Lore - Legends 62: The Little Things

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

While you’re guaranteed to find a lot of spooky tales in the biggest, brightest cities, sometimes all it takes is a quick trip upstate to find a set of stories that are truly unique—and downright terrifying. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Jamie Vargas. ————————— Lore Resources:  Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music  Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources  All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE, and get on your way to being your best self. Acorns: Acorns helps you automatically save & invest for your future. Head to Acorns.com/LORE to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today! Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. ————————— To advertise on this podcast please email: [e-mail]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

Do you remember the excitement of Christmas morning when you were little? Of course you do. Who can forget that? Waking your parents up at an ungodly hour, jumping up and down while they got themselves ready far too slowly, and then finally, being allowed to run into the living room where all your presents were waiting. Most of us probably ran straight to the biggest one and ripped it open fast.

After all, when you're a kid, bigger is better, right? Adulthood, though, means learning that the biggest isn't always the best. The flashiest isn't always the most fun. The loudest isn't always worth listening to. And sometimes the best gifts simply come in the smallest packages. And this lesson doesn't just apply to Christmas presents. Take, for example, where you live. When you're young, you might be drawn to the hustle and bustle of the city,

bright lights, late-night dinners, and excitement on every corner. What could be better, right? But for a lot of us, the big city eventually loses its glossy appeal. After a certain point, you just want quiet streets and the comfort of a familiar routine. Of course, living in a small town doesn't mean that our lives are small. It just means that we value something else now. When most people talk about New York, they're usually talking about New York City. It's alive and energetic and full of the most interesting people in the world.

But there's just as much beauty to be found in the smaller towns of upstate New York, even though they don't have quite the same sprawl. They certainly have their own stories to tell. And for that matter, their own hauntings. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is lore legends. I'm hesitant to say that ever really had what one may call a heyday. In 1800, the town had a population of roughly 1,000 people.

And today, it's just over 3,000. In the grand scheme of things, there hasn't been a ton of growth. But if Palmyra did have a heyday, then it was in. in the 30 years between 1822 and 1853. They call these the canal years, and they were exactly what they sounded like, the years that Palmyra was next to the Erie Canal. The influx of trade that came to the area seriously bolstered the town. At one point, it was even called the Queen of Canal Towns.

And it was during these booming canal years that the locals built the majority of Main Street. Money was flowing in, travelers were passing through, and it was the closest thing that a little town like this could have to a golden age. Just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Palmyra's historic Main Street was Market Street. And the money flowed over there, too. In 1826, a developer constructed a three-story federal-style building, hoping to take advantage of Palmyra's mini-economic boom. Fast forward a few decades, and a young man by the name of William Phelps bought the entire building in 1868.

His family was growing, and he needed a place where they could. could flourish, a place that they could call their forever home. So he converted the building at 140 Market Street into Phelps General Store. He and the family used the upstairs as their personal residence, but downstairs, it was all business. And not only was it business, it was a family business. The Phelps General Store was passed down from generation to generation over 100 years. Over the decades, the Phelps continued to operate the store through both the good times and the bad. The general store kept its doors open for the Palmyra community through World War I, the roaring 20s, and the Great Depression. Things got hard, and the family had to

tighten their belts once more, but through it all, they persevered until 1940. At the time, the store was run by William's son, Julius, and then one day in July, seemingly at random, Julius locked the front door, closed up shop, turned out the lights, and never reopened again. didn't give any explanation for his decision. Maybe he felt that he was getting too old, or maybe he was tired of being a shopkeeper. He and his family continued to live upstairs, while downstairs the general store stayed frozen in time, exactly as it was the day he closed his doors. Merchandise still lined the shelves, cracker barrels were still full, and even eggs were still lying there, waiting to be plucked from the flock. As the years passed by,

members of the Phelps family gradually died or moved away. Eventually, the building's only resident was Julius's daughter, Sybil. She lived at 140 Market Street until her death in 1976 at the age of 81. And it might have been lonely, living by herself with all those empty bedrooms, but I don't think that Sybil was ever truly lonesome. After all, she spent far too much time chatting with the ghosts. Sybil, you see, was a spiritualist. She had her own crystal ball, and she was known to hang mirrors facing each other

so that she could create spirit portals. Those who knew her said that she was much happier in the company of ghosts than she was with living people. That policy also seemed to have extended to feline companions because she had a grand total of 15 cats. I think you will find it unsurprising that the neighborhood children fervently believed that civil was a witch. But as far as I know, she wasn't.

