ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Capital Region residents looking to experience the paranormal need look no further than Albany. The city is the fifth most supernatural location in the state, according to GreatLakesStakes.com.
With 93 ghost or UFO sightings, Albany beat out Schenectady which had 46 sightings. Schenectady was number 9 on the list. A total of 7,533 sightings in the top 10 locations helped New York get into 5th position for the most supernatural states nationwide.
Ghost sightings for GreatLakesStakes report were gathered from GhostsofAmerica.com. The last recorded ghost sighting for Albany happened in 2008 on the UAlbany Uptown Campus. The report detailed the events of the encounter with a disembodied male voice.
“I was near the entrance but far enough away where I usually didn’t feel anything, but this was a strong chilled feeling. Then all the sudden I heard a panicked male voice, ‘Is somebody there? Can somebody help me?’ I got up and did a quick look. No one was there.”
Gary Robusto, the founder of Tri-City New York Paranormal Society, has been investigating paranormal activity for 25 years. He said he’s not surprised Albany made it into the top ten most supernatural cities in the state. He said Albany’s deep historical roots, energy, proximity to water (the Hudson River), and open-mindedness of residents all come together to create an ideal location.
Robusto also believes ghost hunting shows like “Ghost Hunters” and “Kindred Spirits” have opened the door to having conversations about paranormal experiences. He said people are more likely to share stories than they used to be.
Top 10 supernatural cities in New York
| City | Supernatural sightings | |
| 1 | New York City | 867 |
| 2 | Rochester | 158 |
| 3 | Buffalo | 149 |
| 4 | Syracuse | 106 |
| 5 | Albany | 93 |
| 6 | Staten Island | 77 |
| 7 | Binghamton | 67 |
| 8 | Utica | 52 |
| 9 | Schenectady | 46 |
| 10 | Newark Valley | 39 |
Tri-City New York Paranormal Society used to be headquartered at Ten Broeck Mansion, the same place Robusto said he had one of his most memorable paranormal experiences. Robusto said he was pushed in the chair he was sitting in during a table-tipping session using electronic voice phenomena at the mansion. “That was intense,” he said. “Stuff like that doesn’t happen.”
California and Texas top the list for the number of extraterrestrial encounters, and supernatural sightings. There were 15,072 UFO encounters in California and 7,382 supernatural sightings in Texas. But it’s Maine where people Maine have the best chance of seeing into the unknown.
Top 10 supernatural states
| Rank | State | UFO Sightings | Ghost Sightings | Sightings of the Supernatural |
| 1 | California | 15,072 | 6,973 | 22,045 |
| 2 | Texas | 5,631 | 7,382 | 13,013 |
| 3 | Florida | 7,513 | 1,758 | 9,271 |
| 4 | Washington | 6,720 | 1,291 | 8,011 |
| 5 | New York | 5,403 | 2,130 | 7,533 |
| 6 | Ohio | 4,110 | 2,903 | 7,013 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 4,592 | 2,239 | 6,831 |
| 8 | Illinois | 4,025 | 2,529 | 6,554 |
| 9 | Michigan | 3,383 | 2,704 | 6,087 |
| 10 | Arizona | 4,604 | 784 | 5,388 |
Robusto believes people are more open to paranormal experiences and becoming more open to the possibilities of the paranormal. He also understands it may be hard for some people to accept paranormal experiences due to their unexplainable nature. His message, just because people haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Scientists couldn’t prove electrons existed either until they could.
