By: Patrick Murphy
Posted: 06/26/2025 08:55PM EST
In the backyard of many Western New Yorkers just north of Buffalo in Lockport, NY you will find the long standing building formerly known as the Western Block Complex.
Standing, watching and waiting for nearly 200 years, this building has seen fires, hotel guests, the secrecy of prohibition and so much more.
With waterways and natural springs running under the property charging the building with energy and fueling the spirits of the past. Join me as I tell you of my first, of what I’m sure will be many, adventures of the Western Block.
Walking up to this long standing building you are greeted by large, heavy black iron gates overlooking the Erie Canal. As you enter the building you first step into a newly renovated art gallery.
Google. (2023). Photograph. Retrieved June 26, 2025
As I sat in the lobby I could feel the energy from the past strong around me. A hand lays on my shoulder but as I turn to see who is there stands no one. The spirits that still linger here are just as energized and eager as the living who have come to learn from them.
I sat and learned of some of the rich and extensive history and paranormal experiences of this monumental building from the owner of the Historic Western Block Complex, Frank Kupka of Buffalo Phantom Hunters and the creator of The Black Cat Lounge, Timothy Shaw. Phantom touches, pushes, knocks and voices grace the halls of this once speakeasy and machine shop.
We conclude our lesson and journey out the back of the building to, what I would consider, the barn on the property.
Google. (2023). Photograph. Retrieved June 26, 2025
The large sliding door creaks open unveiling a dark storage area filled with empty wooden shelves. We set up our REM pods, Spirit Boxes, EMF readers and flashlights to communicate with the spirits that still call this place home.
Flashlights dimmed on and off without the touch of the living, EMF readers reacted and responses came through the boxes.
As I stood in the dark room with my back to a floor length mirror that leaned up against the back wall I could sense the presence of a spirit pacing back and forth, back and forth and back and forth in front of me. To me this spirit felt female. Was this spirit passing in and out of the mirror that stood behind me or were they reliving the past as they tried to make a difficult decision. We continued our investigation, asking our questions and collecting evidence.
During this time, through the Ghost Radar app, I received the words “Mexico” . Was there the spirit of a past Mexican worker still residing here? This location has been so many things and has stood for so long, could this spirit even be a slave who was once kept here?
As we tried to figure this out and as the energy continued to build, I received another interesting word, “Earth”. Was the spirit that we were trying to connect with attached not to the building but, the Earth itself. Or, has our previous resident left and were we now connected with not a human spirit but an elemental?
The energy continued to build as the sun set making this already dark space even darker. My body grew colder and colder as if I was being surrounded by an icy whirlwind. As a chill ran up my spine I felt my left pants pocket grow even colder. Was one of the spirits trying to pickpocket me? What was in my pocket that they could possibly want? I continued to ponder this until I checked for myself. Housed in my pocket was a small pack of extra batteries I packed just in case my flashlight would die completely. Were the spirits trying to drain the energy of these batteries so they could manifest for us?
With each question we asked and piece of evidence we collected, more questions grew within me. Who was truly here with us right now and what is the message they are trying to give us? As I stood there trying to piece together all the information I felt as though a rope had been wrapped around my throat being pulled tighter and tighter. I asked my partners for the night if there was any history of someone hanging themselves here to which the owner informed me that while they have not come across any concrete evidence of this there has been another visitor to the property who has seen a shadow hanging from the rafters.
As I’m told this information the owner begins to become enveloped in a dark black shadow growing darker and darker by the minute. As the mist got darker around them their features became less and less visible. Was this spirit trying to manifest for us in front of them? Was this their way of confirming the hanging? Or were they trying to keep us quiet?
As the activity started to quiet down it was time for us to visit more of this historic building and uncover more of its mysteries. This structure, detached from the main building, did not disappoint and still calls me back to this day gesturing to me to help unlock the mysteries that it holds.
We enter back in the way we left and I turn right down the white walled hallway. As I walk towards the stairs leading up to the second floor I am greeted by the most terrifying thing of the night. Looming in a dark room, it catches my eye as it creeps up to me. I scream and crouch to the ground. This is no spirit but a mannequin disguised as a gas mask wearing clown. Needless to say many profanities were used as I pulled myself together and tried to not wet myself.
After making it up to the second floor from surviving my run in with the murderous clown and using the bathroom, we enter a room lined with porcelain dolls. In this room lives the spirit of a young girl. Frank and I try to communicate with her through our dowsing rods. We both decided to use our copper L-shaped rods at the same time as one asked a question for additional confirmation. We took turns asking our questions and while we got activity the interesting thing was that I would get one answer and Frank would get a different one. This went on for several minutes as we tried to get a straight answer. Was the young girl playing a prank on us?
After some time of not receiving a straight answer, we decided to pack up and move on. As we stood up to leave my intuition kicked in. I asked the team to wait, pulled my rods back out and asked “Are there any spirits connected to any of these dolls?” before my eyes my rods crossed and we regrouped. As someone who is no stranger to haunted dolls I walked up to the wall that had 3 dolls lined up. I tuned in and pointed to one with brown curly hair. “I believe this is one”. We tested this with the dowsing rods, asking them to cross when we stood in front of the haunted doll. As I went down the line of dolls my rods crossed, signifying yes, on the curly haired doll. Frank tested the same way confirming this. I then walked over to the other wall across the room with 4 more dolls lined up. I followed the same process and pointed to a blonde hair boy doll. We did the same test with the dowsing rods and confirmed that this doll too had a spirit residing in it.
From here we headed to the classroom. A room that houses many stories of paranormal experiences. As you walk in the room you can feel the presence of someone watching your every move. While the spirit in this room did not make themselves known, you knew that they were watching your every move.
We continued to move higher through the building to reach the workshop area. As we walked through the halls on the upper floors and up the ramp leading to this room you could feel the eyes of many spirits peaking around the corners of the walls, possibly intrigued by our presence there.
After trekking through the old halls we reach our destination. Old uneven wood lines the floor with many stories to tell. This room, much like the barn, houses immense energy from the workers who once made their living here. As we interview these spirits the Ghost Radar app spits out words continuously. We received words like “Coach” and “Throughout”. Were the spirits here going to teach me to work throughout the workshop? We also received the name “Mike” who once worked here. As we continued to speak with the spirits, shadows grew darker, knocks and bangs grew louder and mists formed in the corners of the room. As I stood against the wall next to an old wooden work table a small dime sized area of my frigid left hand began to burn. To make sure I wasn’t losing my mind I asked the owner to confirm to which they agreed that that specific area was much warmer than the rest. This felt as if someone had put their cigarette out on my hand. Was this spirit upset with me? Was I not working hard enough for them? Or did I just make a good ashtray?
As the night grew on we wrapped up our investigation for the night. We descended back down to the ground floor leaving with more questions and mystery than I arrived with. While this was my first visit to this historic building, I intend to return to continue to pull back the many layers of mystery it has to offer.
I would like to thank The Western Block for this experience and the amazing story to tell. If you get the chance I highly recommend visiting this location.
Ghost Hunts at the Western Block:
