AMITYVILLE
AMITYVILLE HORROR HOUSE
112 (108) Ocean Avenue
Amityville, NY, USA 11701
Status: Private Residence
By <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:User:Seulatr" class="extiw" title="w:en:User:Seulatr">Seulatr</a> - Transferred from <span class="plainlinks"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikipedia.org">en.wikipedia</a></span> to Commons., Public Domain, Link
This location is a private residence that is not owned by the author of this article. In no way does this article or any the information presented in it construe as permission to enter this property. Permission would have to be gained from the legal owners before it can be entered.
The Our Paranormal World Network does not condone trespassing in any way.
History
The most popular idea relating to this property, and house, being “cursed” is that in the 17th Century a black magick practicing witch called John Ketcham fled the Salem witch trials and build his home where the current house stands today. This idea was heavily explored in the last reboot of the multitude of movies based on this story.
There is absolutely no historical proof of this.
Per the historical records of the time from Huntington Township – which Amityville was part of during the time period in question – there were many John Ketchams residing in the area in that time period. None of them had any nefarious records either in the past or during their time residing in Amityville. None of them lived on the parcel of land now occupied by the current house.
There is also a legend that the land was once a Native American burial ground; or considered cursed by the Pre-European settlement Native population. Again, there is no historical basis for this legend.
Now you would be correct in thinking historical records can be falsified and/or changed and we can debate conspiracy theories around the table forever. There are so many falsehoods about the Salem witch trials – which I will be covering in an another article on the former Danvers State Hospital – including the town they actually took place in; that anything relating to them can be called in question.
Suffice it to say that historical records show no Native American legends or dark witches surrounding this property in either the 17th or any other centuries.
Records show the land on which the house stands was farmland before the current house was built. There is no record of any other structure ever existing either on the same site nor any where near it. County maps also do not show the existence of a well on the property. The first listed owners were the Ireland family who were both prosperous and influential in the Amityville area.
On January 24, 1924 Annie Ireland sold a parcel of land to John and Catherine Moynahan who wanted to construct their new family home. In 1925 Jesse Purdy built the house that still stands on the property. The house, obviously, has had upgrades since then but, essentially, it is the same house which was built in mid 1920’s.
When the elder Moynahans passed away the house was passed to one of their daughters – Eileen Fitzgerald. On October 17, 1960 John and Mary Riley purchased the house and it passed out of the hands of the Moynahan family. The Rileys had marital problem and were divorced; the house was sold to the DeFeos June 28, 1965 as part of the divorce agreement.
The DeFeos resided in the house until November 13, 1974 when the entire family was murdered by the eldest son Ronnie Jr “Butch” – more on this below. The DeFeos put in the pool that once stood in the backyard. The final days of the DeFeos are chronicled in the movie Amityville II: The Possession (1982) based on a book by Hans Holzer titled “The Amityville Murders”.
On December 19, 1975 George and Kathy Lutz and their children moved into the house – the house had been vacant since the night of the murders. 28 days later the Lutzes would flee the home claiming intense paranormal activity made the house impossible to live in. In 1979 Jay Anson would publish a book titled “The Amityville Horror” based on their alleged experiences in the house. In 1979 a movie of the same title was released.
On March 18, 1977 Jim and Barbara Cromarty purchased the house from the bank who had become the owners after the Lutzes fled. The lived in the house for a decade and strongly refuted any paranormal activity or haunting – to the point of suing the Lutzes, Anson and the book publishers (the lawsuit was later settled out of court for an disclosed amount). It was claimed the story was completely fabricated for commercial interests.
The Cromartys are the ones who changed the address to 114 Ocean Ave in an attempt to confuse the curious.
At one point they would move out of the house claiming its infamous history brought so many curious tourists that the house could not be lived in. A caretaker was left in charge and the house was put up for sale. Unable to sell the house the Cromartys moved back in and lived in the house until 1987.
On August 17, 1987 Peter and Jeanne O’Neil moved into the house. During their ownership they changed the infamous quarter moon windows in the top floor to more traditional square ones and filled in the pool. They reported no paranormal activity.
On June 10, 1997 Brian Wilson moved into the house and made several expensive renovations including saving the sinking boat house. He also reported no paranormal activity.
As of June 2016 the house was up for sale again.
The Defeo Murders
At 6:30 pm on the evening of March 13, 1974 Ronnie DeFeo Jr – known locally as Butch – burst into a local watering hole known as Henry’s Bar yelling “You got to help me! I think my mother and father are shot.” Reports say he was crying hysterically and fell to the floor, one of his best friends was in the bar and rushed to his aid.
A number of men poured into Ronnie’s car who then drove them to his home at breakneck speeds. Ronnie rushed to front door of the house – when warned to be careful because someone could still be there Ronnie said he didn’t care.
The lower main floor was disturbed only by the barking of the family dog. The men proceeded to the second floor and the master bedroom. The second floor was described as being filled with the stench of death. In the master bedroom it was immediately apparent that Ronnie had not been mistaken – his father was clearly dead with a gun shot wound in his back. The condition of his mother was not immediately apparent as she was wrapped in blankets.
One of the men was overtaken by the scene and taken downstairs by the other men except one – John Altieri – who stayed on the second floor. He walked into the bedroom of Ronnie’s two younger brothers. No wounds were visible on John Defeo (9) but his bed clothes were covered in blood. A bullet wound in the back of March DeFeo (12) was immediately apparent.
At that point Altieri had seen enough and joined his friends downstairs and the authorities were called.
The police were on scene quickly and toured the house with Ronnie finding the bodies of the two remaining family members – Dawn (18) and Allison (13). The entire family had been murdered execution style and all were found lying face down in their beds dead of rifle wounds. At this point Ronnie said the family was probably murdered by mobsters.
Ronnie was taken into custody (for his own protection) and quickly changed his story – he had killed his entire family. He stated once he started he couldn’t stop and it went by fast. He then took a shower, changed his clothes.
According to his own confession Ronnie was woken up at 3:15 am early the morning of March 13 for reasons unknown and set about on his grisly deed. He had been downstairs, in a drug induced stupor, watching TV.
Open and shut case right? Not so much.
How had Ronnie systematically shot his entire family in 4 different rooms and 2 floors without anyone waking up? How could the neighbors not heard the rifle shots? Why was there unburnt gun shot residue on Dawn indicating she had taken part in the murders? These were some of the immediate unanswered questions; there were more to come.
Ronnie was described as acting very erratically during the trail changing his story repeatedly and even threatening to kill both the judge and his own lawyer. Nevertheless he was found guilty in all six murders and sentenced to 6 twenty five to life concurrent sentences – it is extremely unlikely he will ever be released from prison.
The first unanswered question is how did he move from room to room systematically killing 6 people without waking anyone? Simple answer – he couldn’t; it is literally impossible. The only way this is conceivable in any possible way is that he had help – someone in each room carrying out the shootings at the same time. But even with that scenario how could the neighbors not have heard the shots? The rifle was tested and it could be heard over a mile away when fired – yet the neighbors only reported hearing the dog bark?
I know what you were thinking. He used a silencer – no that’s been proved untrue conclusively. The victims were drugged – no toxic screens proved that untrue as well.
Now for Dawn. Her boyfriend testified that she was a heavy drug user including LSD and extremely hostile toward her parents because they would not let the boyfriend move in with her. Among his many stories Ronnie did state that Dawn helped plan and commit the murders. Ronnie also testified that a black cloaked mysterious figure gave him the rifle and told him to murder his family. Dawn was frequently seen by neighbors wearing a long black coat and Ronnie was in a drug induced state and may have mistaken his sister for a demonic figure. Dawn was also, reportedly, seen by a DEA agent – who was watching the house because it was thought Ronnie was smuggling drugs - leaving the house in a long black coat with a rifle.
One version says that Dawn killed the boys and her sister while Ronnie killed his parents. Ronnie showed no remorse near the bodies of his parents – his father was said to have been very abusive and controlling – but he was obviously horrified near the bodies of his brother and Allison. It has been speculated that Ronnie only meant to kill their parents and was horrified that Dawn had murdered the rest of the family. He then shot her in an over emotional state of shock.
