New York Ghost Stories: Henry Hudson, the Original “Flying Dutchman”

New York Ghost Stories: Henry Husdson

New York State traditionally has been torn in rivalry between “upstate” and “downstate.” Henry Hudson is both a downstate and an upstate ghost.

Hudson was an English explorer working for the Dutch West India Company. He was the first European to discover the island of Manhattan and the Hudson River in 1609. His discovery of beavers and other fur-bearing animals led the Dutch to come back to trade with the Indians and settle down to farm the land.

He was such a poor master of human relations that every one of his crews in his four voyages mutinied against him. During his last voyage, his crew set him adrift amid the ice floes of Hudson Bay, where he perished. None of the mutineers was punished for their evil deed.

Ever since then, Hudson has been condemned to voyage around the world in search of justice. When severe weather occurs, mariners spot him being blown about by the storm. He has been spotted in or near New York Harbor on more than one occasion. 

A replica of Henry Hudson's ship

Legend has it that every twenty years, since 1609, Henry Hudson and his crew return to bowl ninepins with the gnomes of the Catskills Mountains. The crash of the pins is heard in the form of thunder. Sometimes this thunder is so loud that it can be heard all the way down the Hudson River Valley in New York City.

During stormy weather, Captain Henry Hudson may appear on his ship, the Half Moon, riding out a storm in New York Harbor. Hudson is the original "Flying Dutchman," doomed to meander the seven seas for eternity.

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For more New York ghost stories, join a Wall Street Walks downtown Ghost tour!

New York Ghost Stories: Aaron Burr

New York Ghost Stories: Aaron Burr

Aaron Burr is most well known as the man who shot Alexander Hamilton. Burr was charged with treason 1808.  However, in court he was found not guilty.  After that he went on to live in France in exile.  Eventually, after begging by his daughter Theodosa, President James Madison pardoned him and he returned to New York in 1812.

He was supposed to meet his daughter Theodosa in New York.  It turned out quite differently and today Aaron Burr and his daughter Theodosia make an interesting pair of ghosts in Battery Park.

On December 31, 1812, the beautiful and vivacious Theodosia Burr, wife of wealthy governor Joseph Alston of South Carolina, left her husband’s plantation. She sailed north on the Patriot to visit her beloved father in New York City. In January 1813, British ships intercepted the vessel off Cape Hatteras of North Carolina. Though the two countries were at war, the ship was permitted to continue on its voyage. The Patriot was never seen again. That very night, a storm swept North Carolina and swamped the boat. All the bodies except that of Theodosia washed ashore. 

Aaron Burr is forever doomed to be at Battery Park to await the arrival of his daughter Theodosia. Sometimes Aaron Burr joins the American Merchant Marine Memorial in Battery Park as he keeps watch for his daughter. Liberty Island is in the background.  

Aaron Burr married again late in life in 1833 but his wife separated from him within four months. In 1834, Burr suffered a stroke which left him unable to move. He died in 1836 in a boardinghouse.

Aaron Burr's Death Mask

Now and then, reports emerge that a ghostly Aaron Burr still awaits his daughter at Battery Park.

Another version of the story has Theodosia taken aboard a pirate ship and forced to walk the plank. According to this account, Theodosia’s ghost eventually arrived at her father’s residence, at 3 Wall Street, where she and her dad remain in spooky tandem.

Still another version has her as an amnesiac who lived in a North Carolina town. She had treasure that had somehow survived the sinking. There are numerous tales about Theodosia's fate, detailed here.

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For more New York Ghost Stories, join a Wall Street Walks downtown New York Ghost Tour!

New York Ghost Stories: Captain Kidd

New York Ghost Stories: Captain Kidd

The ghost of Captain William Kidd has been seen at three places downtown – Trinity Church, at the corner of Broad and Wall (in front of Federal Hall and across from the New York Stock Exchange) and at Battery Park.

He was born in Scotland but settled in New York in 1691 on Hanover Square – close to the Harbor and River. Kidd was a privateer, which was another way of saying that he was licensed by the English Crown to attack enemy ships during wartime and share any loot with the Crown and the crew. While living in NY he contributed his services to the building of the original Trinity Churchyard by providing a winch to lift the stones to build the church steeple.

