[Josh] On this episode of Expedition X...
-[Jessica] Wow! -[Phil] Crazy!
[Phil] I can't even see.
[Josh] My team confronts the might of Niagara Falls.
[Phil] Do you feel that?
I can actually feel the ground shaking.
[Josh] In an unprecedented paranormal investigation...
-[Jessica] Did you see it? Right there. -[Phil] Whoa!
[Josh] ...Phil and Jess discover the dangers
of this natural wonder.
[man] There was more an aura of an outline of a human.
I knew it wasn't a human.
[Phil] Ooh!
[Jessica] It's right there. That looks like somebody walking.
[Josh] And they quickly realize this iconic honeymoon destination...
[Phil] Do you hear that down there?
[Jessica] It sounds like a woman's voice.
[Josh] ...hides a dark history of daredevil deaths
and tragic suicides...
Is there anyone here with us?
[Josh] ...that just might haunt...
[Jessica] What the [bleep] is that?
[Josh] ...an entire region.
-[Phil] Oh, my God. -[Jessica] What the...
[Phil] What is that?
-Oh! -[Jessica gasps]
What the [bleep]
[theme music playing]
-[Jessica] Guys? -Yes?
I would like to talk about my childhood.
Oh, boy.
Jess, this is not a group therapy session.
Not funny.
I was going to say how I was born in Buffalo, New York,
and nearby was this place I used to visit
a ton when I was a kid. Summer vacations, Christmas vacations.
You might have heard of it.
Buffalo Wild Wings.
-It's gotta be. -Niagara Falls.
-Oh, Niagara Falls. Of course, Niagara Falls. -[Jessica] Oh, my gosh.
Natural wonder of the world.
Tons of tourists visit there every year.
Back in the '50s, it was really popular
as a honeymoon hotspot.
However, locals like me know that there's a lot of
paranormal activity reported around that area,
and there seems to be an uptick lately,
and I would love to go out there
and investigate and check it out.
I have to say, it is the kind of thing that most people
would never associate with Niagara Falls,
but to Jess's point,
it does have, actually, a really dark history.
Often called the eighth wonder of the world,
Niagara Falls sees over 22 million tourists a year,
many of them happy newlyweds.
But some believe this honeymoon capital of the world
is home to a sinister paranormal force
more powerful than the mighty falls themselves.
Formed over 12,000 years ago,
European explorers first set eyes on the falls
in 1677,
when Father Louis Hennepin,
a member of famed French explorer
René-Robert La Salle's expedition,
makes this sketch
to accompany his written description.
La Salle and his team quickly learned that
for centuries, the falls and their surrounding areas
have been stained by the blood of warring native tribes
who believe the land to be sacred,
a place worth dying for.
Bloodshed continues over the next 200 years
as British, French, Native and American forces
viciously battle for control
over Niagara's valuable trade routes.
Thousands are killed.
In 1801, American socialite Theodosia Burr,
the daughter of Aaron Burr,
yes, Hamilton fans, that Aaron Burr,
embarks on a bridal tour of the falls
with her new husband.
Other elites take notice,
and like modern day influencers,
word spreads and a honeymoon hotspot is born.
Industrialists see value in the raw power of Niagara.
And in 1895,
the Edward Dean Adams Plant
begins harnessing the hydroelectric energy
of nearly 44 million gallons per minute
of peak water flow.
But taming immense power comes with great risk.
And 28 workers are killed in the plant's construction.
Wherever there is danger, there are thrill seekers,
and the falls begin attracting daredevils intent on leaving their mark on history.
Unfortunately, the mark they leave is most often
in their own blood.
On October 24th, 1901,
Annie Taylor becomes the first
to successfully ride over the falls in a barrel.
But scores of others aren't so lucky.
Like in 1930,
when George Stathakis
takes the plunge with his pet turtle.
The turtle survives. George does not.
In 2017, Kirk Jones becomes
the most recent victim,
unsuccessfully trying to survive the drop
in an eight-foot rubber ball.
Beyond these tragedies,
there have been thousands of suicides at the falls,
with 20 to 30 people
taking their own lives there each year.
Some estimate the number of bodies
recovered from the base of the falls since 1850
to be in excess of 5,000.
Death flows like water at Niagara.
Centuries of tragedy have led
to a staggering number of modern day paranormal reports.
