Annual
Foxes Town Ghost Watch
Lily Park, Schoharie (end of Fort Road, Schoharie)
Saturday, October 28 2023 7pm.
The Ghost Watch scheduled on Saturday October 21 has been cancelled due to park reservation conflict.
That’s OK – the new pavilion makes one night weather proof!
“We don’t guarantee you will see a ghost or ghostly apparitions, but we also don’t guarantee you won’t”
Event Fee: $10 for all ages 10 yrs and above. Under 10 free, Cash or check only.
Parking: Use parking lot off intersection of Rtes 30 & 443; cross covered bridge to event OR park along Fort Road on Cemetery side of Road only. Please keep turnaround at park clear so it can be used at all times.
Information: This is an all outdoor event after dark; stories will be told on the lawn between the park footpath and the Covered Bridge. Audience is encouraged to bring lawn seating or blankets to sit upon. It is likely to be chilly – dress appropriately! Blankets are encouraged to keep you warm or to hide under. Lighting will be by candlelit pumpkins and lanterns with minimal additional lighting. Flashlights are recommended for travel to and from the event. Please keep cell phones silent throughout the event. In case of rain, the ghost stories will be told in the Nicholas Juried Pavilion nearby. Bring a camera for the end of the event!
Ghost Stories! Witches! Tales of the Macabre!
Foxes Town once stood along the banks of Fox Creek. It’s name came from Fuch’s Dorf when it was first settled by German Palatine farmers in 1713 who called their villages “dorfs” . By the time of the American Revolution, it was going by the English name of Foxes Town. This town was burned by a small army of British Regulars, Loyalists and allied native warriors led by Sir John Johnson on October 17, 1780. Only a few buildings in this neighborhood survived. One was the church turned fortress known as the Old Stone Fort. Some say a ghost haunts within its walls and on its grounds. Who could it be?
The Lily Park is located at the base of the Stone Fort Cemetery, one of the oldest public cemeteries in Schoharie County. There, we find the final resting places of Revolutionary War soldiers and ancestors of many current residents of Schoharie County. Fox Creek gurgles its way along the edge of the park. If superstitions from the Old World have any merit, the running water will prevent ghosts, witches, and the undead from approaching from the north. But there is a covered bridge. Can such malevolent spirits cross over it, like a certain Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow? Did we mention the covered bridge is near an Old Dutch burying ground?
We have collected a wide range of ghostly tales from around Schoharie County and beyond. One might even say they sort of find us. Even on our wedding night at an historical Inn in Massachusetts, we were introduced to the story of its resident ghost and learned much about her – and her mischievous effect on guests who have stayed in our 18th century room. Expect the unexpected and other surprises along the way – Ghosts, witches, witch doctors, pirates, creepy things, macabre horrors of early America and more, all by candlelit pumpkins and lanterns. This is old fashioned storytelling in just the right setting.
Haunted History of the Old Stone Fort
We have had a very close association with the Old Stone Fort Museum and are very familiar with the many encounters people have had with unexplained phenomena in the church turned fort over the years. Some we have witnessed. Our personal stories, along with many other reported encounters with the Old Stone Fort’s Ghost(s), will be presented on the Old Stone Fort grounds around the David Williams Monument. There will also be a macabre retrospective of select objects in the museum collection that have connections to traumatic, even horrific, events involving historical figures. Also, we’ll explore the deep personal connections a number of historical figures have had with the church-turned fort-turned arsenal-turned museum that may help answer the question: who is haunting the Old Stone Fort? Here, we will complete the narrative circle.
What Lurks in the Shadows?
Before we leave the Old Stone Fort grounds, we will conduct an experiment of sorts. We will try to capture on camera what the naked eye might not in the shadows surrounding the fort and the darkness of its immediate vicinity. Will there be evidence of ghostly activity? Maybe. Maybe not. Take the photos, upload them to a device with a large screen and start looking – never know what you might find! If nothing else, you may capture a really cool image of the Old Stone Fort.
History is often a scary place
Most of all, this night will be about the telling of stories that draw upon historical events to help explain the unexplainable. Every ghost story is rooted in the past in one way or another. Schoharie County has its full share of such tales and encounters continue to be reported to this day at some places. We’ll tell these stories and more. The violence and horrors of the American Revolution, as especially carried out in the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys, are fertile grounds upon which to also present recountings of events that delve frightfully into the realm of the macabre. Here, truth is more horrific than fiction.
So, will you join us for a creepy night of ghostly tales and historical horrors by candlelight just in time for Halloween?
