Death Walker - Third Season

This historic haunted mansion

was built in 1823 by Justice James Van Horn

and remains a cultural centerpiece

for the town of Newfane located in Niagara County, New York.

In 1836, Van Horn's son, James Jr.,

married a woman named Malinda Niles,

but within just one year, Malinda died.

Not much is known about Malinda's death.

Some say that she died in childbirth.

Others suggest perhaps she was murdered

or died in an accident.

The whereabouts of Malinda's body

had been unknown for many years until the 1970s

when a police cadaver dog walked the grounds

and detected human remains in the rose garden

adjacent to the mansion.

Malinda's human remains were discovered and confirmed.

Today, a headstone now lays on top of her gravesite.

Through the years, there have been sightings

of several different ghosts, such as a boy who

plays in the bathroom under the stairs,

a group of children who play upstairs,

a cook in the basement, and Mr. Van Horn Sr.,

who is known to growl at women.

The furniture and items that are on display inside the mansion

have all been donated to the Newfane Historical Society

throughout the years.

It's also believed that some of these items

harbor negative spiritual energy.

An unusual moment in the history of the mansion

occurred when a ceremony was conducted by witches

inside the building in 1986 in an effort

to rid the demons that were residing

within the various mirrors that were on display.

This ceremony obviously failed, since people today still

manage to capture images of these demonic-looking creatures

in the reflections of the mirrors.

Perhaps their seance opened a gateway to another realm

and it still remains open today, allowing

any spirits, including inhuman ones from wherever,

to freely invade the mansion.

The maid's bedroom located in the attic

is a known hotspot for a lot of unusual activity.

The doors are known to open all by themselves

and slam shut by some unseen supernatural force.

People have also witnessed a shadow-like figure lurking

about in the attic, and volunteers

have seen unidentified figures peeking out of view

in the kitchen of the mansion.

During the time when a hazardous waste cleanup company owned

the building, their attempts to build offices

had continuously failed due to aggressive haunting, which

is part of the reason they chose to donate

the building to the Newfane Historical Society.

During renovations under the society's restoration project,

roofers witnessed faces in windows of the vacant mansion

and saw lights flicker for no reason.

Carpenters would frequently see spirits appear as well.

I will focus my investigation on trying to make contact

with the spirit of Malinda with the intention

of trying to see if she'll divulge

any dark secrets from her past.

I will also try to make contact with this shadow figure that's

seen lurking inside the attic.

I want to see if it will not only communicate with me

but also tell me where it came from

and why it chose to stay and haunt the Van Horn mansion.

When the Newfane Historical Society was given...

actually by the chemical company that's behind us...

and actually at that point, it was

ready for the wrecking ball.

But they gave it to us, actually gave

it to us along with a $10,000 grant to start the renovations.

You can actually sometimes come in and you could hear voices.

I've come in through the door and turned off the alarms

and everything, and it sounds like there's a party

going on in here sometimes.

You can actually hear whispering, talking.

We have our meetings here.

And I've actually sat here in the parlor

and looked up on the railing, and you

can see a dark shadow walking on the walkway

on the second floor.

My daughter has been in the kitchen,

and she's gone into the butler's pantry.

And she was standing by the one doors that open on both sides,

and she looked to the left of her,

and she saw a tall black shadow with a top hat on.

It was standing right next to her, and she froze.

And then she called for me, and I came in and it was gone.

I saw shadows in the master bedroom.

Luckily, I've only been on a couple of stairs

down from the attic stairs, and I've gotten

pushed and landed on the floor.

Hearing screaming, seeing bodies, walking, things moving.

I will go sometimes in to get something

somewhere that I know Is there, but it wasn't there,

it was gone.

And I know for a fact, when no one is in here,

our alarm system is very sensitive,

and it sets it off all the time.

And being an officer on the board,

we get phone calls in the middle of the night and come down

and there's nothing here.

One of our lady trustees actually

was on the second floor.

There she was walking, and all of a sudden I

seen the rug go together, and it tripped her.

She swears she didn't believe in any of that.

But she was a little leery after that point.

As far as entities that I've come across, at least

I'd say 12 of the family members that have lived here

throughout the Van Horn family.

Also, as far as the 12 family members, besides James Sr.,

James Jr., Malinda, Abigail...

which is Mr. Van Horn Sr.'s wife,

she's been spotted many times.

She has blonde hair, and she's actually

seen going from Malinda's room to the master

bedroom on the second floor in a long white gown

and blonde hair.

She likes to peek around the corners.

But she's been seen.

One of my experiences with the Van Horn mansion

was with Malinda.

I was going through the house and up into the attic.

I was up there by myself in the one room.

And I looked to the one corner, and I saw Malinda.

She had long brown hair, light purplish dress on.

When I saw her, she didn't have hands or feet.

Another time that I saw her was a couple years later.

I was up there doing a tour, and the tour people were

on the other side of the attic.

And at that point, I looked over into the same corner,

and I saw her from her face up.

I could see her facial features, her hair, everything.

But she didn't look too happy at that point.

Then she just disappeared.

At the time of her death, she was actually not

buried in the family cemetery.

And we had... as Newfame Historical Society...

had a cadaver dog come in to try to find where her remains

were actually buried.

They did find a young woman's remains in the backyard,

but not near the family cemetery.

And she was laid to rest on the south side of the mansion

with her stone that was found in the carriage house, which

was cracked in half.

Fixed, we put it in lying down into the ground,

but we also had it stationed with a 500 pound weight

so it would not move or no one would

really be able to take it.

But periodically, people would go out

and look at the gravestone, and it

would be shifted to the north.

And the men would have to go out and hammer it back into place.

Other sightings that I've had are actually from the basement.

I've actually seen multiple things in the basement.

We were down one time doing a recording in the dark,

and I had somebody playing with the back of my neck.

I just swatted at it, and it stopped.

And I got home that night and got into the shower,

and my daughter came in because my back of my neck was burning.

She came in to the bathroom, and she says, mom, you've got

a long scratch on your neck.

I didn't know what that was from,

but the activity in the basement around that part

has been very active.

And we were closing up.

We locked up, turned the alarm on, and went out to the car,

and my youngest daughter says mom, look up on the roof

of the back kitchen.

And I looked up, and I saw a black figure.

You could see plain as day, legs,

arms, head, body everything, go down on all fours.

And as I was watching it, it climbed up

the back of the roof, and I told my daughters, I said,

get in the car, now.

I'm usually not afraid of anything,

but that time it really scared me.

So we were here about eight years

ago with my team, Greater Western

New York Paranormal Society.

And we had quite the evening investigating.

While we were in the basement, we

heard what we thought were footsteps walking

around the floor up here.

When we investigated the second floor,

we captured a shadow figure.

We also captured what we thought was a spirit of a little kid

running around the floor.

We also put a static camera in the nursery

and noticed that the doll house... there

were little figurines in the doll house

that actually moved on camera when nobody was there.

But the creepiest thing that happened

is when we were taking pictures, this actual mirror behind me,

in infrared, we captured some type of creature

that was on the other side of the mirror looking like it

was trying to push through.