Unexplained occurrences abound,
like the sounds of impossible screams,
sights of mysterious figures floating in the mist,
and feelings of being drawn toward the fall's lethal edge.
Are the ghostly experiences of today
somehow linked to Niagara's macabre history?
With first time access
officially granted by the U.S. Park Service,
my team will get up close and personal
with the wrath of this geologic marvel to find out.
Okay, so, what do you think?
Well, so, here's the thing.
I've always been fascinated with animism.
And the idea behind that is that
a place can kind of absorb spiritual energy.
And so, I'm wondering, with Niagara Falls,
because of all the tragedy it's had
in and around that area,
is absorbing that spiritual energy,
that negative energy,
and then projecting it back out.
And that is what people are experiencing
as paranormal activity.
So, this is a really interesting question,
because this place is truly imposing.
And could all of that force and all of that history
actually be somehow
acting on the living or even the dead?
I've never been to Niagara Falls, so,
count me in on this one already.
Wow.
[Phil] But what I'm wondering here is,
if in some of these paranormal reports,
it's actually people just being
overwhelmed psychologically
by the sound and the fury of the falls themselves.
Like, what? You think they're getting hypnotized or something?
Well, think about it this way.
It is a known torture technique
to play really loud sounds,
really loud music to someone
to get them to break in an interrogation.
The idea that, scientifically, there may be some reason
why people are affected when they're near the falls.
-Yes. Purely by that intensity. -[Josh] Okay.
Well, speaking of paranormal reports,
I've been in contact with a local eyewitness
who claims that they have seen
an actual apparition, figure of a person
floating literally over the falls.
So while the two of you are investigating,
I'll continue to look for more recent eyewitnesses
and I'll stay in touch.
-Sounds good. -Perfect.
[Josh] All right. Well, good luck out there,
and probably gonna need some ponchos.
Oh, look at that. So prepared.
-Wow. -Because I'm from Buffalo.
[Josh] Niagara Falls sits seven hours northwest
of New York City on the border of the U.S. and Canada.
Fed by the Niagara River,
the falls are actually made up
of three distinct waterfalls.
Horseshoe Falls, Bridal Veil Falls,
and the American Falls.
After plummeting over 18 stories,
the river funnels into a section of whitewater
known as the Whirlpool.
And then, a stretch of the Niagara Gorge
called Devil's Hole.
As Phil and Jess start their investigation,
I've arranged for them to witness
the full power of the falls up close.
We're gonna get completely drenched.
[ship horn blares]
-I think that means we're ready to go. -[Jessica] Yeah.
-[Phil] Hood on. -[Jessica] Hood on.
Let's activate.
[ship horn blares]
-[Phil] Oh, I feel it. I feel it. -[Jessica] Already getting it.
Already getting it.
Just a little bit of spray out here.
It's crazy. It's so cold.
Oh, my God.
-[Jessica laughing] -[Phil] That's a lot of water.
Oh. I can't even see.
[Jessica] I'm just gonna cocoon.
I'm cocooning.
[grunts]
[Jessica laughing]
[Jessica] Look how rough these waters are.
[Phil] The water is churning like wild.
[Jessica] Can you imagine going over the falls
thinking you're gonna survive this?
[Phil] Absolutely not.
[Jessica] All right, I'm good.
-I've had my fun and I'm ready to go home. -[Phil laughing] Yeah.
Oh, boy.
[Phil grunts]
[Jessica] So what'd you think?
It's such a beautiful sight when you see it from afar.
And it's so overwhelming when you're up close.
-You can't even open your eyes. -[Jessica] I know.
[Phil] And now that we've been properly
-baptized by Niagara... -[Jessica chuckles]
...I say we go meet our first witness.
[Jessica] Works for me.
[Phil] Jess's contact,
Bill Kennedy, is a local teacher
who was born and raised here,
and says he's seen things at the falls that he can't explain.
[thunder rumbling]
[Phil] As a storm begins to roll in,
we're meeting him on Green Island,
which sits above the falls on the U.S. side.
-[Jessica] Bill? -[Bill] Yes.
Hey. Jessica. Nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you. Bill. -Hey, I'm Phil.
So, you've been coming to Niagara Falls
for a very long time.
Yes, absolutely.
I'm born and raised here in Niagara Falls.
So I spent a lot of my childhood here.
