Other venues such as bars and restaurants may be more receptive than theaters to paranormal investigations. However, what’s permitted or not permitted is entirely at the management’s discretion. Please do not show up demanding to investigate a place because you read about it in this book. Instead, fly below the radar. Have a drink at the bar, or dinner at the restaurant. Then when you take a few pictures, no one will suspect you are ghosthunting (unless they notice that you’re aiming the camera at the ceiling and not at your dinner guests). Going “old school” has its advantages: Relying on your senses will make you a better observer of subtleties that an EMF detector would miss, and it will sharpen your powers of deduction as you draw conclusions from information you have gathered.
If, however, you want to decloak and conduct a paranormal investigation, ask respectfully for permission. I can’t stress this enough: You aren’t entitled to bulldoze your way into an investigation just because a location is mentioned in this book. Use finesse: Strike up a conversation about the ghosts with the bartender or waitress, and, if you are polite and pleasant, you might be able to work your way up to the manager and get permission for an after-hours investigation. Just be aware that at restaurants and bars, “after hours” might mean 4:00 A.M.
Some New York City locations, such as public parks and Times Square, are so noisy and crowded that it’s difficult to record audio or video. Still, if you can find a spot that’s sheltered from the noise of traffic and the nonstop flow of pedestrians, try to collect some EVPs. Ghosts in New York City are probably brazen enough to get close to the microphone and speak!
I enjoyed visiting and investigating the locations in this book primarily because of the people I met. There’s a stereotype attached to New Yorkers that says they are detached, aloof, or unconcerned with what’s going on around them. It’s true that they have an edge and an attitude that is unmistakably New York, but for the most part, New Yorkers are affable people. And they’re often fascinating. Barbara, a docent I met at the Morris- Jumel Mansion, knew that place inside and out. She engaged young visitors with a quiz, and she was right at home talking about the ghosts of the mansion. Kenneth Leslie, a security guard at the Public Theater, was an amazing historian—I could not believe how much information he stored in his cranium. He was intrigued by the ghosts of the theater, but dead set against working late at night.
I love the old mansions where you’re allowed to wander at your own pace. My visit to Van Cortlandt House was a ghosthunter’s coup in that my team leader and I had the whole place to ourselves. Of course, we were there on a Wednesday, but if you can take a vacation day mid-week, it’s well worth it. Plus, the Van Cortlandt house offers free admission on Wednesdays.
By the way, if you’re driving in New York City, make sure you do not enter a “grid” (an intersection) unless you can get through before the light changes. Causing gridlock is a ticketable offense. Right turns on red are not allowed given the large numbers of pedestrians, and there is no speed limit given the huge amount of traffic. Cabbies know this, hence their amazing ability to go fifty feet at a speed of fifty miles an hour.
You can plan your ghosthunting trip by topic or by geographical area. For instance, you might visit SoHo and the Village one day, then spend the next day on Staten Island or in the Bronx. Or set up a paranormal pub crawl to McSorley’s, the Ear Inn, and the Bridge Café. Ghosthunting New York City puts in your hands a wealth of historical and haunted information about key sites around this wonderful city. You’re sure to discover even more.
Happy hunting!
CHAPTER 1
The Bridge Café
THE BRIDGE CAFÉ, located at 279 Water Street just below the Brooklyn Bridge on the Manhattan side, is the oldest wooden building in New York City. In 2005, New York Magazine included Bridge Café in its list of “Top Five Historic Bars in New York City.” The building has seen many incarnations, ranging from a grocery store to a brothel. In fact, the Census of 1860 listed the residents of this address as “six Irish prostitutes.” Yet Bridge Café has managed to sell liquor and food continuously since 1794, making it the oldest bar in continuous operation in New York City.
In the early 1800s, a six-foot-tall Irishwoman named Gallus Mag was the bouncer everyone feared at the bar then named Hole-in-the-Wall. Her specialty was to haul unruly patrons out the door by their ears—with her teeth. Sometimes she overindulged and bit the ear off; other times, she hacked it off using a carving knife. She kept these “gentle reminders” in pickle jars on the bar. This gory bit of history was depicted in the 2002 film Gangs of New York.
The McCormack family bought the building in 1922 and survived Prohibition by operating as a restaurant but offering “cider” and beer via the local bootlegger, Charlie Brennan. The Weprin family assumed ownership of the building in 1979. They upgraded the menu and the restaurant and renamed it the Bridge Café. When Adam Weprin’s father passed away in 1996, Adam took the helm as manager.
I spoke with Joseph Kunst, Executive Chef at the Bridge Café. He’s worked there for six years and has had his share of ghostly encounters. Joseph’s office is on the second floor, but he prefers to do his paperwork at the bar or seated at a table by the waiters’ service area. Four years ago, he had to retrieve something from his office. His daughter, who was about sixteen or seventeen at the time, was there and went with him. While Joseph was searching through items on his desk, they heard heavy footsteps on the third floor above them. Joseph told me that the third floor is not used at all, nor even accessed by anyone, because large parts of the floor are missing and the remaining parts are not safe enough to walk on. Joseph and his daughter made a hasty exit, and to this day Joseph avoids the second floor as much as possible.
Pictures at Bridge Café have been known to fly off one wall and smash against another wall. On one such occasion the framed Zagat certificate in the front window, along with the Wine Spectator award and other awards, levitated over the planters behind the window and landed four feet away on the floor. Joseph said he was at the bar talking with a couple of customers. They heard the crash and had to look around to figure out where the noise came from. There was no one near the front of the restaurant or the window.
Paranormal scents infuse the charming restaurant, then leave as quickly as they’re detected. Lavender and other fragrances have occurred. In fact, Adam Weprin, owner and manager of the Bridge Café, said that recently he and a couple of employees were standing at the bar when what felt like a silk scarf dragged across each person’s shoulders, leaving the trailing scent of lavender. “As fast as we felt it and smelled it, it was gone,” Adam said. This paranormal scent most likely harkens from the brothel days of the restaurant; in the 1850s, “ladies of the evening” doused themselves in lavender since bathing was not a daily occurrence. Waitresses at Bridge Café have smelled lavender in the changing room. They, like Adam, report that the scent is there for a moment, then gone. Another smell noticed occasionally here is cigar, cigarette or pipe smoke. Smoking is illegal in bars and restaurants in New York City, but the ghosts don’t seem to care.
Joseph, the executive chef, remembered another incident when he was working at table one while a couple dined at table eleven. The woman went to the restroom. Meanwhile, the man leaned over toward Joseph and struck up a conversation