. And it's
interesting to me that that spring fed pond actually
eventually ends up in Seneca Lake. So ties it
all together. Yeah. And what is really cool about
that area is it's the point where some places.
drain to the south and some streams drain to
the north. So that's like a divide there where
that all happens. And yeah, if you do some research
into it, you'll see that, um, there's cat, uh,
I believe it's Cayuga Creek and that one runs
down to, um, the Susquehanna, but yet the other
one runs to Seneca Lake from there. I mean, they're
going in different directions, but I guess it's
just the way the ground is from there. Sure.
Interestingly enough, that could be part of the
oddity in the whole Alpine portal thing is that
That area is like a water divide, like it splits
there. Right. That completely slipped my mind
until you brought it up just now. Yeah. Yeah,
I didn't know that. It's a place in between the
two. It's sort of a liminal location, which ties
in with what everybody says about Connecticut
Hill or the Alpine Portal, whatever you want
to, whichever one you prefer. It would be interesting
to have that fellow look at if there are any
ley lines in that area that you find on his map
that you had on that other episode there. Yeah,
for sure. So yeah, from there, I think we just
made our way back to the house. I was ready to
stop walking and get my other water bottle out
of the car. But there was a couple of things
you mentioned. right before I took off. And,
you know, we went up there, we went up there
looking for one spot. We ended up finding a different
one. So now I know of two that are up there.
And then you told me about a landform or whatever
you want to call it that's up on Connecticut
Hill. And do you want to tell us about that?
Yeah, it's like a large quartz deposit. it would
be like a just a bunch of quartz that's you know
running through the area um we found a couple
of rocks you know and you just kind of like pick
them up and bring them home and look at them
but i had showed you the one piece of quartz
there with the it's got like a grayish colored
metal in it yeah sure if it's lead or silver
i don't know but um Yeah, it's just the whole
side of the hill has large pieces of quartz that
are up there. How big are they? Some are six
foot pieces of quartz. So you're not going to
just pick it up and walk out of there with it.
Right. It's definitely like a heavy machinery
kind of situation. But, you know. There's things
that you're not allowed to, you know, dig up
there and take out like that. So I don't want
to stay away from it, but it's, it's cool to
see. And it's interesting to add to, um, all
of the theories about how energy and how people
feel differently up there and call it the portal.
And it could be just the giant energy battery
from all the courts. Right. Yeah, the quartz
and the metal that's running through it as well.
Yeah. And the little sample that you did show
me was so, so interesting. Just because, like
you mentioned, it's pure quartz. And then you
just see these grayish silver veins that are
just running through it. Yeah. And that's exactly
what the larger stones up there, you know. or
coming out of the ground like that there's it's
hard to determine whether how deep it goes into
the ground because you can't big it but you know
sticking out of the ground so yeah i mean it's
huge and uh but the other the other story uh
you told me that you saw some kind of strange
light in the sky near the near the hill so we
have a a patio in the back and we had the hot
tub. So we'll spend time relaxing out on the
patio and stuff. And the one night we saw what
looked to me like the, it was like a orangey
reddish fire. It just looks like fire, but they
kind of like swing around and swirl like the
fish fireworks that you would see on the 4th
of July. Right. These were coming across the
sky. And then when they kind of like got right
over our area, which would be the north -facing
side of Connecticut Hill, and they kind of like
did all this swirling in the sky and then just
kind of like, not burnt out, but just dissipated,
I would say. They didn't. They didn't do anything
spectacular. When I saw them, the first thing
I thought of were Chinese lanterns, like oversized
Chinese lanterns. I mean, because they look big,
you know, because you're seeing them from the
ground and you could see them up in the sky and
they're up there a couple hundred feet. And at
first I thought, okay, so maybe they're getting
caught in the wind current and they're just...
flailing around and I was waiting for the fire
to kind of like burn whatever it was and then
watch it fall to the ground, but it never fell
to the ground. Like I said, they dissipated.
It didn't, it didn't take off. It didn't, you
know, fizzle down to the ground. Nothing like
that. It just, just went out of sight. Yeah.
We see a lot of the satellites and stuff, and
we've seen Starlink go through. So this was definitely
different. We're used to seeing those other things
and planes and everything like that. But this
was just something different. Yeah. All right.
