Listen With The Lights On

Stories of ghosts and the afterlife were a popular obsession during the Victorian Era. This was particularly true for the residents of New York’s Hudson Valley. On this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we sat down with Gardiner Town Historian A.J. Shenkman, author of Wicked Ulster County, to discuss another supernatural Victorian Era […]

Every year, during the first weekend in December, a small Hudson Valley town carries out an old tradition. We traveled to Rhinebeck, New York, to see it unfold. The annual Sinterklaas festival is a  celebration that’s based the Dutch celebration of St. Nicholas Day. Dutch settlers brought it to the region over 300 years ago. […]

Around the turn of the 20th century, the lumber industry spanned the continental United States, and lumber camps dotted the countryside. When they weren’t harvesting timber to feed the booming post-Civil War industrialization, working lumberjacks could often be found sitting around campfires together, telling tall tales of creatures that supposedly lurk in the dark woods. […]

With more than one hundred thousand guests each year, the 27-year-old tradition of Terror Behind The Walls is scarier than ever. It is a fundraiser for Eastern State Penitentiary, located in the Fairmount neighborhood, in the historic city of Philadelphia, for the nation’s first penitentiary. Eastern State was founded by three men, Dr. Benjamin Rush, […]

Every theater has a story to tell. And not just onstage. Theater legends abound worldwide, from ghosts in the wings to phantoms of the opera. In this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we step into the historic Proctors Theater in Schenectady, New York.

The Original Albany Ghost Tour founders Maeve McEneny Johnson and Paul Nooney join us at the Olde English Pub in Albany for a seasonally appropriate discussion of Albany legends and lore. We touch on the Shadow People of the Lincoln Park Gully, the ghosts of area theaters and get a surprise story from an audience […]

Every theater has a story to tell. And not just onstage. Theater legends abound worldwide, from ghosts in the wings to phantoms of the opera. In this episode, we step into the Cohoes Music Hall. Built in 1874, it’s the fourth oldest operational Music Hall in the country. The 475-seat theater stands in the heart […]

Hearing a good scary story can send shivers up your spine. And when it’s billed as a true story, the chills can be even more intense. We talked to novelist and writing instructor Barbara Chepaitis during a previous episode of Listen with the Lights On, in which we discussed the elements that make a story […]

The pair of ill-fated star-crossed lovers… is a tale as old as time. One Hudson Valley legend tells such a story… that of a English explorer in the new world and a Native American woman named Manteo. Once again… Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us to discuss the Legend of Manteo. You can subscribe to […]

A bull. An animal known to most as a stalwart of toughness and resilience. As anyone who has tried to move a stubborn animal can tell you… it’s no easy task. Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us to discuss the Hudson Valley tale of a farmer, a bull and a hill, in the Bull of […]

Starting in Washington D.C. on April 21st the funeral train carrying President Abraham Lincoln’s body for his last journey around the nation left Union Station northward bound where it cut through Philadelphia, New York, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Albany, Utica, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, before arriving in Springfield Illinois on May 4th. The presidential procession traveled […]

New England Folklore blog author Peter Muise joins us for a few witchy tales from Central and Eastern Massachusetts, and to discuss the significant role that witch lore has played in New England history. You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

Perhaps the most recognizable of monsters in legend and lore is the witch. You probably already have an image of what a witch is in your head right? But the story behind this witch in the Hudson Valley describes one closer to a trickster, almost poltergeist character. Sit down and listen as Master storyteller Jonathan Kruk […]

The seat of New York state government is marked by a series of iconic, landmark buildings that stretch from north to south Albany, atop a hill that slopes gently down to the Hudson River. From the ornate Capitol to the stately governor’s mansion, it has played host to legendary figures like Abraham Lincoln and Teddy […]

Along the banks of the Hudson River, roughly halfway between New York City and Albany, lies one of the country’s most famous centers of culinary learning: The Culinary Institute of America. Countless chefs have passed through its venerable Roth hall, a signature behemoth of a building dating back to the early 1900s. Roth Hall houses […]

Today we bring you part 2 of Tales from the Tavern, our live event recorded at the great Olde English Pub in Albany, New York. In this episode you’ll hear us talk to live audience members about the stories from their childhood and around the region. We wanted to specially thank Maeve McEneny and Paul […]

This week we bring you the first of a two-part special broadcast from our first-ever “Tales from the Tavern” live event. We hosted a two-hour panel at the Olde English Pub in Albany with special guests Maeve McEneny and Paul Nooney of the Original Albany Ghost Tour. We discussed regional lore both new and old […]

It’s an urban legend you’ve probably heard before in some form. You saw it play out in a movie, or read it in a book. It’s the one about the innocent couple who goes “parking” one fine summer night. They pull up to a discreet spot at the edge of a wood, a spot with […]

Much like the protagonists of the short stories that run in The Strand Magazine, managing editor Andrew Gulli likes a good literary mystery — and he has built a reputation as a man who can solve them. Periodically we check in Gulli after he has unearthed a new story from long-gone master. Today, he joins […]

Every year on Christmas Eve, millions of children around the world go to bed with the expectation of waking up to a house full of presents on Christmas morning. The bearer of gifts? A portly, white-bearded old man in a red suit with a cheery disposition and a herd of magical flying reindeer. Santa Claus. […]

