Iron Island Preservation Society : Buffalo, NY

Situated along Lake Erie in the middle of Buffalo, NY is a section of neighborhood which was once known as “Iron Island“. It obtained that name due to the large number of trains traveling in an out of the area. Ideally situated along the lake, ships would come in, unload their cargo onto the trains and send them off to nearby cities. Slowly with time the railways stopped, and now many of them lie dormant. But that doesn’t mean that the memories are forgotten. They are kept alive by the Iron Island Museum.

The museum, or should i say preservation society, was created because the city decided that someone needed to preserve a piece of Buffalo’s history in a museum dedicated to the railways that had breathed so much life into the once-prosperous city, and to the veterans that had left the neighborhood to go to war for their country. It started as a museum, collecting memorabilia from the neighborhood – from old train tracks to the military memorabilia and has today grown to much more.

Interestingly enough, the current building in which the museum resides has its own tales, history and of course, ghosts. Build in 1883 and opened in 1888, the building was once a wooden Methodist Church church, upgrading to the brick walls a few years later. The church grew and survived for years, only to close its doors in the late 1940’s. After sitting dormant for a number of years it was purchased and turned into a funeral home. After years of funerals and multiple owners, it was purchased by Anthony Amigone who donated the building to the Iron Island preservation society in 2000. It was then that the real activity started.

It began in 2001, when in the basement, covered with layers of dirt, workers discovered unclaimed, cremated remains. They found that these were the remains of veterans that had been walked through the funeral home but, for whatever reason, were unclaimed by their families and never properly laid to rest. Staff and workers continued to encounter strange incidents including shadows, EVP’s, and cold spots. Activity occurred so much that they began to recorded, tape and document much of the activity themselves. The group at one point even called in the infamous medium Chip Coffey, who spoke with a spirit named Edgar Zernicke, who interestingly was one of the veterans whose ashes were found in the basement. Much of the remaining activity relates to a number of child spirits (one named Jimmy). It was believed that multiple wakes were held in the funeral home for small children, killed by illness, car accidents, trains and more. It’s believed that many of these children are lost and looking for a way to join their families once more.

Due the the number of hauntings, the location has been featured on many television series including Ghost Hunters where the team received multiple responses including electronic meter spikes, EVP’s and unknown footsteps.