Visit the Upstate New York Town Where ‘No One Dies’

This might be a good Halloween trip. You can reach the town of Lily Dale, a little west of Buffalo, in just about four hours by car from Utica.

It's a hamlet with heavy ties to the Spiritualist movement, located in the Town of Pomfret on the east side of Cassadaga Lake, next to the Village of Cassadaga. Tucked in the southwestern corner of New York State, it is one hour southwest of Buffalo, toward the Pennsylvania border. The town was featured in the HBO documentary No One Dies in Lily Dale. Here’s a great look from the Edit Everything YouTube channel:

Lily Dale's year-round population is estimated to be only 275. Each year, however, approximately 22,000 flock there for classes, workshops, lectures, and private appointments with mediums--mostly in hopes of connecting with dead relatives.

Guest lecturers have included members of TV's Ghost Hunters, Tibetan monks, James Van Praagh, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and Deepak Chopra.

Lily Dale was incorporated in 1879 as Cassadaga Lake Free Association, a camp and meeting place for Spiritualists and Freethinkers. The name was changed to The City of Light in 1903 and finally to Lily Dale Assembly in 1906.

The mission statement of Lily Dale is to further the science, philosophy, and religion of Spiritualism, and it has the largest Spiritualist community in the world, with over 40 mediums and psychics in residence.