Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Pelham Was Overrun by Ghosts for a Few Months in the Winter of 1887-1888


During the dark, cold days of deep winter in the 1880s, City Island in the Town of Pelham was desolate at midnight.  Many homes on the summer resort island were unoccupied during the dismally-cold months when chilling winds swept the island from Long Island Sound.  There were no streetlights to part the inky blackness. Travelers had to wait until their eyes adjusted to the darkness of the night before trying to stumble over vacant lots, open fields, and deserted streets to get home.  During the cold nights of those days of yore, City Island could be a very scary place as many discovered during the winter of 1887-1888.  For a few months that winter, City Island in the Town of Pelham was virtually overrun by phantoms.

The Little Specter of the Field

Young Alvarette B. Sturgis (known as “Allie”), a rosy-cheeked young woman who worked behind the counter of a bakery on City Island, was the first to see an apparition late one night during the winter of 1887-1888. As she walked adjacent to an open field on City Island in December, 1887 late in the evening, she glanced into the darkness of the adjoining field and saw a “spectral apparition” that she described as “a little one.” As she watched, it “rapidly approached her” across the field, frightening her terribly. For nearly the next three months, the Little Specter of the Field that terrified Allie Sturgis “was much talked about” on City Island.

The Floating White Phantom of City Island

On Wednesday, February 1, 1888, there was an incident that became the new talk of the Town of Pelham. Snow-covered City Island and even the waters between City Island and Hart Island were covered with an icy, frozen sheet. Nevertheless, a festive and jolly crowd had gathered on the only hill on the island behind the local post office for a sledding party. One of the three Darling Triplets, 24-year-old William G. (“Will”) Darling, was exhausted and cold. Late in the evening, he left the hill for his home.

As Will Darling made his way home, he approached Main Street (today’s City Island Avenue). The street was deserted and dark. Will Darling was cold.  What he saw next made it worse.  It “made his blood run cold.”  Floating above Main Street, almost as if it were “rolling along,” was a tall white apparition that never seemed to touch the ground. Will ran for home, never looking back.

Only a short time later the same night, the same apparition appeared to William Applebaugh, a telegraph operator in the Signal Service office on City Island. Applebaugh turned to run. What happened next is not certain. Even Applebaugh told City Islanders that he was not certain what happened because he was so frightened. Either the apparition shoved him or he fell into a snow drift on the side of the road. According to one news report of the incident, “Applebaugh never seemed certain whether he fell from a push or because the creature frightened him.”

The Floating White Phantom of City Island was not finished on that fateful night in 1888. Will Dayton, the son of a hardware merchant in town, was near Leviness’s Hotel when he froze in his tracks. In the street opposite the hotel was a tall “grayish white something” that seemed to float along about three feet above the ground. Dayton could provide no more detailed description of the Floating White Phantom because he turned and “ran after the first glance.”

For the next several nights, the Floating White Phantom frightened a number of other City Islanders who encountered it. On Thursday night, February 2, 1888, Stephen Collins was walking on Prospect Avenue on City Island opposite the Vail property. His house was nearby. He stopped cold when he saw a tall white apparition on Prospect Avenue. He later recounted that “it did not stand upon the ground. It seemed suspended several feet in the air.” Collins could not describe the phantom with any additional particularity because he ran to his home, “quickly got indoors, and did not venture out until morning.” The following night, Friday, February 3rd, City Islander Eugene Hallet was returning home late on a “dismally dark night.” Opposite Flynn’s ice house at the Forks, Hallet “saw the same white apparition.” It was “white and tall.” It seemed to roll over the ground without seeming to touch it. Though Hallet was a good half mile from his home, he turned and ran “at a hundred-yard pace.” As he ran, the Floating White Phantom of City island made “not the slightest sound” but followed him as he ran until he reached his home.




