thedrifter
10-31-08, 03:44 PM
Author shines light on ghostly Saratoga
By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
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Last updated: 2:09 p.m., Friday, October 31, 2008
CORINTH David Pitkin resisted at first. There is no such thing as ghosts, he said.
But in the more than 30 years since the storyteller and author was exposed to his first ghost, Pitkin said he believes there is some part of us that lives on after we die. And sometimes, those ghosts hang around.
"Ghosts most of time are confused. They don't want to be dead and it's nice to send them on their way," Pitkin said.
In Barbara Lansburg's eighth grade English classroom at the Corinth Middle School on Monday, Pitkin told a story about four Marines showing up at a Greenfield home in 1983 at the same time as the Beirut bombing. The woman there, who had experience with ghosts, told Pitkin the Marines said they came because they saw her light on a dark night. She told them calmly, if you turn around you will see a bright white light, walk toward that. The Marines disappeared.
"The next day she found out about the bombing," Pitkin said.
Late fall is a busy time for Pitkin, 69, a retired social studies teacher. Every day, from Oct. 14 until Halloween, he is scheduled to share stories at dinner parties and in classrooms.
Pitkin retired from teaching in 1996 and published his first book, "Haunted Saratoga County." The collection of 20 stories sold 15,000 copies before it went out of print in 2001, Pitkin said. He published an updated version in 2005 and included more than 120 stories. He called Saratoga "the most haunted of American counties."
Lansburg invited Pitkin to her classroom to share the stories of his upbringing in Corinth and to relate how he tells if someone is telling the truth or spinning a tale. Later, Zach Lucia shared a ghost story of his own. His family thinks they can hear the former owner of their house gliding down the stairs in her slippers, he said.
Pitkin said he has traveled many of Saratoga's back roads to collect stories. There is the house on Route 9 in Halfmoon where every resident was eventually driven off by an invisible tormenter who ripped the sheets off the bed at night. In Milton, a one-time farm laborer shows up at a house on Middle Line Road near Gordon's Creek. Occasionally, an antique rocker moves by itself in the room where the man used to sleep, Pitkin wrote in his book.
In Saratoga Springs alone, Pitkin collected 24 stories. The Old Bryan Inn is particularly busy, he wrote in his book, "Haunted Saratoga County." Many people report seeing a woman in high-necked, Victorian style green dress.
Sunday, Pitkin will tell stories at the Saratoga Rose Inn and Restaurant in Hadley, where the owners also are familiar with ghosts.
"Guests come down in the morning and say, 'is this place haunted?'" said Richard Ferrugio, who owns the inn with his partner, Claude Belanger.
After researching the property, Pitkin said the ghost is likely Katherine Van Zandt, who moved into the house as a new bride in 1885. Unlike other ghosts who Pitkin said hang around because they want to right a wrong or because they died tragically, Van Zandt simply loved her house.
Leigh Hornbeck can be reached at 454-5352 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com.
For more information about the dinner at the Saratoga Rose, go to http://www.saratogarose.com or call 696-2861.
For more about David Pitkin, go to http://www.afterworld.info.
Ellie
By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
Last updated: 2:09 p.m., Friday, October 31, 2008
CORINTH David Pitkin resisted at first. There is no such thing as ghosts, he said.
But in the more than 30 years since the storyteller and author was exposed to his first ghost, Pitkin said he believes there is some part of us that lives on after we die. And sometimes, those ghosts hang around.
"Ghosts most of time are confused. They don't want to be dead and it's nice to send them on their way," Pitkin said.
In Barbara Lansburg's eighth grade English classroom at the Corinth Middle School on Monday, Pitkin told a story about four Marines showing up at a Greenfield home in 1983 at the same time as the Beirut bombing. The woman there, who had experience with ghosts, told Pitkin the Marines said they came because they saw her light on a dark night. She told them calmly, if you turn around you will see a bright white light, walk toward that. The Marines disappeared.
"The next day she found out about the bombing," Pitkin said.
Late fall is a busy time for Pitkin, 69, a retired social studies teacher. Every day, from Oct. 14 until Halloween, he is scheduled to share stories at dinner parties and in classrooms.
Pitkin retired from teaching in 1996 and published his first book, "Haunted Saratoga County." The collection of 20 stories sold 15,000 copies before it went out of print in 2001, Pitkin said. He published an updated version in 2005 and included more than 120 stories. He called Saratoga "the most haunted of American counties."
Lansburg invited Pitkin to her classroom to share the stories of his upbringing in Corinth and to relate how he tells if someone is telling the truth or spinning a tale. Later, Zach Lucia shared a ghost story of his own. His family thinks they can hear the former owner of their house gliding down the stairs in her slippers, he said.
Pitkin said he has traveled many of Saratoga's back roads to collect stories. There is the house on Route 9 in Halfmoon where every resident was eventually driven off by an invisible tormenter who ripped the sheets off the bed at night. In Milton, a one-time farm laborer shows up at a house on Middle Line Road near Gordon's Creek. Occasionally, an antique rocker moves by itself in the room where the man used to sleep, Pitkin wrote in his book.
In Saratoga Springs alone, Pitkin collected 24 stories. The Old Bryan Inn is particularly busy, he wrote in his book, "Haunted Saratoga County." Many people report seeing a woman in high-necked, Victorian style green dress.
Sunday, Pitkin will tell stories at the Saratoga Rose Inn and Restaurant in Hadley, where the owners also are familiar with ghosts.
"Guests come down in the morning and say, 'is this place haunted?'" said Richard Ferrugio, who owns the inn with his partner, Claude Belanger.
After researching the property, Pitkin said the ghost is likely Katherine Van Zandt, who moved into the house as a new bride in 1885. Unlike other ghosts who Pitkin said hang around because they want to right a wrong or because they died tragically, Van Zandt simply loved her house.
Leigh Hornbeck can be reached at 454-5352 or by e-mail at lhornbeck@timesunion.com.
For more information about the dinner at the Saratoga Rose, go to http://www.saratogarose.com or call 696-2861.
For more about David Pitkin, go to http://www.afterworld.info.
Ellie