April 16, 2025 • 41 mins
An unassuming house in Hinsdale, New York is often referred to as the most haunted house in the state - and the most cursed.
Special Guest: Daniel Klaes
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
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(00:32):
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what you get for that is pretty incredible. So please
check it out. Join us if you dare. We'll see
you out there. Thank you, Haunted Roadies. The following is
an excerpt from the Buffalo News, February twenty third, nineteen
seventy four. The troubles in the house, which is awky
(02:00):
by a couple and their four children, began in July
when a lamp sailed across the bedroom of one of
the girls. Because she was the only one involved, the
reaction was that an overactive imagination was at work. But
then the entire family began hearing strange noises and seeing apparitions,
and when father alphonsis a member of the American Society
(02:24):
of Psychical Research and the Venerable Society of Psychical Research
of Britain was asked to visit the home. He found
that some of the neighbors also had seen apparitions near
the house. One night, two twenty year old boys volunteered
to stay in the house and watch for apparitions. Father
Alphonsis said about two point thirty in the morning, they
(02:44):
heard a noise and ran out into the backyard. They
saw a strange figure, cornered him against a tree, and
took a picture of him with a polaroid. Before they
could try to seize him, he moved to the rear
of the tree and then disappeared. It was a moonlit
night and the tree was on a large lot, so
they could see for quite a distance. The ground was
(03:06):
very rough, they'd had trouble moving on it, and they
were sure no human could cover it in the time
they got to the other side of the tree. I
sent the picture to the American Psychic Society and they
advised me the creature in it was a spirit, and that,
my friends, was only the beginning. If you'd like to
know more, come with me as we visit the Hinsdale House.
(03:30):
I'm Amy Bruney, and this is Haunted Road. If you
travel to Hinsdale, New York, which is just under an
hour and a half southwest of Buffalo. You might be
tempted to turn down a particular dirt road. If you do,
eventually you'll hit a tree lined clearing, and in that
(03:52):
clearing you'll see a house. It's unassuming, with white paneling
and a basic black roof. About half of the eleven
hundred square foot home is a single story with a
partial second floor that holds three small bedrooms. The inside
is similarly unremarkable. White furniture sits in white rooms, all
of which are clean and well lit. There are five
(04:15):
bedrooms total, a living room and what Clara Miller called
a country kitchen in her book Echoes of a Haunting Revisited.
This is the Hinsdale House and it was built in
eighteen fifty three in Hinsdale, New York, which is how
it got its name. It sold a number of times,
and for over a century the residents that lived there
(04:36):
lived uneventful lives. Then in nineteen seventy the Dandy family
moved in. Clara and Phil Dandy had four children, teenagers
Mike and Beth, ten year old Laura, and eight year
old Mary. According to Clara's book. They were also animal lovers,
with a number of pets, including four guinea pigs, two dogs,
(04:56):
two parakeets, two finches, and a cat. They also had
some more unusual companions, including a raccoon and a woodchuck. Later,
they also took in a descented skunk. And they didn't
live in the Hinsdale House for long before strange things
began to happen. On July eighteenth, which was the day
(05:17):
they finished moving in, they were prepared to handle a
fixer upper that would need serious TLC to get into
livable condition. They knew the only way to light the
furnace was to drop a match into a hole in
the living room floor. Their septic tank was an old
oil drum, and the plumbing needed a complete overhaul. But
they didn't expect to find a swarm of bees inside.
(05:40):
There were so many that they covered every window in
the house. Clara later wrote in her book that they
couldn't even see outside. They consulted with an insect expert,
who told them that this behavior was very abnormal for bees.
By the following May, life in the Hnsdale House had
become even stranger. While out on a walk, the family
(06:01):
heard distant singing. It was almost like Gregorian chance, but
Clara later wrote that the singing abruptly shifted to be
more of a spoken prayer. Nights later, the Dandies were
on another walk when they heard something that was far
more unsettling, a woman screaming. Afterward, any time they went
strolling around the property, they'd be unable to avoid the
(06:25):
disturbing sounds. By the end of June, the Dandies were
hearing similarly unsettling sounds inside. The Distinct thuds of doors
slamming and objects falling echoed through the hallways. But no
matter how long they searched, they couldn't find where the
disturbances had come from. And whenever they let their dogs
run around in the woods, they'd return with bones, heaps
(06:47):
of them. The Dandies assumed they were deer bones, so
they threw them out without taking a closer look. All
the while, different kids from the neighborhood approached the Dandy children.
They said that a strange, dark figure, thought to be
a ghost, was known to walk up and down their street.
On one occasion, Mike, the oldest, was outdoors with friends
(07:08):
when he also spotted the figure, but he didn't assume
it was a ghost. He thought it was a local farmer. Still,
when his friends decided to chase the figure, Mike joined in.
They ran after the man just long enough for him
to take shelter behind a tree and then seemingly vanish
without a trace. In addition to the ghostly figures, the
Dandies frequently saw flying saucers in the area. They moved
(07:32):
quickly and in ways that should have been impossible for
ordinary craft, and before long the family began suffering from
odd accidents. Mike, the oldest, was in a car with
some friends when another car tee owned him. He survived
the collision, but another time, while he was at home,
he spilled boiling water on himself and badly burned his stomach,
(07:54):
and while cutting glass, he cut a tendon in his hand.
Then he was in another car aciscident, this time he
hit a patch of ice, lost control and struck a tree. Thankfully,
Mike survived this collision, but he was then in yet
another crash, after which he had to spend a week
in the ICU recovering. The second oldest, Beth, fell one
(08:16):
day in jim class. She broke her arm badly enough
that it never healed correctly, and her ex boyfriend was
also in a car accident after visiting her at home.
His recovery was long and slow and prevented him from
getting a job for years afterward. The third Dandy child, Laura,
took a bad tumble off her bike one day. One
of the cuts on her foot developed a staff infection. Finally,
(08:40):
the youngest Mary cut her face badly when she also
fell off her bike. But it wasn't just the children
who suffered from these accidents. If they were indeed accidents,
different HouseGuests and friends of the family broke bones in
bad falls or got into car crashes. So did the
mother Clara. Her husband Phil was even driven off the
(09:02):
road on one occasion and badly cut his thumb another time.
They came to believe that dark forces were trying to
drive the Dandies out of their home by causing disasters
to strike, and the pets weren't safe either. Clara wrote
in her book that she let numerous animals stay with
Mary in her room, and one by one, a guinea pig,
a parakeet, and a canary all died, all within just
(09:26):
two months of one another. When the family consulted with
a vet. The only advice they received was to not
let pets into that room anymore. Even though the Dandies
did as they were told, they still went on to
lose the remaining parakeet, the finches, more guinea pigs, the cat,
and one of their dogs. Then one evening, Beth woke
(09:47):
up in the night to feel something furry on her face.
Her first thought was that it was one of their animals,
until the thing attacked her. She threw it off of herself,
but didn't see it or hear it land. It was
as though the strange creature had disappeared mid air. Even
odder she screamed loudly enough to wake her mother and
Clara knew that none of their pets had gone into
(10:09):
Beth's room that night. Instead, it seemed she'd been attacked
by a specter. The night after that, several board games
fell off a bookshelf and onto Mike while he was sleeping. Oddly,
there had been other items stacked on top of the games,
but they didn't fall. They were still safe on the shelf.
The next night after that, everyone was watching the TV
(10:31):
together when they noticed that a letter opener was sitting
laid down on a photo of Mary, as though someone
had left it there, poised in a stabbing position. After that,
the Dandies would often go to bed only to hear
footsteps pacing up and down the halls. No one had
left their room, and they couldn't determine who was making
the sounds. It was frightening enough that the children refused
(10:54):
to leave their rooms alone after bedtime. If one of
them needed to use the bathroom or get a drink
of water, they'd bring a sibling with them. They all
frequently saw inexplicable figures in the house and on the
property around it. A dancing woman, a young boy walking
toward the pond, a different woman in a long flannel
nightgown with brown hair, and a young blonde girl in
(11:16):
a pink cap. It even seemed that these spirits had
the ability to possess the Dandies and their guests. Clara
wrote in her book that when her son Mike had
friends over to the house, they sometimes changed personality on
a dime, as though someone else had seized control of
their bodies. Plus, her daughter Beth had naturally brown eyes,
(11:39):
but sometimes they'd turn blue, and then she'd behave erratically.