Why is a baker’s dozen 13? There are multiple theories as to how it started. Some say it was a 13th century thing, when English King Henry the Third was annoyed by small loaves of bread. Some say the convention has more modern origins. Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us once more to offer another […]

There are historical markers all over the world. They are typically signs, placards or statues denoting some important bit of history that occurred in a particular place. But in some places, history and lore are heavily intertwined. New York State is trying something new to reflect this powerful connection. If you’ve traveled across New York […]

It hasn’t been a great season for those with a fear of clowns. What with the slew of typical horrifying clown masks parading around town on Halloween, and also with a remarkable number of creepy clown sightings making headlines and circulating on social media.  On this episode of Listen with the Lights on, we wanted […]

  According to an Associated Press Survey from 2008, 34 percent of Americans say they believe in ghosts. Other surveys, like a Gallup poll from 2005, report similar results–about one third of America thinks ghosts are real. But given the immense popularity of “ghost-hunting” reality series that have hit TV ad the internet in the […]

On this episode, we delve into the legend surrounding the 19th-century New England Vampire Panic. You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

Ever wonder what lives in the cavernous storage rooms of a museum? Crates of artifacts, mixed with mummified remains and taxidermy? Or is there something even spookier? We visit the “Something Scary” exhibit at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield Massachusetts in this episode of Listen with the Lights On to unearth a few creepy delights. […]

What lurks in the shadows in Griffintown, Montreal? You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

In the late 1600s, a group of French protestant families—Huguenots, as they were known—settled in New York’s Hudson Valley. Looking for religious freedom—they were heavily persecuted in their French Catholic homeland—they built small stone houses and formed a community in and around what is now the town of New Paltz. More than 200 years later, […]

While there are common threads in lore throughout the world, nearly every country and culture has its own distinct tales. In the United Kingdom for example, many stories revolve around mystical creatures in the rolling hills and mists that are characteristic of the landscape. In the United States, we talk a lot about Bigfoot, who […]

Are UFOs and alien encounters the stuff of science fiction, or are we really not alone out there in the universe? On this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we visit a UFO Conference in Kingston, New York, where a few dedicated individuals are devoted to unearthing the truth behind this popular modern lore. […]

Symbols of nature takes various forms in the myths and legends around the world. But some of them… have common themes. Today Master storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us as we explore one of the most common ones in a tale from the Catskills in New York’s Hudson Valley. You can subscribe to Listen With The […]

A moonlit garden on the grounds of Union College in Schenectady plays host to one of the oldest ghost tales in the country. Forbidden love. Blind, murderous rage. And a lost soul. We explore the tragic tale of Alice Van Der Veer in this episode of Listen with the Lights On. You can subscribe to […]

Visit any college or university campus in the world, and you’re likely to find at least one tale of a ghostly presence amid the hallowed halls. West Hall is the oldest building at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. And it’s also the most haunted. West Hall was built in 1869, as the Troy […]

In this episode, we bring you another terrifying tale from the heart of New York’s Hudson Valley. Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us again with a story of ghosts, a haunting and the horrors of indentured servitude in Colonial times. You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

Mt. Greylock is the tallest natural point in Massachusetts. At 3,491 feet above sea level, it rises above the Berkshire county town of Adams, bisected by a portion of the Appalachian trail. The peak and its historic monument are constantly shrouded in mist and fog, and often beset by unpredictable weather. And the quiet summit […]

An urban legend is a popular story passed around that’s allegedly true, but can’t quite be confirmed. It’s the kid who ate PopRocks and drank soda and his stomach exploded. It’s the unfortunate tweeners who turned the lights out at their sleepover and called into the mirror for Bloody Mary. Or the poor sap who […]

If you’ve ever taken a trip down the shores of the Hudson River, no doubt at one point you’ve witnessed its hallmark mists rising from the waters. They have a ghostly quality about them, and not surprisingly there is an abundance of lore based on apparitions witnessed within them. We bring back Master Storyteller Jonathan […]

Is the devil in the details? On this episode of Listen With The Lights On, we explore how to capitalize on basic human fear to compose a creepy narrative, examine scary tropes, share our favorite spooky reads and try to come up with a spine-tingling tale of our own…in two sentences or less. Novelist and […]

On the last episode of Listen with the Lights On, Maeve McEneny of the Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau was giving us a tour of Albany’s Ten Broeck Mansion. We ended in the foyer in Part I, looking out the imposing front doors. Now we’re going upstairs, where many a psychic and ghost hunter has […]

Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany sits just north of the city’s downtown. Views from the historic home’s gardens and from its elegant windows look out over row houses, industrial buildings and US Route 787. But it wasn’t always this way. In 1789, when it was built by Abraham Ten Broeck, it was farmland as far […]

A mansion. A portrait. A haunting? Dive into this week’s edition of Listen With The Lights On, where we talk to Albany County Convention & Visitors Bureau Education Coordinator Maeve McEneny about lore in Albany, New York, and the mysterious happenings at the colonial estate at Ten Broeck Place. You can subscribe to Listen With […]

President Abraham Lincoln’s connection to Capital Region is more than just fairy tale, in fact, he has quite a few. One of which is the story of New York Senator Ira Harris’ daughter Clara, and her husband, Union Army Officer Henry Rathbone. On the night of April 14th in Ford’s theater, the two were the […]