HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Early-1900s Lockport mansion, now an arts and rec campus where visitors report a running boy and stray lights
433 Locust Street, Lockport, NY 14094
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Grounds and many community programs are free; some theater, concert, and class events are ticketed. Check the calendar for event pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Landscaped campus with paved walks; the historic house has interior stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1912 · Kenan Family Estate · Early-20th-Century Architecture · Community Arts and Recreation Center
The Kenan Center sits on Locust Street in Lockport, Niagara County, on grounds that were the home of the Kenan family in the first half of the twentieth century. The architectural record places the house as the residence of Mr. and Mrs. William Kenan during roughly 1912 to 1965. William Rand Kenan Jr. was an industrialist and University of North Carolina benefactor whose family wealth later endowed the center that now bears the name.
After the family era ended, the property was converted into a nonprofit community campus. Today the Kenan Center describes itself as a place "for people of all ages to come together," offering visual and performing arts, youth and senior recreation programs, Montessori education, gallery exhibitions, and facility rentals. The grounds and many programs are open to the public free of charge, while theater and concert events are ticketed.
The historic Kenan House anchors the campus and is documented in regional architectural surveys, including exterior and interior photographs and a watercolor of the building by Carl Zoschke. The combination of the well-preserved early-1900s house and its conversion to a busy public venue has produced an informal haunted reputation that circulates mainly among event-goers and arts patrons rather than through staged investigations.
Sources
The most repeated story at the Kenan Center is of a young boy seen running and playing through the historic house and across the grounds. The apparition is described as benign, a child at play rather than a threatening presence, and it surfaces most often in accounts from people attending weddings, classes, and gallery events on the campus.
Beyond the running boy, visitors have described other indistinct figures and stray white lights moving across the property after dark. A guest at a 2015 wedding reception reported being lightly poked in the side and gripped on the upper arm while seated in the large parlor, with no one beside them. Regional haunted-travel listings also attach a vague tradition of a former resident lingering near the old study and business-office area, though that figure is not documented by name in primary records.
The Kenan Center does not run ghost tours or paranormal investigations. The reports are ambient, gathered from event attendees over the years, and consistent in tone: a quiet, domestic kind of haunting that fits a family home turned into a place of constant gatherings.
Notable Entities
The Kenan Center operates as a public arts, education, and recreation campus on the grounds of the former Kenan family home. The landscaped grounds and many programs are free to the public; the historic Kenan House and galleries are open during events and posted hours. Interior access depends on programming, so check the calendar before visiting.
The center hosts ticketed theater, concert, and arts programming through the year alongside free community events. Tickets and schedules are handled on the Kenan Center site.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
St. Bonaventure, NY
St. Bonaventure University is a Franciscan institution near Olean in Cattaraugus County. Devereux Hall, built in 1926, is one of the oldest buildings on campus and its longtime residence hall. Its fifth floor, once student housing and club space, is now off-limits. The hall is the most storied site in the university's collection of campus legends.
Ballston Spa, NY
The Crandall House was constructed in the 1800s as a Victorian mansion for Sylvester Crandall, an unsuccessful stockbroker, and his wife Julia. On a winter night in 1887, Crandall murdered Julia's mother and stepdaughter with a shotgun, fatally shot his wife, and then walked to the cupola where he shot himself. The building now operates as an apartment complex.
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Blithewood Mansion was built in 1900 by National Guard captain and real estate developer Andrew C. Zabriskie as his family residence. One of his daughters fell to her death from a window in Zabriskie's New York City apartment under unclear circumstances. In 1951, the mansion was donated to Bard College, which uses it as a library facility. The estate's gardens still contain three statues of Zabriskie's daughters commissioned during his ownership, with a notably empty pedestal marking the fourth daughter.