There is forensic proof that Dawn was shot somewhere else than her bedroom. She was found with a gunshot to her head and covered in brain matter and blood but no blood splatter was found on her white head board which was inches from the wound. Whereas unexplained blood splatter was found elsewhere in the house.
Further proof is that Dawn’s bedroom was on the third floor. Had could she possibly have slept through Ronnie shooting his parent’s twice and the other siblings once – 7 gun shots – without waking and escaping?
There is no end to the questions regarding these murders – far too many to be covered in this article ie the seventh body rumored to have been removed from the basement, the victims have being shot by the same gun seemingly ruling out the multiple gun man theories, the ties to the mob both by Ronald Jr and Sr, the theory that a malignant force took over Ronnie and/or Dawn, how could Dawn have been shot with the same rifle when a DEA agent witnessed her disposing of the rifle and on it goes.
The Lutzes and The Amityville Horror
On December 18, 1975 George and Kathleen Lutz and their three children (Melissa (Missy) 5, Christopher 7 and Daniel 9) – Kathleen’s from a previous marriage – moved into 112 Ocean Ave. The family was later quoted as saying the murders of the DeFeo family didn’t bother them.
By all accounts the Lutzes were a well adjusted happy family but that would all change quickly.
There is an aforementioned book and movie that dramatizes their story quite well in detail that is far beyond the scope of this article. Therefore what follows is a list of paranormal activity reported by the family during their 28 day stay in the house per the Wikipedia article.
George would wake up every morning at 3:15am – the alleged time of the DeFeo murders – with an urgent need to check the boat house.
Despite it being winter the house was filled with flies.
Kathleen had nightmares reliving the murders.
The Lutz children started sleeping on their stomachs in the positions the DeFeo children had been found in when they were murdered.
Kathleen felt as she was being hugged by an unseen force – she described the sensation as loving.
George discovered the “Red Room” behind some shelving in the basement. It was about 4x5 feet and all painted red – the family dog would not enter it and acted as if something threatening was present.
Multiple unexplained cold spots, phantom smells of cheap perfume and poop.
The image of a demon with half it’s head blown off was seen the soot in the fireplace – the fireplace was burning at the time.
Missy made friends with a demonic pig creature with red eyes she called Jodie.
George was woken up repeatedly by the loud sound of the front door slamming – when he went downstairs to check he found the dog sleeping in front of the door – no one else ever heard the door slam.
George heard what he called a clock radio not quite on the right station or a marching band tuning up – when he went downstairs to investigate the noises ceased.
George realized he was starting to look more and more like Ronnie “Butch” DeFeo – he also began going to Ronnie’s favorite bar.
Kathleen saw red eyes glowing outside of Missy’s bedroom window – a window Missy said “Jodie the Pig” had just left out of.
Kathleen received red welts on her chest from being held down in bed by an unseen force – she was also levitated 2 feet in the air out of bed.
Locked windows and doors were mysterious damaged.
Green gelatin slime ran down the walls; also out of the keyhole of the playroom door in the attic.
A crucifix was turned upside down while hanging on the wall – it also gave off a bad smell.
George found bite marks on his ankle after tripping over a four foot lion ornament – the ornament was moved upstairs after this but mysteriously appeared downstairs again.
George witnessed Kathleen changing into a very old and ugly lady.
Missy would sing but only in her room – she would stop the second she left it but then pick up exactly where she left off as soon as she entered her room again.
In the sewing room – the former DeFeo boys room – Kathleen would hear the window being opened – upon checking the window was firmly shut.
A Priest – although his relationship with the Catholic Church is much disputed – attempted to bless the house – he heard a demonic voice say “Get Out”.
The Lutzes attempted their own spiritual cleansing – George heard a voice say “Would you please stop”.
The final night in the house has been described by the Lutzes as simply too frightening to describe.
Paranormal Activity and Personal Experiences
We have been asked repeatedly why – if this house is so haunted – have none of the former owners since the Lutzes reported anything other than a normal house?
Two reasons we think: 1) They don’t want the publicity. They want to live their lives in peace without 40 people on their front lawn 24/7. Totally understandable. 2) The sixth sense is just that – a sense – not everyone has it much as some people are born blind, deaf or dumb. Without it the house has no battery to power itself and the people have no way of sensing the energy present in the house.
Reported paranormal activity we did not witness or sense:
A loving unseen presence
Demonic whispers telling people to do terrible things
Intense feelings to harm others and yourself
The red room and the evil energy that pours from it
An uncontrollable desire to leave now
Doors and windows opening and closing on their own
Being scratched, hit and slapped
Nightmare visions and time slips
Reoccurring nightmares detailing the murders after leaving the house
Apparitions of the DeFeo children
Phantom sounds of gunshots
Shadow people and dark presences
Reported Paranormal Activity we Have Witnessed Or Sensed:
A powerful pervading sense of intense evil
Phantom footsteps on floors that were unoccupied
Cold and warm spots
Unexplained breezes
Phantom laughter and voices
My name being whispered in my ear (sometimes followed by a child’s giggle)
A feeling of being watched and unease
Movement in the corner of my vision
Unexplained mists that move on their own
Touches, tugs and pulls by unseen presences
An intense feeling that reality is being altered and other dimensions are present.
BEACON
BANNERMAN'S CASTLE
Pollepel Island
Status: Former Residence and Business; Cursed Island; Ruins
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Leonard_G." title="User:Leonard G.">User:Leonard G.</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, Public Domain, Link
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ahodges7" title="User:Ahodges7">Ahodges7</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
Francis Bannerman VI bought Pollepel Island in 1900 and began construction on his Scottish castle. This structure is one the few buildings in North America that can be called an actual castle.
Mr Bannerman dealt in military surplus and kept his considerable collection at the castle. Seven major buildings were constructed on the island: three arsenals, a lodge, a tower, a superintendant’s house and the family residence.
Breakwaters were built by sinking boats to protect the harbor. The island is now part of the Hudson Highlands State Park.
Paranormal Activity
Long before Bannerman built his castle the island was regarded as cursed and haunted by the Native American population. They believed that evil spirits inhabited the island and refused to set foot upon the island.
Due to the severe storms that plague the Hudson River around the island the original Dutch Settlers that lived in the area believed the island was filled with goblins whose King controlled the storms.
The legendary “Flying Dutchman” was lost in the river waters near the island and is said to be forever cursed to sail the river. The voices of the ship’s crew are still said to be heard in the winds of the storms.
In the castle itself a phantom sound of a boat’s bell ringing; this is said to be from a curse from a tugboat captain who cursed Mr Bannerman after having asked to not have his tugboat sunk for the breakwater until he had left the site – the tugboat was sunk as the captain turned to leave.
Today the castle lies in ruins on the island and the legends of evil spirits and goblins live on. Strange activity such as unexplained lights and phantom footsteps are still reported.
BEACON
CRAIG HOUSE HOSPITAL
(Zelda Fitzgerald’s Abandoned Sanatorium)(Tioranda)
Craig House Lane
Status: Former High End Psychiatric Hospital; Abandoned; No Access to Buildings or Grounds
History
This gothic house was first built in 1859 by the Civil War General Joseph Howland who called the house Tioranda. In 1915 Clarence Slocum, a Scottish doctor converted the house into the first privately licensed psychiatric hospital in the United States.
Dr Slocum created a treatment center more like a 5-star resort where the rich and famous could get therapy coupled with such pursuits as golfing, fine dining and art. Patient rooms were never locked and there were no bars on the windows.
Many famous people were treated here including Frances Seymour – the mother of Jane Fonda – who committed suicide there, Rosemary Kennedy – after her failed lobotomy, Marilyn Monroe and Zelda Fitzgerald for the whom the facility is most famous for treating.
Zelda suffered from schizophrenia – and possibly borderline personality disorder – and, unfortunately, could not be cured. Zelda was transferred to the Highland Hospital in North Carolina in a catatonic state where she burned to death in a fire being unable to escape from her locked room in 1948.
Frances Seymour wasn’t the only person to end in life inside the walls of Craig House; although she was the most famous. That combined with some questionable fires and patients staying for days rather than months led to the closure of the hospital in 1999.