The Faceless Floating Black Phantom of City Island

On the night of Sunday, February 5, 1888, City Islander David (“Dave”) Leviness was frightened to his very core. As he put it he was “never so completely scared” in his entire life. He was about a half mile from his home passing Von Liehn’s Hotel on the bay side by the City Island Bridge. He suddenly noticed something “tall and black and strange on the bathing pavilion.” It was at least six feet tall and seemed to have a woman’s form, It was, however, faceless. He stopped to look at the apparition and it moved toward him. According to Leviness, “It seemed suspended in the air.” Leviness “could see the glint of the water in the dim starlight under the spectre.” Leviness was frozen in fear. As he put it, he was “rooted to the spot in terror for a moment.” As the Faceless Floating Black Phantom of City Island approached him, “he gained strength, and ran as never he ran before.” As he ran, he glanced behind, only to see the phantom following him. “[F]inally, when he reached home he was completely exhausted.”

Regular readers of the Historic Pelham Blog may experience a little chill at this moment.  The Faceless Floating Black Phantom of City Island seen on February 5, 1888 seems eerily similar to "The Shadowy Specter of James Street" seen by Bardy Jones and his dog, Sidney, in recent years.  See Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street: A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.  The Shadowy Specter of James Street has been described as follows:  "It is a pitch-black specter -- never luminous or shimmery. It takes the form of a human figure that is solid black from head to toe without exception. No eyes are visible. No clothing can be detected. It is simply the color of darkness from head to toe, entirely the same shade. It might be said to resemble a shadow in three dimensions. Indeed, on dark moonless nights, the shadowy specter is nigh impossible to see. It blends into the blackness of the nighttide."  Those who consider such things may well wonder if The Shadowy Specter of James Street is the same Faceless Floating Black Phantom that haunted nearby City Island more than 125 years before. . . . Those who believe in the paranormal have a name for such dark phantoms as the Shadowy Specter of James Street and the Faceless Floating Black Phantom of City Island.  They call them "Shadow People."

Threats To Shoot the Phantoms of City Island

Dave Leviness was furious at the fright he had suffered from the Faceless Floating Black Phantom of City Island. When questioned by a reporter from The Sun published in New York City, he threatened: “I’m going down that way to-night, and I’m going to carry a revolver. If she’s layin’ for me I’ll give her a shot. I don’t want to kill anybody, but that’s a ghost. No live person could travel in the air.” The same report interviewed the local Justice of the Peace, asking what he thought of the phantom sightings. He said “Oh, there’s some ground for it, of course; I suppose some one [sic] is masquerading around here, scaring folks. If it continues, I’m going to get detectives out and sift the thing to the bottom. It won’t do to have women and children scared out of their wits. Everybody in town is talking about the thing, and a good many superstitious people believe it.”

An Effort to Dissuade Pelhamites that There Were Phantoms Stalking City Islanders

By late February of that Leap Year in 1888, nearly everyone in Pelham was talking about the phantoms that were stalking City Islanders. The conversations had taken a more ominous turn. City Islanders had observed a pattern to the appearance of the phantoms. The ghosts, it was said, appeared to be “most troublesome” to young men who lingered beyond the hour of midnight in attendance at the bedsides of ill friends and family.

On Wednesday, February 29, 1888, young women of City Island hosted a “Leap Year Concert” filled with music and drama. The program was replete with beautiful costumes and charmingly-framed tableaus. The “hit of the evening,” however, was a two-part tableau presented by Josie Price and Susie Estes. In that “ingenious” two-part tableau, the pair “cleaned up the mystery of the City Island ghost,” presumably by demonstrating to the audience how such a ghost could be fabricated.

While history does not record what Josie Price and Susie Estes presented to the crowd that evening, it is quite telling that the hit of the evening that night was something on the minds of every City Islander: the ghosts that overran City Island during that frightening winter of 1887-1888.



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Below is the text of two newspaper articles that form the basis for today's article.  Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

CITY ISLAND’S BIG GHOST. 
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IT MOVES ALONG WITHOUT TOUCHING THE GROUND. 
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Sometimes White and Sometimes Black – It Looks Like a Woman, But Has No Face – If It Doesn’t Look Out it Will Get Shot.

