June 2, 2009
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Linker, please feel free to contact me if you want! (^-^)
It seems that some think that the old former Central Baptist Church building is haunted. Well, it was never haunted when it was used as a church! Here is where the hits are coming from:
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?s=&showtopic=153357&view=findpost&p=2912266
The linker should be assured that I was not offended or angered that this post was linked to, I just don't believe in or do paranormal stuff. It is not a realm in which I want to be involved in, that's all. If there is somehow that the "linker" can contact me, I would be happy to communicate with him. If anyone still wants to see the original entry it is here. I made a changes to this entry so that it now includes additional information about the building to the effect that there is no need to worry about any dark, ghostly church history, because there isn't any.
I will continue to post new information about this old building whenever any comes in. The church left me with a rich heritage and many memories. I can still remember my dad coming down those steps to scold me for scraping along the sidewalk on noisy roller skates (no ball bearings) across the street from the church while Wednesday night prayer meeting was in session, and Pastor Nelson standing at the door to greet everyone on their way out on Sunday mornings.
I lived down the street from this church and I can attest to the fact that my grandfather was the pastor there for many years until his death from pancreatic cancer in 1951. He was Swedish, not German as was reported in the paranormal site. He did not actually own the church building. A church building is owned by the congregation, and the pastor is only an employee. I just include that information for accuracy's sake. My family continued to attend this church after the death of my grandfather until it was sold in 1965. I know the building well, as I attended the morning worship service in the sanctuary every week, went to Sunday School in the basement and also went there to Vacation Bible School every summer. My grandmother was the organist, and from my front pew seat I watched the choir in which my parents sang every Sunday. My great-uncle F.S.'s family lived in the building for a time and never reported anything unusual going on.
There were NEVER any disasters that took place in this building as long as it was being used as a church. No one ever died in the building. There were NEVER any strange paranormal goings-on of any kind. No one who ever went to that church had a reason to "haunt" the building. There was a minor fire in the building, according to the firsthand account of one of the members of the erstwhile choir (Hey, I remember the choir, and it was not bad! Haha!), a J.A.H., which was set by the son of a church member D.F. The damage was confined to the office/study and was quickly repaired. The boy apparently had problems as he also tried to burn a Catholic sanctuary on the corner of King's Road and Albany Street.
Others who pastored this church after my grandfather were Pastor Steen, Leslie Nelson and Chester Gushee. Around 1965 our church merged with another church from Glenville, NY and a new church building was erected, the present Faith Baptist Church of Rexford, NY. This area of Schecectady has unfortunately gone downhill, and I cannot say what went on in this building after it ceased to be a house of worship. The choir member says that the church was sold to the Southern Baptists who used it for a year, and that a Pentacostal group also met there for a time.
As far as fires are concerned, there were two others in the neighborhood when I lived there. One fire was at Dr. Moody's house on the corner of Swan St. and State Street, and the other was across State Street at another church, Christ Church Episcopal. At that time it may have been called St. Francis Episcopal. They had just put in a new organ when the fire happened. No one died in either fire. There are graveyards in the area, St. John's, Vale, and St. Joseph's. I don't know much about them because we were not allowed to go into these places. We didn't have any business in there, and they were rumored to be populated by unsavory characters. They were Catholic cemeteries and had no connection whatsoever to the Baptist church.
The picture has not been photoshopped, only cropped/resized for posting here. I probably have a higher resolution version of the picture on a CD Rom that I will send to whoever wants it next time (6/17) I get up to Tokyo. I looked at Google street view, and it seems that some repairs have been made to the front steps since this picture was taken.
Edit June 7, 2009
It seems that this building is again being used as a church.
http://macedonia23.adventistchurchconnect.org/index.php
Comments (3)
Your memory is very accurate. The only comment I would make is that the pictures show what Swan Street looks like now. It was much nicer when you lived there. There were lovely neighbors.(Well, most of them were nice)The trees were still there and it was a nice place to live. Time has taken it's toll and what has happened to a very nice old neighborhood is so sad. I prefer not to go there anymore and remember the good old days when it was a great place to live.
This is a great article.
I will say I am deeply sorry if anyone or I offended you about your heritage and family's History, This was not my intentions,,I do not make up stories for my amusment ,,,What happend here changed my life and my Beliefs and I hope it Is gone. Please email me for I wish you to put back up,what you said ,,and felt about your former Church,and its history,,,Thank you
Gary
@Gary - Thanks so much for the contact. You must have had to open an account to do this and I appreciate your efforts. I linked to the original entry that I had up before so anyone can see if it they want to, but I just wanted to kind of separate the normal from the paranormal, because I never experienced anything bad in the building. I don't know what the source was of what you saw. I just don't like to mess with stuff like that - scary. I had a very minor experience with that sort of thing once, and it is just not something that I want to know any more about, as I am not equipped to deal with it. Please be assured that I was not offended, just very surprised, and I realize that you were just sharing your experience.
Maybe God was not pleased with some of the things that went on in that building after is ceased to be used as a church. I can't say because I don't know what happened there. But I don't think that God lets ghosts or demons advertise for Him, and demons usually prefer to work under cover and not expose themselves so they can continue working. How were your beliefs and your life changed by what you experienced in the building? The only thing I can say is that God lets the Bible do his advertising, not demons, and that is the best place that we can go to solve anything.
Like I said, I will try to fine a higher resolution picture of the building. I am in Fukuoka at the moment, and the CDRom is in Tokyo. I will be back in the Schenectady area later this month, so maybe I can even take another picture if you want. It really was a nice place to be. I will tell you anything about Central Baptist that I can remember. If I can't remember, my father can. He was the choir member who always sang the parts of Satan and Pontius Pilate in the Easter Cantatas. Sheesh! I did remember something about "fire." Once the choir was practicing an anthem called "Let the Fire Fall," and my brother asked my mom what a "Farfal" was. Then there was the other song about "Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear..."
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