Captain Kidd is one angry ghost, betrayed by his crew and friends in the English and colonial governments. They made him a scapegoat for piracy when he was hanged in 1701 in London. The government charged that he was supposed to be a catcher of pirates. However, Kidd was not permitted to defend himself.

Rumors, legends, myths and tales swept both sides of the Atlantic Ocean that Captain Kidd buried a fabulous horde of treasure on an island before facing trial. Such treasure as Kidd did have— 24 chests full of it— was all brought ashore on Gardiner’s Island, off eastern Long Island, carefully inventoried and, with the permission of John Gardiner, feudal lord of the island, buried in a swamp there. Gardiner’s itemized receipt to Kidd, dated July 17, 1699, listed precisely 1,371.625 ounces (85.73 pounds) of gold, silver and precious stones that was reclaimed by the Massachusetts colonial government.

In 1825, two U.S. Army soldiers, Sergeant Gibbs and Private Woods, thought life had dealt them a winning hand. They were assigned to Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island (later renamed Liberty Island in honor of the Statue of Liberty). They spent their spare time at night hunting for buried treasure. When they opened a heavy metal box, Captain Kidd’s spirit emerged. They fainted. When they regained consciousness, all they had was an empty box.

Now and then Captain Kidd, walks off his anger on the grounds of Trinity Church, the one place that did not the one place that did not betray him and where he wished that he had been buried.

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For more New York Ghost Stories, join a Wall Street Walks downtown ghost tour!

Shadows of Deceased Ghosts

“They say that shadows of deceased ghosts

Do haunt the houses and the graves about,

Of such whose life's lamp went untimely out,

Delighting still in their forsaken hosts.”

-Joshua Sylvester

To many, ghost stories are campfire fodder, best told ironically in the bleary beam of a flashlight. However, to those who have experienced unexplained paranormal activities firsthand, these tales may be told without the requisite smirk.

But when does a rickety wine cabinet become a Dybbuk Box or the hushed voices in the apartment next door become EVP? When is it time to simply lay off the Fight Night double features or seriously gather loved ones for a séance?

Perhaps the most logical first step in determining whether or not you have a legitimate haunting is to identify some common hallmarks of paranormal activity. However, it should be noted that not all hauntings are alike and can vary from one specific phenomenon to a full-out scene from Poltergeist.

Some telltale signs that you may have a spiritual squatter include:

• Unexplained noises (footsteps, knocking, banging, rapping, or scratching)
• Lights turning on and off
• DOP - Disappearing Object Phenomenon (items that vanish and then reappear)
• Unexplained shadows     
• Strange animal behavior    
• Eerie sensations of being watched
• Mild psychokinetic phenomena (including the unassisted opening or closing of doors, windows, cabinets, cupboards, etc.)
• Sensations of being touched  
• Disembodied cries and whispers    
• Noticeable variances in temperature (spots can be cold or hot)   
• Unexplained smells
• Severe psychokinetic phenomena (such as moving or levitating objects)
• Physical assault (scratches that suddenly appear with no viable cause)
• Physical traces such as hand or footprints or unexplained writing

If enough of these boxes have been checked to warrant alarm, how exactly does one go about dealing with these unwanted house guests? (And you thought having bedbugs was trying…)

There are some experts who claim that the physical destruction of the site being haunted is a surefire way to rid oneself of a ghost. However, this method may prove problematic in several ways.  One’s landlord may not take this as an acceptable excuse for the complete demolition of his tenement. Also, this technique does not always work. For example, when the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland (now New York City), Peter Stuyvesant’s mansion burned down in 1744, he simply moved his haunting ground to the Stuyvesant family mausoleum.

Other experts claim that the destruction or removal of the physical remains of the body in question is the only way to quiet a disgruntled spirit. When the body of successful Irish entrepreneur A.T. Stewart was moved from near St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery to the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, his ghost eventually gave up the search.

Another popular method in dealing with visitors from the Underworld is a séance, which is an encounter or meeting during which a spiritualist or a medium attempts to communicate with the spirits of the dead. The word “séance” comes from the French word for “seat,” “session” or “sitting” and from the Old French word seoir, “to sit.” One famous ghost gabber, Hans Holzer, would speak with the spook via a medium to try and decipher the gripes of the restless. If Holzer was successful and the spirit was appeased, then the supernatural activities would come to an end.