[Jessica] You had an experience out here,
-right? -[Bill] Yes, absolutely.
One night, I just happened to be walking through.
Something kind of caught my eye
out on one of the logs out here.
It looked like just this little light
and I was just like, "It's not a flashlight."
And as it got closer,
it was more of an aura of an outline of a human.
I looked at it and the temperature just dropped,
and I was just kind of shocked.
It was just a completely surreal feeling.
So it looked like an orb when it started out.
But then when you got closer to it, it actually took on
-the shape of, like, a glowing person? -[Bill] Yes.
But I knew it wasn't a human.
[Jessica] Oh, that's weird.
Is there any history attached to the place
that would explain why you would have seen
-something so strongly? -[Bill] Absolutely.
I do a little bit of tour guide action around here.
And being right here, the outline that I saw
reminded me of the story of Joseph Avery from 1853.
There were three people in a boat
and it got stuck in the rocks.
Two people immediately went off the boat...
went over the falls...
plunged to their death.
Joseph hung on for about 18 hours,
trying to find a way to safety.
But then, all of a sudden he's gone.
[Phil] Wow.
There is a picture. In fact, I have the picture.
-[Phil] Oh, my gosh. -[Jessica] Whoa.
That would suck to be that close to being saved.
-[Phil] And nobody can do anything. -[Jessica groans]
So, where he is in that photo,
-that's similar to where you saw what you saw? -[Bill] Absolutely.
This little area right through here.
[Jessica] Yeah.
You know, a lot of people say that hauntings occur
because of the amount of emotion
in a particular area, and that's...
I mean, it doesn't get much more emotional than that.
Were they able to recover his body, or where did he end up?
Well, from what I've heard, it was
down near what we call the Cave of the Winds.
Very treacherous, nonstop
hurricane-tornado feel as you're down below
the bottom of the falls
and literally the roar of the falls.
And that's where I understand his body was found.
-Thank you so much. This was extremely helpful. -[Bill] Absolutely.
-[Phil] Thanks, Bill. -[Bill] Thank you.
-[Phil] Getting closer. You hear that roar? -[Jessica] Mm-hmm.
The Cave of the Winds is located at the base
of Bridal Veil Falls,
where Joseph Avery and countless others
have met their demise.
No paranormal investigative team has been granted
overnight access so close
to the overwhelming power of the falls.
Going down.
Wait.
Do you feel that?
I can actually feel the ground shaking.
We're getting close.
As we approach the Cave of the Winds,
Mother Nature's devastating fury is palpable.
[Jessica] Whoa.
-Pretty majestic, huh? -[Phil] Amazing!
So overpowering and really awe-inspiring.
The falls are well lit with colored lights
illuminating the rushing water and mist.
The noise is so thunderous,
I want to take some measurements
of the audio levels to get some baseline data
for a theory I'm working on.
As we're getting set up, I use a decibel meter
to determine just how loud it actually is here.
All right. Wow.
It's out all the way up to about 95 decibels.
That type of noise is just bouncing around this entire area.
So, what I'm really curious about is,
does a giant white noise machine
essentially play tricks on the mind?
I'm gonna have to do some digging now that I got the data.
95 decibels is about as loud as a jackhammer,
so we're going to need headsets
to communicate during our investigation.
-Test 1-2, you got me? -[Jessica] Good. Gotcha.
Test 1-2, you got me?
[Phil] I hear you.
With our comm system up and running,
we're ready to begin
one of our most challenging investigations yet.
[Jessica] With significant levels of ambient noise,
Phil and I are linked up with a comm system.
-Test 1-2, you got me? -[Jessica] Good. Gotcha.
Test 1-2, you got me?
[Phil] I hear you.
[Jessica] We have to stay on our toes
for both environmental dangers
and possible paranormal activity.
We have heard about apparitions appearing in this area,
so we brought our camera equipment to get to the bottom
of these anomalies.
Let me turn on the FLIR.
What I'm interested in is if natural patterns
can just form kind of randomly in the mist.
So kind of like if somebody's sitting there
staring at clouds, they see an image in the cloud?
-Exactly like that. -Ah, gotcha.
So I set my camera up in a special
high contrast setting, hoping that
if there is any pattern
in all of this white mist, I can take photos
that can essentially duplicate what some people are seeing.