Yeah, I think that about covers it. It was an
amazing day. And now I want to go back. I got
to get back there. I'm always game for going
up there. It's a really cool area. So I'd like
to get you to go see that quartz that's up there,
and I'd like to bring you to that original rock.
Yeah, 100%. So part two. Part two coming soon.
Yeah, thanks again. Thanks, Jim. So I hope you
enjoyed my conversation with Rick as much as
I did. It was quite an epic journey we took with
quite a startling discovery along the way. So
now I want to fill you in on some details that
were left out of the conversation that you just
heard. For starters, I said on the recording
that there were three or four other boulders
that were found in addition to the stone pile
and the... the first stone pile and boulder that
we found after reviewing the photos and the videos
that I took that day there were actually far
more than three or four and the totality of all
the all the boulders and stone piles we found
in my opinion points towards something truly
unique and significant so the first stone pile
that we found was roughly 20 feet long 15 to
20 feet at its widest and somewhat triangular
in shape with a boulder about 18 inches wide
and 18 inches high placed prominently at the
northern tip of the triangle about 15 feet away
from the southern end of the mound of the stone
pile was boulder number two which was roughly
two feet by three feet then about six feet away
from boulder number two was boulder number three
which was slightly smaller than boulder number
two at about two feet by two feet there were
also smaller stones gathered around these two
boulders mostly on the east side that looked
somewhat like remnants of an older, smaller stone
pile. Now, 15 to 20 feet from boulder number
three was another stone pile, roughly 15 feet
by 15 feet. Very noticeable. It included many
larger stones as compared to the first stone
pile. Now, this second stone pile also has a
fairly mature tree, full -sized tree growing
through it. which indicates that this stone pile
is quite old. And about 15 feet from that second
stone pile lies boulder number four, which is
a large flat -topped rock that's roughly triangular
on top and about three and a half to four feet
in length and just under two feet high. About
10 feet away from that one was boulder number
five, which was partially embedded in the ground.
So while it appeared to be an individual stone,
it's possible, I didn't look at it closely enough,
it's possible that it was actually part of the
bedrock. Now boulder number five is long and
rectangular, roughly four feet long and two feet
wide. Now keep in mind that so far, all five
of these boulders are laid out. in a straight
line the trees and overgrowth made it hard to
take photos showing the alignment of all these
boulders but i did take one photo that shows
several of the borders in a line anyway about
15 feet away from boulder number five was boulder
number six the most striking and conspicuous
boulder in the entire arrangement. Boulder 6
is probably about four feet long, three and a
half to four feet high. It's more or less egg
-shaped and appeared to be a very light gray,
almost white color. It really stands out when
you're looking at it from a distance. Now coincidentally,
at the moment that I saw this big boulder, the
sun was in a position where It was coming through
an opening in the tree canopy and was shining
directly onto this big boulder, which gave it
an even more mysterious and eye -catching appearance.
And finally, another 15 feet past the huge boulder
number six is the final boulder in the alignment,
which was roughly the same size as boulder number
one, about 18 inches by 18 inches. And beyond
boulder number seven, there were no other rocks
in the area. So all told, the seven boulders,
as well as the two large stone piles and several
smaller stone piles, cover a distance of about
80 to 100 feet. And they're all lined up along
a near -perfect north -south alignment. Now again,
this is a large ravine. very steep at points
that is difficult to access. It's just not a
place where farmers in the 1800s would have cleared
the land for agriculture or needed to build a
stone fence or a stone property boundary. And
if it were some sort of glacial deposit, it wouldn't
drop all the stones, including multiple large
boulders. in a nearly perfect straight line along
a north -south axis. So to me, the location in
the ravine, the arrangement of the stones, and
the size of the stones, the smallest of which
were maybe eight inches across, but many that
were larger, all of this points towards ancient
human construction. In my estimation, this collection
of boulders and stone piles, which I would call
a stone complex, was built with intent and care.
It might have been a trail marker, but trail
markers likely wouldn't be such a large arrangement
covering 80 to 100 feet total. So at this point,
I believe that this is most likely an ancient,
sacred, ceremonial stone complex built with intent
and care. Now, I'll be releasing a video. In
conjunction with this podcast. Where I will share
some of the photos and footage that I captured.
Of the stone complex. And explain them in detail.
