Forest Park Cemetery, known locally as Pinewood Cemetery (due to it location) has many urban legends surrounds its now abandoned grounds. The cemetery which is located in Troy, NY was founded by wealthy businessmen in 1897; although some believe that it was in use since 1856. The park planned to be a different experience for visitors, providing long trails and a “park-like” experience, something that would entice visitors to have their relatives buried at the location. To much dismay of the owners the cemetery was not a huge hit and went bankrupt in 1914. Although the cemetery and was never fully completed to plans, the company had been able to build one structure in the front, the receiving tomb. It still stands today.

A photo posted by Stephanie Fay (@stephkfay) on Oct 23, 2024 at 2:00pm PDT

The Mausoleum/ Receiving Tomb

The entrance building is comprised of granite, with a copper ceiling and contains roughly 128 catacombs to house the dead. But there are none buried there today. The structures sole purpose was to temporarily house the dead during the winters months when the grounds were frozen and graves could not be dug. Over the years the roof has collapses and many of the graves have caved in. There are rumors of many unknown spirits which haunt the old building. While none of them have names, visitors have reporting feeling hair pulled, heard disembodied voices and seen strange orbs which cannot be explained. Others receive strange scratch marks or have their cellphone battery die inexplicably. Many believe the ghosts are the souls of those who were left one winter and never given a proper burial, forgotten forever. Others say that bodies were stolen from the Forest Park Cemetery in the 1920’s.

The tomb and its surrounding land were bought in 1914 by another company who sold off much of the land to the Country Club of Troy, used to build their golf course. Only 16 years later, the cemetery went bankrupt again and was left abandoned. Its only caretaker was a local man by the name William Christian who looked over the graves until his death in the 1960’s. During this time it estimated that over 1,000 bodies were buried on the grounds.

The Headless Angel

Off one of the walking paths lies a very erie and sinister looking grave. At just over 10 feet tall, the statue of a headless angel in front of a cross welcomes many guests. Rumors state that back when the cemetery was accessible there were a few boys who wandered in at night for some late night thrills. As they approached the grave the eyes of the angel began to bleed and freaked the boys out. As a result the boys cut the head off the angel and threw it into the woods. Today it’s said that the angel continues to bleed from the neck. This has mostly been disproven as locals say the “blood” is just moss after humidity gets to the statue. Other stories talk of children’s laughter around the grave along with visitors getting poked and tripped.

A photo posted by Eric Ayotte (@ericayotte) on Sep 9, 2024 at 2:20pm PDT

The angel isn’t the only headless grave on the land, but is the most famous.

The Friendly Soldier

During the early morning of November 11, 1916, a troubled young man by the of Harold Hubbard Horne committed suicide in Forest Park Cemetery. The buffalo native was a student and veteran who had family troubles. After spending the evening with a local girl, Harold walked home past the cemetery but decided to end his life by shooting himself in the head. Few visitors have claimed to see the spirit of Harold walking around the graves, especially when driving by at night. If you look through the front gates (nicknamed the ‘gates of hell’) and call out the name Harold three times he will appear to say hello. Some say that he will only appear to those going through extreme mental anxiety, as he promotes warm and comforting thoughts to those in need. While many ghosts cause a chill in the air, the spirit of Harold brings warm and positive energy to those who visit him.

Today the cemetery is off grounds to all trespassers and is constantly monitored by local police.

Edited Cover Photo By UpstateNYer, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

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Anonymous

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I still have nightmares - my history teacher
10 months ago
Cindy lester

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I’m am 61 yrs old i have visited this cemetery a few times between the age of 15 to the age of 23 .Once in the afternoon and a couple times at night. They have had paranormal investigators there. It’s definitely haunted. During the late afternoon in summer
Out of no where a few friends and I came across 2 girls wearing like 1940s shorts and tops. They were telling us they were going swimming in the pond to follow them. It seemed like we walked for two hours looking for this pond. We decide to stop looking.
And Started going back to leave . When we turned back to see if they were coming they were gone no where to be found. That was it for me.
2 years ago
Robert M Christian

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My Great Grandfather was the Caretaker, My Family owned a Country store and Gas station across the street a little ways down. My Father at a young age Helped my Great grandfather Mow the lawns and gut the hedges. I have some History that was passed down to me over the years.
2 years ago
John Musto

