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Arthur Smith

Late on a moonlit night, people sometime still hear the fatal crash at Central Park West and West 74th Street. Arthur Smith of 151 West 62nd Street and his neighbor Henry Bliss of 235 West 75th were unintentional participants in a landmark event. On September 13, 1899 Taxi driver Smith was the first motorist in…

Theodosia Burr, Ghost of Two Cities

One of the most intriguing stories in Charleston, South Carolina is the mysterious disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr. She was married to Governor Joseph Alston, one of the most wealthy and powerful men in South Carolina in his day. The deed in her name…

A Playwright’s Final Bow in Times Square

The New Victory Theater, opened by Oscar Hammerstein, in 1900, was the first theater on West 42nd Street at 209. It was the first theater to claim a ghost sighting in the Times Square neighborhood. On December 21, 1909, the audience clapped enthusiastically for the opening night of “The City”, a play, written by Clyde…

New York City Hall Haunts

Our third and present city hall was built to replace the second city hall, Federal Hall, used by the national government headed by George Washington. In 1812, our third and present City Hall opened there. By then, New York City was America’s largest city with over 100,000 people. Our present City Hall, New York’s third,…

College Dormitory Ghosts

As students come back to the college campus, they might find the supernatural welcoming them also. Ghost Sighting at Brittany Dormitory of New York University 55 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003 My name is Justin Dayhoff. I am a resident assistant at NYU’s Brittany Residence Hall. The dormitory is named after the former…

Captain Kidd of Liberty Island

Captain William Kidd contributed his services to the building of the original Trinity Church by providing a winch to lift the stones to build the church steeple when the church was built around 1700.  He was one of most active parishioners of Trinity Church.  He was a privateer licensed to raid enemy ships in wartime…

Did I See a Ghost?

I have been doing ghost walks since 2005 and started an all-year-round ghost company in 2006.  In all these years, I remained a skeptic of the ghostly experience except on two occasions. In 2005, when I first started doing ghost walks and I still did them personally, I ended a tour at the cellar of…

Harry Houdini in NYC

Introduction When his father’s rabbi gig ended in Appleton, Wisconsin, the family returned to Lower East Side of Manhattan.  One of the many jobs that Harry did was working as a locksmith.  He commenced a career in show business where he met his wife who became his performing partner. Upon achieving success in show biz,…

Is Grant’s Tomb Haunted?

Ghosts of New York Blog 16 Is Grant’s Tomb Haunted? © 2018 by Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg. Ghost with a Blog #ghosts Ulysses S. Grant, the leading Union General, was considered the greatest American on the Union side after Abraham Lincoln for preserving the Union through his generalship.  America made him the highest ranking general…

Boss Tweed Still Active

William “Boss” Tweed is a ghost that cannot go away. The Old New York County Courthouse at 52 Chambers Street renamed the Tweed Gallery and then renamed the Tweed Education Building, is his legacy. This building designed by John Kellum and Leopold Eidlitz (1861–81) was the first permanent government building erected by New York City…

The Ghost Pilots of Times Square

Two men looked around, as tourists do, but repeatedly checked their watches against the large flashing sign on the New York Times building. Theodore Reinsen, businessman, thought they must be on leave. The men stopped beside him, glanced quickly at their watches, and then nodded and grinned at him. The taller of the two asked…

Eliza Jumel, the Wrathful Wraith of Washington Heights

Eliza Jumel is a ghost in her own right at the Morris-Jumel Mansion at 65 Jumel Terrace in Washington Heights. Built in 1765 as a summer home for British colonel Roger Morris and his wife, the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest remaining house in Manhattan. It served as George Washington’s headquarters in September and October…