Introduction:

Every single street, building, house, or hidden place in New York has a story to tell. From urban legends to old mouth-to-mouth tales and beyond, New York offers people many historical and mysterious places to discover, visit, and explore. It is precisely in these places where rich architectural styles and stories of love, passion, and tragedy intertwine and trespass the limits of what science can explain. Inspired by this spicy combination of supernatural stories and paranormal phenomena, I decided to create a map of the most popular haunted places in New York State.

Method:

In order to create this map, I collected information from diverse websites dedicated to promoting historical information about haunted places in the state of New York. It was difficult to choose the locations to be included in the map. This is because there are more than 30 places that are considered haunted in New York State. I decided to focus my project on old and enigmatic buildings and a few cemeteries, which have been repeatedly featured in magazines, films, and websites dedicated to the discussion of paranormal activity. Thus, the map I created contains 27 of the most famous haunted places in New York. Moreover, I decided to create a map tour, which allowed me to plot points on the map and add media content to these points. Therefore, the map below contains an image of the haunted places included in my map as well as a brief description of the paranormal phenomena observed in these places. I also included a link to websites containing more extensive information about these locations with the purpose of satisfying the curiosity of readers.

The Process:

I created a story map using the ArcGIS online platform. I used a story map because I like the idea of expressing my ideas and thoughts in order to create a narrative along with the visual tools of maps. My experience using this platform was in general good. I like the map tour tool because it is pretty flexible in terms of changing layouts and designs. For instance, you can change layouts, or even the whole map tour design, at any point by clicking the slide panel without losing your previous added content.

By working on this project, I learned that there are no limits to map an idea. The only requirement needed is to have imagination and be able to collect the adequate information to plot on the map. In my particular case, I really like the whole process of navigating and exploring different websites about haunted places in New York State. I have to mention that there are more than 30 haunted places in New York State, but I decided to include only 27 of them. As I was completing my research, I learned how rich the history of New York is. From abandoned asylums to old houses of important government officials from the independence time, the study of history shows us, one more time, that it is important to understand people and places of the past in order to understand the mysterious legends created around them.

The Inspiration Behind the Story Map:

I have always been fascinated about the story of haunted places. Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the Merchant’s House Museum located in New York city. The story tells us that after the death of Gertrude Tredwell, the youngest member of the large Tredwell family in 1933, the house was sold and turned into a museum. Visitors reported seeing the spirits of Gertrude, her family, and servants of the house walking around the building. Thus, I was very impressed with the house, the construction, the decoration, the old rooms, and the vintage garments. Everything made me feel like I was traveling back in time. So, I could not resist choosing the theme of haunted places in New York State for my assignment praxis.

This is the list of the places:

