When you hear New York, you probably think of New York City. The Big Apple’s great, but when it comes to ghost stories, you can find the creepy and frightening all over the state. Here are five of the most haunted places in New York.
New York University
Any of you who get why I call this channel A Grave in Baltimore will understand why I included this one. Near the turn of this century, New York University tore down an old townhouse to build their Furman Hall. The decision to level the original home seems to have angered a former resident, none other than Edgar Allan Poe. NYU students tell of seeing Poe, dressed in period clothing, walking up and down the stairs, before vanishing into nothing. Dead or not, I’d love to meet the man.
St. Barnabas Church
St. Barbabas Church is a lovely little church situated near Livingston. It must be a great place because it seems that the former pastors and their families choose to stick around long after they’ve stopped living. When the church was getting a new organ installed, the workers looked up to see a man standing nearby watching them. It didn’t take long for the workers to realize that the man was not a man at all, at least not a living one. The workers fled in terror. Later, the apparition the men saw was identified as William McVickar, St. Barnabas’ first pastor. It might have been that he just wanted to see that the men were taking good care of his church.
Execution Rocks
In Long Island Sound is a grouping of rocks that have been given the disturbing moniker of the Execution Rocks. As the story goes, the rocks were notorious for causing deadly shipwrecks until a lighthouse was built to warn sailors of the danger. Another darker legend tells of the rocks as a place where the British would execute prisoners during the Revolutionary War. They would tie doomed souls to the rocks at low tide, then stand by and watch as the water rose and drowned the condemned. Today, fisherman and others sailing near the area report seeing ghosts on the rocks, spirits caught in the place where their lives came to an end.
Anne Hutchinson’s House
In the mid-1600s, a woman named Anne Hutchinson lived in New York. Her life came to a violent and tragic end with her murder in what is today Pelham Bay Park in NYC.
After her death, people began reporting seeing her ghost haunting a nearby farmhouse. Why she was seen at this house is a mystery as there are no records showing Anne’s connection to the place. Yet, visitors to the farmhouse say their stays are disrupted by slamming doors and loud bangs from empty rooms. Then the ghost of a woman with dark hair appears from thin air and disappears through solid walls.
Buckout Road
In White Plains, Buckout Road winds through thick forest. There are a surprising amount of horror stories tied to this seemingly innocent stretch of road.
One legend tells of a clan of cannibals that stalk those foolish enough to stop their cars along the more desolate stretches of Buckout. Another tells of three witches who were burned at the stake near the road, and who will run screaming toward your car if you stop and honk three times. Now, there isn’t any historical evidence for either of these legends, but there is one story that is all too true.
On News Year Day in 1870, Isaac Buckhout (different spelling than the road) was enjoying a pleasant visit with his wife, Louisa Ann, their son, and their neighbor. Out of the blue, Isaac got up and left the room. He returned with his shotgun. With no explanation, Isaac murdered his neighbor and his wife, along with badly wounding his son. It took three trials before Isaac was convicted and hanged.
Travelers on Buckout Road tell of seeing a woman, dressed all in white according to some stories, walking the lonely road at night. Perhaps it’s Louisa Ann.