Countdown to WNY by Night

Background
24 Days

“ That a city could die: for a European, that is unthinkable. And yet… Buffalo, a city that was once the glory of America… reduced to devouring itself. ”
Bernard-Henri Levy

" Buffalo !!! Is it not a strange name for a city? To our ears it is familiar, indicating only the name of a pleasant and beautiful city. But to a foreigner when you say you are from Buffalo, he looks at you as though he thought that the inhabitants of the place where you reside were Buffaloes, and you unavoidably feel that you would be glad to give some reason why this singular name has been attached to your place of residence. But who among us can tell? I am sure I can not – I do not mean to say that it is difficult to as certain how the City cause by this name, for it is manifest that it took the name from the creek.But the question is, why was this stream that runs through our city called “Buffalo Creek” and when by whom was it thus christened? To this question, I confess that I have never seen any satisfactory answer. "
Millard Fillmore
Remarks on the dedication of the Buffalo Historical Society

" Certainly such men as Red Jacket and Farmer's Brother, who had visited the eastern cities and had seen the wealth of the whites, must have known that a third of a cent per acre was a very poor price to pay for land. True, we may suppose they were bought, (which would accord with Red Jacket's character,) but one would imagine that, in the democratic Iroquois system. the warriors of the tribe could easily have prevented a sale ... [and] it is strange they did not do so. They must have wanted whisky very badly. "
Crisfield Johnson,
On the Phelps and Gorham Purchase of 1788
Centennial History of Western New York (1876)

Sword and Fire
22 Days

Christmas, 1814
Meanwhile, Gen. Hopkins being absent in Clarence on business, the two colonels at Black Rock [Warren and Churchill] turned out their men and consulted as to what should be done. Though Warren was the senior in rank he seems not to have been formally invested with the command at Black Rock, another evidence of the loose way in which everything was done. However, the two officers agreed that they would endeavor to reach Scajaquada creek before the invaders, and hold it against them.

Warren’s regiment being ready first, he set out in advance. After marching about half-way he sent two scouts ahead. In a short time he heard firing at the creek, and as they did not return he naturally concluded they were killed or taken. In fact both were taken. Presently Capt. Millard aide to Gen. Hall, galloped past, also in search of information. He, too, was saluted with a shower of bullets at the bridge, and captured.

[Warren and Chruchill take position south of Black Rock.]

The enemy did not advance, but in the course of an hour or so Colonel Chapin arrived with a body of mounted men. Chaplin furiously damned the other two colonels and their men for not having driven away the British, and delivered General Hopkin’s order that they should immediately make an attack. They replied with equal anger and declared themselves as ready as he to meet the British. Chaplin then led the way with his mounted men in column of twos; Warren followed with his battalion, and then Churchill with his.

The men under Chaplin advanced nearly to Scajaquada creek, without receiving and warning of the warning of the whereabouts of the enemy. All was silent as death. Suddenly from the darkness flashed a volley of musketry, almost in the faces of the head of the column. Undisciplined cavalry are notoriously the poorest of all troops, and Chaplin’s men probably acted precisely as any other mounted militia would have done, if lead in a column, in the darkness, against an unknown force of hostile infanty. They instantly broke and fled, rushing back through the ranks of Warren’s footmen, who became utterly demoralized by the onslaught without receiving a shot. As the horsemen stampeded through them, they broke up and scattered into the woods. Finding himself without men, Warren retired. Churchill took what men he could and remained below the city.

A few men kept fighting to the last, but they too were soon obliged to retire. The first meeting of two gentlemen, both subsequently presiding judges of the Erie County Common Pleas, was at the battle of Black Rock. Samuel Wilkeson, then in the ranks of the Chautauqua county regiment, was loading and discharging his musket as rapidly as possible, when he noticed a small quiet man who was firing faster than he. Presently the stranger looked around and exclaimed, “Why, we are all alone!” Wilkeson also cast his eyes about him, and sure enough all were rapidly retreating. That was how he met Ebenezer Walden.

The Buffalonians of Churchill’s company came hurrying into the city to save their families. They declared the Americans were whipped, that the British were marching on the town, and most terrible of all that the “Indians, the Indians, the INDIANS were coming”.

And so, except for one house, Buffalo burned.

- Crisfield Johnson, 1876

Ecce Homo
21 Days

Interior: Disused fallout shelter.

A single bare light bulb illuminates a small card table, three chairs, and two men. Plastic sheeting lines the floor and walls, and half used paint and Spackle buckets litter the area. Shuffling in the background indicates more people are present.

A man in U.S. Army digital fatigues is sitting at the table, trying hard to seem like he's at attention. His patches show him to be a sergeant of some variety. Across from him, an undershirt showing past his unbuttoned uniform jacket and shirt is the deputy chief of police, O'Mally.

“Mr. O'Mally, Sir, I don't understand the..”