City Island in winter is a desolate spot. The Sound about it is frozen inches thick and the fishing smacks that make the summer harbor a gay scene are fast and helpless. Cold winds sweep across the flat waste. The snow lies unshovelled [sic] on the sidewalks, and half the houses are empty. About three months ago Miss Allie Sturgis, rosy cheeked and 18 or thereabouts, who serves customers with fresh rolls on the counter of Weber’s bakery, was much frightened by a spectral apparition late at night, which rapidly approached her over an adjoining field. This ghost, although it was described by Miss Sturgis as a little one, was much talked about, but now it has given place to another, a six-footer.

The present ghost did not appear until the bay between the town and Hart Island was a firm and solid sheet of ice. A week ago last Wednesday night it was seen first. A jolly crowd had been sledding on the only hill in town, behind the Post Office. Will Darling was returning late from the sledding party, when he saw a sight that made his blood run cold. It was on Main street, but the street was deserted and dark. What it was he never told, except that it was white and tall, and rolled along above the ground, never seeming to touch it. He ran, and did not see the thing again. But that same night, it was said afterward, it appeared to William Applebaugh, a telegraph operator in the Signal Service office, and either pushed him or frightened him so that he fell in a snow drift on the road side. Applebaugh never seemed certain whether he fell from a push or because the creature frightened him, the town folks say. Still later that same night Will Dayton, the son of a hardware merchant in town, caught sight of a tall, grayish white something in the street opposite Liviness’s [sic] Hotel. It seemed to move along about three feet from the ground; but what its form and appearance was he never told, because he never knew. He says the night was dark, and he ran after the first glance.

On Thursday night Stephen Collins saw a strange sight in Prospect avenue, opposite the Vail property. He could not describe the appearance, except to say that it was white and tall and motionless. His house was near by, and he quickly got indoors, and did not venture out until morning. He told the story next day, and on top of the visions seen by the others it created much talk. Collins told them it did not stand upon the ground. It seemed suspended several feet in the air. That was all he had time to notice. On last Friday again more fuel was added to the popular flame. Eugene Hallet was coming home late at night, and a dismally dark night it was. Right opposite Flynn’s ice house at the Forks he saw the same white apparition. It was a good half mile from home, but Hallett started at a hundred-yard pace. He said next morning that the white being followed him, rolling along over the ground without seeming to touch it, and making not the slightest sound. He told his townfolks that it seemed white and tall, but as for other particulars he had no word to say.

The last time the spectre was seen was on Sunday night. Whether it was the same ghost, though, is a question, for the ghost that Dave Liviness [sic; this is David Leviness] saw was blacker even than the night on which he saw it. He told a SUN reporter that he was never so completely scared in his life. He was passing Von Liehn’s Hotel, more than half a mile from home, and on the bay side by the bridge. He was not thinking of ghosts at all when he suddenly notice something tall and black and strange on the bathing pavilion. It was six feet tall at the very least, and looked like a woman’s form, except that he could see no face. He stopped, and the thing moved toward him. It seemed suspended in the air. He could see the glint of the water in the dim starlight under the spectre. He was rooted to the spot in terror for a moment, but as the thing approached, he said, he gained strength, and ran as never he ran before. He looked around and saw it following, and finally when he reached his home he was completely exhausted.

‘I’m going down that way to-night,’ said he to the reporter, ‘and I’m going to carry a revolver. If she’s layin’ for me I’ll give her a shot. I don’t want to kill anybody, but that’s a ghost. No live person could travel in the air.’

When the reporter asked Justice of the Peace Martin what he thought of the scare, he said:

‘Oh, there’s some ground for it, of course; I suppose some one is masquerading around here, scaring folks. If it continues, I’m going to get detectives out and sift the thing to the bottom. It won’t do to have women and children scared out of their wits. Everybody in town is talking about the thing, and a good many superstitious people believe it.’

Druggist Reynolds expresses the utmost incredulity, but says he notices that the girls don’t go out alone nights any more, and the boys have their hands full escorting them. Mr. George Adams says he don’t believe in ghosts worth a cent, but that those who have been ‘visited’ are undoubtedly serious in their fright. He does not suggest an explanation, but he does not think it entirely a hoax. The man who runs the combination shoe shop and carpenter shop opposite Reynolds’s drug store says that Dayton was undoubtedly very much scared. Other persons to whom the reporter talked varied between incredulity and fright.”

