The stories Andrea Janes and Hope C. Tarr tell will uncover the eerie legends and haunting tales that have shaped New York over centuries.
Fortune tellers, mystics, and clairvoyants populate these stories, many of them immigrants and housewives. The story of the Titanic, which was built in Ireland and set sail from Cobh, is filled with accounts of odd and inexplicable coincidences: after the disaster, dozens of survivors came forward with tales of foreboding feelings, precognitive dreams, and strange occurrences.
They told of unsettling messages and described a night of unprecedented atmospheric eeriness in the moments immediately before the sinking. Learn about former almshouses, hospitals, laboratories, prisons and asylums, including the eerie, romantic site of the New York City Lunatic Asylum, built in 1841, which Irish American reporter Nelly Bly called a “human rat trap… easy to get in, but once there it is impossible to get out.”
Bring your curiosity, morbid fascinations, and love of New York City history… and decide for yourself whether these ghosts are simply tall tales, or if they reveal something more.
Andrea Janes tells ghost stories for a living. She is the co-author of "A Haunted History of Invisible Women" and the owner and founder of Boroughs of the Dead, a boutique tour company dedicated to dark and unusual walking tours of New York City.
Janes is currently at work on a middle-grade historical fantasy novel set in New Amsterdam. Her personal obsessions include weird history, slapstick comediennes, witches, ghosts, all things nautical, and beer. She lives in Brooklyn where she can usually be found roaming in a cemetery, swimming in the ocean, or telling stories to her daughter.
Love Irish history? Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group.
Hope C. Tarr is the author of more than 25 novels, most recently "Irish Eyes". The launch of her American Songbook series was praised as "a magical journey" by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.
"Haunted New York: Ghost Stories from NYC" will take place at the American Irish Historical Society on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at 6pm.
The American Irish Historical Society
The American Irish Historical Society (AIHS) in New York City is an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and culture of the Irish in America.
Founded in 1897, it serves as a cultural and historical repository, offering resources, exhibits, and events that highlight the contributions of Irish Americans to the United States.
For more information on the AIHS and its upcoming events, visit AIHSNY.org.
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