I live in upstate New York and the town I live in is located on the old Erie canal. Now I have had many paranormal experiences along the tow-path. One of which, a fellow ghost hunter took my picture when I asked him too. I felt a cold chill on my back and head, and a huge orb maybe 3 ft across showed up above my head. Fast forward to another investigation at the same location, (both occurred at night) now i decided to walk a few feet to the east on the tow-path and another orb flew out of the woods from the north side of the tow-path and hovered above the tow-path. 

As I watched it begin to move east, its height in the air and its bobbing up and down reminded me of someone on horseback. 
I noticed something with red eyes low to the ground. It was weird, I'm not sure what it could have been. 

There is a story about a lawman during the heyday of the canal, who was riding a horse east along the canal and something spooked his horse, and both horse and rider ended up in the canal with tragic consecquences, but I am not sure how much truth there is to this story, of horse and rider.