Source:  CITY ISLAND’S BIG GHOST -- IT MOVES ALONG WITHOUT TOUCHING THE GROUND -- Sometimes White and Sometimes Black – It Looks Like a Woman, But Has No Face – If It Doesn’t Look Out it Will Get Shot, The Sun [NY, NY], Feb. 12, 1888, p. 10, col. 7.

"CITY ISLAND.

The leap year concert given at City Island on Wednesday evening of this week was a pronounced success in merit, finance, and it has been whispered matrimonially too. The young ladies presented a most beautiful appearance in their tasty costumes of varied hues and styles, bedecked as they were with flowers and modest charms. The programme throughout was admirably rendered as was attested by the generous applause which greeted every effort. Perhaps the finest tableau of the evening was that entitled ‘leap year subjects,’ which was rendered by all the young ladies grouped together in a most charming manner. It was truly remarked by many of the audience that it was the finest collection of female grace and beauty to be found within any village or hamlet in the county. Many of the young men in the audience, and especially those from New Rochelle, were restrained only by the bounds of propriety from leaving their seats and falling prostrate at the feet of the young ladies. In all probability City Island will soon have several benedicts. Special mention should be made of Miss Josie Price and Miss Susie Estes for having cleaned up the mystery of the City Island ghost in an ingenious tableau of two parts. It was the hit of the evening, and the people should express their obligations to these young ladies by a vote of thanks or at least a leather medal. The young men, especially experienced great relief as it was said the ghost was most troublesome to them if they chanced to be detained beyond the hour of midnight in their attendance upon the sick. The young ladies who have planned and succeeded so nicely are entitled to great credit and to heartiest congratulations.”

Source:  CITY ISLAND, The New Rochelle Pioneer, Mar. 3, 1888, p. 3, col. 4.

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The news stories quoted above add a great deal to what we previously knew about the ghost(s) that tortured City Island in the Town of Pelham in late 1887 and early 1888.  I have written about the ghost known at the time as "His Spookship."  See Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.  

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Mon., Oct. 31, 2016:  Pelham Was Overrun by Ghosts for a Few Months in the Winter of 1887-1888.

Fri., Oct. 28, 2016:  The Old Stone House Has At Least One More Ghost -- The Ghost of Mrs. Parrish is Not Alone.

Thu., Oct. 27, 2016:  Did Google Maps Camera Capture the Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue?

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.


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Friday, October 28, 2016

The Old Stone House Has At Least One More Ghost -- The Ghost of Mrs. Parrish is Not Alone


There is, as noted yesterday, a handsome ancient stone house located at 463 First Avenue in today's Village of Pelham.  The home was one of the earliest constructed in the hamlet then known as Pelhamville (later known as North Pelham) in the early 1850s.  Today we know the legend of the famous "Old Stone House" and the ghost known as the "Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House" as a tale of romance, robbery, riches, and specters.  It is the most widely-recounted ghost stories of Pelham.  It turns out, however, that the "Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House" is not alone.  There is at least one additional specter that wanders the home, if not two more!

Introduction

A man named Alexander Diack built the Old Stone House in the early 1850s. On October 15, 1855, a man named James Parrish purchased the beautiful home. 

As the legend goes, James Parrish had a business in which he employed a truckman named Adams.  Parrish and Adams supposedly began an express business “as a sideline”.  The business did well.  But, James Parrish died.  His wife supposedly received dividend payments thereafter from the business, paid in gold. 

Masked men who seemed to know that the dividends were paid in gold soon robbed Mrs. Parrish. Many news reports of the day confirm that Mrs. Parrish was, indeed, robbed in a brutal version of what is referenced these days as a "home invasion."  According to the legend, Mrs. Parrish began to hide the gold she received as dividends from Adams Express somewhere on the property of the Old Stone House. 

The Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House

According to Lockwood Barr’s popular history of Pelham published in 1946: 

"it is said that a million dollars in gold is hidden in the house, or buried in the gardens. Search has been made of the house, and grounds excavated, but without result. However, underneath a hearthstone in the basement kitchen, a hundred small coins of early date were found by one of the owners – but no pot of gold." 

