Every city has its lore and legends–the stories locals grow up with.

In Syracuse, two favorites are Thirteen Curves and the Landmark Ghost. But dig deep enough and you’ll unearth wonder in unexpected places. Just below the surface of even the most ordinary neighborhood lies the curious history and hidden terrain of Secret Syracuse. 

Central New York is home to dozens of stranger-than-fiction events lost to time

There’s the beautiful girl whose rise and fall as America’s first supermodel was foretold…when she was just five years old. The circus showman who grazed live elephants on a hillside…and may have buried deceased ones in a junkyard. The F-94 jet which crashed into Onondaga Lake…and lies there still. The wealthy playboy who sank his fortune into the world’s most beautiful nightclub in Syracuse…at the height of the Great Depression.

Want an adventure that borders on the fantastic?

Explore a carriage house turned English manor. Visit the village library that doubles as a natural history museum with rare antiquities that include a real Egyptian mummy. Descend a series of century-old stone steps to hike the Grand Canyon of Syracuse. 

Like odd facts?

Discover where there’s an underwater ATM machine. See a street of charming 1920s-era houses that can’t burn down. Find out which leafy suburban community sits atop the ruins of a secret government installation. 

Whether you’re new to Syracuse or a lifelong resident, you’ll be astonished by the 84 stories in these pages. And with 170 color photographs by award-winning photographer Sandy Roe, Secret Syracuse is a book you’ll return to again and again.

It’s part guidebook, part history with a touch of whimsy–all the things you never knew about Syracuse and now will never forget.