Among Western New York's allegedly most haunted sites stands the architecturally acclaimed H.H. Richardson complex, begun in 1871 and opened in 1880 as the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane or the Buffalo Asylum Psychiatric Center.
Its two 185-foot towers rose from a four-story structure originally flanked on either side by five stepped wards, with its female wing being completed in 1895. Based on the humanitarian philosophy of Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, the asylum was intended to provide curative hospitalization for the mentally ill.
Crowded by a surge in patients, its occupancy was eventually exceeded by the thousands. In 1927 half the grounds were lost to a college, and more were claimed by modern buildings in the late 1960s.
In 1974, patients were transferred to the new Buffalo Psychiatric Center. From then (until a preservationists' lawsuit in 2008 brought $100 million in state rehabilitation funds) the old Richardson complex was abandoned and fell into decline and disrepair ("Buffalo" 2017).
During its long abandonment it became a spooky place. According to Weird New York (Gethard 2005, 250-251):
"Not surprisingly, rumors abound that the castlelike structure is haunted by the ghosts of former patients who died there. They are said to roam the grounds frequently and to love most of all the tunnels that lay beneath the buildings, connecting them."
Also not surprisingly, the "mentally disturbed" are sometimes held to have "a greater tendency" for hauntings because "they have higher functions of the unconscious mind," according to my friend, Buffalo ghost walks guide Mason Winfield (Sullivan 2016).
Or as I suspect, people simply imagine them as especially scary ghosts.
I have traced the abandonment-creates-haunted-place phenomenon many times before. A site without an apparent ghost becomes dark, neglected, run down, taking on the semblance of a still from a Hollywood movie.
The eerie aspect prompts whispers of ghosts, and in time lurid lore develops. With it come dares to explore the "haunted" place, and pranksters may even await those who accept the challenge. In any case, their own flashlights may spark reports of fabled ghost lights.
Ghost hunters will record "anomalies" (such as "orb" photos) that they themselves may inadvertently cause, and reporters cannot be far behind, collecting stories for Halloween publication.
A young woman who once broke into the deserted Buffalo asylum with friends, described it as like a step back in time:
"It looked like someone snapped their fingers and everyone disappeared," leaving behind old medical contraptions and moldering hospital beds.
They saw no ghosts, but it was "really dark" and as a floor partially caved, they started running. "When we saw a sign for the morgue I said, ‘Screw this! I need to get out!'" She said she was overwhelmed by fear. "All I can remember were my emotions. I wanted to die." On the other hand, a man who explored there said he felt completely welcome (Sullivan 2016).
Yet again, considering the differences in people, hotel developer Dennis Murphy has spent an impressive amount of time there—during both day and night—but he has not had a single ghostly experience (Fink 2016). As my late friend, psychologist Robert A. Baker, used to say, "There are no haunted places—only haunted people."