[Jessica] Okay. Well, I'm just gonna take the FLIR out to see
if I can get any extreme hot or extreme cold spots.
I mean, Bill mentioned that when he saw
the apparition, it got super, super cold around him,
so maybe I can pick something like that.
[faint screaming]
[Phil] Did you hear something?
[Jessica] Was that a scream?
Sounded like someone screaming.
Now nothing.
That's weird.
I'll give the audio a check later
and see if we picked anything up.
[Phil] Let's get out there.
-All right. -All right. Good luck.
[Phil exclaims]
750,000 gallons a second going over this thing.
Time to take some photos.
[camera shutter clicking]
Basically, my hope is that if I take enough photos,
a figure will appear that looks like a person out there.
Nothing yet.
[camera shutter clicking]
Whoa. That really looks
kind of like a body right through there.
Wow.
[Jessica] So...
[Jessica] I'm wondering if any residual hauntings are present
in the flow of water over the cusp of the falls.
I'm going to keep a recorder running
as we investigate
and do some call-outs to see if I can capture
an EVP from one of those spirits.
My name's Jessica.
We just wanted to explore the area.
Did you fall here?
If you did, what's your name?
If you want us to see you, feel free to come out.
If you're here, feel free to show yourself.
Joseph Avery, are you here with us?
[camera shutter clicking]
[Phil] Ooh. I don't know if it's
my eyes playing tricks on me, but I keep getting
this same figure over and over.
[Jessica] If you're here, feel free to show yourself.
So...
Oh [bleep]
I think I actually did get something on the FLIR.
Phil, you copy?
[Phil] How's it going?
[Jessica] I'm not sure what I got. I got something.
I think it was kind of closer
-to the rocks. -[Phil] Okay. I mean,
interestingly, I'm getting kind of
a repeated pattern that
almost looks like the silhouette of a person.
Maybe it's just the falls
getting to my brain, but I swear I kind of
see a shape in there. I'm gonna have to show you.
All right, cool. Yeah. Let me come down there and check out what you got.
[Phil] Sounds good.
-[Jessica] Hey. -[Phil] Hey.
Let me show you what I got,
and you tell me what you think.
All right. So it's gonna be kind of like right over here.
[exclaims] Did you see it? Right there.
-[Phil] Whoa! -Did you see that?
Yes.
Oh. So, were you pointing at the falls at that time?
Uh, no, I was pointing just below the falls in the rocks.
-What, that big rock face right there? -[Jessica] Yeah, yeah.
[Phil] I don't know what to make of that.
-Can I show you what else I found out here? -[Jessica] Yeah.
So, I swear it might just be my imagination,
but as I looked at these patterns more and more,
I started to see little figures in them.
[Jessica] Like what? None of this...
This just looks like mist to me.
[Phil] Maybe the falls are getting to my head.
[Jessica] Oh. Yes, yes. Right there. Back up.
Right there, it looks like somebody walking.
Yeah.
-Yeah, almost like a projection into the mist. -Yeah.
I feel like we could maybe try to replicate that.
Yeah, let me get the FLIR. We'll go up.
All right, let's go.
Based on the strange shapes I'm seeing in the falls,
I have an idea about what could explain
the glowing vision our witness Ed claims he saw
in the Niagara River.
And we're going to put it to the test.
So, Jess, I think
you should just head in a straight line down this ramp,
shooting your beam at me.
I'll get the shot, and then we'll see what we get.
Soot it right at my back.
Copy.
All right, I'm moving. Tell me when.
[Phil] Keep going. It's getting close.
Oh, my gosh.
[camera shutter clicking]
-[Phil] Okay, stay right there. -How's it looking?
[Phil] I'm gonna get a shot here.
[camera shutter clicking]
Amazing. Okay. Well,
I think we got something good here.
-Got some good evidence. -All right, heading back.
Check this out.
[Jessica] Oh, my God.
[Phil] Isn't that crazy?
The light backgrounds.
-[Jessica] Yeah. -[Phil] The dark silhouettes.
It looks like there's a glowing shadow figure
in the middle of the falls.
So that means that an image like this could
hypothetically be projected
into the middle of the river.
The chances of a light and a person
being in the right place at the right time is slim,
but it's not impossible.
[Jessica] Wow.
[Phil] Pretty cool.
[Jessica] I mean, here's the thing.