She interacted with animals or objects no one else could see,
and on multiple occasions attempted to take her own life.
Her family believed she was under another entity's control during
these periods. Her sister Laura also made an eerie prediction
during an apparent bosess, She said that she would die young.
(12:04):
By this time, the Dandy family felt certain that something
supernatural was tormenting them, so one night, the children consulted
with a Ouiji board to try and determine who was
behind the apparent haunting. They asked the force in the
house to identify itself, only for their planchette to fly
out of their hands. It hit a candle which they
(12:25):
always kept burning in front of a statue of the
Virgin Mary, and when the candle tipped over, the flames
sputtered out. They then consulted with Clara's cousin, a priest
named Father Bob. Clara wrote in Echoes of a Haunting
Revisited that Father Bob didn't have much prior experience with
supernatural incidents or hauntings, but he promised to see what
(12:47):
he could do. On April fourteenth, nineteen seventy four, he
blessed the home, but the unnerving incidents continued afterward, so
a few days later, the Dandies reached out to another priest,
Father Alpha Trobolt. He had more of a history with
the occult, so he also blessed the house on a
number of occasions, culminating with a ritual he performed on
(13:08):
August twenty ninth. Now officially, a Catholic doctrine says you
can't exercise a house only a possessed person, so Father
Alphonss has always been clear that his ritual was not
an exorcism, but a cleansing. While Father Alphonsis tried to
cast out evil spirits, he heard screams, groans, and growling sounds,
(13:29):
but none of the Dandies perceived any such thing, and sadly,
his efforts didn't work and the haunting continued. By now,
the eerie incidents had made it into the local news
and it was public knowledge that the Hnsdale House was
apparently haunted. This only added to the Dandies' feelings of frustration.
Gawkers would drive by their home only to slow down
(13:52):
so drivers and passengers could stare. Other times, strangers would
pull over and shout things at them like that ghosts
don't exist. The Dandies didn't like the attention they were getting,
and they also didn't like the way gossip was flying.
It seemed everyone had a theory about why the home
was so spiritually active. Rumors suggested that the members of
(14:12):
an indigenous community had either been slaughtered on the land
where the house was built, or that there had been
an old Indigenous gravesite on the property, but there's no
hard evidence to support either allegation. Other gossip had some
basis in history, like the story that there had once
been a stagecoach stop and ind owned by brothers Ian
(14:33):
and Richard. The siblings were sexual predators, thieves, and murderers.
Any unwary travelers who stopped at their inn would fall
prey to the brothers, who'd rob and then kill their customers.
It said that they murdered one woman, whose name was Elizabeth,
by hanging her from a tree. Elizabeth was pregnant, and
some believed that both her spirit and that of her
(14:53):
unborn child remained to haunt the land as the story went.
Many of Ian and Richard's other victims were buried in
the basement of the stagecoach stop and later the Hinsdale House.
Was built on that secret grave. Now, there really was
an inn in the area, but it wasn't at the
Hinsdale House, and there's no record of any owners named
(15:14):
Richard or Ian or any indication that previous owners murdered
their customers, so this story is almost entirely unverified. Other
people believe the house was cursed after a teenager named
Alfred Warren died in a tragic chainsaw accident on the property.
Alfred was a real person who did die in a
chainsaw accident, but again not at the Hinsdale House. All
(15:39):
to say, there was no clear reason why the Dandyes
Home was so active, given that there was nothing in
the history to explain such darkness either way, Since the
blessings and exorcisms hadn't worked, the family was starting to
feel hopeless, like they'd never understand the spirits that were
tormenting them or find a way to be rid of them.
(16:00):
Having exhausted every other option they could think of, they
moved out in October of nineteen seventy four, even though
they'd be unable to find a buyer for the house.
By this time, they were bankrupt and their marriage was
so strained that Clara and phil subsequently divorced in nineteen eighty. Afterwards,
she used the name Clara Miller, which is the name
(16:21):
she published her book under. As for their eldest daughter, Laura,
who prophesied an early death while apparently possessed tragically, she
passed away just over a decade later, in nineteen ninety two.
She was only thirty one years old. A number of
other families moved into the Hinsdale House over the years,
(16:42):
but each time someone would settle in, it was only
a matter of time before the haunting became too much
to bear. One family moved out in such a rush
they left all of their possessions behind. They were quoted
in Hinsdale House, An American Haunting by Daniel Klass and
Tim Joyce. They said, I didn't want whatever was haunting
(17:02):
the house to know we were leaving so we could
get away from it, and I don't want it to
know where we are now. Speaking of Daniel Klass, he
bought the house in twenty fifteen, saving it just in
the nick of time from demolition. He cleaned out the
toxic black mold that had spread all through it, re
homed the bees, and renovated it until it was safe
(17:24):
for guests. Then he marketed it as a haunted house
open to tourists and paranormal investigators. Today, visitors reportedly see shadow
figures in full bodied apparitions. They may hear footsteps or
voices in rooms that appear to be empty or heavy breathing.
Beyond that, the house just leaves guests with an uneasy
(17:46):
sensation like that of being watched. Some people struggle to breathe,
almost as though unseen hands are choking them. Mary's bedroom
is said to be the most active part of the house.
Their researchers have captured EVPs of a voice saying I'm
dead or there is no heaven, and yet it's still
(18:06):
unclear what draws spirits here. Up next, I'm going to
be joined by the owner of the house himself, mister
Daniel Class, and he has a lot of very interesting
stories to tell that is coming up after the break.
(18:29):
All right, So I am now joined by Daniel Class,
who is the owner of the Hinsdale House, and welcome
to the program. Daniel, I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, thanks for so much for having me here.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah. Now, I've kind of said this a few times
this season, but this is kind of turning into the
season of places Amy has never been. You know, there's
a lot of locations that I've not been able to visit,
you know, the first few seasons of Haunted Road, Like,
we're kind of getting to the point where I'm looking
at locations that I haven't by to or before it
was so easy to kind of pick the ones I
(19:02):
had visited, and now my interest is just peaked all
over again in some of these places. And I am
fascinated by the Hinsdale House. So first of all, I
just need to know how did you come to own
this place and why?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, it was just, you know, like any other ghost
hunting team, we were, you know, we were asked to
go up there and check the place out, and it
hadn't been lived in for years.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
But there are so many claims with the location.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They had a failed exorcism in the nineteen seventies, and
just so much you know creepiness, creepy vibe going there.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I had gone there. I didn't own it, just wanted
to check it out. But the thing.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
That really stood out to me about this location, and
I'm sure you can attest to it when you go
to a place to investigate you don't automatically just get stuff,
you know, like sometimes you sit around for three hours
and you're a static getting an EVP, you know. And
the thing that stood out about the Hinsdale House was
when I went there to investigate, it seemed like every
piece of equipment.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That we had was going off. Now there was no electricity.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We had one little heater going in the house, so
I mean it was there's nothing really that could make
the equipment go off that we could debunks.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
In the middle of nowhere on a mountain.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
You know. It was like it always reminded me of
like that commercial with the chains I was hanging on
the garage when you drive up and you're like, oh,
let's go hide in there.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's like that's what it kind of felt like for me,
you know.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, but yeah, I just like you had an interest
in it and continued to go there and research it
because it was so active of a location. And then
I was just in such disrepair that they were going
to tear it down and I put in a bid
to try to buy it as is so I could
try fixing it up and continue using it for research,
and the bank allowed me to do that. So it's
(20:50):
kind of what it's been part of my journey, you know,
just fixing this place, letting people come in to investigate
it and see what they come up with.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Now, so it's been about ten years, right, didn't you
buy it in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's been been almost ten years now. It's crazy.
It doesn't seem like it. It seems like just the
blink in the eye where I was scurrying around not
knowing how it was going to get the roof fixed.
