theithacajournal.com
Article published Jul 20, 2006
Celebrated psychic to read at Benn Conger Inn
By Jennie Daley
Journal Staff

GROTON — There were ghost sightings at the Benn Conger Inn before
Bernice Golden ever arrived.

But she probably already knew that.
A well-known psychic based in the Buffalo area, Golden has played an
interesting role in adding to the already storied history of one of
Groton's most famous homes, where she will return for a public group
reading Friday.
Once the residence of the former New York State Senator Benn Conger, the
house was built in 1921. By the late 1920s Benn Conger had died, and his
wife sold the house. Soon after, it became a boarding house well known
to be the country escape of Dutch Schultz, a notorious mobster and
bootlegger.

Rumor has it that Schultz used a tunnel from the house to an abandoned
railway out back to ship the illegal whiskey he sold. Eventually his
bootlegging days ended when he was arrested for tax evasion, quickly
concluding the more sordid history of the inn. Schultz was shot and
killed in 1935, and the house went through a series of incarnations,
most frequently as a place for visitors to stay.
That's the type of operation Peter Zon and Doug Yurubi took over about
two years ago, in large part thanks to Golden.
Zon's cousin had taken him to Golden's office for a reading about a year
prior to their move. During that reading Zon was told that he would
leave Florida, his home for 23 years, and move to a Victorian home with
columns and a white picket fence.

Remembering the cold winters from his childhood in Buffalo, Zon figured
it was an interesting prediction but basically improbable.
That was until his home was robbed a day after his insurance company
went belly up and his brand new car was rear-ended two hours after he
purchased it. He soon started searching the Internet for places to move
and stumbled upon the Benn Conger as a bed and breakfast in foreclosure.
Not long after finding the inn, he and Yurubi were partners in the
dining and B&B business.

Once the two settled into Groton they sent a Christmas card to Golden,
letting her know how her predictions had played out and welcoming her to
visit the inn any time she'd like.
Golden took Zon up on the invitation, saying she "just knew" she had to
be there.
In May, Golden finally made it to Groton and not long after she entered
the house, she said she became aware of a number of spirits in the home
and a lot of activity in the basement. Her description of one of the
spirits closely matched the ghost Zon had seen months prior, sipping tea
in one of the dining rooms.
This is where the story starts to get even tougher for those who think
psychics are fancy hoaxsters.

While there's little that can be considered proof of Golden's abilities,
she does have stories that are impossible to explain about finding
missing people and picking winning juries.
Steve Cohen, a Buffalo lawyer with Lorenzo & Cohen, employs Golden to
choose juries. Thus far, he has a 97 percent win record in court, which
he attributes in large part to Golden's advice.
"I'm very science-oriented so it goes against my fiber," Cohen said of
his reliance on Golden. "She's nutty as a fruitcake, but she's a gift
from God. She's a giving, loving person."
Golden's May visit to Groton is littered with equally inexplicable
events.
After their first Groton meeting, Zon and Golden decided to wait on
visiting the basement until she could bring up a film crew the next week
to document her trip.

According to video clips from that visit now posted on her Web site,
Golden knew that the spirit of Dutch Schultz was in the house and
seeking a way to be released from his current level of purgatory so he
could begin to atone for his many sins, which included everything from
roughing up other mobsters to murder.
The clips, which take at least an hour to watch, walk viewers through
the process of finding and releasing Schultz's soul, including her
wrestling with the spirit of Bugsy Malone, another infamous mobster also
from the 1920s. According to Golden, Malone didn't want Schultz's spirit
redeemed and was willing to fight Golden to keep him from being
released.
In the video, there's a time where Golden, sitting in a white plastic
lawn chair in the middle of dark basement room, suddenly jumps back.
Later she said that was the moment when Malone punched her, an event she
said left her with a large bruise.

Talking about the experience months later, Golden acknowledges that the
whole premise could sound a little far fetched.
"Don't think I'm crazy. The true story behind the mob has not been
told," she said.
She hopes subsequent visits to the Benn Conger Inn will reveal some of
those stories.
While no one is sure yet what will become of the video — Golden is
considering pitching it various places — she will be back in town
Friday to check in on Zon and the house, as well as give readings in an
open forum.
"We discuss everything from sex life to church life," Golden said of the
group sessions. "Most of it is common sense and very simple. We make
life so complex."
Zon recognized that such sessions and Golden's line of work in general
isn't for everyone, but it's something he finds interesting and
entertaining. He said his favorite part of being involved with Golden is
watching when "non-believers" listed to Golden spit out unknowable facts
immediately upon meeting them.

"I love having non-believers see her. They come back and say 'Holy cow,
she really hit home on things,'" Zon said.