Most of the furniture and such has since been sold but according to people who have been inside the building it is immaculate and looks almost as someone just left and will be back any minute.
The current owner is working on transforming the house and grounds into a high-end hotel and resort.
There is an abandoned church/school and hat factory also on the grounds.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions of former guests and staff. Hazy forms have been seen looking through the curtains to the outside world.
Feelings of being watched, not being alone and being followed. Intense empathic feelings of sadness, hopelessness and loneliness.
Disembodied voices and other unexplained noises including footsteps, crying and laughter.
Other activity: cold and warm spots, unexplained breezes, light anomalies and objects moving on their own such as doors opening and closing.
BETHANY
ROLLING HILLS ASYLUM
11001 Bethany Center Rd
Status: Former Poorhouse; Former Asylum; Former Nursing Home; Historical Haunted Building; Paranormal Tours and Investigations Available
Submission by the Property Owner, Sharon Coyle
Rolling Hills Asylum Located in western New York 40 minutes from two major airports, Rolling Hills Asylum is a hot bed of paranormal activity. Disembodied voices, doors slamming, footsteps, sounds of furniture moving, full body apparitions, shadow people, touching, lots of class A Evp’s, and more! The property was established on January 1, 1827 as the Genesee County Poor Farm. Over the years it has operated as a poor farm, infirmary, orphanage, tuberculosis hospital, nursing home, and more. Residents and Inmates ran the gambit of widows, orphans, disabled, mentally unstable, murders, and more. Over 1700 bodies buried in unmarked graves. Come out and investigate this very, haunted and active location! Open year round. Historical & Flashlight Tours, Public & Private Ghost Hunts, Daytime & Night-time Opportunities, special events, and more. We have been featured on Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventurers and Paranormal Challenge as well as SyFy Channel’s Ghost Hunters. Website : http://www.RollingHillsAsylum.com/
VM: (585)502-4066
Sharon Coyle, Proprietress Rolling Hills Asylum E. Bethany, NY 14054 VM Only: (585) 502-4066info@RollingHillsAsylum.com
History
Opened in 1927 in response to a government directive that all municipalities had to have facilities designed to take care of people who were incapable of taking care of themselves. The facility was known as the Genesee County Poorhouse and took patients ranging from drunks to unwed mothers to outright criminals. It became a working farm with over 200 acres and every able-bodied person was expected to work. The county was responsible for burying those who had no family and a graveyard does exist on the property but the exact location has been lost as time went by. The facility was closed in 1974 with the patients being relocated to Batavia. By that time the building had served as both an insane asylum and a nursing home. The building remained abandoned until 1992 when it was re-opened as a mall called “The Carriage House”. It has since been used as a paranormal research center and gives paranormal tours today.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions have been seen in the windows by people outside of the building as well as by those inside the building. The apparition of a man who was once one of the tallest men alive who lived his life in the asylum.
Unexplained noises are heard in the building including cries, screams and laughter. Phantom conversations have been heard as well as reports of being touched by cold hands.
Other activity: doors and windows opening and closing on their own, shadow figures, objects moving on their own, light anomalies and mysterious knocks.
BUFFALO
BUFFALO STATE HOSPITAL
(Richardson Olmstead Complex)(Buffalo Psychiatric Center)(Hotel Henry Urban Resort)
444 Forest Avenue
Status: Former Insane Asylum; Former 3 Star Hotel; Closed
By Shinerunner at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
Built between 1872 and 1880 the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane was built in the Kirkbride – center administration building with 2 wings one for the male patients and one for the female patients with the most violent housed at the end of the wings – style and considered state of the art for it’s time.
Patients worked on the surrounding farm or at domestic tasks such as cooking or laundry and were encouraged to make use of the large landscaped surrounding grounds.
By the turn of the century the facility, designed for 600 patients, was averaging a population of 1,800 patients. Overcrowding was a constant problem for all asylums in North American and Europe at the time.
The name of institute was changed to Buffalo State Hospital early in the 20th century.
Previous to the invention of anti-psychotic drugs both insulin-shock and electro-shock therapies were frequently used on the mentally ill; especially those suffering from schizophrenia. These were considered state of the art treatments at the time. Only a few pre-frontal lobotomies were done at this hospital.
In 1965 the Nicholas J Strozzi building was opened with 520 beds and many of the patients were transferred out of the aging Kirkbride building to it. This building is still an active psychiatric center today working with both in and out patients - there are only 185 beds available now – this is where psychiatric patients from the general hospitals are transferred.
During the 1990’s the Kirkbride building was used less and less for treatment of the mentally ill and more and more as an administrative center. In 1997 the New York State Office of Mental Health released the building from it’s possessions.
In 2006 a society was formed to restore the old building which began with fencing it in and adding 24-hour security. In 2008 restoration and stabilization of the buildings began. In 2013 plans to convert the building into a hotel and museums were revealed.
In 2017 the Hotel Henry opened in the center of the Kirkbride Building with a conference center and 88 rooms. This was the beginning of a new life for the building and campus; that is until the Covid-19 Pandemic hit. In February of 2021 the hotel was forced to close down due to falling revenues because of the Pandemic.
According to the Hilton Hotels website – Hilton helped manage the Henry Hotel – the hotel will re-open in 2030.
Ghost Tours have been offered at this location but it is unclear whether they are being offered now that the hotel was closed.
Paranormal Activity
The former institution is said to be haunted by it’s former patients and staff.
I have been on the site personally and will list my experiences at the end of this section.
Reported Activity
The tunnels between the buildings are said to be the most haunted area of the complex.
Apparitions of former patients and staff; pale faces watching the windows; shadow figures; objects moving on their own; electrical issues; disembodied voices including hearing your name called; touches, tugs and pulls by unseen presences; unexplained sounds; cold spots; empathic sensations of unease, fear, sadness, anger and confusion; time slips; unexplained mists and feelings of being followed and watched.
My Experiences
The hotel section seems to have been cleared out quite well leaving only a feeling of residual energy that hangs in the ether and it probably unnoticeable by most people.
The far eastern wing – the women’s most violent section – has energy so violent and disturbing my wife could not approach it. I was, even, unable to completely shield myself from it and developed a slight headache and nausea. The end of the other wing – the male section – was slightly disturbing but there was no comparison with the female wing.
Shadow figures moving in the buildings – usually peeking out of the window or moving very quickly and not visible for more than a second or two.
Disembodied voices and whispers including hearing my own name multiple times.
Pale misty faces briefly seen in a couple of windows.
One brief touch on the right hand by something unseen.
Empathic feelings of unease and feelings of being watched and not wanted.
BUFFALO
STATLER HOTEL
(Statler City)
107 Delaware Avenue
Status: Former Luxury Hotel; Heritage Property; Being Repurposed
By <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sullymon54" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:User:Sullymon54">Sullymon54</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:">English Wikipedia</a>
History
The first Statler Hotel was built on the corner of Washington and Street. It was later renamed the Hotel Buffalo and has since been demolished. It was the first hotel in America to have a private shower or bath in every room. It was closed in 1967 and demolished in 1968.
The new Hotel Statler – the location this article is about – was opened in May of 1923. The hotel was built with 18 floors and 1,100 rooms; more than all the other hotels in Buffalo, at the time, put together. When it opened rooms could be had for as cheap as $1.50 a night.
For 2 decades the Statler was the only luxury hotel between New York City and Chicago and as such it hosted lavish parties for the rich and famous. After World War II the number of people staying in the city could not fill the hotel rooms and some floors were converted to offices.
In 1954 Hilton Hotels bought out Statler Hotels. In 1984 the last hotel room was closed and the building was renamed Statler Towers. In 2000 an attempt to convert the building into condos failed and it went bankrupt.
In 2011 the current owner bought the building – which was apparently in such bad shape some floors were about to collapse and many of them were filled with water.
The lower floors have now been refurbished and can be booked for weddings and other events. The building will be closed in 2022-23 while the upper floors are converted to condos.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal investigations have taken place in the past. There are none scheduled in the foreseeable future but that could change at any time.
Its very difficult to nail down the reasons for this hotel to have become so rife with paranormal activity. Perhaps its because the suggested reasons for the haunting deal with notoriously distasteful subjects that certainly would have been very hush hush when the hotel was open.