And now it's like, my god, I have teams there
almost every day from all around the world. You know,
it's become so popular of a location. You know, it's
it's amazing the support that we have there.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
That's interesting. And so now this is kind of exclusively
a paranormal investigation location, right, It's I assume that you
don't live there and that this is kind of like like,
this is what it has become, is this is a
place for people to investigate and tour.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, I mean, and that's basically all it is. It's
a We do tours tours there during the day. I
have some tour guides that work for us, and then
we allow teams to come in or groups, paranormal enthusiast.
We have things for every level of investigation, you know,
like we kind of weave them out, kind of determine
where where their levels are at, and then.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
We don't leave anybody just stranded there, you know, unless
they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
No, that makes sense. So I feel like, you know,
I've spoken with so many people like you who have
kind of taken on these locations. It always seems like
the person who ends up helming something like this, it's
kind of destiny. Did you kind of feel like you
were meant to be doing this, like you were meant
to kind of save this house in a way.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I actually I used to do a podcast with
a psychic named Bernice Golden that said that to me.
She said, I was I was meant to be there
and stepped in at the right time, at the right place,
And a lot of what she said to me, you know,
I look back at the conversation with you. She's since
passed away, but a lot of what she has said
has come to fruition, you know, like I would have
(22:50):
never thought where I would be where I am today
just because I bought a haunted house. You know, it
was something that I enjoyed doing, and now it's become
a business and that's spread onto other things like making
television shows, Haunted magazine, you know, all these different things
that and I just get to do what I like
to do. You know, it's awesome just because I bought
(23:12):
this house and we're uncovering all these amazing secrets and
stories even further, we're able to dive in deeper than
a normal person could because we own the place, you know,
and we're able to put the time into it.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I can relate on so many levels. You know, when
I started what I do as a paranormal enthusiast and
a fan of all things ghosts and just really loving
it and never quite having a clear plan of where
I was going to end up. I just knew I
wanted to keep, you know, being spooky for as long
as possible, and so so I can definitely relate now.
(23:48):
So you were talking about how you first went in
the house and you know, your equipment was going wild,
Like when did you like is that when you knew
it was there was something to this or how did
you have like a profound experience there where you were
like whoa this place is truly, you know, next level haunted.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah, so basically they were condemning the location. We were
allowed to go there one last time before they were
going to be tearing it down, and alls I had
known up to that point was the failed Structural exorcism
in nineteen seventy.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Four, and I had started to do more research.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I said, if this has happened to this family in
the seventies, there had to be other people that these
hauntings happened, you know to, throughout the years. The problem
was it was a landlease, so it was hard to
get the records of the people that live there. But
I had come across the YouTube video about this older
family that lived there in the eighties, the Misnics, and
(24:44):
they had both since passed away. So I kind of
had like new goals.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
When I went to the house's final time, I was
in the kitchen. We had a camera.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
It was me and actually Tim Shaw, my friend Cameron,
and the house manager at the time, and they were
talking about the exorcism and we weren't really getting anything,
you know, Like it was like when I as soon
as I said the name Flow, who was the older
woman that was there that passed away, I had like
a jolting sensation on my arm. I had a K
two meter in my hand. It went all the way
(25:15):
up to five hundred milligus and I felt like static,
and I was like, what the what the heck? You know,
so I continue to have what I felt like was
a conversation with flow Misnick, and I asked her if
she would hold my hand as we go up the stairs.
And you know, as well as I do like having
a K two meter, you maybe get like a little
bleep here or there. Maybe that's something communicating with you. You
(25:36):
don't know for sure. But when I felt that static
on my arm and the K two meter stayed lit
in my hand all the way up the stairs into
the master bedroom, I was like, what you know, I
was just freaking out internally because I've never had an
experience like this before. Now this is you know, all
the electricals been ripped out of the house, you know,
all the duck work. I mean, it's just a shell
(25:56):
right now. And I lost when I went over into
the crossed over into the room where they said the
was blocked off at the nineteen seventies. To add further
to that, the next day, you know, I you know,
I posted on my Facebook page picture of the house
and I'm like, this is where I investigated last night.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You know, how like cool people do you know? And
I got a message. I got a message on my
inbox from a girl named Jackie Chandra and she said, uh,
she was asked, my grandparents hold the house? And I said,
you got to f and be kidding here right now.
And I said, who are your grandparents?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And she said Flow and Joe Misnik And you know,
we've been friends ever since that message that she sent me,
and I told her the story, and she said she
felt very connected with her grandmother there and she's she's
had things happen to her there when she was a kid,
and she's very much into it as well and actually
helps do tours up there now to this day. I mean,
(26:50):
it's just crazy, but yeah, I mean that was the
point where I said, I need to try to save
this house because there's more than meets the eye. There's
more happening here than anybody thinks there is, and we
need to try to figure this out. And if we
get rid of it, it's just another one of those
storied locations that it's gone.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Forever, you know, yeah, I love when there's a family
connection in some way. You know, I do a lot
of research and locations, and you know a lot of
times I am, you know, researching people who are long gone,
and it's always nice if I can connect with someone
who knew who I'm researching in life, or who had
been to the location in life, because you get this
(27:29):
kind of first hand account. It's so much more meaningful
than you know, just reading an old newspaper article or something.
And yeah, those land leases, those are very tough to research.
So I feel your pain there, just kind of going
through the history of the house and like what people
had gone through there over the years. There was just
this kind of it seems like you thought that maybe
(27:51):
it was cursed in some way. You know, people had
a lot of unfortunate events. Some of them were very minor,
some of them were more major. Did you worry about
that when you bought it?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of course, I mean it's it's it's always in the
back of your mind that there was a failed structural exorcism,
and all the papers from the nineteen seventies they're talking
demonic things happening there.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
But you have to take a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And kind of just look at the bigger picture, you know,
like things that they deemed demonic back in the seventies.
You know, everything was a demon back then, you know.
So yeah, you have to like go through your go
through with what experiences that I've had and what other
people have had, and make sure that the warnings are
out there. Of course, take precautions, but continue to investigate
(28:39):
it as if it's a normal location.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah, I've never had anything like crazy crazy happen there,
except for it seems like a big puzzle, you know,
like once you figure something out, something there's more to it.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
And there have been.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
People there that have have been claims of getting like scratched,
you know, but we've you know, nothing like crazy crazy, you.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Know, right now. And I think I do have to
still kind of bring people back from that perspective when
I meet folks. You know, I'm a child of the eighties,
so like I remember this very well, but I sometimes
have to kind of bring people back from that satanic
panic era where you know, it was in the seventies
and eighties, Like you said, everything was a demon, you know,
(29:22):
the Exorcist was a major hit, and we had, you know,
things like the omen and pop culture heavily influenced how
people interpreted hauntings and paranormal activity. The fact that I'm
still dealing with that today and you as well, it
really kind of puts in a perspective just how deeply
ingrained these ideas were in people, Like they were absolutely terrified,
(29:45):
but I would also argue, very intrigued at the same time.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So, yeah, you should see some of the some of
the male I get from people when I have a
group of students up there that have been trained. You know,
we have like paranormal clubs and some of the schools know,
and we'll go in and we'll train the kids and
they have them come up as a do an investigation.
And man that people some people are just so why
(30:08):
are you bringing kids up there. I'm like, well, they're trained,
young adults, and they you know, like it's hard sometimes,
you know, people people don't realize that it is a
business too. You know, it's not just a you know,
this is my livelihood now, because yeah, you know, it's
you got to do what you got to do sometimes
to uh not that I'm doing it to try to
get anybody you know, in trouble or anything like that.
(30:30):
But it's it is a business, so you can't just
turn people away. And when people want to come there,
you know, you just got to take the right precautions exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And that also, you know, sometimes I deal with panicky
parents a lot, and you know, especially when I tour
and whatnot, they ask me questions and I always I
tell them, like, you know, your kids could be into
much worse things, like this is probably one of the
most safe hobbies and interest your children could have. Like
what they want to do is go sit in a
(31:00):
quiet place and not move for hours at a time.
