Categories: Books

True American Ghost Stories: New York Ghost Tales

Do you believe in Ghosts? I do.

That’s not to say I firmly believe these apparitions are souls of departed loved ones. But definitely somethings going on. Throughout history, ghosts have been talked about, written about. Even photographed and filmed. Maybe this phenomenon has true connections with our deceased. Perhaps ghosts are only persistent echoes, spookily reminding us of those who once walked the Earth. Some paranormal researchers have even theorized that these aren’t spirits of the dead, but inter-dimensional beings, trying to communicate to us through faint whispers and fleeting visions.

To deny these events categorically as mere over active imaginations of witnesses or to question their sobriety or sanity is insultingly simplistic to those who report the phenomenon and to humanity as a whole. We owe it to ourselves and those who’ve left us for the next step in their evolution to try to find some answers.

All over our country, these reports continue to intrigue and even frighten us. From small town to big city, ghost stories thrill the people in that part of the country. New York City, center of finance, culture and dramatic theater for the United States is nick named the Big Apple. Anything can happen in NYC and often does, but it still is only one city in a large state. What follows are some wild, weird and ghostly Empire State happenings.

The Headless Horseman

He’s big, bad and famous for losing his head – or for never having one. He’s the headless horseman. This hat challenged specter may be the most famous ghost in all America – perhaps the world. The basis for his legend is a violent one and he hails from a sleepy village in New York State -the aptly named Sleepy Hollow. Most know the legend from the classic Disney cartoon The Legend of Sleepy Hollow or the more recent blockbuster Tim Burton feature film, Sleepy Hollow.

Washing Irving based his The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on real people from the town of Kinderhook, NY. It’s said the actual family were the Dutch Van Alen, and Ichabod Crane was based on a teacher named Jesse Merwin. Various legends in the area also claim that the phantom who haunts the environs is Aaron Burr, the third Vice-President of the USA, who mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel conducted in New Jersey. Kinderhook is also famous for a historically important cemetery with President Martin Van Buren being the most famous person buried there. Tim Burton based his sword wielding phantom on German mercenary soldiers – the Hessians – who were employed by the British to fight against Americans in the Revolutionary War.

The Railroad Ghost

Railroads can be scary places. At night, their miles of track wind lonely into remote areas often far from the hub of human activity. Here’s a mystery involving lights and a railroad.

For some time past it has been reported that a peculiar and mysterious view occurs on dark nights, on the Central railroad, just west of the river bridge. Shortly after the arrival of the fast mail train from the west, a red and a white light are seen to move slowly eastward as if carried by human hands. After coming a short distance to the river bridge, both lights ascend and suddenly disappear. Engineers on westward bound trains, while taking a water supply, have noticed the lights and waited for them to disappear before moving on. Night watchmen and chronically-sober men assert that this apparition can be frequently seen, but the cause is a mystery, as the effect is produced apparently without human agency.