For particularly disruptive ghosts who set their sights on people, an exorcism may be the only solution. From the Latin word exorcismus, and from the Greek word exorkizein (to abjure), exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place that they are believed to have possessed. An exorcist is the person called upon to perform this ceremony through prayer, ritual, formula, or through other means such as an angel or an amulet. One such exorcist, Dr. Joseph Green Cogswell, held a secular exorcism at the Astor Library, where he served as Director, after he encountered Austin Sands, a wealthy insurance executive (or what was left of him).

While the previously mentioned solutions are admittedly somewhat time consuming and involved, there are also some simpler techniques that might get the job done.

• Solving the problem that causes the ghost to haunt (For helpful tips, a viewing of any Scooby Doo episode may prove enlightening)
• Simply informing the ghost that he or she is deceased! (HELLO! We have all seen The Sixth Sense by now!!
• Suggesting to the ghost a better place to haunt (How about that really annoying neighbor down the hall?)
• Simply asking the ghost to leave or stop haunting. (Pretty please??)
• Perhaps welcome the ghost as a friend. (Ask Christina Ricci, sometimes Casper can turn out to be a real looker.)
• Or if all else fails, simply move away from the haunted location. (When the New York Times moved its offices uptown in 1904, the newspaper left its resident ghost behind.)

We would like to take a moment to thank everyone who attended our ghost tour, and we can hardly wait until next year as it will be bigger and scarier than ever! In the meantime, please feel free to check out our other tour offerings. We hope to see all of you on Wall Street soon!

Arrrrgggghhh me mateys! Thar be a ghost!

Arrrrgggghhh me mateys! Thar be a ghost!

Nowadays, one simply cannot attend a Halloween-themed costume party and not spot at least one pirate, buccaneer, or sailing scalawag. Although Captain Jack Sparrow may have curbed the modern market, there is one other pirate that shall forever remain synonymous with Halloween, especially in New York City.

Captain William Kidd was born in Scotland around 1645, but he sailed across the pond to settle in New York in 1691. Soon after, he married Sarah Oort and eventually fathered two daughters. Some might say that the union portended tragedy from the start as Oort was notoriously fraught with bad lack. Her first two husbands had died tragically (one, ironically, at sea) and Kidd was her third marriage. Nevertheless, they settled in to a posh new home at 119 Pearl Street near the eastern gate to New York’s northern wall, the very same wall that later inspired the name Wall Street.  The Kidd family was immediately accepted into high society, and gained notoriety for their extensive silver collection, well-stocked wine cellar, and the biggest Turkish carpet in the city. He was also a parishioner at Trinity Church and he contributed his services to the building of the original Churchyard by providing the winch that lifted the stones to build the church steeple.

In 1695, Kidd sought out a commission in the British Royal Navy. He failed to gain a command but was granted a privateering license by the Crown. He was given orders to capture pirate ships and any other foreign vessels that got in England’s way. It was agreed that the booty seized was to be split with a large portion going to the government and 60% to his backers.

In 1696, Kidd set sail back to New York City at the helm of his brand new ship, the "Adventure Galley.”  In the 1960’s New York was "the pirate port of choice in the English colonies in North America,” according to historian Richard Zacks. It boasted vast opportunities and a rich harbor. Seduced by illusions of grandeur, Kidd set sail in 1697 as an official privateer and soon gained notoriety and infamy for his increasingly reckless and erratic behavior on his tour of the Red Sea. Kidd then became the stuff of legend when he famously captured and boarded the laden Indian ship, the "Quedah Merchant." He renamed the ship and the "Adventure Prize” and set his course for the Caribbean where he learned that word of his antics had reached England and he was now a wanted man.

Kidd fled back to America and hauled twenty four chests ashore on Gardiner’s Island, located off of eastern Long Island. He carefully inventoried the booty and was granted permission by the island’s feudal lord, John Gardiner, to bury the treasure in a nearby swamp. . Gardiner’s itemized receipt to Kidd, dated July 17, 1699, listed precisely 1,371.625 ounces (85.73 pounds) of gold, silver and precious stones.

