Files From the Edge (25 page)

Phantoms of Time and Space

Ghost hunting has become a popular pastime in the United States; unfortunately, most doing it are unfamiliar with paranormal investigation. The question of whether ghosts really exist or not is an academic one; people report seeing
something
. Are there spirits that refuse to pass over to the other side, or are we actually viewing the past and—perhaps on rare occasions—the future? One of the many theories of the new theoretical physics is that all points in time coexist together at the same area of space but with a different quantum signature. This difference in frequency would be enough to separate points of time even a nanosecond apart. To make matters more complex, the theory suggests that all periods in time are in motion and constantly changing, but we have no awareness of it.

I have investigated many hauntings and the appearance of human apparitions. Some may be disembodied spirits while others could be explained as the past or future merging together with the present for a brief moment. In Putnam Valley, New York, near and around the stone chambers I mentioned in the chapter Realm of the Earth Spirits, people have reported seeing soldiers in uniform from the Revolutionary War entering and exiting the stone structures and in the basements of some of the nearby homes. My research showed that some of the stone structures and the homes were used to house soldiers during that time period. I would like to present one case that illustrates this point. It involves a twenty-first-century man who seemingly had a conversation with an eighteenth-century person while crossing a frozen reservoir one cold winter evening. The account is presented below in the witness’ own words.

When the Eighteenth Century Met the Twenty-First Century

“It was February 2006 and at about seven or so, I decided to take a walk out in the cold night air after dinner. I live near the reservoir in Kent Cliffs and in February, it’s frozen solid and safe for walking. I took a flashlight with me and headed out. The night was clear with a bright moon and the stars were flickering in the sky; it was quite beautiful despite the eight-degrees-above-zero temperature. I shined the light ahead of me and saw someone walking toward me; it was still in the distance so all I saw was a shape. As it approached, it looked like the air around it was distorted, like looking through heat waves. As the figure got closer, it became clearer and that’s when I noticed it was a man, but he was dressed in strange clothes. He had long hair in a pigtail and was wearing old clothes, like from the eighteenth century. What I thought was really strange was that he wasn’t wearing a coat and didn’t seem to be affected by the cold. We got closer to each other and he started looking at me like I was out of place. We both stopped and I said, “How you doing?” He replied, “Good day, sir. Are you a resident of this town?” I said, “Yeah I am. Where do you live? Are you going to a costume party?” He replied, “Excuse me sir,
you
are the one in a costume, not me.” I asked him how he could be walking on the ice on this cold winter night without a coat. He looked at me very strangely and asked me what I meant, saying that this was not a body of frozen water, but a field and it was a warm July night. He looked at me like I was some kind of freak, ran away, and vanished into the dark. I was convinced I saw a ghost.”

Although my files contain several reports of witnesses having conversations with people who are out of time, so to speak, I find the report above one of the most interesting. In the eighteenth century, there was no reservoir at that location—there
was
a large, flat, open area. It seems that the witness above did not see a ghost but was in the right place at the right time when the past and present merged.

The Indian ghost of Ninham Mountain

Ninham Mountain, located in Kent, New York, is a place where a great deal of paranormal phenomenon has been reported. To the Native Americans, it was sacred ground and the home of earth spirits. It was named after the last great Sachem (chief) of the Wappinger, Daniel Ninham. During the American Revolution, sachem Daniel Ninham and his people joined Ethan Allen and fought in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey against the British and Iroquois. Ninham was a fine warrior, and rose to the rank of captain. On August 30 and 31, 1778, Ninham’s men, along with a company of patriots, fought British troops at the Battle of Tibbet’s Brook. Ninham, his son, and forty of his men died during the battle. They were buried where they fell, a place now known as Indian Field. Local legend says that Ninham’s spirit can still be seen walking up and down the trails protecting the mountain that bears his name. I have been on the mountain many times, and on more than one occasion have heard Native American drums that seem to have no source of origin. I have also collected several reports from people who, while hiking, claim to have encountered the spirit of the great sachem.

The Ghost of Daniel Ninham

The case involves several middle-aged people who decided to hike up the trail to the top of the mountain on a brisk February day. As they approached the mountaintop, a tall man with long hair clad in buckskins appeared out of nowhere. His skin was dark and he appeared to be Native American. He was tall in stature and wore deerskin boots. His hair was tied in a ponytail and his eyes were very dark. He approached the hikers and greeted them. He then said that he had just returned from the top of the mountain and would greatly appreciate it if they did not touch anything. When asked who he was, the stranger simply replied, “I am the keeper of the mountain and servant of the spirits who live here.” The man passed them and the hikers continued to walk, discussing how strange the man looked. When they turned around to get another look at him, he had disappeared. According to the hikers, there was no way that he could have moved out of their line of sight so quickly—one can see up and down the trail for a considerable distance. The hikers thought the entire incident was strange but proceeded to the top of the mountain.

