By Barbara Arnstein
“I don’t think it’s scary when someone you love contacts you after they die. I think it’s sweet”, said Amanda Woomer, one of the speakers in this summer’s free series of talks at the Cattaraugus County Museum & Research Library in Machias, NY. Ms. Woomer is the author of “A Haunted Atlas of Western
New York”, “America’s Haunted Breweries, Distilleries & Wineries” and other books on similar subjects. “I think of after-life communication in a positive light”, she added. “There’s enough doom and gloom on TV. “
On June 23rd, July 14th, July 28th, August 11th and August 25th, there will be free one-hour talks by an assortment of interesting speakers at the museum/library, nicknamed the Stone House because it’s in a stone house built in 1868. On July 28th, Woomer will be talking about her book “Haunted WNY, Volume 2″. One of her most interesting stories is about the time she says she made contact with her brother, two years after his death. She was at the Ghostlight Theatre in North Tonawanda, where they both
performed in plays as children and, thinking his spirit might be there, she asked out loud how he was doing. She says she recorded his voice answering “I’m fine”. On that same night, in that same place, someone took a cellphone picture in which, she says, he clearly appears. On another occasion in that same theatre, according to her, she saw his spirit backstage. “I was the only one who saw him then”, she said. “But other people saw him there later, including local medium Rev. Tim Shaw. I’ll be talking about five haunted places in Cattaraugus County”, she added. “One of is the Hinsdale House (I’ll especially be focusing on the TRUE history) and the Wildwood Sanitarium. My newest book, which was just released, is ‘Harlots & Hauntings’.” She will lecture for about a half an hour and then take questions (and sell her
books) for the remaining time.
On June 23rd, Jim Kimball, a music lecturer at SUNY Geneseo and director of the Geneseo String Band will present “International Folkways of WNY Traditional Music”. He will both play different types of music popular throughout the history of WNY, including Irish, Italian and African-American music, and talk about their origins.
On July 14th, in her talk “100 Years of Redwork”, Linda Hunter will talk about the fascinating origins of redwork, the art of using red thread to make ornate designs on quilts with white backgrounds, and how it led to contemporary quilt-making. She will show examples of it and a variety of patterns and fabrics used for it.
On August 11th, Allen Hopkins, a musician who plays the guitar, the banjo, mandolins, the harmonica, and the ukulele, as well as many other instruments, will perform his intriguingly titled presentation, “Outlaws & Rebels”, featuring traditional tunes.
On August 25th, Jeanette Sheliga, since January 2022 the president of the Virtual Genealogical Association, will explain how to use historical Sanborn Fire Insurance maps to research family connections.
The talks are all on Thursdays at 7 pm at the Cattaraugus County Museum & Research Library, located at 9824 route 16 (next to the Pines Nursing Home), in Machias, NY. and they are all presented outside, under a tent. Each typically lasts an hour. I strongly suggest you bring folding chairs because seating is limited there and audiences range up to 100 people, For more information, email bjmcclellan@cattco.org, or call (716) 353-8200.