Many now say that the ghost of Mrs. Parrish may be seen about the house, even in daylight, dressed in elegant clothes of her period, searching for her misplaced gold. There also is a story recounted by Lockwood Barr that a well-known actor who supposedly was a descendant of Mrs. Parrish, Edward Everett Horton, once visited the Old Stone House, heard the ghost stories and said that the descriptions of the apparition resembled a daguerreotype he had seen of one of his great grandmothers.  

I and others have written about the paripatetic ghost of Mrs. Parrish.  Today's article, however, may or may not be about her famous ghost.  It tells an intriguing story that makes clear -- for the first time ever -- that North Pelham's "Old Stone House" certainly has more than one ghost.  The Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House is not alone in the Old Stone House.  

There Are More Ghosts in the Old Stone House

Dorothea Jewell Snyder and Frank Miles Snyder owned the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue in the Village of North Pelham during the 1920s and 1930s.  For many years, Dorothea told a strange story about her house.

According to her story, one morning shortly after she and her husband first moved into the Old Stone House, she was scurrying busily about the upstairs during the broad daylight of an early morning.  She looked up and was "surprised to see a lovely lady" in a doorway of the the hallway ahead of her.  According to a newspaper account, the lovely lady was "dressed in richly brocaded velvet, with poke bonnet, and pantallettes."  

For those Pelhamites well versed in the ghost stories of Pelham, neither we nor Mrs. Snyder should have been surprised.  The Old Stone House long has been associated with the ghost of an elegantly-dressed woman believed to be the spirit of Mrs. Parrish.  Surely, Mrs. Snyder's sighting of the lovely lady "dressed in richly brocaded velvet" in the hallway ahead of her was merely another sighting of the elegant ghost who longed to find the gold she once hid in her beloved home.

Things, however, were different this time.  First, the elegantly-dressed apparition "carried a huge sheaf of golden chrysanthemums."  Second, the elegant apparition was accompanied by another specter -- that of a young girl.  That young specter was "dressed in the same quaint manner" as the elegantly-dressed apparition.  Perhaps most significantly, the elegant young spectral girl bore "a marked resemblance to the older woman."  

As one might expect, things did not quite register immediately in the mind of Dorothea Jewell Snyder.  She wondered, at first, that it might be a joke played by her new neighbors.  She stepped forward, moving toward the woman and the child she saw in the doorway.  Both were smiling.  Both began to bow graciously.

Dorothea Snyder was not frightened.  She strode forward, but the apparitional pair backed away from her toward a stairway behind them.  They backed "down the stairway, around a corner and into nothingness."  

It seems that Dorothea Jewell Snyder had, for a moment in time, happened upon something in the Old Stone House other than the ghost of Mrs. Parrish.  It seems that she came upon another ghost, this one with a huge sheaf of golden chrysanthemums, who had a youngster who looked like her, both elegantly dressed.  Who might this spectral pair be?  

Only time will tell. . . . . . 



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Below is the text of a newspaper article that forms a basis for today's article.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"Legend Gathers About Old Stone House Landmark For 85 Years In No. Pelham
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Georgian House, Occupied by Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Snyder, Unique in Village, Attracts Many Visitors.
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One of North Pelham's most interesting landmarks is the 'Old Stone House,' located on the corner of First avenue and Sixth street, as the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Miles Snyder, is usually called.  For many years the handsome old house which stands in marked and pleasant contrast to its neighbors of wood and stucco, of a much more prosaic vintage, has attracted visitors and passers-by.  Already legend gathers around it.

Eighty-five years may be a mere drop in the bucket as far as real antiquity goes, but the old Georgian house, built of undressed Tuckahoe marble with its cut-out large board, reminiscent of the Elizabethan period, its solid four-square look and pleasant gardens, belongs to another era of living more gracious, more leisured and somehow permanent.

The Old Stone House still testifies to the homesickness of the Scotchman named Diack who built it, modeled on his old home in Dundee, Scotland.  It has some 13 rooms, walls of an astounding thickness, built to last, boasts a charming entrance with gracious 18th century air, a secret staircase, discovered during interior alterations, its secret never revealed, 8 fireplaces and a plot of ground 100x100 feet square.  Originally the tract of land extended from the Hutchinson river to Fifth avenue.  