Namely the mob and suicides.
It is rumored that the mob had a financial presence in the hotel from day one. Buffalo provided the perfect place to deal with ‘special problems’ away from prying eyes in Chicago and New York City. This is said to have left behind some residual energy as well as a number of guests who may have checked in but never checked out.
Hotels are often plagued by suicides. If you kill yourself at a hotel your family won’t have to clean the mess. Stories say the Statler had more than its fair share of jumpers – some even suggest there is something on the upper floors that gives a fragile mind an extra push.
Paranormal activity recorded here:
Apparitions of former guests and staff; people are seen falling from the upper floors but fade into nothingness before they meet the ground; shadow figures; touches from unseen presences; an elevator that likes to go from floor to floor even when no one is in it – it may or may not take you to the floor you requested or it may not – it seems to prefer floors that the highest paranormal activity is reported on (2,11,18).
Of course, with 18 floors even ghosts would have to take the elevator.
Objects move on their own; phantom footsteps; disembodied voices and conversations; time and dimensional slips; unexplained noises of all kinds from whispers to screams to loud bangs; cold and warm spots; light anomalies; feelings of unease, not being wanted and not being alone.
COOPERSTOWN
HYDE HALL
267 Glimmerglass State Park
(607) 547-5098 Ext: 1
Status: Former Residence; Heritage Property; State Park; Open Seasonally
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Lorryh&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Lorryh (page does not exist)">Lorryh</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
History
This home is one of the few surviving examples of Phillip Hooker’s work – a 19th century American architect – and was built for George Clarke between 1817 and 1834. It was named after the ancestral home of the Hooker family Hyde in Cheshire, England.
The house is considered historically significant because it was built using both English and American architectural methods.
Clarke purchased the land in 1817 as they were adjacent to his wife’s lands. The house took so long to build due to financial issues and Clarke’s battles for his inheritances in New York Courts. In 1824 he received his final inheritance from his father allowing him to complete the house.
When ownership of the house was passed to New York State there were funds available to restore the mansion. It had fallen into a state of disrepair and was very nearly demolished.
In 1964 a group called The Friends of Hyde Hall was formed to save the house and restore it’s grandeur back for the specific purpose of having the public enjoy it. In 1988 they were granted a 30 year lease on the property which was extended in 2018 to another 30 years.
The house is open seasonally and sponsors several events; it can also be booked for private events through the website above.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal investigations can be booked during October – for groups of 10 or more – and Orange County Paranormal runs 1 or 2 investigations a year as well. They also have a ghost tour in the mansion in October where you can hear the stories of the hauntings.
The most famous ghost at Hyde Hall is that of Jenny Worthington who passed away young and was immortalized in an 8 foot tall 400 pound portrait commissioned by her husband; John Worthington. Even after John got remarried, he still left the portrait hung in the house.
Eventually, the new wife took the portrait down – can you blame her – and immediately paranormal activity started in the house.
Years later the portrait was donated to Hyde Hall. One night after it had been taken down for renovations the shutters swung open in the dining room – where the painting usually hangs – tripping the motion alarm.
Jenny hangs in the dining room to this day. When the house is open or closed the staff doing it always says “good morning” or “good night” to Jenny. Disrespect her at your peril.
The apparition of George Clarke is seen through the house in his gold, green and red bathrobe. Even ghosts need to be comfortable; and it was said to be his favorite.
Edward Steers is still seen on the dock after he ‘accidentally’ shot himself there after having his marriage proposal rejected a second time by a lady working at Hyde Hall.
A woman in a long braid down her back dressed in a Victorian dress is often seen in the house especially on the stairs. She is most often seen by children and usually is somewhat transparent. No one could identify her until a staff member found an old photo that matched her exactly.
A worker alone in the house heard a mayday call come through on the radio. This may be related to George and Susan Clarke who lived here and were killed together in a plane crash.
Other Reported Activity: disembodied voices; phantom sounds of a party like ice clinking in glasses and laughter; objects moving on their own; touches by unseen presences; light anomalies; empathic feelings of unease and feelings of being watched.
KINGS PARK
KINGS PARK PSYCHIATRIC CENTER
(Kings Park Lunatic Asylum)(Long Island State Hospital) “The Psych”
Kings Park Boulevard
Status: Former Psychiatric Complex; Some Buildings Demolished; Some Buildings Abandoned
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History
This site was established in 1880 to alleviate the over crowding in the asylums in Brooklyn. Originally, the site was owned by the County but when over crowding become a problem even here the state took over the hospital and developed it into a completely self-sufficient facility able to generate its own electricity and food as well as having its own spur of the Long Island Railroad. As the population continued to grow in the 1930′s and space became problem taller buildings were built including the famous Building 93 (pictured below) which would eventually become the hospital/infirmary for the site.
By the 1950′s the patient population would reach its all time high at near 10,000. By the early 1990′s the facility had become a mere shell of its former glory with only the first few floors of even Building 93 being used as drugs began to replace therapy for the treatment of mental illness. In 1996 a plan to close the facility was brought to its conclusion with any remaining patients being transferred to nearby Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.
Today the waterfront portion of the property has been turned into a State Park and three group homes are run on the property. The rest of the site is largely abandoned with problems such as asbestos in the remaining buildings to ash pollution from the power plant to former buildings collapsed into their own basements stopping further development on the property.
Since 2016 many of the more dilapidated buildings have been demolished.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions of former patients and staff, disembodied voices including people hearing their name whispered or called out, mysterious mists and light anomalies, unexplained bangs, screams and yells especially coming from the buildings, phantom faces appearing in windows, shadow figures, feelings of being watched and not wanted as well as general feelings of unease and intense sadness, reports of being touched and pushed, loss of power in electrical devices, doors and windows opening and closing on their own and reports of feelings of severe psychic disturbances and negative energy.
MANHATTAN
HOUSE OF DEATH
(Mark Twain House)
14 W 10th Street
Status: Private Residence; Famous Haunted/Cursed House; Urban Legend
Reader Discretion is Advised
This article contains child abuse and murder as well as spousal abuse.
History
Built in 1856 this brownstone started off alright before earning it’s reputation and foreboding name.
In the 1880’s the house was owned by the widow of the founder of Metropolitan and Broadway’s Underground Railways.
In 1897 the house brought it’s first, of many, bouts of bad luck to one of it’s owners. Cycling celebrity Fred H Andrew (who was the new owner of the house) was apparently engaging in “reckless cycling” and hit an 8 year old boy on the street.
The boy suffered a broken leg and Andrew was jailed. Considering what the house is said to be responsible later these two may have been the luckiest of it’s long list of victims.
The next owner was not other than the acclaimed author Mark Twain who suffered both financial difficulties – near bankruptcy – as well as emotional issues – depression – but also wrote some of his best stories while living in the house.
Mr Twain is also the first – despite being an ardent non-believer – person to have a paranormal episode in the house. He watched a log of wood float across a room; which he blamed on rats; and – as any normal person would do – he shot it. The wood landed on the floor with a few drops of blood he maintained came from the aforementioned rat.
In 1937 the house was converted into 10 separate apartments.
In 1957 Jan Bryant Bartell and her daughter moved into the apartment on the top floor where the servants used to live. They suffered extreme paranormal experiences and Jan wrote and published a book in 1974 called Spindrift: Spray From A Psychic Sea.
The book records 9 deaths beginning with her dog and ending with them moving out of the house. Shortly after she published the book Jan, herself, died making some people believe whatever is in the house followed her making her it’s 10th victim.
Jan also suffered from depression and there were rumors of suicide attempts; or so the skeptics say.
At 6:40 am on November 2, 1987 911 got a call from the house from the house’s owner – Hedda Nussbaum a children’s book author – saying that her daughter, Lisa, was not breathing.
The first responders entered the house to the scene of a nightmare.
6 year old Lisa was naked and unresponsive on the floor while her brother was tied to a playpen sitting in his own urine. Hedda was covered in bruises and had multiple bones. They were also large amounts of illegal drugs and paraphernalia in the house.
Lisa could not be saved, and it was later determined she was killed by blunt force trauma to the head.
