Deep in the woods of the Vernooy Kill State Forest, just right outside the southern tip of the mountains collectively called the Catskills, is a richly beautiful area to hike, commune with nature in immersive isolation, and maybe even go for a swim in the summer in the crystal-clear waters of Vernooy Kill. Yet hardly anyone goes there-indeed, the neighboring townsfolk 6 miles away vigorously avoid it and the absence of human litter so common in all popular natural spots and detested by the avid nature lover could instead spook even the most intrepid hiker-save for the adventurous soul who has an insatiable taste for the paranormal.
Such is the setting one finds in Pottersville, a town built on the same pioneering spirit as the early New World settlers’, that is, on a hunch and a willingness to endure hardship in the hopes of striking it rich.
Except that unlike the other towns that found fame and fortune, for the small, fledgling, emerging town of Pottersville, things went rather quickly awry.
Founded in the early 1900s when a man named Francis Potter built a lumber mill in the Vernooy Kill State Forest and families who worked there began building homes, the small settlement acquired the name, “Pottersville”, in honor of the mill’s founder.
But the mill owner died, the mill closed, and having no other source of income, the families began moving out. A massive flood happened in 1927 followed by a fire which all but hastened the families’ departure. Soon, Pottersville became a ghost town.
Before it did, however, two horrific events would happen there that would make “Pottersville” synonymous with ghostly activity in the woods in the minds of those living in the neighboring villages.
A man would murder his entire family then kill himself. A murderer would be caught there and hanged there. With such heavy concentration of murders, suicide, and a killing in such a small locale within a short period of time, word spread even to this day that ghosts roam Pottersville long after it was abandoned.
So, who’s up for a haunted hike? A trip in Mother Nature suffused with the metaphysical could be an experience like no other. Because for all you know, that professed love of yours for the “natural” may all this time have been a clever guise for what is truly an unearthly enchantment for that realm called the “supernatural”...
Music:
"Keep Dreaming" by Nick Petrov
"Burning Heart" by Nick Petrov
"Call Me Soon" by Black Rhomb
"African Savannah" by Serj Anto
More info:
www.treasurene...