She was just an eccentric woman who preferred the company of ghosts to people. And if I had to guess what they spent their time talking about together, I would say that Sybil was probably trying to convince her family to all move back home. Because today, the Phelps General Store is considered to be the most haunted building in the Finger Lakes District, and every single ghost seems to be a member of the Phelps family. You see, Sybil wasn't the only Phelps who died at 140 Market Street. Before her, there were at least four other deaths in the house. and not only did they stick around after they passed away,

but they appeared to have convinced their other relatives to visit as well. This isn't a haunting, so much as it is, a ghostly family reunion. Today, the Phelps General Store is operated by the Palmyra Historical Society as a museum, which has given employees and visitors alike ample opportunity for paranormal experiences. Visitors frequently report hearing footsteps, slamming doors, and disembodied voices. They almost always say that there are multiple distinct voices, too, not just one. This claim has even been backed up with EVP recordings in which a chorus of ghostly voices welcomes people into the Phelps family home.

People have also seen several children running about. The most famous is a girl called Holly. It's believed that little Holly died in 1836 when she was only eight years old. Museum employees say that she and a few of the other ghost children frequently hide together under a table. If visitors ever sit in one of the chairs next to that table, Holly will reach out and grab their hand. It's unknown if she's trying to make friends by doing this,

or if she's trying to scare everyone away. Either way, the latter is usually what happens. Other identifiable ghosts include multiple cats, assumedly owned by Sybil, as well as Sybil's father, Julius Phelps. He's known as a cantankerous spirit, who's frequently seen pacing around his bedroom, asking who all these bothersome museum visitors are. Of course, the ghost who is most frequently sighted around the house

is the spiritualist herself, Sybil. Unlike many of the other ghosts, she doesn't stay in one spot. Instead, she wanders around the entire house, hanging out in the kitchen or playing her piano. Sybil has even been known to speak to the living. There's an EVP recording of her asking, Can you tell me who else has died? And during one notable encounter, she appeared before a museum in place,

and told him, Don't touch my stuff. After that, the poor man refused to go to the third floor alone again. Her ghost has even crashed her own party. Every October, the museum throws a birthday party for Sybil, and on multiple occasions, she's actually made an appearance.

I think it's easy for us to see death as something scary, but if you take anything away from Sybil's story, it should be that Dine doesn't have to be this dark, terrible thing. And if you play your cards right, there might even be some cats. Less than 30 miles south of Buffalo is the little village of Angola, New York. With a population of just over 2,000 people, Angola doesn't really have a lot going on. There are a couple of wineries outside the village border. and a haunted house attraction that seems to be in operation throughout the calendar year.

Other than that, there just isn't much around. But if you do find yourself in Angola and you're looking for a real thrill, then the locals just might direct you to Holland Road, or as it's colloquially known, Pigman Road, which is where you'll find, as the name suggests, the Angola Pigman. The pig man is said to be a grotesque entity that, shocker, resembles a pig. Some say that he has an actual pig head, while others say that he's wearing a pig mask. Either way, he has a snout, and according to some accounts, he even snorts and squeals, just like a real swine.