Members of the Diack family, descendants of the builder of the house, make their hoe now in Pelham Manor.  Among the many visitors who have seen the house has been Edward Everett Horton, actor, a relative of the family.  

Mrs. Snyder who seems to fit in remarkably well with the old-world air of the house, was born in the northern part of Ireland and with her blue eyes, white hair and fresh color makes a charming mistress for the house.  Long a collector of antique silver, glass, china, etc., the house is filled with these beautiful objects, at home in an appropriate setting.  

Mrs. Snyder tells a strange story about the house.  One morning soon after she moved into the place, she was surprised to see a lovely lady, dressed in richly brocaded velvet, with poke bonnet, and pantallettes, standing in the doorway, smiling and bowing.  The visitor carried a huge sheaf of golden chrysanthemumsm and was accompanied by a young girl, dressed in the same quaint manner and bearing a marked resemblance to the older woman.  As Mrs. Snyder realized this was not a joke on the part of her neighbors, she moved toward the two visitors who merely continued to smile and bow graciously.  They backed away from her, eventually down the stairway, around a corner and into nothingness.  They have never been seen or heard from since.

'Just welcoming you, perhaps,' the reporter suggested tentatively.  And it was all on a bright Summer's morning!

Rich in memories of this kind the old house also boasts legends of hidden treasure.  During the residence of a family named Parish [sic], a burglar scare is said to have occurred and as a result Mrs. Parrish was reported to have hidden money and other valuables in various parts of the house and grounds.  The legend of the hidden wealth still lingers and coins have been discovered under a hearthstone, while Mrs. Snyder found a silver comb and a gold ring (later lost) while digging in the garden.  The old well still on the grounds is considered a likely place for possible hidden treasure.  

Mr. Snyder who is an architect by profession, designed the Parish House of the Church of the Redeemer on Fifth avenue, one of the handsomest of buidlings in the community."

Source:  Legend Gathers About Old Stone House Landmark For 85 Years In No. Pelham -- Georgian House, Occupied by Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Snyder, Unique in Village, Attracts Many Visitors, The Pelham Sun, Aug. 23, 1935, p. 3, cols. 1-2.  



"THE DIACK -- PARRISH HOUSE The Old Stone
House -- Circa 1852 By John M. Shinn"
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Fri., Oct. 28, 2016:  The Old Stone House Has At Least One More Ghost -- The Ghost of Mrs. Parrish is Not Alone.

Thu., Oct. 27, 2016:  Did Google Maps Camera Capture the Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue?

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Thursday, October 27, 2016

Did Google Maps Camera Capture the Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue?


Halloween is nearly here.  Today continues with another ghost story based on a legend that has been told by Pelham residents for more than one hundred years.  Today's posting has a modern technological twist.  It asks the question:  "Did the Google Maps Camera Truck recently capture an image of the ghost known as the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House?"   

Legend has it that the beautiful home known today as the "Old Stone House" located at 463 First Avenue is haunted by the spirit of an elegant lady dressed in an old-fashioned gown. I have written about this legend of the "Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House" on a number of occasions.  For examples, see:

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002) (see section entitled "THE ELEGANT LADY OF THE OLD STONE HOUSE").

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Mon., Jan. 25, 2010:  Another Account of the 1879 Home Invasion Robbery of the Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Fri., Mar. 17, 2006 1854:  Advertisement for the Sale of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue in Pelham.

As I have written before, the legend of the lovely Old Stone House is a tale of romance, robbery and riches.  A man named Alexander Diack built the home in the early 1850s. On October 15, 1855, a man named James Parrish purchased the home. As the story goes, James Parrish had a business in which he employed a truckman named Adams. Parrish and Adams supposedly began an express business “as a sideline”. The business did well. When James Parrish died, his wife supposedly received dividend payments from the business paid in gold. 



"THE DIACK -- PARRISH HOUSE The Old Stone House --
Circa 1852 By John M. Shinn."  Oil on Canvas Painting
Hanging in the Town Council Room of Town Hall.
NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Masked men reportedly robbed Mrs. Parrish.  Indeed, contemporary news accounts confirm that Mrs. Parrish was the target of a harrowing home invasion during which she was bound to her bed and robbed in the middle of the night.  She reportedly began to hide the gold she received as dividends somewhere on the property. 

