HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
1841 Lockport burial ground ringed by woods, with a long-circulated hitchhiker-ghost legend
4849 Cold Springs Road, Lockport, NY 14094
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No charge to visit the cemetery during daylight hours. It is an active burial ground; visit respectfully.
Access
Limited Access
Rolling, wooded cemetery grounds with unpaved drives; surrounded by hills and a wall
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1841 · National Register of Historic Places (2004) · Erie Canal History · Notable Burials
Cold Springs Cemetery lies on Cold Springs Road in the Town of Lockport, Niagara County, on the western edge of the city. The cemetery association was incorporated in 1841, and the grounds were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 10, 2004. The setting is distinctive: the burial ground is surrounded by hills, thick woods, and a perimeter wall, which has long given visitors a sense of enclosure.
The cemetery holds the graves of several figures of regional and national note. Jesse Hawley was an early and influential proponent of the Erie Canal, the waterway whose locks define nearby Lockport. Cuthbert W. Pound served as Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals in the early 1930s. William F. Leonard was a Medal of Honor recipient from the Second World War.
As a historic, wooded, and somewhat isolated cemetery, Cold Springs has become a fixture in Western New York haunted-travel writing, appearing in regional newspaper roundups of local ghost lore. It remains an active burial ground and a documented historic site rather than a commercial attraction, and the haunted reputation rests on a single, much-repeated legend rather than a body of named historical incidents.
Sources
The cemetery's haunted reputation rests on a single, persistent story: a young woman is said to have been killed near the cemetery while hitchhiking, and her ghost is reported to linger among the graves. The legend is told in regional newspaper roundups and local ghost lore, but it is folklore in form, with no named victim or documented case attached to it, and it should be treated as a local legend rather than recorded history.
Beyond the central story, visitors describe orbs and stray lights moving among the trees, and the enclosed, wooded setting, ringed by hills and a wall, contributes to the cemetery's reputation as an eerie place after dark. These accounts are typical of the way isolated rural cemeteries accumulate ghost stories.
Nothing at Cold Springs is staged. There is no tour, no marketing of the legend, and no organized paranormal programming. The cemetery remains an active burial ground and a place to be visited with respect; the ghost story is part of the surrounding folklore rather than anything the site itself presents.
Notable Entities
Cold Springs Cemetery is a historic burial ground open to respectful daytime visitors. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and holds the graves of several notable nineteenth- and twentieth-century figures. There is no organized tour or paranormal program; visitors come to walk the wooded grounds. As an active cemetery, it should be visited during posted daylight hours only.
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