Most sightings happen on a stretch of road between two different railroad bridges. There, he lurks in the shadows, although he has also been known to occasionally run across the road, shrieking like his namesake animal. And the local wildlife all seems to know that they should steer clear. You can rarely hear any birds singing while you're between those two bridges, and no one can remember the last time they saw a deer there. It's possible that the pig man likes it that way. After all, he's sent some very clear messages about not wanting to share his home with anyone

else. For example, whenever anyone tries to build a house or a building between the two bridges, it burns down every single time. Paranormal investigators seem to disagree on whether or not the pig man is a malevolent spirit. Arson is a pretty intense ghostly power, after all, and it would be fair to say that our fire-wielding friend could get violence when provoked, but some investigators disagree, claiming that he's just an angry spirit who wants to be left alone. He's never hurt anyone, and as far as investigators can tell, he doesn't intend to. Now, if you were to tell me that there was a deformed, pig-like man

running around, my first instinct would be to say that he's some kind of monster or crypted, but the Local legends are adamant. He's absolutely a ghost. And if you're wondering how someone could have died and turned into a ghost that resembles Porky the Pig, then your guess is as good as anyone else's. There are a lot of theories floating around out there about his origin story. According to one version of the legend, a butcher once lived on Holland Road. Some people say that he was a butcher and a pig farmer, but let's not split hairs there. The point is that he had access to pigs. The legend claims that he lined his property with hogheads impaled on spikes. Apparently, he was trying to scare people away, which would be a strange thing for a butcher

to do if he wanted paying customers, but he didn't seem super keen on being open to business advice. Anyway, for some reason, this hoghead impaling hobby meant that when his spirit returned to the mortal world, he got to have a pighead of his very own. Sometimes the butcher story is much darker, though. Some people claimed that the butcher of Holland Road killed five schoolboys who trespassed on his property. Instead of pig's heads, it was their bodies that he staked and displayed around his yard. And in another version of the story, he shot a man and hung him from a meat hook in his shop.

And if you go by these bloody versions of the story, then his posthumous pig head was meant to be a punishment for his considerable crimes. But another story claims that the pig man wasn't a butcher at all. He was just a farmer with a deformed face. His nose stuck up like a snout, and his cleft palate made it difficult for him to speak. When local schoolchildren made fun of him, he murdered them and impaled their heads on spikes. All of these explanations are, frankly, nonsense. But there's one that's even more nonsensical than the rest. Another popular version of the pig man's backstory is that he died during the Angola train wreck.

You see, on December 18th of 1870, a six-car express train from Cleveland en route to Buffalo derailed, with the last two cars tumbling down an embankment and bursting into flames. Eyewitnesses were only able to save a few people from the burning cars. According to one contemporary newspaper, the shrieks for aid were heard for a full 15 minutes, while the fire communicated by the overturned stove was consuming their vitals. It was a terrible tragedy and one that the Angola community

has kept alive in their memory. According to locals, the ghosts from the train wreck still haunt Holland Road to this day. The pig man is simply the one who stands out the most. There's no real explanation as to why he is the only train ghost who looks like a pig. Maybe he was deformed, like the farmer in the previous story. Or maybe he caused the train to crash, and the pig face is his eternal punishment. Now, look, stories like this can be fun to tell, but it's still important that we separate fact from fiction. My team's research discovered that the train actually didn't crash anywhere near Holland Road.

In fact, it went off the rails a full 1.2 miles away. So if anyone tells you that you can still hear the screams of the dying railway passengers out on Holland Road, then you may want to tell them to search for a screech owl instead of a ghost. As for the other pigman legends, they aren't terribly plausible either. There actually was an Angola butcher, but he was the one who was murdered rather than the other way around. It happened in 1931 when two men shot and killed a butcher named Steve Sulecki. There were no records of any other butchers killing his customers or hanging them from meat hooks. There was only one innocent man who was murdered in cold blood.