Both Hedda and her husband, Joel Steinburg, were charged with 1st degree murder. Hedda avoided charges by giving testimony indicated Joel had come home in a cocaine fueled fury and attacked both Hedda and Lisa.
Steinburg was sent to prison for second degree manslaughter; he was released in 2004.
Today, the house is still a private residence but there are continuing stories of paranormal activity in both it as well as in some of the neighboring houses now.
Paranormal Activity
There are rumored to be at least 22 ghosts of former residents including the famous non-believer himself; Mark Twain. Although he uses his real name – Samuel Clemens – rather than his pen name.
Mr Twain is generally clad in a white linen suit and has repeatedly communicated with the living. Before you ask, no he did not die in the house – and only lived there for 1 year in 1900-1901 – however his ghost has been confirmed both here and no 12 as well as this house.
Clemens has been seen throughout the house by these days he is only seen on the first floor and on the staircase to the basement.
Ms Bartell (see above) recorded the following activity: a large monstrously shaped shadow the followed her and moved about the apartment; a chilly damp mist that would numb the fingertips to touch and smelled sweet; rotten food the family had not purchased would appear on the dining room table; the apparition of a man in the hallway; other unexplained phantom smells including a very bitter one and the family pets would become suddenly very aggressive toward entities that could not been seen.
Both in the “House of Death” and in neighboring houses the apparition of a woman in a long gown has been seen floating over the floor and has been reported move through doors. Flickering lights and feelings of not being alone are also frequently reported.
MANHATTAN
TIMES SQUARE
Status: Public Space
By chensiyuan - chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
History
Once upon a time this square was once just a part of a farmer’s land. In the late 19th Century, it was bought by John Jacob Astor who increased his immense fortune by selling land to hotels.
In 1904 the New York Times moved its headquarters here to the now famous One Times Square; the building where the ball drops every New Years Eve; and the Square became forever known as Times Square.
This location is now the most visited tourist attraction in the world.
It is the center of the city’s theater district and is also known as “The Crossroads of the World” and “The Center of the Universe”; over 300,000 people walk the square every day. It is perhaps the most recognizable place on the entire planet.
It is also haunted.
Paranormal Activity
The apparitions of 2 Royal Air Force pilots have been seen walking the Square. They appear as solid as any living person except they vanish into thin air every night at precisely midnight.
They have been asked by passerbys why they are in the Square, the answer, infallibly, is that they had always wanted to see Times Square but were killed over Berlin in the Second World War before making the visit.
There are legends of many other apparitions and ghostly activity in the Square, where strangeness is considered the norm, but these 2 are the most famous.
After all who would notice a ghost amid the throngs of tourists and New Yorkers?
MILLBROOK
BENNET COLLEGE
(Halcyon Hall)
79 Bennet Common Way
Status: Former Hotel; Former School; Severely Dilapidated Building; Abandoned
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History
The main building of this location was originally built by HJ Davison Jr in 1893 on a 22 acre site. He was publisher from New York City and was hoping to cash in on fad of New Yorkers travelling upstate to the new resorts being built. Unfortunately, the hotel/resort, called Halcyon Hall, never caught on and by the early 20th Century Mr Davison was looking for a new owner in order to avoid financial ruin. He closed down the hotel in 1901.
Bennett College (an all-girls school in Irvington, New York) was looking a new home and purchased the property in 1907. They built a chapel, stable, dormitories and other buildings on the site and used the main building for classes. The school originally taught young ladies the 4 years of high school as well as 2 years of college with diplomas in such fields as domestic sciences, equine studies, interior design and others. Shortly after moving to the Millbrook site the high school courses were dropped and the school only offered 2 year college courses. Many daughters of prominent families in the area were educated at Bennett College during its 90 year history.
By the 1970's separate schools for boys and girls were beginning to fall out of fashion at the college level. Already strapped financially the college tried its best to convert to a co-ed school by upgrading the campus to meet State education standards and attempting to co-join with another school. These attempts would eventually fail and completely bankrupt the college. Just after the fall semester began in 1978 the school was forced to close its doors forever; the girls enrolled were transferred to another college.
All furniture, books and equipment were transferred to the town’s library for safekeeping. In 1985 all archives from the school were donated to the Millbrook Library for historical significance. In 1993 the building was put on the National Register of Historic Places.
Halcyon Hall would never re-open again and suffered major damage due to the elements. With the heat turned off the water pipes burst in the winter causing the most significant damage. Today, the building is considered very dangerous and a tree even grows inside the building. It is completely fenced off. It was scheduled for demolishment in 2012 and then again in 2014 to make way for a park but the building still stands.
There were many attempts to convert the building into uses such as condos in the 1980's but all would eventually fail due to financial issues. Ownership was eventually transferred over to the Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank but that bank failed in 1991. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation then took over ownership.
The Thorne Family bought the property in 2014 with the hopes of creating a garden and park. While the building does still stand, they are, apparently, still the owners.
Paranormal Activity
There is said to have been suicides in the history of the school; young ladies who couldn't handle the stress of their studies or found themselves pregnant out of wedlock. The apparitions of these girls are still seen wandering the halls and rooms of the abandoned building.
The property is also said to be cursed (The Curse of Halcyon Hall) as everyone who has owned it was eventually brought to financial ruin.
Other activity: feelings of being watched both inside the building and on the grounds from the empty windows, light anomalies, mysterious mists, electrical disturbances, doors opening and closing on their own, feelings of unease and distress, disembodied voices and, rarely, physical contact with the living including pushes, tugs and pulls.
NYACK
THE ACKLEY HOUSE
1 Laveta Place
Status: America’s Only Legally Haunted House; Residence
A Reminder this Property is not only Private but also Someone’s Residence. Do Not Approach the Property or Bother the Owners.
History and Paranormal Activity
This 3 story Victorian house was built in 1890. It stands at the end of a cul de sac and commands truly breath-taking views of the Hudson River from almost every window.
Based on the latest real estate listing the interior is just as stunning as the views provided.
It was last sold in March of 2021 for nearly 1.8 million USD and is currently valued at just over 2 million for the tax rolls.
Just like living in paradise, right? Hmmm. . .
Just one little issue, this perfect little piece of paradise is the only legally declared haunted house in the United States. But the ghosts are friendly so that’s ok; apparently not.
Prior to the 1970’s there are no reports of any ghosts or paranormal activity in the house or on the property. The house was left abandoned for part of the 1960’s and this may have provided the living impaired to move in.
No history of a murder or premature deaths; it’s possible no one has ever even breathed their last inside this house.
After the period of abandonment, the Ackley family – hence the house’s name - bought the house and moved in. They had some paranormal experiences including the husband – George - seeing a set of disembodied moccasin wearing feet walk by him in the hallway above the staircase, the wife – Helen – saw an apparition wearing either a Colonial or Revolutionary war uniform while she was painting the entryway; even their daughter – Cynthia – ,who was a teenager at the time, had her bed shake until she politely asked them to stop so she could sleep.
The house was also known as the neighborhood “haunted house” by the kids living in the area.
On a side note, I lived in one of these neighborhood haunted houses for a while as a kid but we, also, learned to live with the doors slamming on their own, the bathroom door locking itself – this is why I can pick a bathroom door lock to this day lol – so I completely understand where this family is coming from.
Hell, my bed shakes almost every night now I just ignore it or tell ‘them’ to stop it.
This is not the Amityville Horror house or the Conjuring House.
Helen Ackley even wrote an article for Reader’s Digest in the 70’s entitled “Our Haunted House on the Hudson” thus passing the story into a forever written format.
In 1989 it became time for the Ackleys to downsize and sell the house. Jeffery and Patricia Stambovsky put an offer in on the house and it was accepted and the down payment was put down.
Now the Ackleys say they mentioned the haunting multiple times during all of this but the Stambovskys say it was never mentioned and when they found out they wanted their down payment back. Yah, no, legally if you change the mind after the down payment the seller keeps the money.
So off to court it went saying the Ackleys didn’t represent the house properly and that said ghosts would decrease the value of the house. The State of New York said “caveat emptor” or “buyer beware” buying a house is hard enough without adding ghosts into the mix.
