NYC Urban Legends and Ghost Stories
Updated: Nov 4, 2024
New York is undeniably a bustling area full of people, restaurants, attractions, and more, but is it full of ghosts as well? It’s full of culture and urban legends. Over time, stories involving supernatural beings and ghosts have been created and popularized. In Halloween spirit, here are just some of the many popular ghost stories of NY, from headless soldiers to ghosts at a Quaker meeting house.
Fordham University
Fordham University has an infamous reputation for being haunted and many stories have accumulated over time about ghosts and paranormal activity in multiple buildings and areas of its campus. Most notably, Martyrs’ Court is known to have several ghosts, including a blonde spirit who lurks behind shower curtains in the bathrooms. Some students who reside in Martyrs’ Court have described her as a “floating, translucent figure-like girl with long hair that didn’t have a face but was still looking at me.” Monica Fufaul, FCRH ’18, said she experienced “sleep paralysis and [I] couldn’t move. I tried yelling my roommate’s name but I felt something like hands choking me” .
The Haunted Quaker Meeting House
A Quaker meeting house in Queens has a reputation for being haunted, dated back to 1884. There’s allegedly a quiet, non-confrontational ghost that is dressed in white with a sword on its side. It was seen by a horrified local newspaper writer in the 1800s, who called it “the devil” after seeing it walk outside the meeting house. Since then, some people have and still do search for this ghost, and the meeting house to this day holds its reputation for being haunted.
“The Headless Horseman” of Old Fort Niagara
Upstate, in Old Fort Niagara, a story of a headless ghost dates back to 1759, during the French and Indian War. According to a man named Louis Jones, two French soldiers named Jean-Claude de Rochefort and Henri Le Clerc were in love with the same woman and wanted to fight for her. The fight escalated into a swordfight, and, eventually, Le Clerc lost his head and de Rochefort won the battle. After his death, his body allegedly fell or was placed into a well, and his ghost allegedly left the well to search for its head.
