Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainCentral New York High School Built Over an 18th-Century Burial Ground
33 Oxford Rd, New Hartford, NY 13413
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active school; no public paranormal access
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved campus
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1788 · Colonial-Era Burial Ground · Oneida County History · New York Pioneer Settlement
The New Hartford burying ground was established in 1788, serving the early settler community of what is now New Hartford in Oneida County. The cemetery operated as the primary local burial site through the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The high school campus was developed over and adjacent to this historical cemetery. In 1952, a gymnasium addition was constructed utilizing space that had been part of the old burying ground. While some remains were relocated to Greenlawn Cemetery in New Hartford before construction, not all were moved. This gap between documented relocation and actual remains was confirmed in 2009, when remains were found on the school grounds during maintenance and construction activities, as reported by the Utica Observer-Dispatch.
A historical plaque on the school property acknowledges the presence of the former burial ground. The school serves the New Hartford Central School District and remains an active educational institution.
Sources
The most specific account from New Hartford High School comes from a former custodian who cleaned the auditorium as part of her routine. She repeatedly found one particular side door locked when her schedule indicated it should be open. On returning with a key, she would find the door shut and locked — not as she had left it when she went for the key. The doors-relocking-themselves detail is distinctive because it is specifically documented and described as a repeating pattern rather than a one-time event.
The more extreme account from the same custodian is less repeatable: she described the sensation of something like a human form passing directly through her body, a sensation immediate and physical enough to be the proximate cause of her resignation.
Teacher-level accounts describe two presences on campus. One is characterized as disruptive and associated with the auditorium; the other is described as benign and encountered in the hallways. The two-spirit structure in these accounts may reflect the auditorium's proximity to the old burying ground section of campus.
The 2009 discovery of remains on the grounds gave the school's paranormal reputation an anchor in verified physical fact — the bones are there, or were. This moves the school from pure folklore into documented archaeological record.
New Hartford Senior High School is an active K-12 institution. The campus sits on the site of the New Hartford burying ground, established in 1788. A historical marker on the property acknowledges the burial ground. The 1952 gymnasium addition was built over the original cemetery space.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPPoughkeepsie, NY
Christ Episcopal Church is an active Poughkeepsie parish whose congregation traces to 1773. The current brick Gothic Revival building, designed by architect William Appleton Potter, was completed in May 1888 on a site that had been the city's old English Burial Ground, whose graves were relocated to Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
Albany, NY
The New York State Education Building opened in 1912 in Albany as a Beaux-Arts state office building designed by Henry Hornbostel, distinguished by 36 Corinthian columns forming one of the longest colonnades in the world. It originally housed the New York State Museum, State Library, and State Education Department, and continues to serve as headquarters for the Education Department.
Aerial survey · USDA NAIPEllicottville, NY
Hencoop Hollow Road in Ellicottville, Cattaraugus County, was home to a one-room schoolhouse that served the rural farming community in the 19th century. Like many such structures across Western New York, the building was eventually decommissioned and converted into a private residence as school centralization took hold in the mid-20th century. A small community cemetery adjacent to the road dates to the 1850s.