And when they're not doing that, they want to be
researching and looking into history and ancestry records and old newspapers,
and they want to learn about you know, electromagnetic fields
and like there are much worse things and living people
are so much scarier than the dead ones. Like just
(31:21):
let them have their moment, you know.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, I mean even the kids sometimes think outside the
box more than the adults do.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It's crazy, oh, one hundred percent. My daughter is twelve
and she loves to investigate. And you know, I'm not
very cool anymore, but that part, I guess is still
pretty cool to her. So I let her run wild
in locations. I'm like, oh, have fun as long as
it's safe, obviously, but you know, I just she'll go
off by herself and just have a field day. And
(31:50):
I just love how she's so thoughtful. And I watch
other kids too, and teenagers. They're so thoughtful and they're
questioning and you know, in their approach, and they're not
they don't scream and yell, they're not like super scared
like I just I love it, and I think it's
such a cool growing experience. So I love that you
bring students up there. I think that's rad absolutely. So now,
(32:13):
what what do people like when people go in to investigate?
What do you think is like the most common activity
they're going to experience there?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
EVPs?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
You know most of the time, you know, I've been
I've been keeping records since since I've owned the place
actually from before that, and collecting the data on what
teams have gotten. I'd say like probably like fifty to
sixty percent of the time they may encounter some type
of shadow figure in the location. Almost almost one hundred
percent of the time they're getting electromagnetic frequency different MF spikes, EVPs,
(32:48):
things like that. So I mean you're it's it's it's
a hotbed for it. It's like the energies there want
to speak with you, but they don't have the means
to do it. So I always like tell people to
try to do the recordings or bring it spearbox. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I mean, do you feel like the spirits they're kind
of crazy attention or they've gotten used to, you know,
talking to the living and that like this is some
outlet for them, or like they're actually looking for something
or what do you think they're getting out of it?
As well?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I think that they're they're trying to like tell us
their story.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Because we've been able to piece together through different teams
that have come there, not just from my research but
other teams that have come there. We've been able to
like pitpoint, Okay, look at this. This team they had
an EVP that said, you know, dig outside, dig outside,
you know, like it kept getting it over and over
again to the point where we started looking, Okay, we
look outside, Maybe we need to Maybe there's more to
(33:42):
this story. Maybe this is what they're trying to tell us.
When we filmed Death Walker there, we were able to
use some of the funds for the show to bring
in the ground penetrating radar and actually start searching part
of the property. And we found some anomalies out in
the back that look like grave chefs, which is pretty amazing.
Out in the back right corner by the pond, it
looks like a family burial plot. Though it doesn't look
(34:04):
like anything malicious, you know, it looks like that they're
just gone. Gravestone was the graystone was thrown into the water.
I mean, maybe they were trying to tell us that
that they're forgotten when we built the pond, and it's
on the gravestone, you.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Know, and that's you know, I've been on a number
of cases where that has caused activity. You know, I
think people care about their final resting place more than
we realize they do, you know, until till they come
and tell us repeatedly after they die. And uh, I
think that's so interesting. Have you considered putting some sort
(34:38):
of like memorial out there just in case or do
you kind of put your respects there occasionally?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Weird? So we've raised raised funds through doing tours and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Uh well, a team a team out of all.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
But in New York I actually had a plaque that
it made and dedicated to the people that were that
are there, and that's going to be installed in the spring,
and then we we're going to put like an iron
gate around it just the area that we found it,
just to honor them, so that, you know, and that
just adds another piece to the puzzle. Because the woman
in white that walks around the pond or you know,
(35:11):
that was supposed to be on the hanging tree on
the you know from the original story, could that just
be these people that were buried they're trying to get
our attention. You know, there's like so many like sands
or butts. You know, I don't know that we'll have
the answers for sure, one hundred percent, but it seems
like so interesting to find something like that and then
continue to you know, search and maybe find out something more.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
You know, what more can there be?
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, I mean that's pretty mind blowing. Have you has
there been anything else kind of like that or anything
like have you found anything in the house that really
struck you or have you had any just like profound
pieces of evidence or research that just really like affected
you in any way?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I Mean, we found like typical things that you would
find like building a house, like pieces of clothing carved.
We had some carvings that we found that were carved
like bullheads. But then after we researched it all was
I was freaked out about those because we found two
of them, and I was like, what the heck does
this mean to? You know, like, what's going on here?
(36:14):
How many more of these are on the walls? You know?
And yeah, one of my one.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Of the girls on my research team, found out that
they were like neckerchief slides for the Boys and Boys
Boy Scouts from the nineteen seventies. I'm like, what And
then when you research the house and find out that
the McMahon's that lived there were Scout leaders and the
kids were in the Scout troop, makes sense, But how
did they get in the walls? You know, like it's
it's weird.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
That's so interesting. The kids were probably up in the
attic or something messing around and maybe.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Maybe, but the attic is a crawl space. It's not
something to like go into, you know, So I don't know, jeez.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
No, that's yeah, that would have probably caught me off
guard too. It's I just think it's so like I
live on a three hundred year old house. And it's
just always amazing to me, you know what what we
find even to this day, you know. And uh, and
so I just I'm always fascinated when people start trying
to clean out old houses and tearing into walls and stuff,
what they find was I I think I read like
(37:14):
when you bought it, the black mold was like insane.
Did you get all of that cleared out?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
The whole kitchen ceiling was like sinking in from black mold.
It was it was disgusting, It wasn't even it wasn't
really even safe to be in, you know. No, but
that that was like one of the first things we
had to get done, and even in order to let people.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Come in there. And there was five hundred five hundred
thousand honey bees too in the.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Wall, I know. And so you relocated those, yes.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I did. I felt very highly about doing that.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
That that way, that's great. Oh no, especially bees, like
we need them. We need the bees. I I I
think that as investigators we sometimes go into places like
I don't want to think ad but like I think
about all the places I've gone in that are probably
just they were filled with asbestos and black mold and
(38:06):
batguano and whatever else dust I've sucked into my lungs
over the years.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's just yeah, I think it's very admirable that you
were able to get in and clean all that out
and then also save the bees. So you definitely like
you are hero status at this point.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you can get the honey on Root sixteen on
your way from Buffalo to Thensdale House. You see what
sign It says Hauntingsdale Honey on the right side. Oh
my gosh, I'm like, no, please, just you know, sell it.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I have a whole history with haunted honey. People will
know if they're listening. We did an experiment on Kindred
Spirits where we uh we use haunted honey for an experience,
but for this experiment, but it was honey from like
a cemetery in England.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
These bees were pollinating on the flowers in this graveyard.
So yeah, it was a whole thing. So I I
love that. I love that so much. Cool Now, Okay,
so if people want to visit the house and support
you in any way, what do they need to do?
They do they go to the website. Do you have
social media?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:12):
I mean it's my name is Daniel Class. It's spelled
kla e s and it's Daniel Class dot com and
all my links will be on there for the Hinsdale House.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
If you want to do a booking, it's all done online.
Tours are on there.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Events, anything else that I'm involved with, as far as
paranormal goes, there'll be links for on there.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Check it out, all right.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I think that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That hard to find.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
No, I love that. Thank you so much for taking
the time, and hopefully I'll get up that way because
I would love to pay a visit. I want to
see what you've done with the place.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I would love that.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
We may never know what secrets the Hinsdale House is keeping,
or why it's as spiritually active as a it is. However,
one fact seems crystal clear. Whatever dwells in the home,
it wants to be left alone. My name is Amy
Bruney and this was Haunted Road. Haunted Road is a
(40:21):
production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky.
