Forest Park Cemetery, aka Pinewoods Cemetery, is an 1897 graveyard known for its locally told ghost stories. It has been used for burials as recently as 2005, although it stood neglected for a period between 1975 and the 1990s. The cemetery is said to be extremely active with paranormal activity and was called the “Gateway to Hell” in a LIFE Magazine article about the country’s most haunted places. Urban legends tell of a decapitated statue that bleeds out of its neck (although some say this is a result of a particular type of moss). Because of unsafe structures, the land is not open to the public, and trespassers will be prosecuted.
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Geographic Information
- Address:
- 381 Pinewoods Ave
Brunswick, NY
United States
Get Directions » - GPS:
- 42.71837360394982, -73.63704380688478
- County:
- Rensselaer County, New York
- Nearest Towns:
- Wynantskill, NY (1.5 mi.)
Troy, NY (2.9 mi.)
Green Island, NY (3.3 mi.)
Watervliet, NY (3.4 mi.)
Poestenkill, NY (4.2 mi.)
Menands, NY (4.8 mi.)
Cohoes, NY (5.0 mi.)
West Sand Lake, NY (5.4 mi.)
Waterford, NY (5.6 mi.)
Averill Park, NY (7.2 mi.)
Please note: It is your responsibility to acquire appropriate permissions before investigating any location listed on this site. Private property should be respected at all times, as should all posted signs concerning trespassing, hours of operation and other local regulations. Many "ghost hunters" have been arrested because they failed to contact property owners and/or local authorities ahead of time.
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Disclaimer: The stories posted here are user-submitted and are, in the nature of "ghost stories," largely unverifiable. HauntedPlaces.org makes no claims that any of the statements posted here are factually accurate. The vast majority of information provided on this web site is anecdotal, and as such, should be viewed in the same light as local folklore and urban legends.
I ve been here numerous times, do i think its haunted? yes, but I have done a lot of research even spoke to time and life magazine and no such article was ever written by either company. The bleeding statues were decapitated by vandals years ago and the glowing red eyes were results of RPI college students using a laser they borrowed from the college.
I do think its haunted seen some strange things, especially a black shadow out of the corner of your eye and when you look again its gone.
The first time I ever went there I had an experience that made me believe in ghost. I was about 23 or 24 so about 3 years ago I went there at about 3 am and a total non believer of ghost or supernatural …. so bad that I shouldn’t share this but …. I threw my empty beer can inside the front gate pissed on a tree and stomped my cigarette but out on the ground just to be spiteful and to prove a point about the whole situation … My one buddy said he’s been there over a dozen times and never saw anything which led to myself him and another friend to venture out there …. After we threw all out trash on the ground we heard a noise like rustling on leaves we stopped laughed thinking it’s an animal then we heard branches breaking sounding like they came from the big tree at the front gate … We kept going in a few more steps looked over and saw a black shadow moving across the background … Human nature eyes follow motion and we all followed it with our eyes as best as we could anticipating where we think we would see it through the dark and all of a sudden at the corner of our eye in a couple of seconds of first seeing it we look over and see a human like dark figure wayyy farther away then we thought it would be about 50 feet away … The feeling I remember best is when we all saw it at the same time it gave a shockwave of fear from the bottom of our feet to out head … Just not a natural feeling even if it was a person … We were real freaked out when online all night looking up experiences and found more then enough evidence that people have experienced the same exact thing at the exact same spot and the rumors go that a man hung himself from the tree there and his wife found him when she opened her front door in the morning kinda like he was presenting himself … Weird but I swear it’s all true
Hi Mike: I’m working on a paranormal series for Travel channel – is there a way i could contact you about this? I can be emailed at matt@realness.com
Thanks!
You should be ashamed of yourself throwing trash in a cemetary. How would you like it if someone threw trash on your grave. What would you do about it?
I’ve been there so many times, And im not a believer per say but I remember one of the last nights I went I saw something in the tree by the mosalium. It was a dark mass and when I looked at it I felt sick. Weirdest feeling ever.
Years ago my sister in law and I went there just to check things out After all the ghost stories we had heard about it, we went during the day. We had walked around majority of the cemetery we both had a uneasy feeling, as we were walking towards the back right side, we both seen a black figure dart across our path infront of us, (the fact that we both had seen this tells me it really happend not just my imagination) and we both ran as fast as we could out of there!
Around 1990 when I was a teen, my friend, her boyfriend and I were hanging out one summer day and decided to go look around. We pulled up and parked in front of the gate and started walking in. We weren’t but 25 feet past the gate and all three of us simultaneously got very uneasy feelings. My friend and I were particularly freaked out when her boyfriend admitted that he had the same feeling…he was a big ‘tough guy’ and wouldn’t have admitted that very easily! A few more steps and even though it was broad daylight, we collectively decided we did NOT want to go any further. We started back toward the car and by the time we reached the gate we were running. We jumped in his big white Monte Carlo and my friend said “LET’S GET OUT OF HERE” and he turned the key and…nothing. The more he tried and failed to start the car the more freaked out we all became. Finally, he got the car started and we drove off, and never went back. He never had problems with the car not starting before, and never did after either.
