BUFFALO, NY - Author and supernatural guru Mason Winfield explains that while America has always been known as a melting pot, Buffalo's past has grown more like a quilt.
The different ethnicities have added to the pattern of the patchwork with their traditions and beliefs. "Its a great preserver of folklore " says Winfield.
Much of that folklore revolves around the supernatural, which he has assembled in his new book: The Rose Witch: Supernatural Tales of Western New York's Ethnicities.
Among the stories if that of the book's namesake. "The Rose Witch of Black Rock was a legendary baby cursor," explains Winfield. A mother, pushing her stroller unknowingly encountered the witch near the Amherst Street viaduct. "She fell for the trick of the rose. The Rose Witch said here is a rose for the baby, she got her to take it home. By the time the little boy got home it was too late. "The boy's affliction didn't respond to medicine, so they called a priest who discovered that in the boy's pillow, the feathers were starting to draw together in the shape of a wreath." Once the wreath was removed, blessed and burned, the boy recovered.
Winfield says each ethnicity seems to have their own stories and lore. He tells an old Polish legend of a message from beyond after a loved one passes on. He says often times a sign comes in the form of coins that appear randomly.
On the old Italian west side, there were some who believed they could read the future in olive oil and target their enemies. "There is also the dark side of things, there's the curse. the curse they call the evil eye." The Irish tradition involves fairies and the scream of the banshee who is said to wail when a loved one dies. Winfield claims to have interviewed three people in Western NEw York who have heard the cry of the banshee. In the African American community, Winfield has discovered age old beliefs of root magic and hoodoo. Native American culture tells of healers, shape-shifters and other legends as well.
Winfield says he has a specific reason for sharing, and more importantly, preserving these stories. "The spirituality is my big point with all of this. The line of demarcation between what's supernatural and what's spiritual, who can really draw that? I mean the other guys religion is magic and witchcraft and your religion is spirituality."