Haunted Road is hosted and written by me Amy brune
with additional research by Cassandra de Alba. This show is
edited and produced by supervising producer Rima el Kali, with
executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. Learn
(40:43):
more about this show over at Grimandmild dot com, and
for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey, Haunted roadies, I know you like spooky stuff, That's
why you're here. But have you taken it a step
further and joined the Paranormal Circle yet? The Paranormal Circle
is an online community that I created for all of
us ghost nerds. It focused on ghosts, hauntings, paranormal investigations, research,
(00:32):
you name it. So whether you're a casual ghost story
lover or a full on paranormal enthusiast, I know you're
going to love the Circle. We have live q and
as and roundtable discussions with guests like Josh Gates, Chip Coffee,
Adam Berry and Moore. There are twenty four to seven
live webcams streaming from haunted locations, including Against my Better
(00:56):
Judgment one in my very own attic of my three
hundred year old house, focus on a bunch of haunted
things that I've collected over the years. We also do
in person stuff too, meetups at events and conferences, plus
exclusive meetups just for members. If you come see me
on tour, there's always a free gift waiting for Paranormal
Circle members at the merch table. So if this sounds
(01:18):
like something you want to check out, you can start
a free trial today. Head to Amybrune dot com slash
join to find out more and Haunted Roadies. You can
use code Haunted road ten for ten percent off your
annual membership. I've tried to keep this very affordable. Full disclosure,
it's eight to ten dollars a month, but I think
(01:39):
what you get for that is pretty incredible. So please
check it out. Join us if you dare. We'll see
you out there. Thank you, Haunted Roadies. The following is
an excerpt from the Buffalo News, February twenty third, nineteen
seventy four. The troubles in the house, which is awky
(02:00):
by a couple and their four children, began in July
when a lamp sailed across the bedroom of one of
the girls. Because she was the only one involved, the
reaction was that an overactive imagination was at work. But
then the entire family began hearing strange noises and seeing apparitions,
and when father alphonsis a member of the American Society
(02:24):
of Psychical Research and the Venerable Society of Psychical Research
of Britain was asked to visit the home. He found
that some of the neighbors also had seen apparitions near
the house. One night, two twenty year old boys volunteered
to stay in the house and watch for apparitions. Father
Alphonsis said about two point thirty in the morning, they
(02:44):
heard a noise and ran out into the backyard. They
saw a strange figure, cornered him against a tree, and
took a picture of him with a polaroid. Before they
could try to seize him, he moved to the rear
of the tree and then disappeared. It was a moonlit
night and the tree was on a large lot, so
they could see for quite a distance. The ground was
(03:06):
very rough, they'd had trouble moving on it, and they
were sure no human could cover it in the time
they got to the other side of the tree. I
sent the picture to the American Psychic Society and they
advised me the creature in it was a spirit, and that,
my friends, was only the beginning. If you'd like to
know more, come with me as we visit the Hinsdale House.
(03:30):
I'm Amy Bruney, and this is Haunted Road. If you
travel to Hinsdale, New York, which is just under an
hour and a half southwest of Buffalo. You might be
tempted to turn down a particular dirt road. If you do,
eventually you'll hit a tree lined clearing, and in that
(03:52):
clearing you'll see a house. It's unassuming, with white paneling
and a basic black roof. About half of the eleven
hundred square foot home is a single story with a
partial second floor that holds three small bedrooms. The inside
is similarly unremarkable. White furniture sits in white rooms, all
of which are clean and well lit. There are five
(04:15):
bedrooms total, a living room and what Clara Miller called
a country kitchen in her book Echoes of a Haunting Revisited.
This is the Hinsdale House and it was built in
eighteen fifty three in Hinsdale, New York, which is how
it got its name. It sold a number of times,
and for over a century the residents that lived there
(04:36):
lived uneventful lives. Then in nineteen seventy the Dandy family
moved in. Clara and Phil Dandy had four children, teenagers
Mike and Beth, ten year old Laura, and eight year
old Mary. According to Clara's book. They were also animal lovers,
with a number of pets, including four guinea pigs, two dogs,
(04:56):
two parakeets, two finches, and a cat. They also had
some more unusual companions, including a raccoon and a woodchuck. Later,
they also took in a descented skunk. And they didn't
live in the Hinsdale House for long before strange things
began to happen. On July eighteenth, which was the day
(05:17):
they finished moving in, they were prepared to handle a
fixer upper that would need serious TLC to get into
livable condition. They knew the only way to light the
furnace was to drop a match into a hole in
the living room floor. Their septic tank was an old
oil drum, and the plumbing needed a complete overhaul. But
they didn't expect to find a swarm of bees inside.
(05:40):
There were so many that they covered every window in
the house. Clara later wrote in her book that they
couldn't even see outside. They consulted with an insect expert,
who told them that this behavior was very abnormal for bees.
By the following May, life in the Hnsdale House had
become even stranger. While out on a walk, the family
(06:01):
heard distant singing. It was almost like Gregorian chance, but
Clara later wrote that the singing abruptly shifted to be
more of a spoken prayer. Nights later, the Dandies were
on another walk when they heard something that was far
more unsettling, a woman screaming. Afterward, any time they went
strolling around the property, they'd be unable to avoid the
(06:25):
disturbing sounds. By the end of June, the Dandies were
hearing similarly unsettling sounds inside. The Distinct thuds of doors
slamming and objects falling echoed through the hallways. But no
matter how long they searched, they couldn't find where the
disturbances had come from. And whenever they let their dogs
run around in the woods, they'd return with bones, heaps
(06:47):
of them. The Dandies assumed they were deer bones, so
they threw them out without taking a closer look. All
the while, different kids from the neighborhood approached the Dandy children.
They said that a strange, dark figure, thought to be
a ghost, was known to walk up and down their street.
On one occasion, Mike, the oldest, was outdoors with friends
(07:08):
when he also spotted the figure, but he didn't assume
it was a ghost. He thought it was a local farmer. Still,
when his friends decided to chase the figure, Mike joined in.
They ran after the man just long enough for him
to take shelter behind a tree and then seemingly vanish
without a trace. In addition to the ghostly figures, the
Dandies frequently saw flying saucers in the area. They moved
(07:32):
quickly and in ways that should have been impossible for
ordinary craft, and before long the family began suffering from
odd accidents. Mike, the oldest, was in a car with
some friends when another car tee owned him. He survived
the collision, but another time, while he was at home,
he spilled boiling water on himself and badly burned his stomach,
(07:54):
and while cutting glass, he cut a tendon in his hand.
Then he was in another car aciscident, this time he
hit a patch of ice, lost control and struck a tree. Thankfully,
Mike survived this collision, but he was then in yet
another crash, after which he had to spend a week
in the ICU recovering. The second oldest, Beth, fell one
(08:16):
day in jim class. She broke her arm badly enough
that it never healed correctly, and her ex boyfriend was
also in a car accident after visiting her at home.
His recovery was long and slow and prevented him from
getting a job for years afterward. The third Dandy child, Laura,
took a bad tumble off her bike one day. One
of the cuts on her foot developed a staff infection. Finally,
(08:40):
the youngest Mary cut her face badly when she also
fell off her bike. But it wasn't just the children
who suffered from these accidents. If they were indeed accidents,
different HouseGuests and friends of the family broke bones in
bad falls or got into car crashes. So did the
mother Clara. Her husband Phil was even driven off the
(09:02):
road on one occasion and badly cut his thumb another time.
They came to believe that dark forces were trying to
drive the Dandies out of their home by causing disasters
to strike, and the pets weren't safe either. Clara wrote
in her book that she let numerous animals stay with
Mary in her room, and one by one, a guinea pig,
a parakeet, and a canary all died, all within just
(09:26):
two months of one another. When the family consulted with
a vet. The only advice they received was to not
let pets into that room anymore. Even though the Dandies
did as they were told, they still went on to
lose the remaining parakeet, the finches, more guinea pigs, the cat,
and one of their dogs. Then one evening, Beth woke
(09:47):
up in the night to feel something furry on her face.
Her first thought was that it was one of their animals,
until the thing attacked her. She threw it off of herself,
but didn't see it or hear it land. It was
as though the strange creature had disappeared mid air. Even
odder she screamed loudly enough to wake her mother and
Clara knew that none of their pets had gone into
(10:09):
Beth's room that night. Instead, it seemed she'd been attacked
by a specter. The night after that, several board games
fell off a bookshelf and onto Mike while he was sleeping. Oddly,
there had been other items stacked on top of the games,
but they didn't fall. They were still safe on the shelf.
