A half-mile hydraulic raceway blasted from solid rock between 1858 and 1900 to power Erie Canal-era mills—now home to 40-plus years of haunted lantern tours and a Ghost Hunters investigation that documented voices in the dark.
5 Gooding Street, Lockport, NY 14094
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticketed tours; check lockportcave.com for current pricing. Haunted lantern tours separately priced in October.
Access
Limited Access
Underground tunnel blasted from rock; uneven surfaces, tight passages, low clearances in sections
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1858 · Erie Canal industrial raceway 1858–1900 · Birdsill Holly hydraulic engineering project · Lockport dolomite hand-blast construction · Natural cave sealed 1886 · Opened as tourist attraction 1977 · SyFy Ghost Hunters Season 8, episode 'Tunnels of Terror'
The Erie Canal opened in 1825 and transformed Lockport into one of the largest industrial cities in western New York, with the five original locks lowering canal boats 60 feet down the Niagara Escarpment. The canal's elevation above the locks created a pressure differential that hydraulic engineer Birdsill Holly proposed to harness in 1858: a tunnel blasted from solid dolomite limestone that would draw water from the upper canal and route it through turbines powering local mills and factories.
Construction began in the late 1850s and continued for more than 40 years, with workers hand-drilling and blasting through the rock face by candlelight. The finished raceway extended roughly 1,600 feet underground at the level of the lower canal, with water shafts providing connections to city fire-protection systems. Several natural cave formations were discovered during excavation; the largest natural cavity has been sealed since 1886 due to flooding and structural risk.
The industrial raceway fell out of regular commercial use as water-powered machinery gave way to electricity. The tunnel was first opened as a tourist attraction in 1977, initially offering walking tours. Boat tours through the flooded lower passage were added, and the attraction became known as America's longest underground boat ride.
In June 2023 a tour boat capsized inside the tunnel, killing one person and injuring several others. The attraction closed following the incident and reopened for walking tours in August 2023. Current operations include both the walking tour and the boat ride, subject to seasonal availability.
Sources
The Lockport Cave's haunted reputation has been cultivated through more than 40 years of Halloween lantern tours and received national attention when SyFy's Ghost Hunters filmed an episode titled 'Tunnels of Terror' at the site during Season 8. The episode documented investigators moving through the narrow rock tunnel in the dark, recording what they described as unexplained audio and reporting shadow figures near the flooded lower passage.
Local lore holds that the tunnel's paranormal activity traces to the construction period itself. Workers hand-drilled and blasted through solid dolomite for more than 40 years, and the tunnel's confined, lightless passages became a documented site of industrial labor under dangerous conditions. No specific named fatalities during construction have been confirmed in public records, but the cave's operators and paranormal investigators consistently frame the hauntings in terms of those construction-era deaths.
Visitors on both the standard and haunted tours report shadow figures moving along the tunnel walls, cold spots in sections where no air flow exists, and disembodied voices—particularly in the lower boat-ride passage where the overhead rock is closest. The tour company has offered the site to paranormal research teams for post-hours investigation following the Ghost Hunters feature.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A 70-75 minute guided tour through the 1,600-foot man-made hydraulic raceway, including a narrated walk past Erie Canal locks 34 and 35, views of original mining shafts, geological formations, and an underground boat ride through the flooded passage. Billed as America's longest underground boat ride.
After-dark lantern-lit walking tour of the tunnel, running for over 40 years at Halloween. Guides cover the history of workers who died during construction and the ghost lore documented during a SyFy Ghost Hunters investigation.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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