Me and a couple of friends were looking for something to do one night, and my friends had lived in troy, me and my friend from albany. We looked up the most haunted places in new york and this place popped up. We drove there and decided to go in. One of my friends was being a pussy and decided not to go in (not that I blamed him after). We walked through the actual cemetery, nothing too unusual a few extra cold spots here and there, the feeling of being watched. Then we went to the abandoned cathedral and this is where things got realllllllly freaky. I snapped a few pictures of the front gates and went in with my friend and her boyfriend at the time. My other friend was still sitting in the car, too scared to go in. As soon as we walked into the cathedral the temperature dropped as if it was winter. There were pentagrams on the wall and out of the corner of my eye I had seen a black shadow. i decided to get out of there because my gut was telling me to. When we all got back to the car I was looking through the pictures I had taken and clear as day white figure was guarding the gate. If you zoomed in it almost looked like a wolf and in another angle maybe a head piece, maybe a native? very creepy. I still have the photo and I almost refuse to go back there.
So many stories to tell from the late 80’s more than one stand out in my memory forever but I only have time for now to tell you of one. My friend Cathy had a dream about pinewoods and insisted that we go there she had to see if her dream was real or not. We had been there before and her mother told us not to go back, but being teenagers we did anyway. I don’t know what the layout of what it looks like today but back then it was shaped as a pitch fork. From the front gate which back then was just a chain hung across the front was a path surrounded by trees at the top of the path you had a choice to go three different directions, straight to the broken mausoleum left to the statues and right to the plots. She went right back then the only grave that was taken care of was that of a priest the rest was over grown. She took my hand and led me thru the weeds so thick you couldn’t see thru them and most were over your head. She stopped so sudden I literally ran into her she squated down and started moving the weeds and before us was a family grave of mother father and 2 or 3 children. she said this was it this was her dream I said ok what now and she just shrugged and said I guess we just go back. I swear to god the way back was so excruciatingly painful we both hit markers that we didn’t hit on the way in stubbed toes bruised shins and no doubt if we were not together we would have fallen a few times also it took us longer it find our way out.
I have been to this cemetery a total of 3 times, once I’ve been in, the other two I just stood in front of the gate. I actually went today and took some photos, but didn’t enter because I didn’t want to get in trouble. The time I actually went in, I tired to take pictures but my camera died, which is odd because it was fully charged. The photos I managed to get were all black, every time I turned around it seemed like I was being watched, and I kept seeing dark shadows.
Another photo
As long as you don’t park in front of the cemetery , you’ll be good as far as the “no trespassing ” signs. I have been in the Pinewoods cemetery several times and I’ve had some weird experiences. My whole determiner changes when I enter the cemetery, i almost become too calm. Like I can feel nothing. I believe it is because of the mass amounts of spirits and how my body handles picking up on these energies. When I walk into the broken down mausoleum , I feel extremely dizzy, and almost like someone has thrown a white veil over my eyes, the energy is very intense. The one time my sister and I had brought in our cameras we had captured what appears to be a woman standing by a tree, and it almost looks as if she has a veil over her head, the image was not clear, it was translucent but you could distinctly see the shape of her silhouette and details that make out to me that looked like a statue of the blessed virgin Mary.I was shocked to find on another sight, a picture someone had taken years ago, at the same spot i had captured mine, only taken at night, and you could see the woman’s face in detail and it appeared that she had dark hair around her face (almost exactly like i had seen but in different lighting etc) The only thing i had seen with my own eyes was walking up the hill to the back of the cemetery where the statues with severed angel heads are located.. I had seen a man squatting in the bushes next to a small cluster of grave stones. Just chilling, almost like an indian on look out. I looked to the ground like “oh shit..” and when i looked back it was gone. I cant explain it… but when i had seen it, I kept my mouth shut and didn’t say anything untill we had left the cemetery . The person I was with had ask me why i went silent and i just shrugged and kept my mouth shut . Its was an odd feeling of being observed. Pinewoods is an explainable place for sure and ive experienced it first hand
I just read your story about your visit to pine wood… crazy because my friend and I went to pine wood (forest park)a couple days ago and she took pictures also and in 2 of the photos we caught that same exact spirit your talking about. If you maximize the photo you can see the face and some kind of head piece we weren’t sure what it was. So crazy that someone else saw this too!!
Wrong photo I’m sorry I meant to post this photo
You should be ashamed of yourself throwing trash in a cemetary. How would you like it if someone threw trash on your grave. What would you do about it?