As they approached the top, they noticed large amounts of snow piled over one particular location; it was as if it had just snowed over that area and nowhere else. The group was amazed how white it looked, like fresh snow, but there was not a cloud in the sky. As they approached the snow, they noticed a crater; around it was what they described as Native Indian symbols of nature drawn into it. There was a turtle, bird, shooting star, and a figure of a warrior all deeply carved and filled with a red substance they thought might be blood, but they weren’t sure. The red substance made them worry; they thought someone was performing a ritual so they decided to leave the mountain. As they walked down the trail, they looked to the right and out of nowhere, the strange Indian appeared again. He walked across the path, stopped and looked at them. He then said, “I am very sad that those who have followed me have not kept with the old ways. I have tried for many years to restore the power of this sacred place, but now I am tired and cannot continue, for my power is also failing and the Great Spirit is asking me to move on.” The man then started to walk to the left side of the trail and, according to the witnesses, simply vanished into thin air. The description of the man matched that of Daniel Ninham . . . is his spirit still protecting the mountain? This is not the first case in which hikers and hunters have reported seeing this apparition roaming the trails along the mountain. In 2008, a Ms. Sonya Sartori photographed an image of what may be the spirit of Daniel Ninham himself. Sonya’s account is presented below in her own words from a written statement given to me in the fall of that year.

The Spirit of Ninham Mountain Captured in a Photograph (Sonya’s Account)

“I read a book called
Hauntings of the Hudson River Valley
by Vincent T. Dacquino that had a chapter about Chief Daniel Ninham of the Wappinger tribe. The book mentions the stone chambers and spirits that protect Ninham Mountain. My son and his wife told me about their hike up the mountain and the tall fire tower at the top. They said the view was incredible and I should hike up to see for myself. It was a warm sunny October day and the leaves were a vibrant color so my daughter and I decided to take our dog for a walk up the Ninham Mountain trail. When we parked our car at the halfway point of the mountain, I noticed a stone chamber on the right side of the parking lot. I wanted to take photos, so my daughter said to hurry up to keep up with her. Well needless to say, I was lagging way behind her.

“Walking up the dirt road alone, with my daughter way up ahead of me, I felt a sad feeling I couldn’t shake—it felt like I was being watched. Perhaps I felt sad because I read the story about Daniel Ninham’s fight for this sacred mountain that belonged to his people and the loss. I decided to pile two rocks, one on top of another, on the side of the road and said, ‘This is a symbol of my respect for you and this mountain. I am sorry that you died trying to keep your land.’

“When I reached the top of the mountain, other hikers were around the fire tower talking, eating, and admiring the beauty all around. I decided to start snapping photos of the area with my digital camera to show my father when I got back home. I looked all around when I took the photos to make sure no one else would be in the frame. When we started to walk back down the mountain I snapped more pictures of my daughter and some of the woods. As soon as we got back to the parking lot, I took more photos of the stone chamber.

“When we got back home, I loaded the photos on my computer and saw these amazing orbs in the chamber at the parking lot, and when I viewed the other photos of my daughter, I saw a figure against a tree in the background. When I zoomed in on the figure, I could see a face. I asked my friends and relatives what they thought, and they said it looked like a tan face with sunglasses or black paint over its eyes. When I took these photos I swear no one was near that tree at the time, and my daughter will also swear that no one was there at that particular time.”

Shortly after the photo was taken, Sonya emailed me the image. The photo was so interesting that the next day I went up to the mountain with Rosemary Ellen Guiley (introduced in an earlier chapter) to find the exact location where the photograph was taken. We found the tree but could not find any explanation as to what caused the figure on the digital image. We even took a number of images ourselves from the same angle and time but got nothing. It’s interesting to note that Sonya gave thanks to the spirits of the mountain and was then able to capture the image digitally. Was something responding to her good intentions? Was it the spirit of the mountain, the ghost of Daniel Ninham, or a being from a parallel dimension?

The Invisible Entities of the Mountain

In the fall of 2003, right around Halloween, I decided to go up to Ninham in the evening with my trusty 35mm camera and black-and-white infrared film. I was hoping to capture something on film because hunters and hikers had reported a multitude of paranormal events over the past ten years. It was dark as I walked up the trail and all seemed very quiet,
. . . maybe a little too quiet. Then I noticed a faint ring of red lights that seemed to be bobbing up and down, coming down the trail and heading right for me. The lights were no more than 2 feet off the ground and perhaps the size of a baseball. I stopped dead in my tracks waiting for this thing to approach me and I thought, “Wow, I just got here and I am about to have a sighting of something!” Well, as the lights approached me I was able to identify them: they were a lit red collar on the neck of a dog and not far behind him was his master. I talked to the man and asked him why his dog was wearing a collar with red lights. He said that he was out coon hunting and this was the only way he could keep track of his dog to make sure he didn’t shoot him. We went our separate ways, but I had a hard time believing this guy was out hunting raccoons in the dark; it was a little strange for someone to be doing this in New York.

I decided the first location to set my camera up would be in front of the stone chamber located just off the trail. I considered this a good place to start since there were reports of glowing figures and balls of light seen going in and out of the entrance. I placed my camera on a tripod and in conjunction with the infrared film, attached a Wratten 25A filter to the lens. This would ensure I would get only the red end of the spectrum. Attached to the camera body was a special lens that focused to a number of infrared wavelengths. Using a cable shutter release, I began taking a number of time exposures. Some were short, while others were several minutes long. After each frame I recorded my data because if something
did
show up, accurate information would be essential to identify the image with the exact time and location. I had a thirty-six exposure roll and took photos at a number of locations. Although it was still only October, the air was quite cold and it took me a good six hours to accomplish my task. I still had my own darkroom at the time, so the next day I developed the photos. The entire roll was blank, except for two frames taken in front of the stone chamber showing a bright infrared source apparently doing maneuvers in front of the camera lens.