Summoning the so-called dead in Lily Dale, New York

Lily Dale is about an hour south of Buffalo, NY.

A black cat disappears into a bank of tiger lilies, prayer ribbons stir on a puff of air.  On Cassadaga Lake, afternoon sun glints off the water in darts of light that drift ashore like summoned souls.

Spirit summoning has been going on for over 150 years at Lily Dale, home to the world's largest Spiritualist community and over 40 registered mediums.

Victorian cottages feature quaint woodwork.

Belief in the ability to communicate with the dead (or so-called dead in Lily Dale speak) has been around for millennia but Spiritualism as an organized religion got its start in Western New York in the 1840s.  Spiritualists believe that the ability to communicate with spirits of the deceased is not something you're born with but is a skill that can be learned.  The Lily Dale Assembly offers classes year 'round in everything from reading auras and energy healing to mediumship.

With my interest piqued by a recent HBO documentary, I arrived here on a hot August day.  It seemed inconsiderate to call my grandparents from the back of beyond just to say "Luv ya!" and the likelihood of Amelia Earhart responding to a query by a random Torontonian seemed nil, so I didn't have an appointment with a medium.  Instead I wandered around, poking in the museum, the bookshop, along the lanes of Victorian-era cottages.  Bits of a lecture on chakras floated out of the auditorium, the Assembly Hall was packed for service with seen--and unseen?--souls.

Cassadaga Lake, New York.

Services have been held at Inspiration Stump since 1898. 

In search of Inspiration Stump, I headed into the Leolyn Woods, said to be an energy vortex.  A rare bit of virgin forest remaining in this part of New York State, the Leolyn Woods are a shade-dappled cathedral adorned with moss, fern and mushrooms.  Gorgeous.  And "so-called dead" quiet.  Not a bird flew or chirped, not a chipmunk scrambled.  Leaves hung in absolute stillness as though I were standing in an enchanted belljar, caught among the trees like a spirit snagged in the strands of one of the witchballs hanging in the window of Lily Dale's bookshop.

Urban born and bred me often gets a little bush fever if I stray too far from the city but it seemed the forest at Lily Dale went from serene (if too serene) to panic-inducing in a snap.
An inexplicable crunch on the empty path behind me, then another even closer.  Dear Reader, I ran.
Past the black cat and fluttering prayer flags, past the  incoming lookie-loos, into the van and past the gate, basically fleeing until I reached a mall an hour away.
Sipping a cappuccino, enjoying the prosaic scene, I mused that while hanging at the mall could be considered only so-called living, it was easier on the nerves than hanging out in the bush with the so-called dead.

For more on this unusual chapter in Western New York history including more photos and a trailer for the HBO documentary No One Dies in Lily Dale, check out my article on Examiner.com.
And if you've got a comment or experience to share, leave it below!

Lake Effect Diner, Buffalo, New York

Lake Effect Diner is located in northeast Buffalo, New York.

The interior is a retro delight.

Even if we're just across the border on a weekend shopping raid, Pat and I are always on the lookout for a non-chain place to eat with great local food and plenty of atmosphere.  Discovering the Lake Effect Diner in Buffalo, NY, last week was a real score.
It's easy to love these old diners with their gleaming resemblance to old Airstream trailers.  Their exuberant lines just seem to shout holiday and road trip!
The Lake Effect Diner is a post-war original, restored by the Curtin family who also renovated the classic diner menu with with fresh, healthful ingredients sourced when possible  from local farms.  It's this that earned the diner a spot on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins & Dives on Food Network.

Fresh haddock four ways.

Mmm-griddled mac and cheese!

Want breakfast any time with hormone-free eggs, house-cured bacon or ham with red eye gravy? They've got it.  Savory stuffed potato pancakes, sandwiches, steaks, juicy meatloaf hoagies, Buffalo wings or beef-on-weck?  Check.  Please!
The house specialty is fresh haddock served four ways including Budweiser-battered.  With an eye already on the dessert menu - and a side of crispy griddled mac & cheese - I opted for "virtuous" lemon broiled while Pat ordered pan-seared with tomatoes, basil, romano cheese and white wine.  Salads and veg were abundant and super fresh.
For dessert, it was a tough call between a Fried Banana Split for 2 or the Peanut Butter Pie.  Finally, we let the waitress make the call.  What can be said about cool, made-in-house custard cream with the flavor of fresh nuts?  The P.B. Pie alone is worth a trip across the border.
The Lake Effect Diner is located at 3165 Main Street in northeast Buffalo, very easy to get to from any of the area malls or Niagara Falls.  You never have to settle for a chain--and shouldn't!