“Please, please, call me Deputy Chief. You're not supposed to understand. You're just in on this enough for me to think that you might have some idea of what's going on, regionally speaking. And I wanted an unofficial word with you.”

“Well, Deputy Chief, I see. I'm afraid you don't have the requisite clearance for me to debrief you.”

“You look sweaty... it's this heat. Can't account for everything, right? Man alive, it's going to be a brutal summer....” O'Mally leans his chair back and takes out a cigarette, lights it, takes a drag and throws the pack and torch style lighter onto the table. “Smoke up.”

The sergeant looks dubiously at the pack, but takes a cigarette and lights it all the same.

“Sergeant...” The Deputy Chief... “Smith? Right.... well, I realize I don't have any sort of official clearance or anything, but you see, this is my city... well, you know what I mean. And I want to know what the military and their appendage corporate bodies are doing stomping around in my back yard. Right? Right.... so.... it would behoove you to tell me, Mr. Smith, or whatever the hell your real name is.”

“I don't have...” Two uniformed police officers rush forward. One pushes the sergeant down on the table. The other grabs his hand and holds it. A third officer, also a sergeant walks up chuckling what looks like a small chainsaw.

“I don't have time for this. I'm not going to threaten you. I think you're some sort of government spook boogyman, so I don't think it'll work. I think you're already coming up with plans and thinking about your next few steps and such not.... .Sergeant....”

With a roar, the chainsaw is kicked on, and sergeant promptly and unceremoniously cuts through the Sgt. Smith's wrist and a fair bit of card table. The Deputy Chief in the ruckus picks up his torch lighter, and burns the stump, while the erstwhile chainsaw wielding sergeant ties a tourniquet below Smith's elbow, all accompanied by screaming and cursing.

“There, see? No threats... I don't do threats. Now you have to make plans for having one hand, or no hands, I haven't decided. But I won't threaten either way. You tell me what you know...”

“You're going to die O'Mally.”

“Hahaha, I know that. Lord knows. Allright, tough guy, that's fine. Sergeant, his other hand...”

“Jesus, no, fine wait....... just wait...... We know about the... supernaturals, there's plans in motions. I don't know many details....”

“This is going to take all night....” The Deputy Chief removes his jacket and shirt and hangs tosses them into the corner of the room. “Look, I know about all that. I know about werewolves, and ghosts, and vamps, and just about everything else that goes bump in the night and messes around thinking all humans are mindless sheep. And that's fine, it's been fine for..... I don't know, at least a century. Things got real ugly after McKinley was shot, systems had to be set up, things had to be done.... through channels. Now we all play by the same rules, it's simple. I'm up to my eyeballs in supernatural melodrama, but in my world it isn't about teen angst and sparklies and picking who you're taking to prom. So you're going to tell me something useful, or this interview is over.”

Short of breath, and jaw hanging open, the Sergeant begins talking......

Exterior: Two uniformed cops having a smoke outside the entrance of a charter schools abandoned bomb shelter. The Deputy Chief walks out buttoning his shirt. The Chief of the West Seneca, Lackawanna, and Deputy Chief of the Amherst Police departments walk up forming a small circle.

“Well, what'd he say?”

“It's worse than we thought, they're talking big changes, sweeps, working with whoever can generate the highest body count, that kind of thing. They want to clean house.”

The men exchange glances. “Better the evil you know.....”

“My thoughts exactly. Though I doubt it will be appreciated, set up meeting with the wolves and bats and deliver a nice letter explaining everything, along with some flowers, to the St. John's House. They need to be warned. I'll be damned if I'm going to let the status quo get upset by some jack booted goody goodies. I'll meet with the wolves, they already know who I am. You guys handle the others, make sure they know what side of this thing you're on. If there's any problems we will fall like the wrath of g-d on whoever draws first blood. Understood?”

“Absolutely. Fine as always to see you O'Mally, send my regards to Colleen.”

“Of course... well... see you around.” O'Mally walks back in to the bomb shelter.

Interior: A now.... unarmed.... Mr. Smith is sitting in the chair, woozy, held up mostly by duct tape.

“Mr. Smith, I want you to know that what I did tonight wasn't personal. I realize you probably had hopes and dreams yourself. Maybe of a better, safer future. Keeping fawning women and appreciative children safe from monsters. But, to quote the cliché, the greatest monster is of course man. And you...” The Deputy Chief pulls his service revolver. “Were just not monstrous enough.” He shoots him repeatedly in the heart, and then walking over to the body, empties the remaining chambers into his head.

“Clean this place up, we're going to be busy.” O'Mally exits.

Grand Island
10 Days

From the History of Grand Island (1955):

The French missionaries, who came into Western New York in the seventeenth century, found a peaceful Indian people. The missionaries called them the Neutre Nation because they strove to maintain peace although surrounded by warlike tribes. To the west of the Neutre Nation lived the Hurons; to the east, the Senecas, members of the powerful Iroquois League, and to the south, the Eries, enemies of the Iroquois. It was necessary for the warriors from hostile tribes to use a land route, which passed through Neutre territory when making raids on each other. The warring factions maintained a strict neutrality in the villages and territory of the Neutres. This was not a happy situation for the Neutres or for the warriors, impatient to come to grips with the enemy.