I can't believe how much the falls
is actually kind of messing with me.
I don't know if it's my brain is trying to make me imagine
what it would be like if I was
-falling over the falls. -Yeah. Yeah.
Or if I'm looking for
-somebody falling over the falls. -Yeah, that too.
My brain is doing the exact same thing.
Everything you just described.
-Seriously? -Yeah.
-100%. -[Jessica] It's so weird.
[Phil] It is oddly mesmerizing.
I keep looking up.
I keep expecting to see some bodies fly over them.
I don't know why my mind is going there.
[Jessica] I know.
I don't know if it's the history,
if it's the stories, or if it's the falls.
[Jessica] After an eye-opening night
where I experienced Niagara's intoxicating force firsthand,
I'm beginning to wonder
if all the recent paranormal accounts
could be based on something
much farther back in the falls' history
than I originally thought.
So, I'm digging into the public archives,
looking for leads.
"Battle of Lundy's Lane."
"One of the bloodiest in the war of 1812."
Let's see. What's this?
"Devil's Hole Massacre."
"500 Seneca ambushed a British supply train,
massacred the escort,
and hurled the wagons into the chasm below."
I mean, it basically looks like there's battles
that have happened,
both at the falls themselves
and up and down the Niagara River.
"The legend of Devil's Hole.
After La Salle had completed his building of Fort Niagara,
he and his guide passed a huge cavern
in the cliff below the whirlpool,
which is known as Devil's Hole.
La Salle looked into it, and his guide told him that
that was the home of the evil spirit."
So, we just found
a ghost story.
In 1669,
the French explorer La Salle
disregarded warnings from his Native American guides
and ventured alone into the cave.
Inside, he was tormented by strange voices.
Many believed he was cursed
with his future expeditions plagued by misfortune...
mutiny,
and ultimately, his murder.
Okay, here we go. Devil's Hole State Park map.
Here we go, right here.
So, there's the cave where La Salle said
he heard the evil spirit.
Really, it all boils down to
Phil and I need to go explore this cave.
[Phil] So, where are you taking us now?
There's this place along the Niagara River
called Devil's Hole.
Not only was it the location
of one of the bloodiest battles
in Niagara's history,
but back in the 17th century,
there was an explorer, and he
actually recorded
the first paranormal experience in that area.
There's a cave inside the Devil's Hole that
he was convinced had an evil spirit in it.
So you basically found the oldest documented case
of paranormal activity in all of Niagara.
The oldest. 17th century.
We need to get inside that cave
and see what is going on over there.
-[Phil] Wow. -[Jessica] So,
anybody that goes over the falls ends up here,
-at the whirlpool. -[Phil] This is the whirlpool.
I read about this when I was researching
the geology of the area.
Apparently, this formed about 4,200 years ago.
So, just imagine how many bodies have
probably ended up swirling around in that thing.
[Jessica] Yeah, that's a lot of death.
But death is why we're here.
So, let's get to that cave, shall we?
[Phil] All right, Jess, lead the way.
[Jessica] All right, right down here.
[Jessica grunts]
Here, hold on. Hold on. Help me.
[Phil] You good?
[Jessica straining] Yep, thank you.
And you're sure there's a cave up here?
[Jessica] Uh, yeah.
[Phil] All right.
[Jessica exhales] Here it is.
Ooh. Look at that cave.
Welcome to the Cave of the Evil Spirit.
-You got your flashlight? -[Phil] Got my flashlight.
-[Jessica] Wanna check it out? -[Phil] Yeah.
-[Jessica] Ready? -[Phil] Yeah.
[Jessica] Ooh.
-Watch your head. -[Phil] Yep.
[Phil] I just want to make sure
it looks stable up above.
[Jessica] You don't see any widow-makers?
[Phil] No widow-makers.
It looks like it actually just keeps going into the mountain.
[Jessica] Yeah?
It could be.
Well, I've got that voice-activated recorder.
So, any time we ask a question,
if we get a response,
we will be able to play it back immediately.
[Phil] Okay.
[Jessica] Is there anybody in this cave with us?
What's your name?
Listen, listen, listen.
[whispering] I heard a little...
[humming]
-Did you hear that down there? -No.
Hello?
Is it okay that we entered this cave?
[low whisper]
[whispering] Dude, I think I heard whispering.