1. The Sagamore Resort (Bolton Landing, NY): This place is best known as one of the best haunted hotels in the US. Visitors have reported seeing a ghostly couple in the restaurant, a ghost in the elevator, or a ghost of a playful young child on the golf course among other spooky stories. 
2. Rolling Hills Asylum (East Bethany, NY): This historical and real asylum is considered one of the most haunted places in the world. This place was the refuge for widows and orphans who suffered some kind of mentally illness. Many unclaimed dead were buried on the property.
3. Dr. Best House & Medical Museum (Middleburgh, NY): Located in Schoharie County, paranormal investigators and witnesses were able to capture the sound of piano playing and ghostly voices.
4. Bannerman Castle (Fishkill, NY): Some native American tribes believed that this place was haunted by evil spirits, and these rumors were also promoted by Dutch sailors.
5. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (Sleepy Hollow, NY):  This is the final resting place of famous figures, such as Washington Irving, author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which was set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.
6. Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester, NY): A legend tells that Native Americans warned people not to build anything on this land. Strange lights, orbs, and ghostly figures have been seen by visitors of this place.
7. Forest Lawn Cemetery (Buffalo, NY): Visitors reported seeing ghosts of children, soldiers, and even a phantom car.
8. Merchant’s House Museum (New York, NY): After the death of Gertrude Tredwell,, the youngest member of the large Tredwell family  in 1933, the house was sold and turned into a museum. Visitors reported seeing the spirits of Gertrude and her family, and servants  of the house walking around the building.
9. Morris-Jumel Mansion  (New York, NY): This house was built in 1765 by Roger Morris, a British military officer, and it was used as a headquarters for both sides in the American Revolution. Ghostly figures and strange voices are among the paranormal phenomena witnessed by visitors.
10. The Amityville Horror House (Amityville, NY): Located in Long Island, this house was the location in which the DeFeo family murders took place. The story of the crimes became a book and a series of movies.
11. Palmyra Historical Museum (Palmyra, NY): Visitors have reported a larger number of paranormal experiences such as strange noises and ghostly apparitions of people and even cats.
12. Iron Island Museum (Buffalo, NY): This building was a former church that was built in 1883. Visitors and paranormal investigators have recorded spectral voices and taken pictures and videos of the ghosts that haunt this place.
13. Buffalo Central Terminal (Buffalo, NY): Built in the late 1920s, this abandoned train station is believed to be haunted by many ghostly figures, who have been seen and captured in pictures by visitors and investigators.
14. Belhurst Castle and Winery (Geneva, NY): Visitors to this place  report hearing people screaming and the voices of children playing. Isabella is the name of  the most famous ghost of Belhurst Castle. She was a beautiful opera singer, and she is often seen dressed in white.
15. Utica State Hospital (Uitica, NY): Formerly known as the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, visitors of this place reported seeing faces looking out the window and hearing voices screaming.
16. Hyde Hall (Cooperstown, NY): More than 150 years of paranormal experiences have been documented by visitors of this building. These experiences include ghostly apparitions, footsteps and sheets being pulled off beds.
17. New York State Capitol (Albany, NY): Visitors to this place claim seeing flickering lights and ghostly figures as well as clocks mysteriously rewinding by eight minutes. 
18. Letchworth Village (Thiells, NY): This was a medical facility for mentally and physically disabled children. Visitors report seeing moving objects and listening to ghostly sounds.
19. Fort William Henry Museum (Lake George, NY): Fort William Henry was lost when thousands of French soldiers attacked and destroyed the military stronghold during the French and Indian War. Visitors to this place report seeing shadowy and ghostly figures as well as hearing voices and whispers.
20. Landmark Theater (Syracuse, NY): People report seeing three ghostly figures. Two of them were actors that died in the building under tragic circumstances, whose names were Clarissa and Oscar. The third ghost is known as Charlie the janitor, who died in the building because of natural causes during the 1970’s.
21. Burn Brae Mansion (Glen Spey, NY): Visitors to this place report seeing a woman pacing the halls and hearing unexplained noises, footsteps, and music from an unseen piano.
22. Seward House Museum (Auburn, NY): People report ghostly encounters with members of the Seward family and other ghosts lurking the place.
23. The Winery at Marjim Manor (Appleton, NY): The owner of this place and visitors report seeing friendly ghostly figures of people and animals.
24. The White Horse Tavern (New York, NY): This place is believed to be haunted by the spirits of famous writers and musicians such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas, Norman Mailer, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison.
25. The Dakota (New York, NY): This building is tragically famous because its south entrance was the location of the murder of John Lennon. The building was also  used for exterior shots of the film “Rosemary’s Baby.” It is believed to be haunted by many spirits including the ghost of John Lennon.
26. The Campbell Apartment (New York, NY): This is a historic bar located inside the Grand Central Station in New York City. It started out as an office space for John W. Campbell in 1923. Customers and staff reported being tapped from behind without anyone in sight, hearing sounds of an organ playing, and seeing doors mysteriously shutting on their own.
27. Grand Central Station (New York, NY): Visitors report seeing the spirit of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his dog Fala. Also, people say that a smoking steam locomotive could be observed even though the tracks were electrified.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I really like the whole process of creating a map. The possibilities are unlimited, and the only thing that we need is to collect the information and plug this into the software. I believe that ArcGIS online is a functional and dynamic platform that helps us to design interactive maps and story maps for any kind of project. Thus, after doing this assignment, I can say that digital maps have become an important tool for scholars to unveil the untold stories about historical events, showing a new visual, social and cultural idea about it. In my case, my goal of mapping the most haunted places of New York State is to provide people with adequate geographical information about important ghostly landmarks in New York. So, they can have a visual idea of the locations of these places in order to consider exploring and visiting them in the future as their next vacation destination. I would definitely like to work on expanding my map to include more locations where paranormal activity has been reported in the past and also more recently in New York State.

Here is the link of my map: s://arcg.is/mi1KC