About 10 years ago mW, my ex and his 2 guy friends decided pinewoods would be a fun trip to take one night. We brought a video camera. We went in but it was too dark to make anything out because we didn’t want ri get in trouble with the law. We finally came out because it was so dark and decided to film near the front gate. What we caught on video was like nothing I’d ever seen. There was a blurred figure that kept passing us all and when it passed a person, that person would appear to “double” in the blur. Including me! We took turns filming and every one of us was watching this happen in camera as we filmed but couldn’t see anything with the naked eye if we looked away. The thing that freaked me out most was this “blur” that seemed like it was pacing between us all back and forth, seemed to have a thing for me! I STILL have the film and it quiets ANYONE that watches it. Because the tape was new at the time and the filming before and after that incident came out perfectly fine! Any questions or shared experiences I’d love to hear- email me at tara.geerholt@yahoo.com
Thanks!
I’ve been there a several times with some friends, between the hours of 11:45pm to 3:30am. Twice on halloween. We never seen or heard anything, but what you would expect to find in a cemetery. We were a little bummed out, but it is what it is. lee
Me and my friend went at around 11:30 10/12/2017 , thought it’d be fun to see what all the hype was about… worried about all we’ve read about the cops we drove around the block in a near by neighborhood before realizing it was too sketchy to park there … we decided to park on the side road a ways down, the country club road. As we walked in through some wet thick grass my friend stopped and said “look” we were all of the sudden in the middle of the cemetary and he pointed out the front of the receiving tomb. We were both disoriented and had no idea how we had needed up at that spot !! I remember looking back to try and see the “gate” and there was fencing but I couldn’t see the gate… at that moment I was for real freaked out ! I suggested waking a little more in and suddenly my friend yanked my arm and said stop! I said no one on ! He said no somethings wrong , so we decided to walk to a nearby tree . We stopped to listen and all the berry things started falling from the tree in dead silence even though there was no wind, at that very moment we heard a loud growl from behind the building , sounded like it was in stereo and the ground felt like it shook… was no dog , more like a deep loud Jurassic park growl sound … well that sent us running like hell!!!! We ran so fast I fel and busted my knee on a tree stump , kept tripping in random holes in the ground , and it felt like eternity until we got to the road , … as we ran all by the road my friend said “look” it was a green tall shadow whizzing along with us as we ran ,,, we both agreed never to go back although I’m curious about the place now … fist time I e ever experienced something like that ….. sorry people anyone suggesting there is a “dog” thing in there , you are WRONG! It’s really more like some massive demon crazy thing !!! And we felt like it litterally pushed us out of the place !!! Never been so scared
In 1987 or 88 me and three friends 2 guys and my girlfriend went to the cemetery late probably around or after midnight.. we parked in front of the gate and walked in over by the right side of the mausoleum.. we were not in there very long and a cloud like glowing fog maybe 4 ft by 4 ft slowly crept along the bushes about 3 ft off the ground, it was very lit up like a greenish maybe.. very obvious and very freakin real.. we all saw it.. my first instinct was to close my eyes as I grabbed and hugged a tree.. I am scared even when I think of it now..we all took off and ran as fast as we could to the car.. when we got to the car the door was open on the car like it was telling us to leave, no we definitely all closed the car doors when we got out to go in… not soon after my mother had came down with cancer.. I had went back with a friend maybe 5 years later during the day .. just creepy but no shadows.. my mother soon after was diagnosed with cancer again after being in remission.. I feel like I brought some kind of bad juju home with me and it hurt the person I loved the most it was definitely something evil.. .. I will never ever go back.. the shit is Real…
Back in the day when we were in high school in the early 2000’s a bunch of went into the cemetery around 2 am and had a few weird moments while looking for the statue or the beheaded Mary that bleed nothing we could call real ghost encounters other then us freaking ourselves out lol. Well as we walked back to our car we heard some oldie style music and laughed about joking how the old people at the vfw or like club was behind the cemetery were partying it up. Not until we left did someone realize it was like 3 am and the music that was playing was music from the era of when the cemetery was first shut down did we freak out. That cemetery definitely has some kind of activity depending on each person being there.
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I have relatives buried there and my father was originally buried there until my mother had second thoughts about it and had him moved. We often went there when I was a child and picnicked as we cut the grass around the stones and planted flowers in the urn. As a child I wandered around the mausoleum and don’t recall any bad experiences although we visited on sunny afternoons and not 3 in the morning. In 1970 I went back to visit with my new husband rather late in the day. We parked outside the gate and while we were inside someone chained the gate shut and we were trapped behind the huge gate. It was getting dusk and my husband had to scale the gate and chase some kids into the neighborhood nearby, leaving a very pregnant me behind.. The kids parents finally came with the key to the lock and let me out. Forest Park is run down and spooky,and I wouldn’t want to go there at night, but the scariest thing I encountered was the neighborhood kids!
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Cool. Cemeteries are really creepy