History & Haunting of : Forest Park Cemetery ,Brunswick, New York, U.S Forest Park Pinewood. It is known to be one of the top ten haunted cemeteries in the countries. As an old deserted cemetery, no one has been buried in around four years. Ghosts have been sighted and photographs of strange things have been taken and published in local newspapers too. A renowned psychic said the the cemetery was built on an Indian burial ground and the spiritual activity is very turbulent and malicious too. Forest Park Cemetery, also known colloquially as Pinewoods Cemetery due to its location at 387 Pinewoods Avenue, is an abandoned cemetery, located in Brunswick, New York, United States just east of the city of Troy. It is famous for the numerous urban legends regarding ghosts. Some also say that the cemetery is the Gateway to Hell. Others also claim that a decapitated statue of an angel bleeds from the neck. Forest Park Cemetery was first incorporated in 1897 by a group of wealthy Troy businessmen under the Forest Park Cemetery Corporation, though based on older gravestones, the cemetery had apparently been in use since at least 1856. The original area chosen for the cemetery occupied over 200 acres (81 ha) of farmland in what was then rural Brunswick. Meant to outgrow and even outclass Troys Oakwood Cemetery, it was originally designed by Garnet Baltimore, the first African-American graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Baltimore planned on the cemetery to offer visitors a park-like experience, complete with statuary, winding trails, and a large receiving tomb near the entrance. The Forest Park Cemetery Corporation went bankrupt in 1914 and the cemetery was never completed to the original plans. The only structure that had been built was the receiving tomb, which still stands today, albeit in a dilapidated state. The receiving tomb was built from granite and featured a copper roof with a large skylight and contained 128 marble catacombs used for storing corpses during the winter. In 1914 the cemetery was re-incorporated by New York City natives under the name Forest Hills Cemetery. Due to financial difficulty, the corporation sold all but 22 acres (8.9 ha) to the neighboring County Club of Troy, for use in the construction of its golf course. Regardless, the corporation also went bankrupt during the 1930s. The cemetery went mostly unattended except for a local man named William Christian who volunteered to be caretaker and did so from 1918 to his death in 1961.Christian kept notes of interments, which indicate that the cemetery served upwards of 1,400 burials. Burials continued in the cemetery until about 1975, when the cemetery went completely unattended. Until 1987, control of the cemetery was in dispute. During that year, control was vested in the Town of Brunswick, at the decree of New York State. In response, the town created a Forest Park Cemetery Advisory Council in 1991, but it ended up being disbanded in 1994.Based on local obituaries, the cemetery was put back into use in the late 1990s and has been used as recently as 2005 for a burial. Employees from the Town of Brunswick made multiple attempts during the 1990s and 2000s to remove the overgrown brush and plants, which had become a major problem. In 1988, the cemetery was featured in the local Troy, NY Times Record newspaper after two youths discovered a partially exhumed grave. Two shovels, a pick and several beer cans were found at the crime scene. Although police reports were filed, no one was apprehended for the crime. In 2007, a local boy scout and Brunswick resident Evan Duffey completed his eagle scout project, a census and mapping of all the gravestones in forest park cemetery. A map and database containing all of the gravestones and the names upon them is available at the Town of Brunswick offices for those trying to locate family buried in Forest Park. Today, entering the cemetery is considered trespassing unless given express permission from the Town of Brunswick. The receiving tomb is in a state of decay: its roof collapsed some time ago and its walls are covered in graffiti. Another story (although its one that has been told in many towns), is that of the vanishing hitchhiker. According to the same Troy Record article, a Troy taxi cab driver told this story to Avril Park historian Judy Rowe. It is the tale of a young girl dressed in party clothes whom he picked up at Emma Willard School one night. She needed a ride home and directed the cabbie up Pinewoods Avenue, but upon reaching Forest Park Cemetery, the young girl vanished. In addition, the legends of hauntings also come by stories of the mausoleum doors collapsing to the ground revealing no caskets interred inside. This has been explained by the fact the building was only a receiving tomb for winter months. During cold months of the year it was nearly impossible to prepare a gravesite. Likely the result of these legends has contributed to the vandalism and overall lack of respect for the property. Not far from Forest Park Cemetery is a beautiful park named Frear Park. Here you will find many people walking around, children can play on swings and a church where people can attend as well. In this park, people will park their cars, and the story goes of large things that like to jump onto cars. They leave claw marks on the back of the cars. There is no proof of wild life in the area to this day. Its a feeling when a friend jumps onto the back of your car when your about to drive away. .wikipedia.org/ longislandgenealogy/ yahooGyPsYWiTcHâžÂ¢, Photo 1 Forest Park Entrancewikipedia.org Photo 2 Forestpark- headless angel CC BY-SA 3.0by Jesusjonez -wikipedia.org Photo 3~ by corksandcaftans/I’ve been to this cemetery with friends 3 times but have only worked up the courage to go in once. The first time 4 of my friends went in. Upon their return, the guy was complaining of pains in his sides and asked me to shine my cell phone light on his stomach. It looked like he was attacked by a cat. He had scratches across his abdomen but he was wearing 2 t-shirts and a sweatshirt. The next day his scratches were gone but his feet turned black, seriously. It looked like he had walked through burnt coals but it was impossible to get off. We stood there looking at the tombstone when I pointed my flashlight up and there were 2 men in black clothing with hoods completely covering their faces, kneeling on the ground 3 feet from the tombstone, literally right in front of us, in a spot we had just passed. These figures were not there when we walked passed literally 15 seconds prior. The figures simultaneously raised their heads to stare directly into my flashlight. I have no clue why we did not freak out and run but we stayed calm. I said “Oh shit, what’s up?” and the figures did nothing. We walked away immediately. Photo 4 & 5 by: Brian J. Schifferdecker.The cemeterys design can prove to be very confusing for explorers, as there is a large expanse of trails twisting throughout the woods, beyond the main section of the cemetery. Many people have wandered these woods at night, completely lost for hours. At several points, visitors might think they have left the cemetery completely, until they stumble upon a small cluster of monuments and/or statues. Visitors are considered to be trespassing unless they have been granted express permission by the town of Brunswickfindagrave
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 15:54:24 +0000