Kindred Spirits - Seventh Season

There was a massive fire here

where a family of six actually lost their lives.

They found them all in the basement.

Is there something to do with someone

who got burned in a fire or caught in a fire

or something with fire?

I don't want this house to be haunted by those kids

and their mummy.

So you're finding that you're getting activity

from some of the artefacts... Yes.

...that you're bringing in. OK.

If you can hear us, if you're in the house,

anything that you can do to show us that you're here...

I'm sorry. What is happening?

The dead want a voice.

We just want to help this family.

The living need our help.

Have you always been here?

He was watching already.

Palmyra, New York, here we are. Yeah.

So this is actually what they call the Historic Market District.

This is a series of buildings that they have turned into museums

and they are experiencing activity throughout all of them.

That is wild.

There is no shortage of history here in Palmyra.

It was a major stop along the Erie Canal

and sits in the centre of what was once a religious hotbed.

The Book of Mormon was first published right in town

and the entire region gave birth to the spiritualist movement,

along with the idea of communicating with the dead -

which is exactly what Adam and I are here to do.

We're going to look at this hotel.

This hotel wasn't always here.

They moved this from over there in 1976.

Prior to this being moved here, this property,

there was a massive fire here

where a family of six actually lost their lives.

And so the house, obviously, was levelled

but they moved this onto the foundation of that house.

So you think a lot of the activity

might have to do with that family... Right.

...who passed away there?

But there... they have activity

associated with a lot of different things here.

They have a lot of artefacts in there

that are brought in from the community.

Something could be attached to one of those.

There's the fire.

I mean, there's a lot to look at. It's an entire block. Yeah.

Market Street is full of haunted buildings.

And the staff at the Palmyra Historical Museum

has had activity that they would consider friendly for years

but now it has taken a turn,

going after people physically

and causing many of the women to get sick and feel nauseous.

Alright. Well, we have our work cut out for us.

We're going to meet Tracy, yeah? Yeah, Tracy.

She's the caretaker and director, I believe.

How are you? Adam. Good. Adam...

Nice to meet you. ...nice to meet you.

Hi, Tracy. I'm Amy. Nice to meet you.

Hi, Amy. Nice to meet you. Welcome to historic Palmyra.

This place is incredible.

So what building was this and why did you move it?

This building was called the Saint James Hotel.

That goes back to 1826.

And this building was slated to be torn down.

And, in 1976,

we had it moved here onto the site of a fire

that happened in 1964. OK.

And a mum and her six children were killed in the fire...

Oh, devastating.

...and they remain with us today.

You know... you feel as though they've been here.

But... has something changed?

Are they more active as of late or, you know,

is there a reason why we're here now?

So we had a fire across the parking lot

from our building in November of 2021.

And we think that it may have triggered

more activity here in this building.

OK.

The fire that took place in 1964 is always on our minds.

Right.

But I think that we've seen some increase in activity here

because of the newer fire. Right.

OK. I mean, that makes sense. So...

We've seen it before -

things like that triggering activity, for sure.

Can you kind of walk us through and just tell us... Absolutely.

...where the hot spots are? Sure can, of course.

Alright. We'll follow you. OK.

Alright.

So this room used to be the women and children's dining room. OK.

We have turned this room into our Police and Fire Department Room.

Right. So what kind of activity are you experiencing in here?

Nine times out of ten,

you will see a little shadow peeking around the corner.

We do have things in here that move.

And you hear occasional knocking and, you know,

rattling of something.

When our former executive director was working here,

she would work here late at night.

She did not know the story about the fire

but would hear noises, you know,

a woman weeping or footsteps upstairs

or running in the hall.

Things would go missing, silly things,

like children things.

And then she did her research and found out about the fire

and things kind of escalated after that.

OK. OK.

Alright. So where should we go next?

We're going to go into the bar room.

What kind of activity happens in here?

So in here we do get a lot of smells,

mostly like a cigar.

Sometimes we have people who come in here and they feel drunk.

Every once in a while we get

the young boy in the picture will come through.

Sometimes we have the lady who... her hair is in

the gold, oval frame up there.

Right. But the... like,

the little boy and the hair wreath,

they don't have a connection to the building originally.

Right? No.

So you're finding that you're getting activity

from some of the artefacts... Yes.

...that you're bringing in. OK. Yes.

OK.

We've never really had that before.

But now you are. And now we are.

And I think... Since the fire.

...it's because of the fire.

That's interesting 'cause they would have no connection

to the fire unless it just... Yeah.

...elevated the energy level here...

Brought something out. Yeah. ...for some reason.

Yeah, that's weird.

Alright. So where should we head next?

So next, we're going to walk through to the,

what was called the gentlemen's room.

Oh. OK. So this is...

Although it is not the gentlemen's room anymore.

So in here we have an unknown shadow.

We believe it's a male

but it just kind of lurks at the doorway

and every once in a while will peek through.

OK. Looking that way?

Yes.

We do have people, when they do see the shadow,

they say they get a headache.

OK.

And how often is this shadow seen?

When we are sitting in the other room,

people recognise the shadow.

They'll look here. They'll see the shadow.

And then all of a sudden, somebody says,

"Oh, my head is killing me." OK. Alright.

Where should we go now?

I'm going to take you guys upstairs.

This is our upstairs. OK.

But there is not a room up here that is not active.

OK. Alright.

If we go this way,

I can introduce you to the doctor.

Oh, it is. So it's set up like a medical practice.

It is set up as a medical room, yeah.

The doctor that resides in this room does not like women.

Great.

And it was probably because of his profession.

What was his profession?

He performed certain surgeries.

OK. OK.

We're talking about abortion?

OK. OK.

Not in this room.

But we have some of the instruments

that may have been used in his practice.

He just does not like women. OK.

So when people come in here,

the first thing they say is, "Oh, I feel terrible.

"My stomach hurts. My head hurts."

We've had people get poked in here.

Do you find that there's a connection

between the shadow that you see downstairs

and this room possibly? No?

Uh-uh. OK.

It's different, I think, when they come in here.

I have, like, a 10 minute period in this room

because it makes me sick. OK.

So basically what we're getting at here

is that we're already very active

but then you had this fire that happened nearby. Yes.

And that seemed to kind of elevate... Yes.

...the activity throughout. Absolutely.

And so it's our job to figure out why.

And, hopefully,

we can make sure that none of this is going to reach a level

that is beyond what you guys can control...