The next night after that, everyone was watching the TV
(10:31):
together when they noticed that a letter opener was sitting
laid down on a photo of Mary, as though someone
had left it there, poised in a stabbing position. After that,
the Dandies would often go to bed only to hear
footsteps pacing up and down the halls. No one had
left their room, and they couldn't determine who was making
the sounds. It was frightening enough that the children refused
(10:54):
to leave their rooms alone after bedtime. If one of
them needed to use the bathroom or get a drink
of water, they'd bring a sibling with them. They all
frequently saw inexplicable figures in the house and on the
property around it. A dancing woman, a young boy walking
toward the pond, a different woman in a long flannel
nightgown with brown hair, and a young blonde girl in
(11:16):
a pink cap. It even seemed that these spirits had
the ability to possess the Dandies and their guests. Clara
wrote in her book that when her son Mike had
friends over to the house, they sometimes changed personality on
a dime, as though someone else had seized control of
their bodies. Plus, her daughter Beth had naturally brown eyes,
(11:39):
but sometimes they'd turn blue, and then she'd behave erratically.
She interacted with animals or objects no one else could see,
and on multiple occasions attempted to take her own life.
Her family believed she was under another entity's control during
these periods. Her sister Laura also made an eerie prediction
during an apparent bosess, She said that she would die young.
(12:04):
By this time, the Dandy family felt certain that something
supernatural was tormenting them, so one night, the children consulted
with a Ouiji board to try and determine who was
behind the apparent haunting. They asked the force in the
house to identify itself, only for their planchette to fly
out of their hands. It hit a candle which they
(12:25):
always kept burning in front of a statue of the
Virgin Mary, and when the candle tipped over, the flames
sputtered out. They then consulted with Clara's cousin, a priest
named Father Bob. Clara wrote in Echoes of a Haunting
Revisited that Father Bob didn't have much prior experience with
supernatural incidents or hauntings, but he promised to see what
(12:47):
he could do. On April fourteenth, nineteen seventy four, he
blessed the home, but the unnerving incidents continued afterward, so
a few days later, the Dandies reached out to another priest,
Father Alpha Trobolt. He had more of a history with
the occult, so he also blessed the house on a
number of occasions, culminating with a ritual he performed on
(13:08):
August twenty ninth. Now officially, a Catholic doctrine says you
can't exercise a house only a possessed person, so Father
Alphonss has always been clear that his ritual was not
an exorcism, but a cleansing. While Father Alphonsis tried to
cast out evil spirits, he heard screams, groans, and growling sounds,
(13:29):
but none of the Dandies perceived any such thing, and sadly,
his efforts didn't work and the haunting continued. By now,
the eerie incidents had made it into the local news
and it was public knowledge that the Hnsdale House was
apparently haunted. This only added to the Dandies' feelings of frustration.
Gawkers would drive by their home only to slow down
(13:52):
so drivers and passengers could stare. Other times, strangers would
pull over and shout things at them like that ghosts
don't exist. The Dandies didn't like the attention they were getting,
and they also didn't like the way gossip was flying.
It seemed everyone had a theory about why the home
was so spiritually active. Rumors suggested that the members of
(14:12):
an indigenous community had either been slaughtered on the land
where the house was built, or that there had been
an old Indigenous gravesite on the property, but there's no
hard evidence to support either allegation. Other gossip had some
basis in history, like the story that there had once
been a stagecoach stop and ind owned by brothers Ian
(14:33):
and Richard. The siblings were sexual predators, thieves, and murderers.
Any unwary travelers who stopped at their inn would fall
prey to the brothers, who'd rob and then kill their customers.
It said that they murdered one woman, whose name was Elizabeth,
by hanging her from a tree. Elizabeth was pregnant, and
some believed that both her spirit and that of her
(14:53):
unborn child remained to haunt the land as the story went.
Many of Ian and Richard's other victims were buried in
the basement of the stagecoach stop and later the Hinsdale House.
Was built on that secret grave. Now, there really was
an inn in the area, but it wasn't at the
Hinsdale House, and there's no record of any owners named
(15:14):
Richard or Ian or any indication that previous owners murdered
their customers, so this story is almost entirely unverified. Other
people believe the house was cursed after a teenager named
Alfred Warren died in a tragic chainsaw accident on the property.
Alfred was a real person who did die in a
chainsaw accident, but again not at the Hinsdale House. All
(15:39):
to say, there was no clear reason why the Dandyes
Home was so active, given that there was nothing in
the history to explain such darkness either way, Since the
blessings and exorcisms hadn't worked, the family was starting to
feel hopeless, like they'd never understand the spirits that were
tormenting them or find a way to be rid of them.
(16:00):
Having exhausted every other option they could think of, they
moved out in October of nineteen seventy four, even though
they'd be unable to find a buyer for the house.
By this time, they were bankrupt and their marriage was
so strained that Clara and phil subsequently divorced in nineteen eighty. Afterwards,
she used the name Clara Miller, which is the name
(16:21):
she published her book under. As for their eldest daughter, Laura,
who prophesied an early death while apparently possessed tragically, she
passed away just over a decade later, in nineteen ninety two.
She was only thirty one years old. A number of
other families moved into the Hinsdale House over the years,
(16:42):
but each time someone would settle in, it was only
a matter of time before the haunting became too much
to bear. One family moved out in such a rush
they left all of their possessions behind. They were quoted
in Hinsdale House, An American Haunting by Daniel Klass and
Tim Joyce. They said, I didn't want whatever was haunting
(17:02):
the house to know we were leaving so we could
get away from it, and I don't want it to
know where we are now. Speaking of Daniel Klass, he
bought the house in twenty fifteen, saving it just in
the nick of time from demolition. He cleaned out the
toxic black mold that had spread all through it, re
homed the bees, and renovated it until it was safe
(17:24):
for guests. Then he marketed it as a haunted house
open to tourists and paranormal investigators. Today, visitors reportedly see shadow
figures in full bodied apparitions. They may hear footsteps or
voices in rooms that appear to be empty or heavy breathing.
Beyond that, the house just leaves guests with an uneasy
(17:46):
sensation like that of being watched. Some people struggle to breathe,
almost as though unseen hands are choking them. Mary's bedroom
is said to be the most active part of the house.
Their researchers have captured EVPs of a voice saying I'm
dead or there is no heaven, and yet it's still
(18:06):
unclear what draws spirits here. Up next, I'm going to
be joined by the owner of the house himself, mister
Daniel Class, and he has a lot of very interesting
stories to tell that is coming up after the break.
(18:29):
All right, So I am now joined by Daniel Class,
who is the owner of the Hinsdale House, and welcome
to the program. Daniel, I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Yeah, thanks for so much for having me here.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah. Now, I've kind of said this a few times
this season, but this is kind of turning into the
season of places Amy has never been. You know, there's
a lot of locations that I've not been able to visit,
you know, the first few seasons of Haunted Road, Like,
we're kind of getting to the point where I'm looking
at locations that I haven't by to or before it
was so easy to kind of pick the ones I
(19:02):
had visited, and now my interest is just peaked all
over again in some of these places. And I am
fascinated by the Hinsdale House. So first of all, I
just need to know how did you come to own
this place and why?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, it was just, you know, like any other ghost
hunting team, we were, you know, we were asked to
go up there and check the place out, and it
hadn't been lived in for years.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
But there are so many claims with the location.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
They had a failed exorcism in the nineteen seventies, and
just so much you know creepiness, creepy vibe going there.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
I had gone there. I didn't own it, just wanted
to check it out. But the thing.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
That really stood out to me about this location, and
I'm sure you can attest to it when you go
to a place to investigate you don't automatically just get stuff,
you know, like sometimes you sit around for three hours
and you're a static getting an EVP, you know. And
the thing that stood out about the Hinsdale House was
when I went there to investigate, it seemed like every
piece of equipment.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That we had was going off. Now there was no electricity.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We had one little heater going in the house, so
I mean it was there's nothing really that could make
the equipment go off that we could debunks.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
In the middle of nowhere on a mountain.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
You know. It was like it always reminded me of
like that commercial with the chains I was hanging on
the garage when you drive up and you're like, oh,
let's go hide in there.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's like that's what it kind of felt like for me,
you know.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah, but yeah, I just like you had an interest
in it and continued to go there and research it
because it was so active of a location. And then
I was just in such disrepair that they were going
to tear it down and I put in a bid
to try to buy it as is so I could
try fixing it up and continue using it for research,
and the bank allowed me to do that. So it's
(20:50):
kind of what it's been part of my journey, you know,
just fixing this place, letting people come in to investigate
it and see what they come up with.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Now, so it's been about ten years, right, didn't you
buy it in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's been been almost ten years now. It's crazy.