-[whispering] What? -[in normal voice] I'm not kidding.
I swear to God.
It sounds like a woman's voice.
[low whisper]
[Jessica] Are you a man or a woman?
[whispering] I feel like this place is playing tricks on my ears.
I heard something too.
[Jessica] Why are you here?
[Phil] Should we do playback?
-[Jessica] Yeah, let's do playback. -[Phil] Okay.
-[Jessica] Saving it. -[Phil] Okay.
All right.
[on tape] Why are you here?
[eerie sound]
-What was that? -What the [bleep]
What the [bleep] was that?
There. Can you rewind?
[on tape] Why are you here?
[eerie sound]
[Phil] That high-pitched noise
makes me uncomfortable.
What the heck was that?
I didn't hear that when we were in here.
I didn't hear that either.
[Phil] Bottom line is we have it recorded,
so we can isolate that track
and then see if we can really pull something out.
All right. Well...
-Weird cave. -Weird cave.
[Phil] We're going to see if we can
analyze that evidence further.
But in the meantime, Josh reached out
with another lead for our investigation.
Hey, guys. How are you?
-Hey, Josh. Pretty good. -Good. How are you?
I'm good. You guys are winning the award right now for
best video conferencing background ever.
You know, we thought we'd give you a little view.
Ta-da.
[Josh] That is unbelievable.
How's it been going so far?
You know, I got to say the falls are intense.
It is possible that the sheer noise
and fury of Niagara may be enough
to affect your cognition
and make you see and hear things that aren't
really there.
I was kind of directing all my attention
towards the falls, but I'm starting
to think maybe there's paranormal activity that runs
all over this area, up and down
Niagara River, all over the place.
So I want to explore that some more.
Well, I'm glad to hear you guys are thinking about
investigating beyond the falls
because there's an area downstream on the Niagara River
that I really want you to check out.
In the 19th century, a bunch of industrial buildings
went up with the purpose of
channeling Niagara's water for power.
They would use these underground tunnels
called raceways
to channel the river's force.
And one of these complexes,
this place known as the Western Block,
is rumored to be extremely haunted.
The owners' names are Heather and Frank.
They are really eager to meet you two,
and they're very hopeful that you can help
solve this mystery.
-Okay, we're on it. -Yeah, we'll check it out.
All right, good luck. Oh, and hey,
stay dry out there.
We'll try.
[Jessica] Ooh.
[Phil] With a fresh lead from Josh, we head to meet the owners
of the Western Block,
an old factory with a very dark history.
-[Jessica] Okay. -[Phil] Okay.
[Jessica] This is weird.
Ah. Giant garage door.
[Heather] Hi, guys.
-[Jessica] Hey. -[Phil] Hello.
Thank you so much for inviting us to come out here.
-[Heather] Absolutely. -[Frank] Absolutely. You're welcome.
So, in what rooms have you guys picked up
what you call
a paranormal activity around here?
[Heather] Oh, almost all of the property.
[Phil] You have photos?
Oh, yeah, it's right here.
The photos were taken in one of the galleries,
and they were taken by guests of ours,
um, all in the same area.
For whatever reason, whatever's there
likes to hang out in that corner.
[Jessica] That's a really cool grab.
[Phil] You have a video. Describe the video to me.
[Frank] Looking through the doorway, I saw a shadow
of a woman walking across the wall,
and when I looked at it, I thought it was
Heather coming up the back stairs, but later on when she
checked the security cameras, that's what she found.
[Jessica] Oh, yeah.
-That is super distinct. -Okay.
That's a shadow of a woman for sure.
[Jessica] And nobody else was in the building with you
-at this time? -[Frank] No.
So what was this building actually used for?
Like, what did they make?
It was a factory that made pulleys and wheels
for ships all over the world.
And at one point in time, it was all hydro-powered.
[Phil] Yeah, the water's right across the way.
So how did they get the power here?
[Heather] They had channels of water,
raceways that allowed water
to flow down the hill, right onto the property.
So, that ended up
running all of the machinery
and the entirety of the complex.
You actually have water running underneath this place right now?
-Yes, we do. -Yes.
[Heather] This property was used during Prohibition
to move alcohol around.
We knew they were using the raceways to get rid of problems,
those problems being people
when they were moving the alcohol around.
So you're telling me they actually would
take bodies and then, like,
shove them out through the river
-to get rid of them? -[Heather] Yes.
