ghost town

Vinegar Hill. Orig photo taken March 2008; sepia cast applied.


I'll admit something here about that day a few weeks ago when I walked around in Dumbo and its adjacent neighborhood called Vinegar Hill: I couldn't bring myself to take photos of the latter. Everytime I raised my camera to take a picture of some of the old houses, many of which look exactly as they did in the mid-19th century, something in me told me put my camera down.

Here's the kicker: The last time I got that feeling was when I tried to take a photo of the upper windows of a townhouse on Gay Street (in the Village). I was so weirded out by that voice that told me to stop, that when I went home I looked up that address and discovered that it was one the most haunted places in New York City. I kid you not. You can find out more about that freaky-deaky place here. And I truly did not know about its history until after I walked away from that place.

Then again, when I was a teenager my sisters and I pulled up onto the house some family friends had just moved into, and I leaned forward and pointed to the top right window. "There's a ghost in that room," I said. Ate and Cookie were like, "Shut the f-- up, don't say that." True enough, that night they were all telling stories and the host started telling anecdotes of how her daughter kept complaining that someone was in her bedroom and wouldn't let her sleep. The daughter's bedroom was that same room I had pointed out earlier.

Any-whooo.... back to Vinegar Hill. It is rich with old history and the place looks abandoned by time. The only thing there besides the old houses and cobblestone streets is the Con Edison plant. You can learn more about it here.

Now why am I writing all this at 2:30 in the morning? What is compelling me to write this entry? Cue in the Twilight Zone music, please.


(Note to Ats, aka Judge Connie: OK, I can so see you freaking out as you read this. Not to worry. I am safe. We all are. I am protected by many guardian angels and creatures of Light. See previous entry for proof.)