So off it went to the New York Supreme Court – yah, can you say tenacious – where it was ruled because the issue was reputational and not physical caveat emptor didn’t apply. The haunting had been reported in a National publication and could not be reversed.
In other words, according to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, this house is legally haunted.
The down payment was returned to the couple who had proved incredibly stubborn; and the house was eventually sold to someone else. The house has gone through numerous owners since then – which has been called unusual – many of them creative people like a screenwriter and a musician but no one has said anything about ghosts or paranormal activity since the Ackleys.
The Ackleys have never retracted their claims.
This case is still taught in many law school classrooms in the United States and other Countries.
Let this be a lesson for everyone selling a haunted house – especially in New York State – that disclosure is your best friend apparently.
Did my family disclose the house we lived in was haunted when we sold it? Hmmmm. . .
POUGHKEEPSIE
HUDSON RIVER STATE HOSPITAL
Hudson View Drive
Status: Former Psychiatric Hospital, Partially Demolished, Partially Repurposed
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Hviola&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:Hviola (page does not exist)">Hviola</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
History
By the latter part of the 19th Century the State run insane asylum in Utica was beginning to become overcrowded and the Governor set up a study to look at the possibility of opening a new hospital to service New York City and the surrounding areas in the Hudson River Valley. In 1866 a large parcel of land was gifted to the State near the city of Pooghkeepsie which would eventually be accepted.
In October of 1871 the new Hudson River State Hospital For The Insane was opened and admitted 40 patients. Construction, however, would continue for another 25 years before the institution was completed.
When finished the main building was designed as Kirkbride Plan building (as were many State run asylums in the 19th Century) and was a virtual twin to the asylum built in Danvers, Massachusetts.
The construction, which was originally slated for a cost of $800,000, went grossly over budget almost immediately. Although many criticisms were leveled at the project, including by the New York Times, construction continued until 1895 when the money simply ran out at a total of $1,200,000 and so the hospital’s final plans were never completed.
A Refrigeration Plant was built in 1948 and a Tuberculosis Hospital was built in 1951. In 1971 the two wings of the main building were shut down as the floors were collapsing.
By the 70′s, though, the patient population had begun to drop (from 6,000 to just over 1,000) due to the invention of drugs which helped patients live outside of institutions. By the 1990′s large portions of the hospital were closed down but not demolished due to intervention of the State Historical Society.
The Hudson Valley Psychiatric Center opened nearby in 1994 and the hospital was closed down and abandoned in 2003.
In 2005 the state sold the property to the Empire State Development Corporation who planned to convert the site into condos and a hotel. This project failed due to a moratorium on construction and financial reasons. In 2007 the South Wing was struck by lightning and set afire – it is unclear to this day whether that wing can be saved the damage was so great.
The property sat still abandoned and falling apart for a while. It was fenced off and posted as ‘No Trespassing’ and for sale. Another development company has interest in converting it to low income housing, as well Wal Mart had said they would like to buy the property but was held back by the town and there are possibilities of preserving the site for historical interest.
In 2007 a fire started by lightning did considerable damage to the main building. In 2010 there were 2 more fires that the Fire Dept called deliberately set. In 2018 the main building had another fire.
In 2013 an unnamed buyer did buy the property with the intention of repurposing it into a mixed use community called Hudson Heritage. They plan to save some of the buildings and demolish other ones. In 2016 the demolishment of some of the outlying buildings began.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions of former patients and staff. Feelings of being watched, not wanted, unease and fear as well as empathic sensations of pain, sadness and extreme depression.
Faces are seen looking out of the windows of the buildings. Disembodied voices. laughter, screams and sounds of crying. Doors and windows that open and close on their own.
Objects moving on their own as well as disappearing and reappearing. Touches, pokes and pushes from invisible presences.
Shadow figures are seen roaming the grounds and buildings. Light anomalies, unexplained mists and electrical disturbances are also reported.
SYLVAN BEACH
SYLVAN BEACH AMUSEMENT PARK
112 Bridge Street
Status: Historical Amusement Park
Seasonal Ghost Tours Available
History
Dating back to the 1870’s this one of the oldest operational amusement parks in America. It has 25 rides and numerous games and has been described as the ultimate trip into nostalgia.
Paranormal Activity
There are 3 ghosts in the park. All of guests who died there. According to the tv show Ghost Hunters none of them bear the park any ill will and have stayed on due to their love of the park.
Jack – a man who loves to stay at the Royal Hotel. He is most commonly seen in the bar and is known for opening and closing doors.
Abby – who is described as both a little girl and a “woman in white”
Scott(ie) – who is heard whistling in Playland and Treasure Land. His ghost has been seen in the attic of Playland.
On the offered Ghost Tours objects have been seen moving and flying on their own including wood and coins. The coins are thought to be due to the ghost of a former owner named Bill who refused to let anyone else handle the money during his time.
STATEN ISLAND
WILLOWBROOK STATE SCHOOL
930 Willowbrook Road
The Campus of the College of Staten Island and the Surrounding Area now Stand Where the Willowbrook Was
Status: Former State Institution for the Developmentally Disabled; Formerly Abandoned; Partially Repurposed; Partially Ruins
History
In 1938 plans were made by the New York State government to build a large facility for developmentally disabled children. They choose a 375-acre (152 hectare) site on Staten Island. Construction was completed in 1942 but it was immediately taken over by the United States Army due to World War II.
While under Army control it was used as a veteran’s hospital and a POW camp. Once the war ended in 1945 there was some debate as to whether it should be permanently converted to a veteran’s facility or used for it’s original purpose. In the end the Governor of New York State made the decision and Willowbrook State School was born in 1947.
It was designed to be a humane center for the care of disabled children; something, due in a large part to the New York State Government, it completely failed at.
By the 1950’s most children admitted to the facility were coming down with Hepatitis – most often with Hepatitis A - and one doctor, who was obviously completely untroubled by a conscience or ethics, decided this was the perfect environment to perform tests in. At the time it was known that Hepatitis was a virus but no one understood how it spread.
Dr Saul Krugman – stating patients had a 90% change of getting the virus anyway – purposely infected children by putting stool samples of sick people into the children’s food raising that to 100%. A lot was learned about the virus and how to inoculate against it but at what price? Public outcry finally put an end to the – sometimes fatal - experiments on children in the 1970’s
Until his death Dr Krugman defended his work.
By 1965 the facility contained over 6,000 children – despite being built for only 4,000 – and the ratio of staff to patients was deplorable. One nurse might have the responsibility for 100 children in multiple buildings. Needless to say, the facility quickly turned into what Senator Robert F Kennedy said was a “a snake pit”.
Doctors, nurses and other staff who complained and fought for patient rights were fired by the State. The same State who started massively cutting funding from the 1950’s until the institution’s closure.
A reporter, Jane Kurtin, got inside the buildings with staff help and got the first public photos of what was happening inside. In 1972 Geraldo Rivera got inside with a doctor’s help and filmed the terrible conditions – naked children sitting in their own filth, obvious and terrible evidence of brutal physical, emotional and sexual abuse by both the staff and other patients and they even got an interview with a patient with Cerebral Palsy whose mental faculties were fine (he just had trouble communicating) – and brought the situation to the public’s attention on a national scale for the first time.
This was quickly followed by a Class Action Suit against the State of New York by the parents of the children. In 1975 a consent judgement was signed which began the path leading to the Federal laws we have now to protect the rights of developmentally disabled people.
In 1983 the State of New York announced that Willowbrook would close by the end of 1986. The last children left the facility on September 17, 1987 leaving behind a decaying campus.
In 1991 a retired NYPD detective wrote a book saying that Building 2 was filled with toxic and explosive substances and jars containing preserved human organs. He also stated local officials were covering it up.
From 1974 to 1987 several children were kidnapped and murdered on Staten Island. The killer was only known by the name Cropsey. One of the children, Jennifer Schweiger, was found adjacent to the abandoned campus in Willowbrook Park neither the camp of one Andre Rand – a former attendant at Willowbrook School – and he was charged and jailed for the murders despite there being no physical evidence linking him to the crimes.
