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 West Indies company. The main source […]
Buried Alive! A Southern Gothic Ghost Story from Edisto Island, South Carolina’s Low Country
Top: Legare Mausoleum, Graveyard of the Edisto Presbyterian Church, c. 1831. Edisto Island, Charleston County, South Carolina Diphtheria, now almost non-existent in the United States was once among the most feared of diseases. What made it all the more dreadful, is that children were frequently its main victims. While no one was immune, it was […]
The Screeching Lady of Lovis Cove: Marblehead, Massachusetts
Screeching Lady Beach at Lovis Cove, top There’s a small, stone strand called Screeching Lady Beach in Marblehead, Massachusetts, which is off Front street in Marblehead’s old town. Also known as Lovis cove, the beach is home to a well-known restaurant, The Barnacle. The Barnacle’s main claim to fame is that during Nor’easters, the waves […]
Salem, Massachusetts: The Historical Record and a Salem Travelogue
Salem is a town riddled with cliche, hoary with history and a fascinating place to spend some time. This piece from the Gothic Cabinet of Curiosity and Mysteries travels to New England in search of the timeless quality, when witches were thought to roam the landscape.
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 […]
Tales From Head of the Harbor & St. James Part IV: A True Ghost Story from Head of the Harbor
Top: The Carman-White House. Samuel Carman was a wealthy landowner in Head of the Harbor, New York in the 19th century. Following the death of his wife in 1888, his unmarried daughters built on Moriches road, a two story house in the Victorian style, in the same neighborhood as the other Carmans of the area. […]