It doesn't seem like it. It seems like just the
blink in the eye where I was scurrying around not
knowing how it was going to get the roof fixed.
And now it's like, my god, I have teams there
almost every day from all around the world. You know,
it's become so popular of a location. You know, it's
it's amazing the support that we have there.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
That's interesting. And so now this is kind of exclusively
a paranormal investigation location, right, It's I assume that you
don't live there and that this is kind of like like,
this is what it has become, is this is a
place for people to investigate and tour.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, I mean, and that's basically all it is. It's
a We do tours tours there during the day. I
have some tour guides that work for us, and then
we allow teams to come in or groups, paranormal enthusiast.
We have things for every level of investigation, you know,
like we kind of weave them out, kind of determine
where where their levels are at, and then.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
We don't leave anybody just stranded there, you know, unless
they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
No, that makes sense. So I feel like, you know,
I've spoken with so many people like you who have
kind of taken on these locations. It always seems like
the person who ends up helming something like this, it's
kind of destiny. Did you kind of feel like you
were meant to be doing this, like you were meant
to kind of save this house in a way.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And I actually I used to do a podcast with
a psychic named Bernice Golden that said that to me.
She said, I was I was meant to be there
and stepped in at the right time, at the right place,
And a lot of what she said to me, you know,
I look back at the conversation with you. She's since
passed away, but a lot of what she has said
has come to fruition, you know, like I would have
(22:50):
never thought where I would be where I am today
just because I bought a haunted house. You know, it
was something that I enjoyed doing, and now it's become
a business and that's spread onto other things like making
television shows, Haunted magazine, you know, all these different things
that and I just get to do what I like
to do. You know, it's awesome just because I bought
(23:12):
this house and we're uncovering all these amazing secrets and
stories even further, we're able to dive in deeper than
a normal person could because we own the place, you know,
and we're able to put the time into it.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
I can relate on so many levels. You know, when
I started what I do as a paranormal enthusiast and
a fan of all things ghosts and just really loving
it and never quite having a clear plan of where
I was going to end up. I just knew I
wanted to keep, you know, being spooky for as long
as possible, and so so I can definitely relate now.
(23:48):
So you were talking about how you first went in
the house and you know, your equipment was going wild,
Like when did you like is that when you knew
it was there was something to this or how did
you have like a profound experience there where you were
like whoa this place is truly, you know, next level haunted.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah, so basically they were condemning the location. We were
allowed to go there one last time before they were
going to be tearing it down, and alls I had
known up to that point was the failed Structural exorcism
in nineteen seventy.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Four, and I had started to do more research.
Speaker 3 (24:24):
I said, if this has happened to this family in
the seventies, there had to be other people that these
hauntings happened, you know to, throughout the years. The problem
was it was a landlease, so it was hard to
get the records of the people that live there. But
I had come across the YouTube video about this older
family that lived there in the eighties, the Misnics, and
(24:44):
they had both since passed away. So I kind of
had like new goals.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
When I went to the house's final time, I was
in the kitchen. We had a camera.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
It was me and actually Tim Shaw, my friend Cameron,
and the house manager at the time, and they were
talking about the exorcism and we weren't really getting anything,
you know, Like it was like when I as soon
as I said the name Flow, who was the older
woman that was there that passed away, I had like
a jolting sensation on my arm. I had a K
two meter in my hand. It went all the way
(25:15):
up to five hundred milligus and I felt like static,
and I was like, what the what the heck? You know,
so I continue to have what I felt like was
a conversation with flow Misnick, and I asked her if
she would hold my hand as we go up the stairs.
And you know, as well as I do like having
a K two meter, you maybe get like a little
bleep here or there. Maybe that's something communicating with you. You
(25:36):
don't know for sure. But when I felt that static
on my arm and the K two meter stayed lit
in my hand all the way up the stairs into
the master bedroom, I was like, what you know, I
was just freaking out internally because I've never had an
experience like this before. Now this is you know, all
the electricals been ripped out of the house, you know,
all the duck work. I mean, it's just a shell
(25:56):
right now. And I lost when I went over into
the crossed over into the room where they said the
was blocked off at the nineteen seventies. To add further
to that, the next day, you know, I you know,
I posted on my Facebook page picture of the house
and I'm like, this is where I investigated last night.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
You know, how like cool people do you know? And
I got a message. I got a message on my
inbox from a girl named Jackie Chandra and she said, uh,
she was asked, my grandparents hold the house? And I said,
you got to f and be kidding here right now.
And I said, who are your grandparents?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
And she said Flow and Joe Misnik And you know,
we've been friends ever since that message that she sent me,
and I told her the story, and she said she
felt very connected with her grandmother there and she's she's
had things happen to her there when she was a kid,
and she's very much into it as well and actually
helps do tours up there now to this day. I mean,
(26:50):
it's just crazy, but yeah, I mean that was the
point where I said, I need to try to save
this house because there's more than meets the eye. There's
more happening here than anybody thinks there is, and we
need to try to figure this out. And if we
get rid of it, it's just another one of those
storied locations that it's gone.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Forever, you know, yeah, I love when there's a family
connection in some way. You know, I do a lot
of research and locations, and you know a lot of
times I am, you know, researching people who are long gone,
and it's always nice if I can connect with someone
who knew who I'm researching in life, or who had
been to the location in life, because you get this
(27:29):
kind of first hand account. It's so much more meaningful
than you know, just reading an old newspaper article or something.
And yeah, those land leases, those are very tough to research.
So I feel your pain there, just kind of going
through the history of the house and like what people
had gone through there over the years. There was just
this kind of it seems like you thought that maybe
(27:51):
it was cursed in some way. You know, people had
a lot of unfortunate events. Some of them were very minor,
some of them were more major. Did you worry about
that when you bought it?
Speaker 3 (28:01):
Of course, I mean it's it's it's always in the
back of your mind that there was a failed structural exorcism,
and all the papers from the nineteen seventies they're talking
demonic things happening there.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
But you have to take a deep breath.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
And kind of just look at the bigger picture, you know,
like things that they deemed demonic back in the seventies.
You know, everything was a demon back then, you know.
So yeah, you have to like go through your go
through with what experiences that I've had and what other
people have had, and make sure that the warnings are
out there. Of course, take precautions, but continue to investigate
(28:39):
it as if it's a normal location.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
Yeah, I've never had anything like crazy crazy happen there,
except for it seems like a big puzzle, you know,
like once you figure something out, something there's more to it.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
And there have been.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
People there that have have been claims of getting like scratched,
you know, but we've you know, nothing like crazy crazy, you.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Know, right now. And I think I do have to
still kind of bring people back from that perspective when
I meet folks. You know, I'm a child of the eighties,
so like I remember this very well, but I sometimes
have to kind of bring people back from that satanic
panic era where you know, it was in the seventies
and eighties, Like you said, everything was a demon, you know,
(29:22):
the Exorcist was a major hit, and we had, you know,
things like the omen and pop culture heavily influenced how
people interpreted hauntings and paranormal activity. The fact that I'm
still dealing with that today and you as well, it
really kind of puts in a perspective just how deeply
ingrained these ideas were in people, Like they were absolutely terrified,
(29:45):
but I would also argue, very intrigued at the same time.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
So, yeah, you should see some of the some of
the male I get from people when I have a
group of students up there that have been trained. You know,
we have like paranormal clubs and some of the schools know,
and we'll go in and we'll train the kids and
they have them come up as a do an investigation.
And man that people some people are just so why
(30:08):
are you bringing kids up there. I'm like, well, they're trained,
young adults, and they you know, like it's hard sometimes,
you know, people people don't realize that it is a
business too. You know, it's not just a you know,
this is my livelihood now, because yeah, you know, it's
you got to do what you got to do sometimes
to uh not that I'm doing it to try to
get anybody you know, in trouble or anything like that.
(30:30):
But it's it is a business, so you can't just
turn people away. And when people want to come there,
you know, you just got to take the right precautions exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And that also, you know, sometimes I deal with panicky
parents a lot, and you know, especially when I tour
and whatnot, they ask me questions and I always I
tell them, like, you know, your kids could be into
much worse things, like this is probably one of the
most safe hobbies and interest your children could have. Like
what they want to do is go sit in a
(31:00):
quiet place and not move for hours at a time.
