Location: Van Horn Mansion - Burt, NY
History: The Van Horn Mansion was built by Judge James Van Horn in 1823.
The Mansion was built after the British first burned down the Van Horn's
Grist Mill and House during the war of 1812. James Van Horn decided to
build the mansion with brick and was the first brick building in Newfane.
The Mansion includes 16 rooms and five bathrooms. It is the site of the
Town of Newfane's first town meeting, April 6, 1824. The last surviving
Van Horn descent sold the mansion to W.H. Davis of New York City in 1910.
In 1922, it was owned by Herbert Pease. Douglas Patterson of Nova Scotia,
Canada purchased the mansion in 1929 after a short ownership by the Cramer
Brothers. During that time until 1938 Patterson opened a community skating
rink to the residents of Newfane. In 1939, the structure suffered a fire.
Mary Wagner in 1949 received the mansion and helped to renovate it for an
upscale restaurant known as Green Acres.[7] In 1959, the building was
converted into apartments by John Strickland and eventually was left for
vandals. The Noury Chemical Company acquired the structure and then
donated it to the Newfane Historical Society in 1987. The Newfane
Historical Society has maintained its splendor and value to present day.
It has held Victorian teas, tours, and underwent numerous volunteer
renovation programs over the years. (Credits: en.Wikipedia.org)
Hauntings: The Van Horn Mansion is believed to be haunted my a number of
spirits but it's main ghost story comes from the ghostly encounters with
Malinda, the daughter-in-law of James Van Horn and the wife of James Van
Horn, Junior. Malinda died on January 13th, 1837 apparently during child
birth. There are no records of this death and no account of the child born
during that birth. Other stories say she died accidentally by a falling
tree branch. Finally, another story of her death is that she was murdered
by James Van Horn Jr. because she was caught having an affair with one of
the servants on property. Malinda's body rests about 50 ft outside the
back dining room of the home. It was never buried in the family cemetery
in the back of the property. When the bodies of the Van Horn's were moved
to a local cemetery, her remains stayed on property and her headstone was
found in the carriage house. When cadaver dogs were used to find the
remains, they were not nicely buried and appeared to have been quickly
thrown in a hole that was dug.
A fully dressed Malinda has been seen by many of the Mansion volunteers. There is also a smell of lilac perfume in certain parts of the Mansion. Malinda appears to be seen mostly in the attic where it is said she consulted with the maid up in the maid's room. Investigator's on multiple occasions had the maid's room door close on them by itself. On another occasion, the door to the attic slammed shut by itself as about four investigators were coming down the attic steps.
Other claims of activity are whistling which is said to be done by the servant who worked out in the carriage house, and also the smell of tobacco in the men's smoking room on the second floor. Others have witnessed a shadow like figure in the attic, and volunteers have captured video evidence of an unidentified figure peeking out of view in the kitchen of the mansion.
Evidence:
Photo evidence - This is a picture taken by a guest who was on a candlelight tour at the mansion. The picture was taken in the basement and appears to have captured an apparition trying to manifest in the bottom left corner of the picture. That figure was not there at the time the picture was taken, and was seen as the pictures were being reviewed on the digital camera view finder. Is this an image of Malinda or could it be a servant preparing food? The basement housed the original kitchen where food was prepared during the cold winter months.
Audio evidence - This piece of evidence was captured during an investigation in the front parlor room of the mansion. The digital audio device captured this evp that was heard during evidence review of an investigation. It appears to be two voices in the recording. After you here the voice of the investigator, a woman's voice is heard saying "I stay right here." and then followed by another voice saying "All day." Could this possibly be the voice of Malinda answering the investigators questioning? Could the second voice be another spirit taunting Malinda that she is stuck in the mansion all day? This Class A EVP leads us to want to discover more of what spirits are attached to the mansion.
CLICK HERE for EVP.
