Halloween is right around the corner, New York City.
What that usually means are plenty of spooky happenings; folklore about the dead is drudged up, and ghosts and ghouls are given reign to wander the city.
Have you noticed a chill in the air? It's not because the earth is tilting away from the sun. It's because there are ghosts haunting NYC.
What's that? You didn't know NYC was haunted? Well, let us tell you; it is.
There are plenty of spots in NYC where people were killed in exceedingly gory and horrible ways.
That, or there are hotspots in NYC where a lot of people died, were buried, or leapt from the top of buildings (Empire State Building, we're looking at you).
So if you're petrified of ghosts and you were wondering where you should stay away from, we've got a list for you right here. Read on to find out the 6 most haunted spots in NYC.
1. The House of Death
There are 22 different ghosts that haunt the House of Death, located in the West Village at 14 West 10th Street.
Mark Twain used to live here during the early 1900s, whose ghost has been spotted roaming the building's bottom floors and basement dressed head to toe in a white suit.
It's also the scene of the crime where the famous attorney Joel Steinberg killed his daughter by beating her to death in 1989; which is the main source of the building's ominous nickname.
The ghosts that have been sighted in this building range from young children, old ladies, even a cat ghost. Scary indeed!
2. The Empire State Building
gottaharleynow Empire State Building at dawn. #nyc #nys #empirestatebuilding #34thstreet #whataview #topoftheworld #newyorkcity #newyork #dawn
Let the collective groans ensue. We are sorry to report that yes, the landmark building sitting triumphantly in the middle of NYC is actually very creepy. Were you expecting this? We certainly weren't expecting the elegant skyscraper to have been the scene of death. However, it was.
There have been more than 30 suicides committed at the Empire State Building. Some before the building was even completed. While the building was under construction, a worker who was laid off threw himself down an open elevator shaft.
A 21-year-old jumped to his death in 2006 and an employee of the building leapt to her death in 2009.
The most famous suicide of all was committed by 23-year-old Evelyn McHale, who leapt from the 86th floor observation deck and landed lifeless on the roof of a United Nations limousine with her legs crossed.
These were not the building's only deaths. A plane smashed into the Empire State Building's Side in 1945, killing thirteen people. There were also two shootings at the building, one in 1997 and one in 2012. In 1997, a gunman killed one person and himself.
In 2012, a man who was laid off killed his office rival and was then shot to death by the police. Our point is, we're pretty sure there are plenty of souls swirling around the Empire State Building.
3. Jefferson Market Library
pennylane114 #witchinghour #greenwhichvillage #nyc #ny #village #ghostsmostly #jeffersonmarketlibrary #westvillage #westvillagelives
The Jefferson Market Library was built to serve as a fire tower lookout in 1833, and was then expanded to serve as a courthouse in 1877.
It soon became NYC's first night court, since it was located in the entertainment district. It then expanded once again to include a women's prison, as many of the defendants prosecuted at night were prostitutes.
The infamous court case in which Harry Kendall Thaw was acquitted of the murder of architect Sanford White due to insanity also took place within the tower's walls.
The top of the bell tower is closed year round to the public, yet there have been reports of ghost sightings at the top of the bell tower. There have also been incidents of female apparitions appearing in the section of the park that used to be the women's prison.
So should you stay away from Jefferson Market Library if you're afraid of ghosts? Probably.
,4. Central Park Lake
micollard #newyork #nyc #newyorkcity #america #usa #newyorker #newyorkstateofmind #empirestate #pickmotion #newyorknewyork #bluesky #skyline #horizon #cityscape #centralpark #park #centralparklake #landscape #blue #skyline #tree #trees #branches #lookingup #silhouette #manhattan #ManhattanIsland #manhattanskyline #nature #latergram
There were two 19th century sisters who died within months of each other in 1880. They had an overprotective father, who didn't let them go anywhere alone. Or, he didn't let them go anywhere besides Central Park Lake alone, that is.
They loved ice skating, and often went to the park, one wearing a red dress, the other wearing a purple dress.
It's a pretty lovely story, despite the fact that the sisters' ghosts have been spotted many time since, at the park, ice skating on the Lake, their skates hovering just above the lake. They've been seen twirling a never-ending series of figure eights wearing those exact same purple and red dresses.
Spooky? Absolutely.
5. Washington Square Park
We are sorry to wreck your sun soaked, placid experiences at this pleasant park. The truth is, however, there are 20,000 or so human corpses buried underneath Washington Square Park.
When the park was converted to a potter's field after the Revolutionary War, its cemetery was filled to capacity with dead bodies.
At that time, there were also several established cemeteries nearby, owned by downtown churches like The Scotch Presbyterian Church. Hundreds of members of the African Zion Methodist Church were buried in the park once their crypts filled.
There were also hangings at the park. There's a 110-foot English elm that's about 300 years old, and traitors from the Revolutionary War were said to be hung from the tree's branches. Also, there used to be a gallows in the middle of the park, where the guilty were executed until 1820. So there's that, too.
Here's the creepiest part. In 1827, when Mayor Philip Hone allowed the city's Seventh Regiment to use the square for practice ground, they'd often wind themselves stepping on coffins and skulls.
Basically, Washington Square Park is seriously creepy.
6. Saint Paul's Chapel
jess1ca_le My favorite place to visit. It's nice to see a miracle from 9/11 instead of hundreds of tourists being disrespectful at the Memorial. #stpaulschapel #nyc @lordofhousedavis
There's a graveyard at Saint Paul's Chapel, and it's been around since 1697. There have been plenty of seriously creepy sightings of the ghosts of its occupants.
One of the corpses buried in Saint Paul's Chapel graveyard is headless. It belonged to the 17th century actor George Frederick Cooke, who loved gambling. To pay off his gambling debts and medical bills, he sold his head to science for research.
Yes, he was decapitated. There's a monument to his death in Saint Paul's Chapel cemetery.
The idea of selling your own head is creepy enough on its own, but to make matters worse, there have been lots of sightings of a headless ghost wandering all around the graveyard and a nearby alley.
Check out 7 Harsh Struggles of Living (and Surviving) in NYC.
[Feature Image Courtesy NYC Loves NYC]