Oswego River

But for now, his story will remain one of the most compelling and heartbreaking John Doe cases I've covered.

On a warm June day in 1976, a trio of fishermen on the Oswego River made a grisly catch.

Instead of fish, they found a human body drifting toward the surface, bound to heavy cinder blocks beneath the murky water.

It was a chilling scene.

[mysterious music] Oswego, New York, has the kind of history that almost seems built for ghost stories.

Sitting where the Oswego River meets Lake Ontario, the city has been a military outpost, a major port, an underground railroad destination, and home to generations of people whose stories are still woven into its streets and buildings.

Some of those stories are difficult enough to believe even before the paranormal enters the picture.

Old City Hall once housed prisoners in its basement, including one man who claimed something came to torment him night after night.

It is just a beautiful city, sitting right on Lake Ontario.

Mm-hmm.

And the river, Oswego River.

So the Oswego River just goes right into Lake Ontario.

Is it a river or a lake, Mike?

It's the Oswego River.

Okay, there you go.

So it's a river.

Oswego, New York, has the kind of history that almost seems built for ghost stories.

Sitting where the Oswego River meets Lake Ontario, the city has been a military outpost, a major port, an Underground Railroad destination, and home to generations of people whose stories are still woven into its streets and buildings.

Some of those stories are difficult enough to believe even before the paranormal enters the picture.

Old City Hall once housed prisoners in its basement, including one man who claimed something came to torment him night after night.

It is just a beautiful city, sitting right on Lake Ontario.

Mm-hmm.

And the river, Oswego River.

So the Oswego River just goes right into Lake Ontario.