So the Senecas decided to wage war against the Neutres. When the bloody warfare finally came to an end in 1651, the Neutres nation ceased to exist. The Senecas called Grand Island Ga-we-not, meaning the great island. They used it as a hunting preserve but had no permanent villages here.

The first authentic historical reference to Grand Island is found in Father Louis Hennepin's book Nouvelle Decouverte published in 1697. He describes the sailing of the Griffon up the Niagara River to its first anchorage between Grand Island and Squaw Island. He refers to "d'une grande Isle." The French called the island La Grande Isle.

After the French and Indian Wars, Grand Island became part of the British domain. Sir William Johnson visited Grand Island, spending a night here in 1761. He encamped on the West Side of the island, near the mouth of Sixth Creek.

The British decided to use pack animals to carry supplies from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser above the falls. Many Indian porters lost their jobs and in retaliation attacked a caravan at Devil's Hole, massacring many people before help arrived from Fort Niagara.

Sir William Johnson called a council to meet at the fort. The Indians expressed regret for the massacre and to show their good faith gave all the islands in the Niagara River above the falls to Sir William Johnson. This treaty was signed at Fort Niagara August 6, 1764. Sir William Johnson immediately transferred the title of these islands to the King of England.

Although the Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the British continued to hold Fort Niagara until 1796. After the British were expelled from this area, the Iroquois claimed that the title to the islands in the river reverted to them. The State of New York, anxious to avoid antagonizing the Indians, recognized their claim. Representatives of the State met with the Indians in council at Buffalo Creek. There, on September l2, 1815, New York purchased Grand Island and other small islands in the Niagara River for one thousand dollars.

When the island was surveyed by the state in 1824, the land was divided into lots of not more than 200 acres. These were sold at public auction. Mr. Samuel Leggett of New York City, acting for Major Mordecai M. Noah, purchased 2,555 acres as a refuge for members of the Jewish race. The plan was to make Grand Island into a large and flourishing city. Major Noah ordered the cornerstone for his enterprise from the Cleveland quarries. He composed the inscription for it "Ararat, A City of Refuge for Jews, Founded by Mordecai Noah in the month Tizri 5586, September 1825 and in the 50th Year of American Independence."



Major Noah returned to New York City and the proposed city did not materialize.

In 1875, at a time when such discoveries became a national craze, local farmer Emmanuel Breckenridge was reportedly shocked to turn up more than three dozen complete "giant skeletons" on his property. The bones were described as, " Clearly ante-diluvian (sp) in origin. Possibly of the people of Goliath. " The bones were later sold to PT Barnum's , and lost in a fire sometime in the 1890's.

In 2011, the following story was reported:

An ancient campsite where people were manufacturing tools has been discovered near the Niagara Falls.

This find, combined with other archaeological discoveries in the area over the past few decades, suggests that such campsites lined the Niagara River as far back as 4,000 years ago.

So far, the team has unearthed more than 20,000 artifacts, mostly bits of rock broken off when people were creating stone tools, on the north central section of Grand Island New York, about 12 miles (20 km) upstream from Niagara Falls. The earliest artifacts at the site date back at least 4,000 years, opening a window on a time when people were living a nomadic lifestyle based on hunting, fishing and gathering plants.

"I would anticipate that there would have been, back in the day, these kinds of campsites all along the Niagara River on both sides and on both sides of the island," team leader Lisa Anselmi, of Buffalo State University of New York, told the Buffalo News.

There are not the oldest artifacts recovered in Western New York, Mrs. Anselmi explained, pointing out stone tools dating back 10,000 years have been discovered near what is now Allegany State Park.

A Fond Farewell to a Friend
4 Days to go

The stake goes in. Impossibly, I feel myself toppling to the ground. I don't know how this is even possible. I have fought elders, I have fought demons and spirits... how could this little bastard? I ponder my next move as my adversary falls to his knees next to me.

There is a faint sting as his fangs break through the skin of my neck.

No. Wait. Really? After all this time.

I have a lot of blood left. This is going to take a minute or so. Shit. I had hoped for better.

Lela... my love... I'm so sorry. I let you down. I let you fall.

Forever ago: A canoe hangs motionless over the Falls, hesistating only at the last moment... Forever ago: A gem on a chain falls to the ground, shattering even before it touches the ground...

My love. I died for you a long time ago. This is just an epilogue.

The pain is getting worse now. I can feel my long-tamed beast raging for vengeance... but there will be no vengeance this time.

I always tried to be there for you, even when you became a god. I guarded you, kept you safe, brought you back from the darkness when you got lost. But