Haunted Rochester: Ghost tour guide says city is full of visitors from the afterlife

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mount Hope Cemetery isn’t just home to famous burial sites like that of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony.

According to one local ghost tour guide, it’s home to the spirits of many others as well.

“I personally have witnessed a phantom jogger in Mount Hope Cemetery. I got locked in one evening and I couldn’t find my way out,” says Jenni Lynn, owner of Rochester Candlelight Ghost Walks.

Lynn says Rochester is full of visitors from the afterlife. As she was waiting for security one evening, she says a man jogged right by her.

Jenni Lynn, ghost walk organizer: “Looked like you or I saw it. I start calling out to him. ‘Hey, I need some help. I’m locked in,’ and he just sort of jogged straight into a tree and disappeared. But behind that tree was a nice little hole that I was able to sort of scurry under that evening,” she says.

Tom Kowalski, News10NBC: “So a helpful spirit.”

Lynn: “Helpful spirit. But I wouldn’t encourage people to necessarily go ghost hunting there out of respect for the dead, of course.”

Lynn says Mount Hope is far from the only place in Rochester to experience the paranormal. The White Lady’s Castle in Irondequoit is probably the most popular spot for anyone looking for that spooky legend.

“And, of course, we have a woman who is dressed all in white that haunts the area. And the story goes that she lost her daughter. Sadly, she never does find her. And she haunts the area, still searching for her daughter and protecting young ladies from young men,” Lynn explains.

Most of Lynn’s experiences come from the Union Tavern on Culver Road.

“Very, very active ghosts there. We’ve been doing ghost dinners there for a while now, and just the other night we had our dinner on Sunday night and the lights began blinking down in the basement when we were talking about the ghost in the basement,” she says.

But back at Mount Hope, frequent visitor Victoria Sidoti says she’s a bit of a skeptic when it comes to local ghost stories.

“Creepy stories about, like, people coming up here and starting fires on hills and little things like seeing boys on the tallest mountain over here. Little things like that. But I’ve never personally witnessed anything myself. I would love to, actually. Sounds really cool,” Sidoti says.

If you’re interested in tagging along for a haunted tour of Rochester, Candlelight Ghost Walks has two more events this week before Halloween, one on Monday and one on Wednesday. You can find more information here.

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