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E-mail this story13 Curves: A story of love and death
In this original silent film, a pair of ghosts teaches a living couple that love conquers all, including death.
Our short silent film, 13 Curves, uses a local ghost story to illuminate the omnipresent power of love and connection.
Legend has it, about 60 years ago, a newly married couple died in a car crash in Marcellus, while driving along the section of Cedarvale Road that has 13 sharp curves. Local residents believe the bride’s ghost haunts this treacherous, winding part of the road, known as 13 Curves. Those who know about the story tend to look for the woman in white as she lingers, unrequited, in pale, searching for tragedy along the winding roadside.
Photo: Brittany Wait, Svitlana Lymar and Laura Mortelliti
Though inspired by the legend of 13 Curves, our film has its own twist. While the film is a ghost story, we crafted it to be deeper than that. The film addresses several complex themes: the resilience of love, closure and the modern media’s misguided portrayal of ghosts as horrific. The film opens with a newly-wed couple, arguing as they drive along 13 Curves. In the heat of the moment, the bride lunges at the steering wheel. Both bride and groom look up, horrified, as they crash. They then transition to ghosts.
In the next scene, set in the present, a couple travels along the same road. They’re also fighting. Suddenly, they see the ghosts of the bride and groom, holding hands, in front of their car. The man immediately stops the car. The ghost couple gives a revelation to the living couple, reminding them that love is paramount. At the end, the present-day couple is also holding hands.
In this way, our film hints at the potential for spirit retribution and closure. The ghost couple died fighting, but they came together in the afterlife. This illustrates the power of love.
By saving the living couple from the same fatal destiny, the ghosts are acting as guides, sentries. The modern media portrayal of spirits over the last several decades has been predominantly pure horror in nature. Our retelling of 13 Curves reveals the interaction between the spirit dimension and living world, as well as the latent potential for each side in those interactions.
The film is not only a retelling of an intriguing local ghost story, but also, a sensitive, thought-provoking piece on the potential for interface between the ghost and human world. We hope our film inspires reflection and appreciation in our viewers.
Produced by: Brittany Wait, Svitlana Lymar and Laura Mortelliti
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Thirteen Curves
I got chills as I read this story. I graduated from West Genesee High School in 1975 and left home which was 116 Ormsby Dr. for Grove City College the next year. My folks sold Ormsby and moved to 4425 Belleflower Circle in 1977. Dad passed in 2000 and I inherited it from Mom when she passed in 2013. I owned the house for two years then sold it after one day on the market. I will never go back to that house as Dad passed away there and Mom was never the same after the day that the hearse came for Dad. It got so bad with Mom that I dreaded helping with the house. She let everything go. I tried th hire a housekeeper but when she arrived to meet Mom she shreaked at me to turn her away at the front door.
All that is just to set up my experience on thirteen curves which is an area of Syracuse that I will always love greatly as I do Syracuse itself having been born and raised there. Since high School, I have always loved running. I sometimes ran from Ormsby Dr. to Marcellus Park just for the drink of water, then run home. During the times that I stayed with Mom it was not infrequent that I ran from Belleflower Cir. To Camillus Park. I ran Thirteen Curves many times after Mom passed. One time, I was not totally alone though I always ran by myself. There were many times that I had to get away from the house with an extended run and my favorite route was thirteen Curves. I prayed during these runs many times because I am most alive when I run. During this run I saw that there was no one around so I called out to my Lord and Savior with a loud voice for help to do the right thing. Over the pounding of feet on the pavement, I heard a clear soft calm female voice say, "Everything will be ok Steve." I stopped, looked back and saw an old woman on a bike pedaling uphill. I did not think anything of it until it dawned on me that an old woman on a bike here is not possible. I stopped, looked back, and of course she was gone.
Where?
Not Marcellus. Cedarvale Road is in the Town of Onondaga. I live on the road running somewhat parallel; the Curves are just a couple hundred yards behind my house.
Nice little film. Thanks
13 curves road legand
Would u happen to know what the couple's names were?
This was wonderful.The
This was wonderful.The overall message is really powerful and the way in which the story was able to tell itself without the help of words was great. Well done!
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