More spooky tales from the city where even the dead never sleep. (Part I is on page 63.)
WHO: Various specters
WHERE: #12 Gay Street, Manhattan
Built in 1827, this West Village brick townhouse is considered one of the most haunted buildings in New York City. The ghosts date back to the 1920s, when a speakeasy called the Pirate’s Den—frequented by socialites, celebrities, and politicians of the day—operated in the basement. On the upper floors, the building’s owner, Mayor Jimmy Walker, kept his mistress, a showgirl named Betty Compton.
Fast forward to 1956. That’s when puppeteer Frank Paris (famous as the creator of the Howdy Doody Show) bought the house. Paris lived upstairs, and he turned the basement into a studio where he crafted marionettes and gave puppet shows. He had some strange experiences in the home: He and his friends sometimes heard footsteps going up and down the stairs or people making loud noises on the upper floors. Working very late at night in the basement, the puppeteer reported smelling violets at least once. In other rooms, he smelled onions frying (a phenomenon that the house’s later owner also experienced). Paris also claimed to have seen a dark-haired ghost, whom he called the “Gay Street Phantom.” The Phantom was a man dressed in a cape, top hat, and tails, as though he were heading out for a night on the town. And although his face was shadowed, Paris thought he looked like a youngish man with “sparkling eyes.” He seemed so friendly and ordinary that Paris’s dog ran to greet him…just as the ghost vanished.
Some “supernatural historians” note that a cemetery once occupied the land where Gay Street is now, and they question whether “lost spirits” made their way to #12. But others believe that the Phantom of Gay Street is Mayor Jimmy Walker himself, who was famous for looking the other way when it came to enforcing the rules of Prohibition and for making it legal for New Yorkers to play sports and go to the movies on Sundays (previously forbidden because it was the Sabbath). Many people wonder if the other ghosts traipsing through the townhouse are the spirits of speakeasy customers returning to revisit the good times they once had there. because it was the Sabbath). Many people wonder if the other ghosts traipsing through the townhouse are the spirits of speakeasy customers returning to revisit the good times they once had there.
Plattsburgh, NY, is home to the longest freshwater beach in the U.S.
WHERE: The Old Stone House, Bronx
In 1851, Scottish immigrant Alexander Diack built a stone house in a small Bronx village that was then called Pelhamville (now just Pelham). Today, the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue in the Bronx is a well-known landmark because it’s been haunted for more than 100 years.
James and Mary Parrish bought the house in 1855, and Mary continued to live there alone after James died. She had a considerable income from stock shares and was known to carry around as much as $600 in her purse. In July 1879, three burglars broke into the elderly widow’s home, ransacked the house, and stole at least $100. (Mary said that the burglars also tied her up, but she could never explain how she escaped to alert the neighbors.) Mary hid all her money after that, and legend said there was a pot of gold hidden on her property. About 100 small coins were found, but some people say that, after she died, Mary returned for the rest of it. Supposedly, her spirit still searches the property, apparently unable to remember where she hid her money. When residents of the house described the ghost to one of Mary’s descendants—actor Edward Everett Horton—he showed them an old daguerreotype of his relative that fit the apparition’s appearance exactly.
WHO: Edward Kreischer, his wife, and various others
WHERE: The Kreischer mansion, Staten Island
This home was built by Balthazar Kreischer, a German brick mason who made a fortune in the late 19th century. (His bricks can still be seen in many Staten Island buildings.) In 1885, Balthazar decided to build two mansions for his sons, Edward and Charles, on Arthur Kill Road in Charleston. Edward’s home burned down in the 1930s, but Charles’s home—a looming Victorian structure with a wrap-around porch and iron gates—still stands. Supposedly, it’s one of the most haunted buildings on Staten Island.
NYC has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia.
Over the years, the mansion eventually was turned into a restaurant, and employees and patrons reported hearing scratching noises in one of the closets, doors that slammed for no reason, footsteps in empty rooms, the sound of a woman crying, and vaporous apparitions that appeared and disappeared in the house and on the grounds. Although the mansion belonged to Charles, the ghosts are believed to be Edward and his wife, who came back “home” after their deaths. And Edward may have been the victim of foul play—in 1894, he was found dead at the family’s brick factory with a revolver beside his body. Authorities assumed he’d committed suicide after fighting with his father or brother (or maybe even a foreman in the family brick business), but no one ever investigated the possibility of murder. Many supernaturalists believe that the crying woman is Edward’s wife.
These days, some people wonder if the house is cursed too. In 2005, ex-marine Joseph Young began looking after the Kreischer mansion for its absentee owner-investor. Soon after he moved in, though, Young stabbed a man and drowned him in a pond on the property. Young had friends in the Bonanno crime family, and one of them was owed money by a man named Robert McKelvey. Young was offered about $8,000 to murder McKelvey. Afterward, with help from mob pals, he chopped up the corpse to burn in the furnace. Young was convicted of the murder in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison.
• No, this is not a taxi.
• Smile if you love Wall Street.
• I’m from New York, and you talk too slow.
• This vehicle is protected by an anti-theft sticker.
• Keep New York beautiful. Dump your trash in Jersey.
• Support bacteria: It’s the only culture some people have.
As the first player to use a bat with a knob at the end of the handle Babe Ruth is credited with inventing the modern baseball bat.