The Occult Section

This week’s photo is from the Alice Austen House Museum, located on Staten Island, New York. The house, as you may have guessed, was the home of the now-famous photographer Alice Austen. Alice first became interested in photography when her uncle, Oswald Müller, brought home a camera in approximately 1876. Alice’s uncle Peter Townsend Austen was a chemistry professor at Rutgers University who taught her photographic processing. Peter and Oswald converted a closet on the second floor of the house into Alice’s darkroom. The earliest extant photograph by her is dated 1884. Over the next 40 years she produced around 8,000 photographs. The Alice Austen House, also known as Clear Comfort, is located at 2 Hylan Boulevard in the Rosebank section of Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was originally built between 1690 and 1750 as a one room Dutch Colonial House on the shore of New York harbor, near the Narrows. It was remodeled and expanded several times in the 1800s, most notably after John Haggerty Austen, Alice’s grandfather, purchased, renamed, and remodeled it in 1844. In 1970, it was added to the  National Register of Historic Places. It was officially declared a New York City landmark in 1971. In 1975, it was purchased by NYC and opened to the public. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1993.

Locally on Staten Island, the house has a reputation for being haunted, but we really couldn’t find any more supporting evidence than the typical urban legends that seem to be passed around by the always reliable teenager. The museum does not allow official paranormal investigations, so there is no real evidence out there that the house is haunted. As with most urban legends, the ghost stories surrounding the Alice Austen house were probably started because the house is simply old, and for most people, old means spooky. But all we found when we visited was a beautiful home sitting in a beautiful park, right on the waterfront. And until investigators can get in and see for themselves, we may never know if the Alice Austen house is truly haunted.

All photos in our Photo of the Week series are taken by New York Paranormal Society team member Laura Pennace, who is a New York City wedding photographer specializing in city hall and courthouse weddings, as well as engagement and proposal shoots. You can see more of Laura’s work at Pennace Photography (www.pennacephotography.com)

Technorati Tags: alice austen, clear comfort, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghost stories, ghost story, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, media, new york, new york city, paranormal, people, picture, staten island, supernatural, thoughts

This week’s photo features the oldest house in Manhattan, the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Built in 1765 by Roger Morris, the mansion was used as a temporary headquarters for General George Washington after he and his army were forced to flee Brooklyn Heights after the Battle of Long Island. Later on in the war, it served as the headquarters to British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, and the Hessian commander Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen. Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza Jumel purchased the house in 1810, and after Stephen’s death, Eliza married the controversial ex-vice president Aaron Burr who lived at the house briefly in the 1830s. After Burr’s death in 1836, Eliza lived in the house alone until she died in 1865.

Today, the mansion is rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of Eliza Jumel, Stephen Jumel, and Aaron Burr. And let’s not forget such paranormal mainstays as the Revolutionary War soldier and the jilted maidservant, who supposedly committed suicide in the house.

All photos in our Photo of the Week series are taken by New York Paranormal Society team member Laura Pennace, who is a New York City wedding photographer specializing in city hall and courthouse weddings, as well as engagement and proposal shoots. You can see more of Laura’s work at Pennace Photography (www.pennacephotography.com)

Technorati Tags: aaron burr, geroge washington, ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, manhattan, morris-jumel mansion, new york, new york city, paranormal, picture, supernatural, washington heights

This week’s photo is of the Van Cortlandt House, the oldest building in the Bronx, New York City. The house was built in the Georgian style by Frederick Van Cortlandt (1699–1749) in 1748 for his family. Van Cortlandt died before its completion and the property was inherited by his son, James Van Cortlandt (1727–1787). It was built in 1748 of dressed fieldstone and is representative of the high Georgian style. The Van Cortlandts, a mercantile family prominent in New York affairs, established a grain plantation and grist mill on the property. The house was used during the Revolutionary War by Rochambeau, Lafayette, and Washington. In 1889, after 140 years of occupancy by the Van Cortlandt family, the property was sold to the City of New York and made a public parkland. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1967 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The house has been operated as a historic house museum since 1897, the first in the city and fourth in the country.

The house and grounds are said to be haunted by the spirits of Mohican Indians, as well as Dutch settler Adrian Van der Donck (who staked his claim to the area in 1646, and who likely died in the area in one of a series of Indian raids in September 1655), merchant and mayor Jacobus Van Cortlandt (who purchased the land there in 1694 and for whom the house and park are named), and General George Washington (who is known to have stayed in the House at least twice during the Revolutionary War).

All photos in our Photo of the Week series are taken by New York Paranormal Society team member Laura Pennace, who is a New York City wedding photographer specializing in city hall and courthouse weddings, as well as engagement and proposal shoots. You can see more of Laura’s work at Pennace Photography (www.pennacephotography.com)

Sources:

Yahoo! Answers

Wikipedia

Technorati Tags: ghost, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, haunted, haunted house, haunted houses, haunting, new york, new york city, paranormal, picture, supernatural, the bronx, van cortlandt house

As native New Yorkers and New York City residents, those of use here at The Occult Section are still reeling from Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath. Many people died, businesses and waterfronts were destroyed, and thousands are still without power, food, water and shelter.

As such, we do not feel comfortable blogging just yet. We will be back soon, but for now we are asking people to help in any way they can. Below is a list, which we will continue to add to, of places where you can donate and/or volunteer. Places you may have never heard about, like Staten Island, Coney Island, the Rockaways, and Seaside have been decimated, and these people need as much help as they can get. If you know a place that we don’t have listed here, please feel free to e-mail us. Thank you.

• Food Bank for New York City 
• New York Blood Center
• Staten Island Recovers
• Red Hook Recovers
• Astoria Recovers
• The Lower East Side Recovers
• Tunnel to Towers
• American Red Cross

If you or somebody you know needs to file for assistance because of the storm, use the link below.

DisasterAssistance.gov

Technorati Tags: coney island, donate, donations, hurricane sandy, jersey shore, new jersey, new york, new york city, staten island, volunteer

In a bit of a departure, this week’s photo has nothing to do with the paranormal. In memory of all who were lost on September 11th, our photo of the week simply shows the 9/11 Memorial Lights. Every year, where the World Trade Center once stood in downtown Manhattan, twin beams of light shine into the sky as a remembrance of those who died in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. This week, we honor the memory of those who died in the horrific terrorist attacks on that fateful day.

This photo was taken from the Brooklyn Promenade on September 11th of 2010. Though the Freedom Tower is now rising to fill the void in the New York City skyline, the lights are still illuminating lower Manhattan this year. We will never forget.

Laura Pennace is a New York City wedding photographer. You can see more of Laura’s work at Pennace Photography (www.pennacephotography.com)

Technorati Tags: 9/11, 9/11 memorial, brooklyn, freedom tower, new york, new york city, pennsylvania, pentagon, september 11, september 11th, twin towers, World trade center, wtc