Time For The Ooky Spooky At Cassadaga Hotel

Paranormal investigators Katrina Weidman and Heather Taddy visit the Cassadaga Hotel for their new show “Mysteries on the Map,” which debuts on Very Local this month. Illustration by Michellina Jones.

Since I’ve been on this planet, I’ve seen some things, and not all of them are explainable. Mostly because I wasn’t really paying attention when they happened, or I’d taken something from a shaman and was just told to buckle up and hold on. It could have been a shaman, though I’m guessing it was more likely a frat bro in a headdress. 

That being said, there is a big part of me that just doesn’t believe in the paranormal. I love the idea of life after death and spirits visiting or never leaving, but according to some random surveys that Google just showed me, an estimated 84% of Americans say they’ve experienced paranormal activity in their homes. They can’t all be stoned or crazy, y’all. That’s also a big market of consumers who love all things ooky spooky, which is why my old friends at Very Local, the streaming app owned by Hearst Media, are launching a new seven-episode series looking into paranormal cases around the country. 

“Mysteries on the Map” is billed as an “exhilarating new weekly series that fuses adventure with the supernatural, across seven American cities.” The show is set to debut on October 23, 2024, on Roku and the Very Local app, and I had the pleasure of meeting the hosts, paranormal investigators and enthusiasts Katrina Weidman and Heather Taddy, on their recent stop in Central Florida. 

The beautiful, funny and talented Weidman and Taddy are on a cross-country road trip looking at spooky tales and local legends that have haunted their residents for generations. It’s not your brother-in-law’s typical ghost hunting show though, more of a wink-and-a-nod, tongue-in-cheek appreciation of the genre, meant to spark curiosity rather than have you pouring salt at all of the entrances and exits to your house. The two had just made their way to Florida after investigating a haunted ship in the Baltimore harbor and looking for apple-thieving Albatwitches along the Susquehanna River, but were in great spirits and ready to tackle what Cassadaga had to offer.

 Weidman and Taddy are seen as two of the premier women paranormal investigators on the scene at the moment and became good friends when they went to Penn State together. Which is likely why they’re so much fun to watch on screen— they actually like each other and they love their jobs. They may be best known for their work on A&E’s hit television series, “Paranormal State,” which was based on real-life investigations from the Penn State Paranormal Research Society. They’ve also been on CW’s “Mysteries Decoded,” co-starred with Nick Groff on “Paranormal Lockdown” and “Portraits to Hell” with Jack Osbourne. So they ain’t afraid of no ghosts. 

I had the opportunity to meet the duo and their crew at the Cassadaga Hotel, in the heart of the Cassadaga Spiritual Community just north of Orlando. The hotel dates back to the 1920s and has made a name for itself as a respected spiritual curiosity of sorts. Clients from around the world come for a stay at the hotel, during which they can have readings and healing sessions with onsite healers, psychics and mediums ranging from tarot decks to past-life regression sessions. As I walked into the hotel on a typically sunny Florida afternoon, I was greeted by visiting lookie-loos and tourists shopping their way through the gift boutique where a frantic woman regaled the cashier with tales of what she and her roommates had gone through the night before in the hotel. 

“I was lying in bed when I felt a definite tug on one of my legs, and when I looked down there was a green orb floating around my feet. We busted out one of our ghost-reading apps and it started sharing words that the ghost was saying, like ‘portal.’ This must have been because this hotel sits on a large portal between life and death. I think it was a child.” 

When I asked the hosts what they thought about the woman’s tale, they seemed unphased. “Most people have some sort of encounter story but they don’t share them because people will think they’re crazy. Every town has old mysteries, old untold stories. And we’re just trying to shine a light on those stories,” says Weidman.

I left just as the duo were sitting down for a séance (because I don’t mess with that mess) which sounds like great television so

 I can’t wait for it to come out from a safe distance, without me in the room where it was happening. The next stop on their Central Florida tour was Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College. 

If you’re not familiar with the beautiful college theater’s story, it was donated to the school in 1931 by Mary Curtis Bok (as in Bok Tower Gardens) Zimbalist, in honor of her (apparently very) close friend Annie Russell, who was an internationally known actress at the time. Russell eventually started teaching at the school until her death in 1936. Apparently, she loved the theater so much, that she decided not to go gently into the good night but rather to linger in secret as a ghost. Theatergoers, staff and students have attributed a series of odd happenings to Russell’s phantom—from saving set workers from electrocution, calling the paramedics for someone who fell from a ladder and randomly opening the door to her former study during productions. We’ll have to wait and see what the show uncovers during their visit though, because after rubbing elbows with all of the believers in Cassadaga, I was ready for a shower and a cold beer. And some sage to smudge it all away.

By the time it airs later this year, “Mysteries on the Map” will have visited Orlando, Omaha, Baltimore, Louisville, Cincinnati, Ft. Myers and Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Very Local is a streaming service that offers 24/7 access to local news, weather, original series and more. The free app is available on all mobile, tablet and connected TV devices, and I’m a big fan. Not only because of the quality of the content, but because it’s home to my Emmy-nominated show “Restaurants on the Radar” and the more recent “On the Job.” 

For more information on Very Local’s shows and to download the app, visit verylocal.com/cities/orlando.