A rural Amsterdam road named for Susan DeGraff, a 19th-century widow whose ghost in a white dress is said to wander among the roadside cemeteries searching for her husband's lost grave.
Widow Susan Road, Amsterdam, NY 12010
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free; a public road with a roadside historical marker and several adjacent cemeteries.
Access
Limited Access
Rural road with adjacent hillside cemeteries; no sidewalks.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1838 · Named for documented 19th-century resident Susan (Thomas) DeGraff · Commemorated by a William G. Pomeroy Foundation Legends & Lore marker (2018) · Official stop on the Haunted History Trail of New York State
Widow Susan Road climbs a hillside in the Town of Amsterdam, Montgomery County, New York, in the Mohawk Valley. It is named for Susan DeGraff, born Susan Thomas, a Scottish immigrant who married Harmanus DeGraff in 1838 at about age eighteen. The couple farmed land near the bottom of what is now Widow Susan Road and raised several children. Harmanus died around 1848, leaving Susan a widow who continued to manage the farm and family on her own — earning her the lasting local name 'Widow Susan.'
Susan eventually relocated to Michigan, where she died in 1892. She was buried not in the DeGraff family plot but in Green Hill Cemetery on Church Street in Amsterdam. Local accounts note that the family plot had fallen into disrepair, a detail that later folklore would tie to her restless spirit.
The road passes near several historic cemeteries — St. Michael's, St. Casimir's, and St. Nicholas — which figure prominently in the legend. The story was long carried by oral tradition until 2018, when the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, through its Legends & Lore program in partnership with New York Folklore, placed a historical marker at the corner of Widow Susan and Cemetery roads describing the alleged ghostly occurrences.
The legend is now an official stop on the Haunted History Trail of New York State and has been documented by regional newspapers including The Recorder and the Daily Gazette, giving it a well-corroborated place in Mohawk Valley folklore.
Sources
The defining legend of Widow Susan Road, recorded on the Haunted History Trail of New York State and the Pomeroy Foundation marker, holds that the spirit of Susan DeGraff is seen along the road dressed in an old-fashioned white gown, crying and endlessly searching. She is most often reported near St. Michael's, St. Casimir's, and St. Nicholas cemeteries. Many retellings connect her restless wandering to the belief that she is searching for the grave of her husband Harmanus, whose exact resting place is uncertain and whose family plot had fallen into disrepair.
A popular ritual, repeated in the original Shadowlands submission and elsewhere, instructs visitors to turn off their headlights at the top of the hill, coast down, and chant 'Widow Susan' three times before turning the lights back on and entering the cemetery. Reported consequences include cars that will not start, something seeming to try the car doors from outside, and unexplained words or marks appearing on vehicles.
Unlike many single-source roadside legends, Widow Susan is anchored to a real, documented person and is corroborated by an official state heritage program, a permanent historical marker, and regional newspaper coverage. HauntBound presents the biographical history as verified fact and the apparition and chant ritual as enduring local folklore.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Drive Widow Susan Road past St. Michael's, St. Casimir's, and St. Nicholas cemeteries, where the ghost of widow Susan DeGraff is said to wander. A Pomeroy Foundation Legends & Lore marker tells the story at the roadside.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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