They either dumped them straight in,
maybe stuck them in a barrel,
and they would float out into the canal.
This plot keeps getting thicker and thicker.
[Jessica] You mind if we have a run of the place?
-[Frank and Heather] Absolutely. -[Jessica] Awesome.
-Thank you very much. -Thanks, guys.
[Jessica] It's clear that some unexplained phenomenon
is making life hell for Heather and Frank.
The only question is, what?
In search of more evidence, we're setting up cameras
where they captured these photos.
[Phil] We have our shadow figure trap set.
-Yeah. Looks good. -Okay.
[Jessica] Heather told us a hotspot
is the factory floor, where there have been
recent reports of unusual activity.
[Phil] I can't imagine how dangerous it must have been
-working here. -Oh, my God, yeah.
All those moving parts,
rushing water, powering this whole thing.
-[Phil] Oh! -[Jessica gasps]
-[loud thumping] -[Jessica] What the [bleep]
[Phil whispering] Okay.
Something loud
is moving right above us.
My first instinct was something rolling off the roof,
but this above us is completely flat.
[Jessica] Yeah.
[distant noise]
-Did you hear that? -Did you hear all that?
[Phil] Yeah.
Let's try to figure out where it's coming from.
The sound's kind of echoing around here, though.
-[Jessica] Let's go around. -[Phil] Okay.
[soft bang]
Wait, Jess, I just heard something inside.
-[Jessica] What? -[Phil] Something just fell in here.
[Phil shushes]
[bleep] What is that?
[Jessica whispering] It sounds like it's coming up from upstairs.
On the right side.
[Phil] Unable to find the source
of the strange sounds we've been hearing,
and with 100,000 square feet to cover in this factory,
Jess and I decide to split up.
She stays upstairs to investigate
where the owners captured their haunting video.
I'm headed to the Western Block's underground crawl spaces
to try and access the raceways where bootleggers
disposed of bodies during Prohibition.
As I descend, the air gets heavy.
So, I'm not taking any chances.
Oh, yeah.
I'm going in.
Looking down here, I'm starting to see a few pools of water.
But more interesting than what I see is what I hear.
It sounds like a lot of rushing water.
So I think at least one of the raceways
underneath this structure
is still at least partially active.
[exhales]
All right, starting,
uh, call and response one.
I'm using an EVP app to see if I can elicit a response from
any ghosts lingering in the building.
If you're here with me, could you tell me your name?
[distorted voice speaking]
I heard ED.
Ed, are you somebody that worked here at the factory?
Ed, were you a bootlegger in the area?
Were you doing anything that you shouldn't be?
[distorted voice speaking]
Move it.
What are you moving?
[distorted voice speaking]
Niagara Falls hides many secrets.
But in 1969, some of them were shockingly revealed.
Geologists wanted to study the falls
to see if they could slow its erosion.
And so, Army engineers
built a massive dam to halt Niagara's flow,
turning off the water for the first time
in 12,000 years.
But what no one anticipated
was that the falls would finally reveal
what they'd been hiding.
At the now dry base lay a fortune in lost coins
and two unidentified corpses.
The geologists ultimately decided
they couldn't fix the falls.
And so, after six months without water,
the makeshift dam was dynamited
and the falls returned to their full majesty.
As to the bodies, one turned out
to be a man who jumped into the water.
And the other, a woman who was never identified.
Yet another mystery of Niagara.
[Jessica] What are you moving?
[distorted voice speaking]
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what that was.
Why have you not left?
The whole thing just crashed.
It's not playing at all.
That shouldn't have happened.
I clearly heard the name Ed,
and the voice saying spirits
could be a reference to alcohol,
given Western Block's ties to Prohibition-era bootlegging.
I want to reconnect with Phil
to pursue whatever tried to communicate with me.
[exhales] Hey.
So,
I just got a really big hit
on an EVP upstairs
where the guy said that his name was Ed.
And he goes, "Move it."
And I said, "Move what?" And he said, "Spirits."
I'm wondering,
based on the discussion that we had with the owners,
I think it might be one of these bootleggers.
[Phil] Any bootleggers that did get killed here,
the bootleggers' bodies
would have been flowing in the water
that runs under the Western Block
and right, pretty much, under our feet right now.
[Jessica] Yep, exactly.
