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Lily Dale's little ghost
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Going to Lily Dale Assembly in New York to teach is one of my personal best moments. My partner, Scott Crownover, and I were the very first paranormal investigators to teach in our field at Lily Dale. We were also the first to ever hold a formal ghost hunt on the grounds and at the Leolyn Hotel, one of the two historic hotels in the little gated community and on the original grounds of the Assembly. It was on our third year teaching there that I had my own personal ghostly experience.
It was a hot, sticky summer's day on Lake Casadaga but Scott and I knew what to expect by now. Lots of heat, lots of moisture and lots of mosquitos. However, Lily Dale also offers the guest a unique perspective on the paranormal. It is the first spiritualist community in the world. There are certified mediums, a gift shop and Spiritualist Church services twice a day. One service is at Leolyn Woods at the Temple--weather permitting.
When we arrived that August day ,we were expecting to be teaching paranormal investigation. We were going to follow up the classes with some practical application. We were going to split the group in two and take them on a ghost hunt. Half of the hunt would be in the Leolyn Hotel and the other half at Leolyn Woods. For that reason, Scott and I drove up to the entrance to the Leolyn Woods where the Temple is and parked. We wanted to check out the path back into the woods, the amount of mosquitos we'd be encountering, and just get the layout in the day light. When we got there, we saw a big old orange tom cat. He was sitting on the path, as if waiting at the edge of the woods in the middle of the walking trail. Now I am a real cat person and my favorite type of cat is a yellow tom cat. I just adore yellow cats. I was instantly charmed by the old cat. He was a bit rough looking and he had one sore eye.
I felt bad for the poor old fellow and petted him. Scott scolded me and told me not to touch him as the cat was obviously ill and I might pick up something that would contaminate our own cats. I couldn't resist, however, and I petted the old fellow.
The cat jumped up and tagged along as we walked up the trail toward Inspiration Stump. At one point the trail splits. There is a pet cemetery along the other fork of the trail. The cat wandered off that way and I stopped to pet it a couple times before it disappeared into the woods.
I thought I'd ask at the office about the old yellow tom cat and see if I could get him some medical treatment if he belonged to someone in the village. That night, however, we needed to focus on business and prepare for our lecture and the ghost hunt.
During the ghost hunt portion of the night, I sat down with a group of folks and the conversation turned naturally toward ghosts in Lily Dale Assembly. One of the guests said, "Have you ever heard of the ghost cat of Leolyn Woods?" My ears perked up at the mention of a ghost cat.
"You know," she said. "I saw the ghost cat of Lily Dale myself."
I allowed that I had never heard of a ghost cat there.
"Oh yes," the lady smiled. "on my first day here my husband and I went for a walk in the woods. I saw a siamese cat at the edge of the woods. I love siamese cats and I felt badly for this one because its right eye was really sore. It was very friendly and I petted it. the cat walked with us in the woods. Later I saw it go over toward a white cottage. I went over and talked to the folks about getting medical attention for the cat. The couple living in the cottage told me that the cat was a ghost and that it was buried in the pet cemetery. They said that the cat appeared to people as whatever type of cat they liked most ,but that you could tell that it was the ghost cat because no matter if it was a siamese or a persian--black or gold-- it would always have a sore eye."
I then told the woman my own cat story from that every afternoon. Could I have seen, held and petted a ghost cat?
I would later ask around and could not find any such yellow cat living in the village. I have since heard that there are others have also encountered the ghost cat at the edge of Leolyn Woods.
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