For a town with such a small population, they seemed to have their fair share of tragedy. Their backstories for the pig man may not add up, but that's the thing. They don't really have to. It's possible that the Angola Pigman was a way for everyone to make sense of the violence and trauma that they had all experienced, a sort of snout-nosed coping mechanism. If they can blame every terrible event in history on one man and make sure that he gets his comeuppance, in this case a pig head, then there's justice in a chaotic world. And the legend has lived on because, honestly, teenagers really love driving out to a dark country road and searching

for weird cryptids. The Angola Pigman may not be real, but regardless he holds a love lot of collective trauma in his hands. And in such a small community, every helping hand counts, even if those helping hands have hooves. On March 20th of 1920, the Tonawanda news made a surprising announcement. An angel had been spotted outside the local cemetery. The witness was a man named Edward. He told the newspaper that he had been driving from Buffalo to his home in North Tawanda. As he near the North Tawanda Cemetery, a woman emerged from the orchard on the other side

of the road. He claimed that she had wings, long flowing hair, and a white dress. Naturally, Edward hit the brakes, and while he gaped at the apparition in front of him, she drifted across the road and then disappeared. Local North Tawanda readers may have thought that the story was a joke, or perhaps that Edward hadn't been in his right mind. But they found it harder to write this whole thing off when four days later, another angel sighting was reported.

According to the same newspaper, a trolley driver was pulling the late shift when it happened. Around 11.30 that night, he saw a long-haired woman in a white dress waiting by the tracks as if she were about to board. Assuming that she was a passenger, he stopped the trolley and opened the door, but nobody got in. Not only that, but where the woman had once been standing was now empty. It was as if nobody had ever been there at all. After this

encounter, people stopped calling the apparition an angel and started calling it a ghost. It's unclear why the change happened, but it may have something to do with the fact that the trolley driver didn't report seeing any wings on her back. On April 6th of that year, local newspapers once again reported on a ghost sighting. This time it was at a boarding house. Sometime between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m., the boarding house's manager, a man named Anthony Ross, was startled awake by a huge gust of wind that swept his bed coverings off his body. When he opened his eyes, there was a woman floating through the room, and then, just as quickly, she vanished. That was enough for Anthony. He packed up his belongings, and he ushered his family and the other boarders out of the building. One man didn't

believe that Anthony had actually seen a ghost, and he elected to stay. The very next night, he too fled the house. Strangely, the day after the story about the boarding house was published, Anthony Ross went to the police and recanted his testimony. He said that a man dressed in black had broken into the home, but that no women, whether they were ghosts or angels, had come to call. A few days later, the owner of the boarding house, a guy named August Coombe, complained to the Niagara Gazette that ever since Anthony had gone public with the ghost story, nobody wanted to rent a room from him. Even though Anthony had walked it all back, nobody seemed to care. They didn't want to risk sleeping with a spook. Later, August flew to

the idea that this ghost nonsense was actually just a conspiracy to get him to sell his house below market rate. No one actually wanted to buy his old boarding house, though, but plenty of people did want to see the ghost. North Tawanda was suddenly flooded with tourists and amateur ghost hunters. Local newspapers were making money hand over fist as companies all clamored to advertise with them. Everyone in the area was talking about the North Tawanda ghost, and they weren't going to stop anytime soon. On June 11th, the Tawanda News reported that a large number of people had seen the spirit float down Falconer Street. It was described as, and I quote, about seven feet in height, dressed in flowing, creamy white robes, and had the appearance of having its wings

clipped off. It even woke up a few people as it passed by their bedroom windows. Now, this next part might get a bit confusing, so stay with me here. North Tawanda actually has a sister city called simply Tawanda. It was rare for the twin cities to get much attention in the news, so it's only natural that, after a while, Tawanda residents got jealous of North Tawanda hogging the spotlight. So on June 13th, the Buffalo Times reported this. The mystery deepens. Tawanda two. has a ghost. Apparently their ghost looked just like the one in North Tawanda. Maybe it had traveled, or maybe there had never been a ghost at all.

