Five Facts You (Maybe) Didn’t Know About Poe June 10, 2014 There’s nothing more insulting than a listicle blaring “TEN THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT X!” (especially when you read the damn thing and discover you knew them all) so I won’t presume that the following will be news to everybody. Still, in some of my recent research I’ve come across a few fun facts about […]
Captain Kidd in New York City May 23, 2014 “He lived on Wall Street, a Turkish carpet on his parlor floor, casks of Madeira in his cellar. His tall house had scrolled dormers and fluted chimneys, which ships seeking New York moorage sought out as landmarks. A family man with two daughters, he owned a pew at Trinity Church.” – William J. Board, New […]
The White Witch of Rose Hall May 19, 2014 Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall, is the stuff of songs and legends. Yet she was also a real person who lived in Jamaica in the early 19th century and a morbidly fascinating figure in her own right. The fact that she now supposedly haunts Rose Hall makes her all the more interesting… […]
Boroughs of the Dead Featured in Rue Morgue Magazine May 13, 2014 Check out the May issue of Rue Morgue Magazine, which features Boroughs of the Dead in a thrilling round up of NYC’s darkest tourism destinations. Peter Gutierrez‘s “Dark Empire” lists Boroughs of the Dead alongside Green-Wood Cemetery, Atlas Obscura, Morbid Anatomy, and others — some pretty amazing and impressive company. Appropriately enough, the tour Gutierrez […]
Paranormal Investigation at the Merchant’s House Museum April 29, 2014 On Saturday, April 26th, 2014, I attended my first ever paranormal investigation, at the Merchant’s House, an 1832 red-brick row house on East Fourth Street that was home to a prosperous merchant family for almost 100 years. It is one of the city’s most most fascinating historic houses, and is widely reputed to be haunted. […]
Titanic Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery April 8, 2014 There are several Titanic-related grave sites at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. (There are lots at Woodlawn, too.) One of the saddest is the grave of little Douglas Spedden, best known as the little boy in this photo: When Douglas saw the icebergs after boarding a lifeboat, he reportedly exclaimed “Oh, look at the beautiful North Pole […]
Titanic First Person Accounts: Lawrence Beesley April 7, 2014 Some of the most compelling Titanic first-person accounts come from Lawrence Beesley’s The Loss of the SS Titanic. Second class passenger Beesley was a scientist and author, and he’s one of those rare people who seem equally gifted in both fields. He writes crystalline clear prose that is devastating without being histrionic: “Imagine a […]
Quote of the Day: Edgar Allan Poe April 7, 2014 The only writing advice you will ever need: “Be bold. Read much. Write much. Publish little. Keep aloof from the little wits and fear nothing.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Did a cat predict the sinking of the Titanic? April 4, 2014 While reading Charles Pellegrino’s Ghosts of the Titanic, I came across the following intriguing footnote: “Only one cat is known to have been aboard the Titanic, and she is said to have disembarked before the ship left Southampton… A stoker named Jim Mulholland reported that he had cared for the ship’s cat, and for its […]