Ghosts of New York

by Elizabeth Keenan

Scores of New Yorkers joke that they’ll never give up their favorite bar stool or will only be removed from their rent-stabilized apartments in a body bag. For some, even death isn’t enough to evict them completely.

While Manhattan does not quite fit the cinematic imaginings of haunted dwellings like the classic house in Psycho or the split-ranch built on the cemetery in Poltergeist, it has just as many supposedly haunted sites as it does Original Ray’s Pizzas.

Washington Square Park had a morbid history far before the dime-bag dealers and the chess mafia claimed their turf. In 1797, during the yellow fever epidemic, the space was turned into a public burial ground.

Following that grim period, the elm trees there were utilized for public hangings. Some of the great old trees have survived, including the 350-year-old Hangman’s Elm, which stands in the northwest corner of the park. In 1823, the cemetery was closed and re-designated as public space, but below the sun bathers, street musicians and hackey sackers still lay the remains of more than 20,000 corpses.

And then there are the die-hard barflies who take ignoring cries of “last call” to a new level. Chumley’s, the former speakeasy, is reportedly haunted by its former owner and bar mistress (she has a penchant for messing with the jukebox). The Bridge Café dates back to the 1800s and is supposedly haunted by the pirates who called the spot homebase between ship-jackings.

Bartenders at the White Horse Tavern—the spot where melancholic poet Dylan Thomas did not go gently into that good night when he drank eighteen shots of whiskey—claim that the writer still comes around to rotate his corner table, something he did regularly when he was alive. The Ear Inn is haunted by Mickey, a regular and a sailor who apparently fared better on the sea than he did on land. He was hit and killed by a car in front of the establishment.

The Brittany Hotel-turned-NYU dorm is not just haunted by tortured undergraduates seeking the next hot spot for a night out in the town. Mysterious music, weird lights and a feeling of “being watched” have been reported by numerous residents, although these claims sound as much like a typical dorm party as they do ghosts sightings.

The Algonquin Hotel, a spot famous for daily lunches of the self-named “Vicious Circle” (also known as “The Round Table”) a group of writers including Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Harpo Marx, have been spotted haunting their usual table—perhaps trying to gain some insight into the decline of contemporary literature. The Dakota, John Lennon’s home and infamous assassination site, as well as Roman Polanski’s backdrop for his seminal film Rosemary’s Baby, is said to be visited by Lennon’s ghost and the apparition of a turn-of-the century girl. The girl has been spotted by Dakota residents and construction workers over the years.

Where are Ray, Peter, Egon and Winston when you need them? Well, these guys might not be the Ghostbusters, but you can try http://www.gotghosts.org.

(White Horse tavern from balaclava9 and ghost train illustration by ghostbones.)