[Phil] We should probably find where the water's flowing.
Yep, I agree.
-Down this way? -Let's give it a shot.
Jess and I canvassed the perimeter of the factory,
searching for the point at which flowing water
exits the Western Block's underground raceways.
[Jessica] Check it out.
-So this must be the canal... -[Jessica] Mm-hmm.
...that the raceways run into.
So, what we have to find is where the raceway
that flows from the Western Block meets the canal.
[Jessica] It's got to be over here 'cause I can
-hear that water running. -[Phil] Oh, yeah.
[Jessica] Oh. Here we go.
-[Phil] Is that it? -[Jessica] That's it.
Look at that.
-No Niagara, but we found the water. -[Jessica] Yeah, yeah.
[Phil] God, can you imagine
that people would dump bodies
all the way up in the building,
it would flow underground
and pop out right there into this canal...
down to the river?
Maybe your guy, Ed,
-ended up down here too. -[Jessica] Yeah.
So, that's what I'm thinking, actually.
So, I was thinking of trying to reach out to Ed,
so I figured I'd use the SLS and see what we can get.
I got the FLIR. Might as well put it to use,
see what kind of activity we can pick up.
[Jessica] You know what? Let me try
walking around here and getting a little closer to the water.
[Phil] Want me to record audio?
[Jessica] Yeah, why don't you record audio,
-see what we can pick up. -[Phil] And recording.
[Jessica] Ed, are you here?
Was that you talking to me inside the building?
Were you a bootlegger in this area?
[Phil] Want to go down?
[Jessica] Yeah.
[Phil] I'm gonna leave this running up here.
[Jessica] Okay.
[Jessica] You good?
[Phil] Good.
[Jessica] Ed, are you here?
If you're here, feel free to show yourself.
My name's Jessica. This is Phil.
We just wanted to explore the area,
and it sounded as if you reached out to us
inside the building.
[Josh] My team continued to investigate the area
until sunrise,
but unbeknownst to them,
it was what they recorded at this exact moment...
[Jessica] Ed, it's your last chance.
Do you want to reach out?
[Josh] ...that would reveal, upon detailed analysis,
an astounding EVP.
[Jessica] Ed, it's your last chance.
Do you want to reach out?
[distorted voice speaking]
[Josh] And coincided
with this strange visual anomaly
we picked up on our thermal camera
in the raceway outfall,
and also connects with the response elicited
during Jess's EVP session.
[Jessica] If you're here with me,
could you tell me your name?
[distorted voice speaking]
I heard Ed.
[Josh] Our research discovered
that one of Niagara's most notorious cold cases
is that of professional baseball star Ed Delahanty.
After a drunken and violent outburst,
Delahanty was kicked off a train
near Niagara in 1903.
His lifeless body would be found a week later
at the base of the falls.
The circumstances of his death are still a mystery today.
Jess believes her theory holds,
and possibly the spirit of Ed Delahanty
is moving about the Niagara area,
propelled by the energy of the falls.
And as for the other EVP
Jess captured in Western Block...
[Jessica] What are you moving?
[distorted voice speaking]
[Josh] In researching a connection
between Delahanty and Prohibition,
we discovered that Delahanty's brother, Frank,
was a bootlegger.
And even though our static cameras
didn't catch any shadow activity
similar to what Heather and Frank reported,
it's easy to see why many consider Western Block
a supernatural hotspot in Niagara.
-[Jessica] Ready? -[Phil] Yeah.
[Josh] Evidence from the Cave of the Evil Spirit
also seemed to reinforce paranormal lore.
[Jessica] Is there anybody in this cave with us?
[Josh] We detected multiple unexplainable audio anomalies,
including this strange sound.
[eerie sound]
[Josh] Add this to the scream
my team heard near the base of the falls,
which we ran through noise-canceling filters.
[faint screaming]
[Josh] And it's fair to say the ghostly sounds
captured by my team
corroborated many of the reports in the area.
The raw power and majesty of Niagara Falls
will continue to attract visitors
from all over the world.
But for those planning a trip, be warned.
While no one can be truly prepared
for the awe-inspiring natural forces of the falls,
you'd be wise to keep your ears and eyes open
for the unnatural forces...
[Jessica] Oh, yeah. That is super distinct.
[Josh] ...that seem to be swirling in the mist.