Death Walker - Third Season

In the quiet small town of Albion, New York,

a tragic event occurred on September 28, 1859,

when the residents of Orleans County

were celebrating the opening day of the fair

with a series of festivities.

500 spectators gathered on the Main Street Bridge

to watch a young man walk a tightrope stretched

across the Erie Canal.

The man stepped out of the mansion house

his second story window and began his slow journey

across the canal.

Soon after that, the bridge began to groan and scrape

under the weight of the massive crowd.

And within moments, the western side of the bridge

gave way, dumping a large crowd of people into the water.

Most of the people were able to swim

to shore where they were pulled from the water by onlookers.

The unfortunate ones found themselves

trapped under the debris, and dragged under water.

A total of 18 were killed and many more were injured.

Within 70 yards of this tragic event

sits a large wood framed building

known as the English block, which was built in 1868.

A fire eventually destroyed this building in 1882.

A man named John Pratt, who was 66 years old at the time,

bought the land, cleared away the rubble,

and built the majestic Pratt building

that still stands today.

One of the most historical areas that still remains in the Pratt

building today is a Grand Army of the Republic meeting room,

which was a patriotic organization dedicated

to the American Civil War veterans

who served in the Union forces and the Marines.

The Grand Army of the Republic organization

was based upon three objectives, fraternity,

charity, and loyalty.

An estimated 750,000 Americans died during the Civil War.

I can only imagine the brutality these war veterans faced

and the stories they tell in this room.

A spirit believed to be a Civil War veteran

is often felt and visually observed

guarding and protecting the surrounding area that

leads to this historical room.

For over 50 years, these war veterans frequent this room.

I theorize that the trauma they faced during the rebellion

has caused them to be personally haunted.

And throughout time, their energies have slowly been

embedded within these walls.

John Pratt's daughter, his only child, died in 1885.

John pressed on and eventually finished

constructing the grand opera house in 1890,

but he passed away in 1901.

The theater remained in operation for five decades.

The stage area was enlarged in 1902,

making this the largest stage between Buffalo and Rochester

for many years.

The opera house seated 800 people

and had a horseshoe-shaped balcony

that has since been removed.

The energies of joy, excitement, anticipation

are still felt here along with anger, resentment,

and disappointment from personal disasters

and the trauma of past tragic events

that occurred on the stage.

By World War II, the opera house was largely dormant

and its chairs were removed so the steel could be salvaged

during the scrap metal drives.

The opera house would spend 70 years out of the public's eye,

causing the site to fall into disrepair

until the new owner, Michael Bonafede, purchased it in 2005.

Michael has done an amazing job restoring all three buildings

for the past 17 years.

Remnants of original theatrical posters

are still evident on the brick walls of the green rooms.

Michael has recently made the vacant parts of the premises

available for paranormal investigations.

Several paranormal groups have conducted investigations.

And they've reported seeing shadowy figures,

being physically touched, hearing disembodied voices

and footsteps.

Construction workers renovating the buildings

have even experienced feeling cold spots

and a strong spiritual presence watching over them.

This location could be haunted by John Pratt

himself, his nephew, or perhaps a Civil War veteran

who has chosen to remain.

The mere fact that the bridge catastrophe claimed so many

lives in 1859, it's possible that one or more

of those earthbound spirits could have migrated

into the Pratt building.

I will try and find out who this sentinel spirit is,

and why he chose to remain and haunt the Pratt opera house.

So GAR now it's at least three different brigades

met here that fought during the Civil War.

And it's somewhat preserved, and part of our mission

is we're going to save it.

We've got a cleaned up, we've been working on the floors,

we're going to try to restore some of the plaster.

And it's historic plaster, so it's

literally horsehair plaster.

And there's horsehair mixed in with a lot of plaster

that's on the walls are coming off.

There's three large insignias and they talk about fraternity,

loyalty, and charity.

And so those are universal to all GAR our meeting rooms.

And significantly, they put those up on the walls.

And as I said, the other insignias, emblems,

and everything that you can see on the ceiling

on some of the side walls, were specific to this room.

So they were particular to the members and to the battles.

But one of the things the historian found

was an adjoining room.

This kind of room set off to its side,

had its own private entrance.

But also had a little peephole, like a spy

hole, that was built into the door

that overlooked the membership.

So the theory is they had a group that ran the GAR meeting

that stayed in that room or could stay in that room

and find out what was going on in the meeting room.

And we're fortunate that when we acquired this property,

it came with the building that houses the opera house,

which was really our interest.

And we're just fortunate that we also

had GAR room adjacent to it.

And I say fortunate because we're historically minded,

we're trying to save the historic opera house.

And along with that, a byproduct of that is we're

going to have GAR room that people,

hopefully, at some point in time, will come and visit.

So our plans are to do as much restoration as we can.

And if not restoration, we'd like to stop

it from deteriorating more.

People here have experienced touches on their hands,

on their shoulders.

They've experienced tugs on their shirts, on their hoodies.

Disembodied voices.

They've seen shadow people.

Lights have flickered on and off.

Footsteps across the floors, a big one, especially upstairs

in the guard room.

Many people have witnessed that.

Visuals of shadow men.

And I think that shadow man is Mr. John Pratt.

I've actually seen him with my own eyes.

He walks across the back of the stage

and then he goes up the catwalk, and he goes to the back corner

of the room by the door.

The thing that scared me was the general.

My very first time coming here, I had a very dark energy

approached me, and he scared the hell out of me.

He was like right on my back and he followed me

around for about five minutes.

I found out later on who that energy was.

But there's been other energies too.

People in the opera house, when you go on the stage,

sometimes you get a little dizzy.

A lot of booze, a lot a lot of happy times here.

A lot a lot of after show drinking went on.

And I feel dizzy a lot here, and other people do, too.

Clearly, these people dealt with a lot of sorrow.

You know they had a lot of physical challenges,

but they were survivors.

And there's a lot of tragedy that surrounds all of us.

So not only do you have Civil War veterans,

we're not sure of the rest of the history

of what may have taken place here,

but you have the opera house.

So the opera house ran for roughly 50 years.

Now, it has existed for longer, and things have happened.

But even in that 50-year span, we've heard rumors

about the death of a stagehand.

And you know, people say, I've gotten a...

a long flight of stairs.

Did something tragic happen there?

We're not certain, but we've heard

rumors and stories about it.

We've heard about a death that took place on the stage.

There's a tragic history to the property.

So this block that we're standing on,

it burned out three times.

So they built in 1820, 1860, roughly, in 1880.

So 1880, when it burned down, everything that was built here

was built out of masonry.

So I have seen Mr. Pratt by myself in the room.

I have seen him with other people in the room,

and they have seen him too.

So that shadow man that you may encounter tonight is real.

I've also seen a beautiful woman in a blue dress.

She approached me and she curtsied.

She told me her name and she disappeared.

But Otis is an energy.

He's a little boy, probably about 11, 12.

And he will hang on you.

And you'll know when he's around because you

can feel that excitement energy off of him.

And he'll be right about up to here on you.

And sometimes you'll even feel a tug on you,

or maybe even grab your hand.

You'll feel it cold.