And show you the layout and the alignment. So
check this episode's description for a link to
that video. And thankfully for all of us. Rick
is excited and looking forward like I am. To
get back up on the hill. revisit this stone complex
we found as well as the other stone pile that
we were unable to locate that day and also on
our future itinerary is a visit to the large
quartz outcrop that's sticking out of the side
of a steep remote hillside it's not only made
of quartz which protrudes about six feet out
from the side of the hill But that quartz also
has veins of some type of gray or silver metal
ore running through it. So for students of the
paranormal and earth energies, this kind of outcrop
is a natural sacred site that more or less generates
an electromagnetic charge to the surrounding
area, almost like a big battery for paranormal
activity. As excited to see the quartz outcrop.
as I am about seeing the ancient stone structures
again and getting a look at that other stone
pile that we hadn't seen yet. So I want to thank
Rick again for making it all possible and bringing
these mysterious sacred sites to light, quite
possibly for the first time in modern history.
And it's all a great reminder to us that... There
are still mysteries out there to be discovered,
hiding in the woods and the meadows and in the
landscape all around us. And all we need to do
is look. Now, I also want to reemphasize something
else Rick and I discussed earlier. So Connecticut
Hill has many hiking trails, both marked and
unmarked. Rick and I spent a lot of time during
our visit hiking off -trail. up and down ravines
through some very challenging and difficult terrain.
There's piles of wet leaves, mud puddles, tree
roots, a lot of undergrowth, fallen trees and
branches, not to mention the ticks and the horseflies
and the other insects, plus the possibility of
encountering a bear or two. So it can be very
easy in that environment. to lose track of where
you are or where the closest trail might be.
There's no cell service either. So if you're
listening now and you have the idea that you're
going to go wandering off trail on Connecticut
Hill in search of these mysterious sites, first
of all, you better not go alone because if something
happens and you slip and get injured while far
from a marked trail, which is definitely a possibility
when you're... marching around off trail up there
you could get hurt and you could be out there
for a long time so it's very important i want
to warn everyone please do not go exploring off
trail on connecticut hill unless you have someone
with you that has experience and knowledge In
those woods, there are so many hazards, plus
there's the long documented history of people
having disorienting and strange experiences out
there, which can also come into play if you're
exploring alone or without a guide who knows
where you're going. So please, folks, use extreme
caution. If you listen to this podcast, please
use extreme caution if you decide to go exploring
the Alpine Portal. Oh, and one other thing. On
more than one occasion in previous podcasts,
I've stated that Connecticut Hill is part of
the Seneca Lake watershed, which means that the
streams that contain or the streams that drain
off of Connecticut Hill eventually reach Seneca
Lake. It turns out this isn't entirely true.
Actually, the vast majority of Connecticut Hill
drains to the south to another watershed. There
are... a couple of small streams very close,
like within a mile of the edge of Connecticut
Hill that make their way to Catherine Creek and
Seneca Lake. But the Finger Lakes -Seneca Lake
watershed doesn't officially and technically
reach all the way to Connecticut Hill. So before
I wrap it up here with all the talk about Connecticut
Hill over the last couple episodes, I wanted
to point out that it's not the only... high elevation
spot around Seneca Lake with a history of reports
of the strange and unexplained. And although
it doesn't have the same profile, same high profile
reputation as Connecticut Hill, the Finger Lakes
National Forest is a place that I'm looking forward
to spotlighting more in the future, including
one UFO sighting that involved multiple witnesses
and multiple area. aerial objects that took place
near Burnt Hill not too long ago. So if anyone
out there has experienced anything strange in
the Finger Lakes National Forest, please send
an email to podcast at SenecaLakeMysteries .com
or leave a voicemail at 607 -307 -1167. I won't
use your name on the podcast unless you tell
me to. or tell me that it's okay. I did receive
one story from a listener who had a strange event
up in the Finger Lakes National Forest, which
I'll be talking about in a future episode. As
always, I want to thank you all for listening.
and supporting the podcast. If you enjoy the
show, please continue to share it and like, comment,
subscribe, follow, rate, and review everywhere
so we can keep building this momentum and continue
spotlighting all these mystical, magical, weird
stories around the lake. And again, the absolute
best way to stay up to date on the podcast and
all activities and news related to Scenic Lake
Mysteries is to visit the website seneca lake
mysteries .com and subscribe to the email list
i will be releasing new stuff in the future specifically
on the website and nowhere else so make sure
you subscribe on the website so you don't miss
anything thanks again for listening and i'll
talk to you next time