And when they're not doing that, they want to be
researching and looking into history and ancestry records and old newspapers,
and they want to learn about you know, electromagnetic fields
and like there are much worse things and living people
are so much scarier than the dead ones. Like just
(31:21):
let them have their moment, you know.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, I mean even the kids sometimes think outside the
box more than the adults do.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
It's crazy, oh, one hundred percent. My daughter is twelve
and she loves to investigate. And you know, I'm not
very cool anymore, but that part, I guess is still
pretty cool to her. So I let her run wild
in locations. I'm like, oh, have fun as long as
it's safe, obviously, but you know, I just she'll go
off by herself and just have a field day. And
(31:50):
I just love how she's so thoughtful. And I watch
other kids too, and teenagers. They're so thoughtful and they're
questioning and you know, in their approach, and they're not
they don't scream and yell, they're not like super scared
like I just I love it, and I think it's
such a cool growing experience. So I love that you
bring students up there. I think that's rad absolutely. So now,
(32:13):
what what do people like when people go in to investigate?
What do you think is like the most common activity
they're going to experience there?
Speaker 2 (32:22):
EVPs?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
You know most of the time, you know, I've been
I've been keeping records since since I've owned the place
actually from before that, and collecting the data on what
teams have gotten. I'd say like probably like fifty to
sixty percent of the time they may encounter some type
of shadow figure in the location. Almost almost one hundred
percent of the time they're getting electromagnetic frequency different MF spikes, EVPs,
(32:48):
things like that. So I mean you're it's it's it's
a hotbed for it. It's like the energies there want
to speak with you, but they don't have the means
to do it. So I always like tell people to
try to do the recordings or bring it spearbox. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I mean, do you feel like the spirits they're kind
of crazy attention or they've gotten used to, you know,
talking to the living and that like this is some
outlet for them, or like they're actually looking for something
or what do you think they're getting out of it?
As well?
Speaker 2 (33:17):
I think that they're they're trying to like tell us
their story.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Because we've been able to piece together through different teams
that have come there, not just from my research but
other teams that have come there. We've been able to
like pitpoint, Okay, look at this. This team they had
an EVP that said, you know, dig outside, dig outside,
you know, like it kept getting it over and over
again to the point where we started looking, Okay, we
look outside, Maybe we need to Maybe there's more to
(33:42):
this story. Maybe this is what they're trying to tell us.
When we filmed Death Walker there, we were able to
use some of the funds for the show to bring
in the ground penetrating radar and actually start searching part
of the property. And we found some anomalies out in
the back that look like grave chefs, which is pretty amazing.
Out in the back right corner by the pond, it
looks like a family burial plot. Though it doesn't look
(34:04):
like anything malicious, you know, it looks like that they're
just gone. Gravestone was the graystone was thrown into the water.
I mean, maybe they were trying to tell us that
that they're forgotten when we built the pond, and it's
on the gravestone, you.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Know, and that's you know, I've been on a number
of cases where that has caused activity. You know, I
think people care about their final resting place more than
we realize they do, you know, until till they come
and tell us repeatedly after they die. And uh, I
think that's so interesting. Have you considered putting some sort
(34:38):
of like memorial out there just in case or do
you kind of put your respects there occasionally?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Weird? So we've raised raised funds through doing tours and
stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Uh well, a team a team out of all.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
But in New York I actually had a plaque that
it made and dedicated to the people that were that
are there, and that's going to be installed in the spring,
and then we we're going to put like an iron
gate around it just the area that we found it,
just to honor them, so that, you know, and that
just adds another piece to the puzzle. Because the woman
in white that walks around the pond or you know,
(35:11):
that was supposed to be on the hanging tree on
the you know from the original story, could that just
be these people that were buried they're trying to get
our attention. You know, there's like so many like sands
or butts. You know, I don't know that we'll have
the answers for sure, one hundred percent, but it seems
like so interesting to find something like that and then
continue to you know, search and maybe find out something more.
Speaker 2 (35:33):
You know, what more can there be?
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, I mean that's pretty mind blowing. Have you has
there been anything else kind of like that or anything
like have you found anything in the house that really
struck you or have you had any just like profound
pieces of evidence or research that just really like affected
you in any way?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I Mean, we found like typical things that you would
find like building a house, like pieces of clothing carved.
We had some carvings that we found that were carved
like bullheads. But then after we researched it all was
I was freaked out about those because we found two
of them, and I was like, what the heck does
this mean to? You know, like, what's going on here?
(36:14):
How many more of these are on the walls? You know?
And yeah, one of my one.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Of the girls on my research team, found out that
they were like neckerchief slides for the Boys and Boys
Boy Scouts from the nineteen seventies. I'm like, what And
then when you research the house and find out that
the McMahon's that lived there were Scout leaders and the
kids were in the Scout troop, makes sense, But how
did they get in the walls? You know, like it's
it's weird.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
That's so interesting. The kids were probably up in the
attic or something messing around and maybe.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Maybe, but the attic is a crawl space. It's not
something to like go into, you know, So I don't know, jeez.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
No, that's yeah, that would have probably caught me off
guard too. It's I just think it's so like I
live on a three hundred year old house. And it's
just always amazing to me, you know what what we
find even to this day, you know. And uh, and
so I just I'm always fascinated when people start trying
to clean out old houses and tearing into walls and stuff,
what they find was I I think I read like
(37:14):
when you bought it, the black mold was like insane.
Did you get all of that cleared out?
Speaker 3 (37:20):
The whole kitchen ceiling was like sinking in from black mold.
It was it was disgusting, It wasn't even it wasn't
really even safe to be in, you know. No, but
that that was like one of the first things we
had to get done, and even in order to let people.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Come in there. And there was five hundred five hundred
thousand honey bees too in the.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Wall, I know. And so you relocated those, yes.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I did. I felt very highly about doing that.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
That that way, that's great. Oh no, especially bees, like
we need them. We need the bees. I I I
think that as investigators we sometimes go into places like
I don't want to think ad but like I think
about all the places I've gone in that are probably
just they were filled with asbestos and black mold and
(38:06):
batguano and whatever else dust I've sucked into my lungs
over the years.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
It's just yeah, I think it's very admirable that you
were able to get in and clean all that out
and then also save the bees. So you definitely like
you are hero status at this point.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you can get the honey on Root sixteen on
your way from Buffalo to Thensdale House. You see what
sign It says Hauntingsdale Honey on the right side. Oh
my gosh, I'm like, no, please, just you know, sell it.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I have a whole history with haunted honey. People will
know if they're listening. We did an experiment on Kindred
Spirits where we uh we use haunted honey for an experience,
but for this experiment, but it was honey from like
a cemetery in England.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
These bees were pollinating on the flowers in this graveyard.
So yeah, it was a whole thing. So I I
love that. I love that so much. Cool Now, Okay,
so if people want to visit the house and support
you in any way, what do they need to do?
They do they go to the website. Do you have
social media?
Speaker 2 (39:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:12):
I mean it's my name is Daniel Class. It's spelled
kla e s and it's Daniel Class dot com and
all my links will be on there for the Hinsdale House.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
If you want to do a booking, it's all done online.
Tours are on there.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Events, anything else that I'm involved with, as far as
paranormal goes, there'll be links for on there.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
Check it out, all right.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
I think that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
That hard to find.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
No, I love that. Thank you so much for taking
the time, and hopefully I'll get up that way because
I would love to pay a visit. I want to
see what you've done with the place.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I would love that.
Speaker 1 (39:53):
We may never know what secrets the Hinsdale House is keeping,
or why it's as spiritually active as a it is. However,
one fact seems crystal clear. Whatever dwells in the home,
it wants to be left alone. My name is Amy
Bruney and this was Haunted Road. Haunted Road is a
(40:21):
production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Minky.
Haunted Road is hosted and written by me Amy brune
with additional research by Cassandra de Alba. This show is
edited and produced by supervising producer Rima el Kali, with
executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. Learn
(40:43):
more about this show over at Grimandmild dot com, and
for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!