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I went there a few times in my high school days. We found the bleeding statue but never seen it bleed. There was supposedly a “petrified high chair” that I don’t remember if we ever found or not. The whole place is creepy but I never seen any ghosts or the famous willow wisps. One day though we went looking for the Indian Burial Grounds where we heard the trees were all grown in a perfect square. It was the middle of the day and the two of us got lost for hours in a small patch of woods, we crossed over the same fallen tree four times and it was really creepy because we were sure we were walking straight the whole time so we couldn’t figure out how we kept going in circles. It was around 3 hours and we were starting to get really weirded out and nervous. Eventually we heard cars go by in the road and followed the sound to the street and got out but It was definitely weird!!
2 years ago
2Spoopy

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so spooki i was spookithed.
3 years ago
Jordan

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This place is soo cool
3 years ago
N/a

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Wish the town historian would allow paranormal groups in to investigate.
I don’t think it be a bad thing there needs to be some closure to what is happening at this cemetery
3 years ago
Denise

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I wish they would allow people to walk the grounds. Why not hire someone to walk people through in the month of october. Charge $5 a person to pay the workers.. one on one tours. I am very interested in urban legends of all kinds and this one is worth the drive. Even just to meet the soldier. I really dont want to break the law but its soooo interesting to say the least.
3 years ago
Barbra

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Can visitors be allowed in the cemetery? Thank you so very much. You
4 years ago
C.Curley

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I went there in 2007. 4 of us. Uneasy feeling for sure, anticipating things. Stood in the mausoleum for a while before wandering through the Graves. I couldn’t see the ghosts but I felt that they were at waist level as the other girl with us said there were kids everywhere. We saw orbs. Something whispered “we’re here” directly in my ear. The girls husband disappeared, and reappeared 20 mins later, no explanation. We were going to go farther. We saw orbs and blue fog in the tree tops. All of the sudden a huge beast appeared at the top of the tree, blue and hazy, it jumped down to the center of the tree and then again coming straight at us. We ran out and over the gate. In the car the girl was crying. Said there was a boy calling her mom at the gate. She was very upset to leave. Maybe a year later I was in a boarders book store, fall time so display shelves had haunted books. One was the top haunted places in NY. I opened the book to this grave yard. And read what other people witnessed. It was the same experiences we had. I will never forget it. Till this day still trying to find that book.
4 years ago
Neana R.

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I have been in this cemetery many times. I took photos that have orbs in the images after developing them. Also, while my friends and I were in the cemetery taking a photo of the headless angel, we felt an eerie feeling of a presence come over us. We rushed to leave but as we did a sound of a groan echoed across the cemetery. We ran safely to the road and walked a bit up one if the neighboring streets. On our way back, the gates of the cemetery were unlocked and wide open. They were securely locked when we went in as we had to climb over the lower fence line to get in and out. The town has the key to the lock and there was no trace of human contact ( tire marks, footprints) in the parking lot. It had rained earlier in the day and the ground was a little muddy. Till this day I cant explain what it was that we heard, but I will never forget it. And I will never go in that cemetery again. P.S. the headless angle statue is surrounded by childrens graves. That would explain the childrens laughter and antics.
4 years ago
Eva

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Twenty years ago I tried to study this cemetery. (1995) I brought some friends along that would absolutely not enter this location due to the unwanted feelings you receive at the iron gate. I’ve been there during the day and at night. I’ve seen blue mist to ghost type people crawling towards me. Im more scared of the people that lurk in there to perform their satanic ceremonies than the spirits. I’ve encountered people dressed in black robes, near the grotto, performing an animal sacrifice which ticked me off. Just beware of the mausoleum in the front. And throughout the cemetery there are graves in the deep forest. There is said to be a creature within that area. I haven’t witnessed it. I’ve just seen deer. Always go with a friend or friends day or night.
5 years ago
Vance

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I have been to this cemetery several times throughout the years. One time, back in around 2002, I went with a group of friends. As we walked through around midnight we ran into other groups of people. I weird fog rolled in, there was a heavy musty smell and dogs around the area started to howl. One of the girls we were with was grabbed. After she became hysterical it was time to leave. I have heard a lot of stories about this place. I used to own one of the bricks from the old mausoleum. Glad I lost it a long time ago. I also found a small box with bones in it near one of the headless angel statues. . It looked like Theban script scribbled on it.
5 years ago
Jay

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Went here back in the day as a kid while it was still open. Angel is a creepy sight to see. There is also a weird energy in the cemetery that is really freaky. Definitely haunted.
6 years ago

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Haunted Places, Legends and Ghosts

Forest Park Cemetery (Pinewoods) : Troy , NY

Forest Park Cemetery (Pinewoods) : Troy , NY

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