According to Lockwood Barr’s popular history of Pelham: 

"it is said that a million dollars in gold is hidden in the house, or buried in the gardens. Search has been made of the house, and grounds excavated, but without result. However, underneath a hearthstone in the basement kitchen, a hundred small coins of early date were found by one of the owners – but no pot of gold." 

Some say the ghost of Mrs. Parrish can be seen about the house, even in daylight, dressed in elegant clothes of the period, searching for misplaced gold.  There is also a story that a well-known actor who was a descendant of Mrs. Parrish, Edward Everett Horton, once visited the home, heard the ghost stories and said that the descriptions of the apparition resembled a daguerreotype he had seen of one of his great grandmothers.

Fast forward to modern times.  In August, 2012, the Google Maps Camera Car made its rounds through parts of the Village of Pelham, snapping thousands and thousands of photographs for the online database known as Google Maps accessible via browser.  As the Camera Car passed one side of the Old Stone House along Sixth Street, it snapped a photograph in which those who study paranormal activity might be interested.  The image seems to show in an upper window of the home an elegantly-dressed figure wearing what appears to be a long-sleeved and long-skirted white gown peering from the window beneath the eaves of the home.  

The legend specifically claims that the "the ghost of Mrs. Parrish can be seen about the house, even in daylight, dressed in elegant clothes of the period, searching for misplaced gold."  Could it really be that the Google Maps Camera Car captured the precise moment the ghost of Mrs. Parrish peered from the upper window in broad daylight in the midst of her never-ending search for the hidden gold?

You will have to judge for yourself.  The undoctored image appears below, with a portion magnified for ease of reference.



Judge for Yourself Whether the Google Maps Camera Car
Captured an Image of the Ghost of Mrs. Parrish Peering from
the Upper Window of the Home in this Image of the Side
of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue Taken in
August of 2012.  NOTE:  Click Image To Enlarge.


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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Thu., Oct. 27, 2016:  Did Google Maps Camera Capture the Ghost of the Elegant Lady of the Old Stone House at 463 First Avenue?

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds


The black-hearted crime was dastardly and brutal.  Worse yet, it was murder.  

The details are unknown.  No reliable account of the murder has yet been located.  Likely a hapless colonial traveler returning from Pelham Neck toward New Rochelle along the ancient colonial road we know today as Shore Road was accosted by a cruel and remorseless highwayman while resting along the roadway beneath the spreading branches of a giant oak -- a very special giant oak.  

The name of the brutally-murdered traveler is unknown.  His dastardly murderer fled the scene after fiendishly robbing and killing the poor traveler beneath the spreading branches of the Pell Treaty Oak.  That giant oak once stood along today's Shore Road on the grounds of today's Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum.  

Since that black day in the mid-eighteenth century, the ghost of the murdered traveler is said to wander the region in the darkness.  He often can be seen near the place the grand oak once stood.  The specter is an angry ghost, said to be searching vengefully for the murderer who sentenced it to an eternity of wandering and searching.

The grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum are among the most ancient historic spots in all of the Manor of Pelham.  A Native American village once stood near the gated driveway entrance to the grounds.  Native American remains and artifacts have been excavated near the water's edge on the Sound side of the mansion grounds.  Oyster midden left long ago by Native Americans still can be seen at the water's edge near the mansion.  

On the grounds of the mansion is a circular iron fence that once protected the Pell Treaty Oak that stood near the mansion.  Beneath that oak, according to legend, Thomas Pell and other Englishmen met with Native Americans on June 27, 1654 to sign the deed by which Pell acquired the lands that became the Manor of Pelham.  In the early 1670s, Pell's nephew and principal legatee, John Pell, built a manor house not far from the Pell Treaty Oak and lived there until his death in or shortly after 1702.  The home is believed to have stood until it burned either during the American Revolutionary War or shortly thereafter.