After his famous deposit, Kidd was arrested for piracy and murder. Because he was made a scapegoat, Kidd was not permitted to defend himself and was hanged in London on May 23, 1701. After his execution, Kidd's body was covered with tar, bound with chains, and hung over the Thames River in London as a warning to all future pirates. It remained there for years until finally it rotted completely away.

Rumors, legends, myths and tales began to sweep both sides of the Atlantic Ocean that Kidd buried a fabulous horde of treasure before facing trial. Perhaps word also traveled to the great beyond, as a ghostly apparition bearing an uncanny resemblance to the dead Captain began showing up in Lower Manhattan. Sightings have been reported in three different Downtown locations – at Trinity Church which he directly helped to build, near his old homestead at Hanover Square, and in Battery Park. Kidd remains one angry ghost to this day. Many say he still roams the city streets in his eternal quest for revenge for the betrayal of his crew and friends in the English and colonial governments.

To learn more about Captain Kidd and other Downtown Ghosts, please check out our spooky Halloween-themed walking tour brought to you exclusively by Wall Street Walks.

http://www.zerve.com/WallStreet/Ghosts

Haunted New York City

As any good child of the 80’s can tell you, NYC has been long-synonymous with ghostly visitors from the Underworld and beyond. Whether you are making the pilgrimage to the Ghostbusters’ firehouse headquarters (Hook and Ladder 8 - 14 North Moore Street, Manhattan) or exploring the real-life spiritual haunt of the Morris-Jumel Mansion (65 Jumel Terrace, New York, NY), this city abounds in specter spotting potential.  

New York boasts many tranquil green spaces in which natives and visitors alike relax and de-stress. However, perhaps they would not breathe so easily if they knew these parks are also hotbeds for paranormal activity. Many of these are actually former cemeteries, complete with those originally entombed. Washington Square Park, for example, is a former place of burial for the poor, and many claim it is ghost central for New York City. Another example, Greenwood Cemetery, was designed to serve as a park for the living. It is certainly not an abnormal sight to see those of flesh and blood strolling among the gravestones.

Other potential ghost sighting venues include those places where natural (or unnatural) deaths occurred but the deceased were never properly buried. Some professional ghost hunters claim that the only way these sites can be properly ridden of disgruntled souls, is by vastly altering the scene or solving the crime in question. For instance, once McGurk’s Suicide Hall at 295 Bowery was torn down, the ghosts stopped haunting there.

Alcohol has been attributed to many, many deaths in this modern age and the same rings just as true for the past. Thus, any place where those of today or yesteryear imbibed or enjoyed, could be a potential haunt. Bars, inns, taverns, and other drinking establishments all have their fair share of ghost stories – just ask any employee of the Fraunces Tavern (54 Pearl Street, Downtown Manhattan).

Places of travel are also notorious for their ghostly apparitions. Grand Central Station certainly has its share of ghosts. Some even claim that locomotion attracts ghosts. In recent times, people have reported giving rides to passengers who have disappeared into thin air. Other such attractors allegedly include staircases and elevators.

As fall turns the air crisp and Halloween approaches, peoples’ minds are once again drawn to ghosts, goblins, ghouls, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. If you too are eager to prove you “ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” drop into one of these famous haunts to try to bust some for yourself. Or even better yet - explore New York City’s most haunted neighborhood with your very own guide to the Underworld of the Financial District, courtesy of Wall Street Walks!

  

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Downtown Ghost Tours beginning in October- get ready for Halloween!

Get yourself in a spooky mood for Halloween by taking one of our downtown Ghost Tours in October! Experience New York City’s most haunted neighborhood with your very own guide to the underworld of the Financial District. 

Get ghoulish by exploring cemeteries, haunted sites like the Fraunces Tavern, and the dark back alleys of the oldest neighborhood in New York. Walk with the restless spirits of those driven to madness after the Great Stock Market crash. Don’t lose your head as you try to spot the famous horseman of Kipp’s Bay. Finally, to prove you “ain’t afraid of no ghosts,” drop into one of the filming sites of Ghostbusters 2.

The Wall Street Walks Ghost Tours take place Fridays and Saturdays in October at 5:30pm and 7:30pm. We're also giving tours at the same times on Halloween (October 31), the spookiest night of the year! Join us! 

Click here to buy tickets to a Ghost Tour.