In 1993 the College of Staten Island opened on the majority of the old Willowbrook Campus. Other reclaimed buildings on the former campus are used by the New York Department of Mental Hygiene. The remaining buildings still lie abandoned and decaying.
Paranormal Activity
Students of the College have reported apparitions – presumedly of deceased patients – moving through the shadows on campus. There are also reports of unexplained noises or hearing someone call you – sometimes by name – only to find no one there. Feelings of being watched and being followed are also reported on campus.
In and around the abandoned buildings there are reports of shadow figures, people being touched and pushed by unseen entities, electrical disturbances, light anomalies, phantom screams and voices and pale faces watching from the empty windows.
One person reported being followed home by an unidentifiable dark figure who stood in front of their house watching until daybreak.
STONY POINT
OLD LETCHWORTH VILLAGE CEMETERY
East Side of Call Hollow Road Between Camp Winaki Road and Anthony J Morina Drive
Rockland County
Status: Historical Cemetery
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:GeekOnTheWing" class="mw-redirect" title="User:GeekOnTheWing">GeekOnTheWing</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
History
Every patient who died while under the “care” of the Letchworth Village Rehabilitation Center whose family did not claim their remains between 1914 and 1967 is buried here. They number over 900 and they are stories claiming there are many more buried in unmarked graves.
Many of them are children, yet all they were given to remember them was a metal T with a number printed on it.
In 2007 a plaque was erected at the site which gives a name of everyone buried here. This exists only because volunteers painstakingly went over years of hospital records matching names to numbers.
The inscription on the memorial is both simple and thought provoking “Those Who Shall Not Be Forgotten”.
The cemetery is owned and cared for by the City of Stony Point. Relatives can erect head stones at their expense over their loved ones remains but as of 2021 most of the graves are still marked only by their number. The volunteers who care for the cemetery leave many mementos on the graves – including toys for the lost souls of the children.
One question stands out from all the others. Why did the institution with access to a massive campus bury their patients over a mile away in dense woods? What were they hiding? I fear the answer is both obvious and terrible.
Paranormal Activity
The apparitions of children – and a few adults – have been seen; usually in the surrounding woods and less often in the cemetery itself. They are said to be very solemn and just watch the visitors to the cemetery. Many of the children are just as shy as they were in life and hide their faces when their gazes are met.
Contrary – frankly completely opposite – to the Letchworth Village site the energy here is almost calming. Almost as if, despite being buried like some dirty secret, the souls here finally found some peace they never found while alive.
Or maybe it’s the love given to the lost souls that they never received from their families and caregivers.
Other Activity: electrical disturbances; disembodied whispers; light anomalies and feelings of not being alone.
THIELLS
LETCHWORTH VILLAGE
Letchworth Village Road
Rockland County
Status: Former Residential Institution for the Developmentally Disabled; Abandoned; Partially Demolished; Public Access to the Grounds
By <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/7327243@N05">Doug Kerr</a> from Albany, NY, United States - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/6580769155/">Letchworth Village - Rockland County, New York</a>, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link
Warning this article contains stories of harm being done to children and other innocents. Reader Discretion is Advised.
History
Opened in 1911 – with only the first phase of construction completed – this 2,362-acre (nearly 4 square miles) facility was designed to be the answer to the giant overbearing gothic asylum system. It was the dream of William Pryor Letchworth who died before the facility was finished.
The facility was designed for all ages but throughout it’s history those 16 and under were majority of the population.
There were separate living and training facilities for all ages with able body adults expected to work on communal farms ensuring the feeding of every patient. No structure was to exceed 2 storeys or 70 patients. All patient housing was required to be 200 feet from one another and a playground was built for every dormitory.
The grounds dividing the buildings were designed to provide leisure areas for the patients and get as far from institutionalization as possible. No more over crowded under staffed asylums and poor houses.
There was also a hospital, dining halls and staff housing on site.
In 1921 the developmentally disabled had been put into three categories by the hospital administration: the morons, the imbeciles and the idiots. The last category was considered untrainable and unsuitable for work – males were subjected to intense labor including farm work and shoveling coal – and, therefore, of no use to the State and should be excluded from the facility.
No mention was made of what should be done with such patients although the doctor who wrote the report was probably thinking tossing them in the Hudson River was suitable. As you can see the dreams of Letchworth were dying rapidly.
In 1921 there were 1,200 patients and the facility was already becoming overcrowded but attempts were still being made to follow the policies it was created under. By 1935 the facility had reached the maximum recommended population.
By the 1950’s the population was over 4,000 and no attempts were being made to follow any plan at all.
Families were just as guilty as the staff and administrators; records indicate they just abandoned their relative at the facility and never returned. Letchworth had become a dumping ground for the unwanted just like the asylums and poor houses it was supposed to replace.
The 1950’s was also the beginning of highly illegal experiments on humans – mostly children. The polio vaccine was tested on one 8-year-old boy – for whom giving consent was an impossibility due to his mental condition – and when no side effects appeared 19 other children were injected.
The brains of the deceased were also kept preserved on site for “study”.
In 1972 Geraldo Rivera did an in-depth investigation of 3 facilities for the developmentally disabled including Letchworth and – for the first time – brought in cameras and showed people the truth. Patients – mostly children – lived in absolute squalor and without going into details the conditions were called “the worst conditions I’ve seen in my life” and “well below the minimum to support human life”.
There are also numerous stories of staff-on-staff violence including physical and sexual assault.
By the end of the 1970’s efforts were made to move the population into group homes or more modern facilities in the State. The population began to decrease – obscenely, patient mortality was used to best effect in showing how well the facility was doing in decreasing the population – and the remaining patients finally got some semblance of privacy.
In 1996 the institution finally closed leaving numerous buildings at the mercy of nature. Most people who were workers at Letchworth refuse to speak about what they saw and did.
The site remains mostly intact and the sports facilities – mostly playing fields – are used by the public. In fact, that is the biggest reason why the site hasn’t been repurposed is that the locals don’t want to lose their free sports fields.
There are still many who deny anything untoward – much less abusive – ever happened at the facility and in this world of cancel culture and alternative facts only makes the truth of tragedies like this more horrible and easily repeatable.
Paranormal Activity
Anyone can walk the grounds of the former facility but entrance into any building is strictly forbidden.
The most common supernatural occurrence at this site is a powerful and almost life draining energy that hangs over it. People have described the energy here as despair, torture, horror, insane, terrifying, despondent, draining, dark and yes, pure evil.
There are numerous reports of dark entities – what some call demons – and intelligent dark energy at this site. Many people have been attacked by things unseen here or seen forms of complete darkness in the buildings and on the grounds. Some stories tell of tentacles of pure blackness reaching out of the buildings seemingly looking for more victims.
Paranormal Activity Reported Here: apparitions of former patients and staff (anything from full bodied to misty forms); shadow figures; crawling patches of darkness; time slips; possession; dimensional slips; cold and warm spots; unexplained winds; objects moving on their own; doors and windows opening closing on their own; touches, tugs and pulls by unseen entities; scratches and bruises by unseen entities; disembodied voices and whispers; phantom screams, whispers, crying, laughter and breathing; empathic sensations of hysteria and feeling trapped; physical symptoms of nausea, vomiting, blurred vision and headaches; electrical disturbances including batteries draining in minutes or seconds; unexplained mists; unexplained thoughts of doing harm to yourself and others; light anomalies; unexplained sounds from knocks to loud bangs; phantom footsteps; being pinned to the ground or walls and unable to move; feelings of not being alone, not being wanted, being actively hated and being watched and the list goes on and on.
Please be respectful should you enter this site; the souls trapped here have been through a Hell we could never imagine.
UTICA
UTICA STATE HOSPITAL
(New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica)(Utica Psychiatric Center)
1213 Court Street
Status: Former Psychiatric Hospital; Abandoned; Grounds are Accessible but Buildings are Not
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:RachelNichols2077&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="User:RachelNichols2077 (page does not exist)">Andrey Volk</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
History
This facility opened in 1843 and was the first state owned facility for the treatment of the mentally ill in New York State as well as being one the first opened in the USA. It was built in the Greek Revival Style with money provided both by the state and contributions by the good citizens of Utica.
