At top, Tropical Storm Ida, Stephen Fields Beach, Plymouth, Massachusetts. I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown.’ – “Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! This body […]
true ghost story
True Confessions: In which the author relates his own encounters in the land of Sleepy Hollow
Above: The shot I was taking in Washington Irving’s Sunnyside when the lady laughed. People are always asking me if I believe these stories, they say “Todd, do you believe these stories?” That’s neither here nor there. But I will offer up a couple of experiences I’ve had, both coming from the Sleepy Hollow area […]
Peter Stuyvesant: A citizen of old New Amsterdam, carrying on nearly 400 years later in New York City
Statue of Peter Stuyvesant, St. Marks-Church-In-The-Bowery. Before there was New York, there was New Amsterdam. Founded by the Dutch in 1614, New Amsterdam occupied much of the tip of lower Manhattan, with today’s Wall Street taking its name from the outer walls of the settlement. New Amsterdam was a company town, ran by the Dutch […]
A warlock’s curse? The ghosts of Salem’s Howard Street Burying Ground
Salem’s Howard Street Burying Ground with the Old Jail in the Background Giles Corey married three times, the last time when he was pushing eighty years old. When his second wife died in Salem Village, Massachusetts, he married a third time, to a lady by the name of Martha, who had two grown boys. Martha […]
Tales of Old Stony Brook II: Of William Sidney Mount, spirits and Spiritualism
The Hawkins Mount House. In Richard Matheson’s classic novel from the 1970s, Hell House, a team of investigators are sent to spend a week in a haunted house to provide definitive proof of life after death. Almost immediately, a conflict breaks out between the scientist, who while not doubting the existence of the supernatural, or […]
Huntington Bay, NY: The Rise and Fall of Ferguson’s Castle
The gates to Ferguson’s Castle on Long Island’s Gold Coast. So we were driving along Harbor Road in Huntington Harbor, and Miss Bronwen was eyeing me suspiciously. True to form, as I pulled into the parking lot of the yacht club, her eyebrow arched. “Come here often?” she asked. “Er, no” I replied. “But I […]
Chelsea Manor, East Norwich, NY: A Long Island Christmas Carol
“So what you’re saying then,” said Miss Bronwen, “is that Santa Claus is a ghost?” “Maybe not a ghost,” I replied, “But certainly what would be called an agent of the supernatural.” “Oh,” she answered, stifling a laugh, “that makes all the difference in the world.” “Well yeah,” I continued as we walked down the […]