The Pell Treaty Oak once stood near today's Shore Road which passes the Bartow-Pell Mansion.  Shore Road runs along an ancient Native American footpath that traversed the region parallel to, and only a few yards away from, Long Island Sound.  It likewise has an ancient pedigree as a roadway.  It is one of the few roads in the area that existed during colonial times.  By the mid-eighteenth century, the well-traveled road had widened from a simple footpath to a comparatively busy roadway used by many as they traveled along the coastline back and forth between Pelham Neck, New Rochelle and other settlements along Long Island Sound.  

No record of the dastardly crime that forms the basis for the legend of the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler has been located.  Nor does there seem to be any extant description of what the wandering ghost looks like (or sounds like).  There are, however, countless recorded accounts of highway robbers who preyed on travelers along the lonely, unlit roadway known variously as Pelham Road, the Road to New Rochelle, the Westchester Turnpike, and Shore Road.  Many such accounts describe violent confrontations and brutal robberies by highwaymen who attacked local residents and others merely passing through the region even as late as the last years of the 19th century.

When you next find yourself on the grounds of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum (or driving past it on Shore Road) particularly as dusk settles over Pelham Bay Park, pay close attention to the wooded areas near the roadway.  Look and listen carefully.  You may see or hear the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler who wanders the region searching for, and seeking vengeance against, its murderer.  Make certain to pass quickly, though.  You would not want to be mistaken as the one for whom the ghost is searching. . . . 



"Clarina Bartow and children, Bartow Mansion,
Pelham Bay Park, circa 1870, Bartow-Pell
Mansion Museum."  Source:  New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation, Before They Were Parks
(visited Aug. 27, 2016).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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A newspaper article published in 1906 regarding the fire that finally killed the Pell Treaty Oak makes reference to the legend of the Ghost of the Murdered Traveler.  The text of the brief article appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"FIRE IN THE PELL OAK.
-----
The Historic Tree Incurs a New Peril -- Once Struck by Lightning.

The old Pell oak, which stands at the intersection of the New Rochelle road and the Split Rock road in Westchester, took fire Saturday night from burning grass.  Policeman Booth of the City Island substation, who was patrolling the New Rochelle road about 8 o'clock Saturday night, saw sparks leaping from the trunk of the venerable tree.  He turned in a still alarm, which brought Engine Company 70 from City Island.  Meanwhile a dozen or more people living along the New Rochelle road hurried with buckets of water to the burning tree.  The firemen and volunteers worked for hours before they managed to make the water reach the part of the inner trunk where the fire was.

For the last ten years the old oak has been little more than a noble trunk ten feet high and four feet in diameter.  It was struck by lightning during a heavy storm and all but about ten feet of the trunk broke off.  New branches appeared at the top of the stump and formed an umbrella shaped growth, which increased and throve.  The fire Saturday night destroyed most of the new growth and charred the hollow trunk, but the old residents who take much pride in the historic tree, believe that it can be saved if proper care is given it.  It is believed to be nearly 350 years old.  

There are many stories told in Westchester about the Pell oak.  It is said that Sir John Pell, second lord of the manor, who came over in 1670 and was the first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1683 until 1702, signed a treaty with the Indians under the oak [sic; it was his uncle, Thomas Pell], which was then in its prime.  There is another legend of Westchester that the son of Sir John, Thomas Pell, who married a daughter of an Indian chief, wooed her under the oak.  There is a ghost story, too, about the old tree.  Somewhere near the middle of the eighteenth century a traveller [sic] was murdered and robbed under its branches.  The body was found, but the murderer was never caught.  The private cemetery of the Westchester Pells, where Sir John and his son are buried, is about 400 feet from the tree.  The old Bartow mansion is within a short distance of it.

Yesterday afternoon people from all the region visited the old oak, and the older residents commented somewhat mournfully on its reduced state."

Source:  FIRE IN THE PELL OAK -- The Historic Tree Incurs a New Peril -- Once Struck by Lightning, The Sun [NY, NY], Ar. 9, 1906, p. 4, col. 2.  

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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Wed., Oct. 26, 2016:  The Ghost of the Murdered Traveler Who Wanders the Bartow-Pell Grounds.

Tue., Oct. 25, 2016:  The Suicidal Specter of Manger Circle.

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

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