The asylum’s first director, Dr Amrariah Brigham, was one of the founding members of the American Psychiatric Association and, therefore, strongly believed in treating mental illness in ways other than simple confinement. He believed that the patients would benefit from fresh air and working on the facility’s farms and other areas. This is one of the first hospitals to use this treatment.
This facility gave birth, so to speak, to the “Utica crib” which was redesigned after a French design. Patients were put inside the bed with walls on the side much like a crib except the cribs had a hinged lid that could be locked. The patients were, basically, imprisoned in there. The method was highly criticized (put people in a cage and they begin to act like animals) but many patients with whom the treatment was used on claimed that they got the best rest of their lives while sleeping in the crib. There were, however a number of deaths in the cribs – mostly from heart attack and stroke.
In 1887 all the Cribs were removed.
Almost from the beginning this hospital was overcrowded and underfunded. The rate at which patients were cured and released back to society began to fall steadily. As with many other similar institutions of the late 19th and early to mid 20th Century stories of brutal and inhuman treatment of patients began to surface here.
In 1977 the original older buildings were abandoned, but today they still stand silent and boarded up. Some are used for holding records of the New York State Office of Mental Health. Some of the newer and more modern buildings on the property are still used today for psychiatric and other medical care.
Occasionally the State does allow people inside the buildings for tours. In the past these events have resulted in hundreds being turned away as so many people showed up. Other than that this is private property, although the grounds can be entered.
Paranormal Activity
There are multiple reports of almost every type of paranormal activity possible.
These reports include: apparitions of former patients and staff, shadow figures, feelings of being watched, not wanted, extreme unease, physical and psychological illness and being followed, empathetic sensations of sadness, misery and madness, disembodied voices, screams, cries and laughter, phantom footsteps and other unexplained bangs and noises, electrical disturbances, windows and doors opening on their own, unexplained lights and orbs, mysterious mists, lights going on and off on their own as well turning in in rooms and areas that no longer have electricity, touches, pokes and pulls by invisible presences, possession etc.
WARWICK
MID-ORANGE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
122 State School Road
Status: Former Residence; Former Reform School; Former Prison; Formerly Abandoned; Being Repurposed
History
The original building on this site was a manor house which is now well over 160 years old.
The property was acquired shortly after World War I with the idea of converting it to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center by the City of New York. This dream was never realized; and the property sat uninhabited until it the City traded the land to the Dept of Social Welfare (now Social Services) for Randall Island so the City could build the Tri-Boroughs Bridge.
Randall Island had been one of the first attempts to get juvenile offenders out of the adult prison system. It succeeded in this aspect but basically created just a prison for young offenders with no attempts to meet their special needs – even on something as basic as nutrition – or at rehabilitation.
The State Training School for Boys removed the older boys and focused on training boys aged 10 – 15 so they could become valuable members of society as adults. With some ups and downs the system worked much better than the old one.
In the early 1970’s – as part of the movement of deinstitutionalization moving through the Country – the reform schools were moved away from Social Services and given to the Division of Youth. Three Reform Schools were soon closed down completely including Warwick.
In 1977 the facility was re-opened as the Mid-Orange Correctional Facility and quickly reached its target population of 400. By the mid-1980’s under the “war on drugs” policies the population blew up to over 1000. By the end of the 80’s the opening of many small prisons got the population down to 750 where it stayed.
The prison had many great programs including carpentry, a program where inmates training seeing eye and guide dogs and even a guard who brought all the stray cats in the area for the inmates to take care of. In the State’s infinite wisdom, the guard was fired for bringing in the cats but reinstated when the union – successfully – fought the decision.
The prison was closed down in 2011 and remained mostly abandoned until 2022 when plans to convert the area to a park and light industrial area went into effect.
Paranormal Activity
The facility was open for overnight supervised “ghost hunts” in the past but it is unclear if these events will continue into the future.
Activity Reported: a powerful dark energy hovering both outside of the facility and inside the buildings; apparitions of former inmates both from its time as a prison and as a reform school; shadow figures; cold and hot spots; touches, pulls and pushes by unseen presences; mysterious mists; disembodied voices; phantom screams, laughter and crying; unexplained noises; objects moving on their own including doors opening and closing on their own; electrical disturbances; light anomalies and feelings of unease, nausea, not feeling alone, being watched and not being wanted.
WILLARD
WILLARD ASYLUM FOR THE CHRONIC INSANE
(Willard Insane Asylum)(Willard State Hospital)(Willard Drug Treatment Campus)
7116 County Road 132
Status: Former Psychiatric Complex; DOC Facility; Abandoned Dilapidated Buildings
By <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KLOTZ" title="User:KLOTZ">Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD</a> - <span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
The address given is for the Drug Treatment Center which occupies part of the campus that was once the Willard Asylum. This is a Department of Corrections facility for low level offenders with drug addiction issues. Do not approach this facility without express permission or you will have a very bad day to say the least.
Once upon a time there were tours of the remaining – non DOC – part of the old asylum. These tours were at the discretion of the drug treatment campus. The last tour we could find happened in May of 2016. Right now, it says there are no tours planned for the future – hopefully, at some point, the tours will open again as that is the only way the public can gain access to this site.
Again, this is DOC property now and cannot be entered without express permission.
History
This area was first purchased in 1853 for the purposes of constructing the Ovid Agricultural College – it consisted of 440 acres. The school opened for classes in December of 1860 which was the worst time it could have – all men of college age were away fight the Civil War and certainly not enrolling in college.
Dr Sylvester Willard, the then Surgeon General for New York, had recently discovered the conditions in the almshouses – basically 19th century homeless shelters – was atrocious with the mentally ill and developmentally being treated worse than animals – kept in cages, some chained since childhood etc.
Dr Willard have the revolutionary idea that these unfortunates should be treated. While the massive asylums – of which this is one of the first ones – of the late 19th and 20th centuries were certainly not Hawaiian vacations they were an improvement over the conditions faced by the mentally ill in the early 19th century.
Dr Willard proposed the bill to create this asylum – a bill that was signed by President Abraham Lincoln shortly before his assassination – but died of typhoid before it was put into law. The asylum naturally was named after him.
The first building constructed was done so based on the Kirkbride style – one wing for male patients and one wing for female patients with the most violent put the furthest away from the center where the administration would be – although, unfortunately, this historical building was demolished in the 1980’s.
The first patient was Mary Rote – a deformed and mentally disabled woman – who had spent the last 10 years chained up in an almshouse. She arrived, in chains, in 1866.
By 1869 all 200 beds were filled in the main building and other outlying buildings began to be built. By 1890 – the campus now being called Willard State Hospital – there were over 70 buildings and 2000 residents.
As with the many similar – the majority of them being much worse than Willard – institutions or State Hospitals Willard saw a downward trend in population beginning in the 1970’s as new drugs were being invented and smaller group homes became the norm. In 1995 Willard released its last patient and closed down.
That same year a portion of the campus was reopened as the Willard Drug Treatment Campus run by the DOC (see above).
Also, in 1995 the famous suitcases were found in the asylum’s attic. Hundreds of suitcases brought by patients when they were admitted. The contents of the suitcases brought into focus a lot of personal stories of individuals who came to live here. The suitcases were never returned, most likely, because the patient died at the hospital and there was no one to claim the personal belongings and the staff didn’t want to just throw them away.
There is a large graveyard on site where the buried – 5776 people - are simply identified by numbers losing all of their individuality to the state in the end. Many other former patients were cremated. There is an effort being put into finding out who actually died at the hospital but it is severely hampered by lack of records. It is thought over 20,000 people died here during its history.
Paranormal Activity
Apparitions of former patients and staff, shadow figures, disembodied voices, screams, laughter, crying and calls for help, feelings of helplessness, loneliness, being watched and not being alone, poltergeist activity including windows and doors opening and closing on their own and objects moving on their own, unexplainable noises including bangs and other loud and abrupt sounds, time slips, light anomalies, electrical disturbances, touches, tugs and pulls by unseen presences, cold and warm spots and virtually anything else paranormal related.
Although pretty much anything paranormal has been reported here it has not been reported at the frequency of other similar abandoned institutions. There seems to be a preternatural solemnness and quiet to this site.