On June 15th of 1920, the Buffalo Courier Express Blue, the lid off this whole ghost debacle. Remember how I said that Tawanda and North Tawanda were sister cities while their respective governments must have really been tired of everyone getting their two towns mixed up because for years, they had been in talks about

merging into one town. Unfortunately for these local governments, none of their residents actually wanted to merge. They had already voted to strike down a merger in 1919. And now, in 1920, the matter was simply up to a vote again, except this time the Chamber of Commerce

had a plan. An incredibly ridiculous, incredibly stupid plan. They decided to create a ghost. Members of the Chamber of Commerce would call in sightings and the newspapers would report on it. Even the police chief was in on the scam. At the end of this month's long, elaborate political stunt, the North Tawanda government was going to run an article in local newspapers saying, if Tawanda would give up the ghost for North Tawanda in the merger project, North Tawanda would give up the ghost for its sister city. That's it. That was the plan. And that pun to give up the ghost was supposed to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy about the merger. And maybe everyone would laugh about this whole crazy ghost hoax and sing kumbaya together at the polls. Unfortunately

for the government, none of those things ever happened. Instead, people felt duped. They felt foolish. Here they had been believing in a ghost when in reality politicians had been pulling the strings the entire time. I think the Buffalo Times put it best when they said never again will any resident of the Tawandas believe in ghost stories. They are all cured after realizing the manner in which they were taken in. And the best part, after all the theatrics, the North Tawanda ghost hoax had absolutely no bearing on the merger at all. In fact, it might have even made it more unpopular than it had ever been before. The merger was struck down at the polls later that year. To this day,

North Tawanda and Tawanda remain separate cities, and neither of them have reported any mysterious ghost sightings ever since. Every small town has a few legends. For the folks who live there, they serve a lot of purposes. They explain things that are tough to wrestle with. They illustrate the flaws of human nature. They entertain. And hopefully our tour through some of upstate New York's weirdest legends has offered you a bit of each.

But we're not done just yet. We might have talked about ghosts with wings or specters with snouts. But what about a ghost with four legs? Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. We've all done it before, turning to our barista hairdresser or a random stranger at the gym for some life advice. As fun as they are to talk with about everyday topics, though, when you're looking for help about relationships, anxiety, depression, or other

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no extra cost. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Find the one with BetterHelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash lore. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash lore. This episode was also made possible by Acorns. The earliest financial advice I ever learned was to always save a portion of my income, whether it was my childhood allowance or a paycheck from work. Good advice, though, is one thing.

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Acorns Advisors, LLC, and SEC Registered Investment Advisor, view important disclosures at acorns.com slash lore. This episode was also made possible by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you are just starting out

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And their Squarespace email campaigns option has all the tools you need to engage clients, promote your services, and grow your business. Get started today for free. Head over to Squarespace.com slash lore for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Squarespace, build something beautiful. If you've been a long-time listener, then you may remember that we've talked about black dogs a fair amount in the past,

and I don't mean your friendly neighborhood black lab either. No, I'm talking about gigantic spectrum. beasts. Sometimes they're unusually large or extremely fast. Some of these specters can have red or yellow eyes. Some are sleek and some are shaggy. But usually they share one trait in common. They are an omen of death. There are, of course, exceptions. Occasionally black dogs are viewed as protectors rather than harbingers of doom. But more often than not, seeing one of these guys isn't a great sign for your life expectancy. And even though black dog folklore is most commonly found in the UK, Death omens have a surprisingly wide reach, and their stories can pop up in the most unexpected places.

Like, for example, on the shores of Lake Erie. Now, I have to warn you, this legend does not have a happy backstory. The Black Dog of Lake Erie dates back to the 1860s or 70s, and while dogs have been beloved throughout history, they weren't always treated with the love and devotion that they're given today. For many during this time period, dogs were not the priority, and that meant that sometimes they were left behind. The story goes that one day a ship was going through the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Erie

