Apparently, not all Fort Ontario spirits are resting quietly in the Post Cemetery. Many are said to still wander the fort grounds. According to a new documentary available on DVD, some of the ghosts are musically inclined.
Alex Dunbar took time away from his regular job as the chief photographer for WSTM-3 in Syracuse to put together the nearly 50-minute film, ?The Old Quarry and Other Haunted Places of Central New York,? focusing on ghost stories.
The film crew went to several locations, he said.
?We went to some other place around the areas like Split Rock Quarry in Syracuse, Bellhurst Castle out in Geneva, Beardsley Castle over in Little Falls,? he said. ?We got some really good stuff up in Oswego at Fort Ontario. Fort Ontario was one of the best, really one of the highlights.?
During their first visit to the fort, they were shooting in Officers? Quarters #2; there is a legend of a woman who appears in one of the windows there, he explained.
?One of the staffers of the fort was helping us re-enact that. We happened to be rolling video as she was coming toward us down the stairs. In the background, about three-quarters of the crew thought they were hearing music,? Dunbar said.
Later, they ran the tape through an audio mixer to filter out the other sounds, ?And there is clearly some sort of weird musical sound that can be heard on the tape. It?s very strange,? Dunbar said.
The crew went back to the fort and went over the entire building with Paul Lear, site director. He said there was nothing that could have been responsible for the music.
Dunbar said some of the music is included on the documentary.
The documentary work is separate from his work at the TV station, Dunbar explained.
?We are really interested in local ghost stories and decided to put a little documentary together,? he said.
The DVD is available currently at Amazon.com and Dunbar hopes to have it in numerous local outlets soon ? including Fort Ontario?s gift shop in time for the second annual Friends of Fort Ontario Ghost Tours of the old fort in Oswego on Friday and Saturday Oct. 27 ? 28, from 7 to 9 p.m.
The documentary is really a lot of fun, Dunbar said.
?We did real ghost stories; stuff where there was really some credibility, with an established history behind them,? he explained. ?It?s a lot of fun, and I think, some pretty interesting stuff.?
He said he hadn?t seen anything else that covered the hauntings of Central New York and decided to do something to fill the void.
?It started to take on a life of its own as we started to look around for really good ghost stories,? he said. ?It went from just being a little thing to now having a DVD out.?
The two castles and the fort are the highlight of the DVD, he said.
?Those three have great, great ghost stories,? he added. ?They are really interesting places, too. A lot of the places on the DVD are places that people can actually go to.?
Even people familiar with the fort will want to see the full extent of some the other worldly happenings there, Dunbar noted.
?People can see the DVD and then go to Fort Ontario, kind of look at things with fresh eyes, especially around the Halloween season if they want to see some of the ghosts there,? he said.
Over the years, many people have come up to Lear and told him that they think they saw this or that. They have no connection with each other, but basically relate rather similar stories about the fort?s dearly departed denizens, he said.
Many of the stories have come from the re-enanctors who spend the night at the historic landmark.
?I?ve always had an interest in things that were unexplained, sort of the mysteries of the world,? Dunbar said.
?Normally, I?m very critical of my own work,? he continued. ?I think most filmmakers are; you?re never happy with what you do, you always think you could?ve done better. But the first time I saw a finished cut of this, I actually liked it a lot.?
These are creepy, spooky ghost stories that are a lot of fun; they aren?t gory horror stories, Dunbar pointed out.
?They aren?t too scary. It?s just an interesting look at some of the real ghostly tales in the area. People can watch them and make what they want of them,? he said. ?None of the ghosts are malicious ghosts, they?re more curious.?
The owner of one haunted house told Dunbar he has never had a negative encounter with the spirits, ?they just happen to reside here with me,? he said.
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