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Haunted House For Sale, Smells Like Onions
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 14, 2009
Modified Oct 14, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 14, 2009
Modified Oct 14, 2009
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Yesterday there was a pink house for sale in Brooklyn that made headlines, and today there's a haunted house for sale in the West Village! Just in time for trick or treating, the Daily News reports on "the historic Gay St. property, on the corner of Waverly Place... rumored to be inhabited by a restless spirit who walks the creaking floorboards at night." Some believe the ghost to be that of former Mayor Jimmy Walker, who once owned the home.
A grown man of 54 years old told the paper, "I wouldn't go in there right now — it's legendary that ghosts live there. That place would be like moving into 'The Shining.'" The $4.2 million home has a history overflowing with potential ghosts; built in 1827, it has housed a speakeasy called the Pirate's Den, then housed Walker's mistress, and then a puppeteer who designed the original Howdy Doody (creepy!). The last to live there were Scientific American editor Dennis Flanagan and his wife — who sold it in 2007, and say they "never saw him, never heard him, never smelled anything — except onions." Smelling onions may seem innocent enough but that puppeteer Frank Paris also smelled onions at odd hours, all those years ago!
With all these haunting tales, and the book Haunted New York documenting "The Gay Street Phantom," this house may not sell for quite some time.
Tagged
Gay Street
ghosts
haunted
Jimmy Walker
onions
phantom
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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