Buffalo's electric cultural scene



The Electric Tower (1912).



New Sol LeWitt installation at Albright-Knox.

There's something Gotham-esque about Buffalo, New York, at night. The moon rises through cold crisp darkness over monuments to its past wealth and importance: the ghost-white Electric Tower, the floodlit ladies atop the Liberty Building, the magnificent Art Deco pile of its City Hall.

In dark streets below, the city's legendary nightlife carries on until a 4 a.m. last call. But if beer, chicken wings and surgical shopping strikes at Target are all you know of Buffalo, you're missing out on a truly electric cultural scene.

First, the city's architectural riches. Everything old is new again, thanks to dedicated "friends of" organizations that have brought landmarks like Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House Complex and Graycliff Estate back from near-ashes and done a lot towards earning Buffalo a designation last year as a Distinctive Destination by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The New York Times, too, voted it one of the world's top 44 places to go in 2009 and added that Buffalo is rapidly becoming a "center for creative types" thanks to affordable housing, inexpensive studio space and a super-supportive community.

There's so much going on artwise, it's hard to know where to begin so I'll begin where I usually do, at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Since my last visit just a few months ago, the Albright-Knox had almost entirely changed what was on display, pulling treasures by the likes of O'Keefe and Warhol from their Aladdin's cave of 20th century art. One new commission: Wall Drawing #1268: Scribbles: Staircase, conceived by Sol LeWitt before his death in 2007, was recently executed in painstaking graphite scribbles by a team of artists following LeWitt's instruction to make it look like steel (pictured above).

Burchfield Penney Art Center.

An exciting discovery was the new Burchfield Penney Art Center. Its proximity to the Albright-Knox (they're right across Elmwood Avenue from each other) make both a do-able double whammy on a day trip but you're definitely going to want more time. Beyond/In Western New York 2010: Alternating Currents (yes, an electrical theme) features 100 artists at over 20 venues like the legendary Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, founded in 1974 by a group of students that included now-icons Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo.

From live theatre, rock and jazz clubs, multi-disciplinary creativity all over the place and an increasingly sophisticated culinary scene that recently got a nod from Anthony Bourdain, Buffalo is accessible, stimulating and great fun. And while Pittsburgh has rightfully been getting a lot of buzz for being the "new New York" of the art world, Buffalo isn't far behind.

Buffalo landmarks at Poster Art in Elmwood Village.

Buffalo Gal

Magritte at the Albright-Knox.

Cole's on Elmwood.

Still carrying on my not-so-secret love affair with Buffalo, an affair that shows no sign of cooling any time soon. This time, a stroll down Elmwood Avenue, the sidewalk scattered with with gold gingko leaves, to our favorite Buffalo hangout, Cole's.  Robbie at the old (1934) bar--dark wood, college memorabilia, antique carousel horses--pulled us a couple of pints while we waited for a table.
Anyone who thinks Buffalo's dead hasn't been in Elmwood Village at lunchtime lately. Even midweek, parking spots and restaurant seating were at a premium. The prices help. Burger specials at Cole's were going for $6 and $7 but I had to have the Buffalo combo: a beef on weck (weck is a roll sprinkled with caraway and coarse salt) au jus and Buffalo wings. B-wings are available around the planet now but I find they're most delectable in the city they were invented in.
Later we browsed the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, its neoclassical exterior containing some excellent 20th century (think Pollock, Giacometti, Johns) art including one of the scariest pieces I've seen, Rene Magritte's The Voice of Space (1928). The second floor is full of new contemporary acquisitions, a great place to take kids on spring break. The back of the gallery is actually the front, with two impressive caryatid porches gazing out over Olmsted's sweeping Delaware Park and the skateboarders and lovers exploring its lakeside paths. Buffalo, you're always such a pleasure.