CHAPTER 22 Washington Square Park
What was once a Potter’s field or paupers’ cemetery is today a scenic park at the heart of the New York University campus.
CEMETERIES
CHAPTER 23 Woodlawn Cemetery
This sprawling cemetery in the Bronx has the graves of famous people such as Herman Melville and Henry LaGuardia. Beyond the history of gravestone reading, there is the accent on the paranormal with the capturing of EVP at this cemetery.
Off the Coast of City Island in the Bronx is the largest Potter’s field for the City of New York. The 800,000 bodies buried on this lonely one-mile island do not rest peacefully.
Spotlight: How to Investigate a Cemetery
A practical model for setting up and conducting your own cemetery hunt.
THEATERS
CHAPTER 24 Belasco Theater
The ghost of David Belasco, “The Bishop of Broadway,” activates elevators and manifests solidly enough to congratulate performers.
Spotlight: Theater Myths and Traditions
Superstitions and traditions abound in the theater. Learn the basics before investigating a haunted venue.
CHAPTER 25 Cherry Lane Theater
The ghosts of poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay and actress Kim Hunter keep current actors on their toes.
CHAPTER 26 New Amsterdam Theater
The beautiful actress Olive Thomas Pickford appears regularly at the New Amsterdam Theater. That’s impressive, considering she died in 1920.
CHAPTER 27 Palace Theater
The ghosts of children and performing pooches appear to Palace Theater crew and patrons.
Times Square, at the heart of the theater district, is home to one of the best examples of a crisis apparition.
CHAPTER 28 Paradise Theater
The ghost of a suicide victim haunts this gorgeous theater in the Bronx.
CHAPTER 29 Public Theater
The Public Theater has a full cast of spectral actors and actresses, not to mention the ghost of author Washington Irving.
Spotlight: Radio City Music Hall
Famous for its Christmas show and the Rockettes, Radio City Music Hall has a ghost lurking in its art-deco halls and lobbies.
HOTELS AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS
CHAPTER 30 Chelsea and Algonquin Hotels
From the punk-rocking ghost of Sid Vicious at the Chelsea to the “Vicious Circle” at the Algonquin, these hotels are proof positive that some guests check in but don’t check out.
CHAPTER 31 The Dakota
This luxury apartment building on the Upper West Side is home to many of the rich and famous, both alive and dead.
CHAPTER 32 Fordham University
Several buildings on the Rose Hill campus in the Bronx have more than just students and professors inside. Ghostly sounds and sights are part of the curriculum.
Spotlight: Various New York City ghosts
Some ghosts have a need to possess; others just want to be heard. You may encounter both types around New York City.
Visiting Haunted Sites
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Welcome to America’s Haunted Road Trip
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
If you are like 52 percent of Americans (according to a recent Harris Poll), you do believe that ghosts walk among us. Perhaps you have heard your name called in a dark and empty house. It could be that you have awoken to the sound of footsteps outside your bedroom door, only to find no one there. It is possible that you saw your grandmother sitting in her favorite rocker chair, the same grandmother who had passed away several years earlier. Maybe you took a photo of a crumbling, deserted farmhouse and later discovered strange mists and orbs in the photo, anomalies that were not visible to your naked eye.
If you have experienced similar paranormal events, then you know that ghosts exist. Even if you have not yet experienced these things, you are curious about the paranormal world, the spirit realm—if you weren’t, you would not now be reading this Preface to the latest book in the America’s Haunted Road Trip series from Clerisy Press.
Over the last several years, I have investigated haunted locations across the country. With each new site, I find myself becoming more fascinated with ghosts. What are they? How do they manifest themselves? Why are they here? These are just a few of the questions I have been asking. No doubt, you have been asking the same questions.
The books in the America’s Haunted Road Trip series can help you find the answers to your questions about ghosts. We’ve gathered together some of America’s top ghost writers (no pun intended) and researchers and asked them to write about their states’ favorite haunts. Each location they write about is open to the public, so you can visit them for yourself and try out your ghosthunting skills. In addition to telling you about their often hair-raising adventures, the writers have included maps and travel directions so that you can take your own haunted road trip.
People may think that New York City is all glittering lights, tall buildings, and nasty cab drivers, but L’Aura Hladik’s Ghosthunting New York City proves that the fascinating metropolis is also home to shadowy entities that are seen only for an instant before they disappear into the rush of humanity that is New York City. This book is a spine-tingling trip through the city’s various boroughs with stops at taverns and bars, theaters and parks, churches, historic sites, and cemeteries, all of them haunted. Ride shotgun with L’Aura Hladik as she seeks out soldier ghosts at Fort Wadsworth and the spirits of poor, sick immigrants who died at Ellis Island while seeking new lives in America. Travel with her to the White Horse Tavern, where the ghost of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas may buy you a drink, or sit for a spell in the Old Bermuda Inn and watch for the ghostly Martha to greet you from the staircase. And who is the rude spirit that calls out to visitors at the Morris-Jumel House in Manhattan, warning them to leave at once? Hang on tight; Ghosthunting New York City is a scary ride.
But once you’ve finished reading this book, don’t unbuckle your seatbelt. There are still forty-nine states left for your haunted road trip! See you on the road!
John Kachuba
Editor, America’s Haunted Road Trip
Introduction
“I want to be a part of it! New York! New York!”
—lyricist Fred Ebb in Sinatra’s signature song, “New York, New York”
NEW YORK CITY! What more can I say? This is the international travel destination. It’s immortalized in songs, movies, plays, and stand-up comedy routines. It’s fascinating, captivating, and exhilarating. It’s no wonder the city is haunted. What ghost wouldn’t want to hang around this town? Just as iPhone ads claim, “There’s an app for that,” New York City can say, “There’s a ghost for that.” Whether you enjoy theaters, parks, comfortable bars, or fine restaurants, you’re in luck in New York City