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After dodging roving Grumpuses and decorating crowns and branches along the quaint streets of Rhinebeck- the branches are a modern day twist on the birch rod St Nicholas used to carry – we ran into Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk. And he was kind enough to bestow us with another seasonal tale. (more…)

When they weren’t harvesting timber to feed the booming post-Civil War industrialization, working lumberjacks could often be found sitting around campfires together, telling tall tales of creatures that supposedly lurk in the dark woods. (more…)

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Built in 1874, it’s the fourth oldest operational Music Hall in the country. The 475-seat theater stands in the heart of the Spindle City’s historical district. In it’s early days, it played host to many a famous Vaudevillian. Today, it hosts a wide variety of performances, from traditional theater to rock concerts and movie screenings. It’s an intimate space, featuring old-fashioned cushioned benches as well as traditional theater seats. The walls are adorned with much of its original gilded décor, or facsimiles of what was originally there.

It’s also supposedly home to one of it’s original performers, famous early 20th century Vaudeville actress Eva Tanguay. We met up with the Music Hall’s event coordinator, Hannah Milkins, who told us more about Eva and the theater.

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Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us to discuss the Hudson Valley tale of a farmer, a bull and a hill, in the Bull of Bullhill.

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One lesser known fact is that Lincoln actually signed the bill creating the secret service the exact same night he was shot in Ford’s theater. His body guard was not at his post but rather drinking at the saloon next door during intermission, supposedly the same saloon where John Wilkes Booth was drinking.

On a recent visit to the New York State Capitol, we chatted with official Capitol tour guide Stuart Lehman about the infamous train’s alleged appearance in Albany…

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

Suddenly, the scene is shattered by the crash of something impossibly heavy dropping on the car roof. The terrified lovers cower as they hear the sound of a metallic screeching, almost as if some being were dragging giant nails across the body of the car. Then, whatever it is jumps off the car and darts into the woods. Only a glimpse leaves them with the impression of something monstrous, something inhuman.

What happens next depends on the story. Sometimes it’s merely an investigation of the damaged car afterward that confirms it was the work of a monster. Sometimes it comes to a bloody end, as the creature re-emerges from the woods to attack the lovers.

In this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we’ll hear a version of this tale from Troy, New York. The Original Albany Ghost Tour leaders Maeve McEneny and Paul Nooney join us for a telling.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

Santa Claus. Father Christmas. Kris Kringle. Jolly Ole’ Saint Nick. He’s a legendary figure with many names in many cultures, and the star of many a Christmas story.

The figure of Santa Claus, as we know him today, is a pure blend of history and lore. His origins can be traced in part to a real-life, 4th century Greek Bishop St Nicholas of Myra, who was known for giving gifts to the poor.

Santa’s story is also a blend of British, Dutch, Belgian and German folklore about a gift-giving (or in some cases, gift-withholding) spirit that came out around Christmastime. Those tales reflect a mix of religious and pagan traditions.

Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk joins us again on this episode with another story: How a dour old bishop became a jolly old elf.

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You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

If you’ve traveled across New York State, no doubt you’ve seen at least some of the blue and yellow signs peppered across the region. Now, you may have the good fortune to see similar markers in red. These call out bits of lore that define the place or region as much as its history.

We spoke with Ellen McHale, folklorist and executive director of the New York Folklore Society about it’s new initiative to mark lore.

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Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns. It’s not an official phobia—it’s not recognized by World Health Organization or the American Psychiatric Association. But some people are just terrified by them. Clowns are supposed to make us laugh. Why do they inspire fear instead?

The fall of 2016 has been a rough one for coulrophobics. Several US cities have experienced a number of menacing clown sightings. In some cases law enforcement was called. The news spread like wildfire on social media. Major news outlets covered it.

Some experts say this type of evil clown panic happens every few years, driven by hype from pop culture. We’ve brought in an actual clown to shed some light on the phenomenon. Meet Ragliacci a working clown out of Troy, New York.

