Utica's first train station was constructed in 1836 to serve as a way station for travelers bound for the west. In 1853 the train lines converged and it was apparent that Utica needed a more substantial station for the traffic.

New York Central opened a new Utica station in 1869 by converting a shop building that consisted of two brick structures joined by a long platform shed. Unfortunately, this design also proved insufficient. Between forcing passengers to cross the tracks, inadequate space in the buildings and spring floods that would often cover the tracks, Utica needed a new train station.

After the Mohawk River was channeled north 1907 construction began on Utica's own "New York Central Station" and opened in May of 1914. Less than a year later it became the Utica 'Union' Station.

As with any historic location, Union Station, is long reported to be haunted with the numerous accidental deaths that occur around railroads. Incidents that could be the cause of the reported phenomena range from large-scale train accidents to individuals being struck by a train while crossing the tracks.

The first major incident occurred in 1844 when a passenger train stopped for repairs and was struck by a freight train that failed to see stopped train in a dense fog resulting in two deaths and countless injuries. A few years later in 1851, a train derailed just north of the station resulting in more injuries. Another train was derailed in 1858 when a bridge collapsed in Whitesboro resulting a dozen deaths and more than forty injured.

While not as large-scale as train derailments, there have also been countless accidents around the Utica station that have resulted in deaths and serious injuries. Individuals commonly neglect railway safety and often pay the price for it. Incidents date from when the lines were first laid through Utica up to this very spring (2012) as people wander onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train.

Today, it is common for people to report witnessing 'ghost lights' moving along the tracks at the station, phantom passengers riding in the cars, ghostly conductors pacing the platforms and the haunting sounds of tragedy echoing through the station in the late night hours.

After all of the history around Union Station in Utica, is it any wonder that there are a multitude of reports of ghostly phenomena at the station?

Union Station Walk-through:

[Contributed by NY Shadowchasers]

 

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