For several nights, there were hundreds of people gathered there from dusk until midnight. So many hundreds of people were there that four extra policemen were assigned to the area to keep everyone calm.
What were they waiting for? A celebrity? Perhaps a comet or shooting star was predicted to appear in the night sky? In fact, they were waiting for a ghost to show himself - a ghost who had recently moved into the neighborhood and had established a residence at 1253 Third Avenue, in a vacant room on the second floor. Everyone in the neighborhood was talking about how the ghost would go to the window, wave its arms and "perform such tricks as ghosts are wont to perform."
The room was vacant - as was the rest of the building - because there had been a fire in it earlier in August. The paint store on the main floor was totally destroyed, and the second-floor apartment in which the O'Connor family had been living, was badly damaged too. After the fire, several people saw the ghost there. The most interesting part of the Times coverage of this story was the list of witnesses who had seen the ghost - with names and addresses. The men had all gone to a notary to affirm that they had seen the ghost (I don't know why they all did this).
On the night that the Times reporter was there with the crowd, someone noticed that the gaslight was on in the flat. Several people thought that the ghost might prefer darkness and at 10pm someone was sent upstairs to turn the gas off. Everyone waited for 2 more hours, to no avail. And then - in a great anticlimax - they all straggled off and went home.
Note: In February 1894, a former manufacturer of trimmings named Alexander H. Strouse died suddenly, of apoplexy, at Minke Causse's restaurant - at Third Avenue and 72nd Street. Could he have been the ghost?
Photograph of Third Avenue at 72nd Street from NYPL Digital Gallery. The storefront at bottom left is very possibly the correct building, as 1253 is right on the corner of Third and 72nd.
"The Ghost Declined To Walk," New York Times, Aug. 20, 1894, p. 8.
"Sudden Death of A.H. Strouse," New York Times, Feb. 19, 1894, p. 2.
6 comments:
Love the story. I found it amusing though that everyone gathered to get a glimpse.
Joanne - Me too. This is roughly in my old neighborhood and I am very familiar with the area. There is a Talbots there now, I believe - not haunted at all.
I wonder what kind of tricks the ghost performed? I'd probably have joined the crowd :-)
Lovely story. I can just imagine the ghost coming out and doing some tricks after the last person had gone home.
interesting story. i would've probably been right there with all of the crowd. maybe the ghost doesn't like crowds and only performs for individuals. have a great day...hugz!
John - I would have been in the crowd, too.
Caroline - I'll bet that's exactly what happened.
PJ - Or maybe it was just feeling shy that night, who knows?
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