Do you have a fear of clowns? Do you have another type of fear? Tell us about it! Email us at LightsOn@wamc.org.

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According to an Associated Press Survey from 2008, 34 percent of Americans say they believe in ghosts. Other surveys, like a Gallup poll from 2005, report similar results–about one third of America thinks ghosts are real. But given the immense popularity of “ghost-hunting” reality series that have hit TV ad the internet in the last decade or so, it seems that it’s no longer enough to just believe in them. Seeing (or hearing) is believing.

Why are we as a culture so obsessed with finding spectral evidence of life after death? We try to answer this big question as we tag along with the Tri-City New York Paranormal Societyas they investigate West Hall at RPI.

Listen to our previous episode, The Hauntings of West Hall, for more about the building’s popular lore.

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You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

We visit the “Something Scary” exhibit at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield Massachusetts in this episode of Listen with the Lights On to unearth a few creepy delights.

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You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

More than 200 years later, the descendants of those Huguenot families worked to preserve the homes and legends, which are still toured and told on the street today. The modern Huguenot Street is a busy thoroughfare, lined by shops, restaurants and the historic Huguenot homes. It has a rich history, and it is considered to be very haunted.

AJ Shenkman is the historian of Historic Huguenot Street, the organization that manages the 10-acre National Historic Landmark District. He’s also a high school history teacher and the author of Wicked Ulster County: Tales of Desperadoes, Gangs & More. He joins us now with stories of the Deyo House on Huguenot Street.

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In Canada, snow and winter imagery play a large role in legends there. On this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we explore a French Canadian tale from Montreal.

As you enter the campus of McGill University in the heart of Montreal, you see students mingling about buildings that display a mix of modern and gothic architecture. But beyond the bustle of a busy campus, looming on the horizon, is the voluminous Mount Royal. The city’s namesake. And the setting for one of Montreal’s most haunting tales.

Donovan King leads Haunted Montreal ghost tours, and authors the Haunted Montreal blog, where he shares scary stories from around L’Ile de Montreal. He shares the legend of Simon McTavish—a tale he says is one of the creepiest ghost stories in Canada.

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On this episode of Listen with the Lights On, we visit a UFO Conference in Kingston, New York, where a few dedicated individuals are devoted to unearthing the truth behind this popular modern lore.

Unidentified flying objects have fascinated humans for centuries. We didn’t have an official name for them until about 1953, when the US Air Force coined the term UFO.

By the Air Force’s initial definition, a UFO is “any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object.”

A.k.a., a flying saucer.

The Mutual UFO Network, the largest privately funded research center, says it received over 8,000 reports of sightings in 2014. MUFON and another reporting body, the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) each claim to receive as much as a thousand reports per month.

New York’s Hudson Valley has been known as a hotbed of UFO activity—a famous series of sightings took place in the skies over the region in the 1980s. Unsolved Mysteries dedicated an episode to them in 1992.

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You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

West Hall was built in 1869, as the Troy Hospital. Operated by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, the hospital would take in anyone in need of care. In 1923 it became a Catholic high school. And in 1953, it was incorporated into the RPI campus, where it now houses the school’s arts and humanities programs.

Students and faculty have reported many ghost sightings and strange happenings there over the years. Its supernatural street cred is so robust that it’s even mentioned on West Hall’s Wikipedia page. One of its most notable ghosts is Nurse Betsy, a nun thought to have cared for patients in the late 1800s. In this episode of Listen With The Lights On, we visit West Hall, where we talk to Paul Nooney of RPI’s Office of the First Year Experience and Albany lore expert Maeve McEneny. Together, they lead The Original Albany Ghost Tour, and regularly take folks on ghost tours of the RPI campus.

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You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.

You can subscribe to Listen With The Lights On via wamcpodcasts.org or via iTunes, Stitcher, or the Google Play store.