to Lake Ontario. It was a standard trip that needed no extra luck. But the crew had it in spades regardless. They had a good luck charm with them in the form of a big black Newfoundland. He was sort of a crew mascot, and he was probably handy to have around as well. This breed was a strong swimmer, so much so that in the 19th century, Newfoundlands were frequently used to rescue people from drowning. There's no telling how long this particular dog had been a member of the crew. He could have been new to the team or a long-time sailor. Either way, with his lifeguard skills, this furry friend was an invaluable addition. But for some reason, when the ship sailed through the canal, no one was watching the most important crew member of all, until

he fell into the water. Strangely, none of the men rushed to save the dog. Instead, they teased and jeered at him as he tried to swim back to the boat. Maybe they thought it was funny, or they were just fooling around, or maybe they were simply cruel men who valued their own entertainment over their canine companion safety. We will never know, because only a few minutes later, their ship went through the lock, and instead of getting pulled back onto the boat, their sweet dog got caught up in the gears, and died. We don't know what the crew's reaction was. All we do know is that in the following nights, none of them could sleep. Not because of a guilty conscience, but because of the ghostly howl of a dog that haunted them all night long.

The Newfoundland may have died, but he didn't leave Lake Erie. Not really. He stuck around, warning people that they were about to join him in his watery grave. The first recorded sighting of the Black Dog of Lake Erie came in 1875. As a schooner called the IG Jenkins made its way across the water, a sailor saw a large black dog crawl over the ship railing and land on the deck below. The dog's fur was wet, but strangely it didn't leave a trail of water in its wake. There were no wet footprints or droplets, only.

the dog's quiet, measured footsteps. The sailor watched the dog holding his breath until it went back over the rail into the depths below. Thinking that the dog must be a bad omen, the witness told the captain what he had seen. Unfortunately, the captain thought that the sailor was just drunk and he refused to believe him. But he should have, because the very next night a storm blew in and the IG Jenkins sank beneath the waves. On December 3rd of 1875, the Buffalo Daily Republic reported, and I quote, it is ascertained that the schooner I.G. Jenkins floundered in a gale on Monday above Oswego, and that all on board were lost.

Over the next few days, debris and shattered pieces of furniture washed up on the shore, and strangely enough, one farmer spotted something unexpected. A dog. A dog, clearly traumatized with paralyzed back legs, had dragged himself to shore. The local townspeople recognized him as the captain. dog from the I.G. Jenkins. According to the report, the poor brute was all the trace ever found of the Jenkins and her crew of seven. Since then, several more ships have seen the black dog of Lake Erie. In 1881, for example, dock workers saw a large black dog aboard the Mary Jane,

with what they described as a lolling tongue and eyes of fire. Later that day, the Mary Jane left port, a storm hit while she was out in the water, and neither she nor the crew were ever seen again. Then in 1891, a similar story happened with the ship called the Thomas Hume. Caught in a storm, the ship and its crew succumbed to the waves. Technically, there were no recorded sightings of the Black Dog during this particular incident, but people have argued that the circumstances of the ship sinking were so strange that he must have been on board. The only problem is that no one survived to tell the tale. Out of all the ships that sank after seeing the Black Dog of Lake Erie,

there has been only one survivor, the captain's dog from the Eyej, jenkins i would like to think that the black dog helped that little survivor to safety maybe the black dog no longer cares what happens to humans but he doesn't want any other dog to die the way that he did and so while he may be an omen of death for sailors he's also a beacon of hope in the storm for his fellow drowning dogs This episode of lore legends was produced by me, Aaron Manky, with writing by Alex Robinson and research by Jamie Vargas. Just like you, I'm not a fan of ads and podcasts, but that's how we pay the bills around here

at lore HQ. Thankfully, I have a solution for you. I've created a paid version of lore that is available on Apple Podcasts or Patreon that is 100% ad-free, and plus the paid subscribers there also get weekly mini episodes that we call lore bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling and a great way to support the show and the humans that make it. And for more information on those ad-free options, you can head over to lorepodcast.com slash support. Of course, lore is much more than just a podcast. There's the book series available in bookstores and online and two seasons of the

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