Haunted History of #theDakota ~ #NYC #NewYork #Travel #paranormal #ghosts

View of the Dakota from Central Park

Because I have a strong fascination with all things spooky, I tend to seek out haunted places to visit when we go on trips.  When we spent a day in Paris during a London trip, I insisted on exploring the Catacombs.  We also spent a day at the Tower of London, which is surely home to some restless spirits.  In Maryland, I've explored the abandoned Glenn Dale TB Hospital.  Closer to home, I've taken tours of the Old Jail (oldest wooden jail in the entire country), and haunted locations around Barnstable Village. 

More recently, between Christmas and New Year's this winter, we went to New York City to spend some time with our best friends again...with our family in MA, and theirs in VA, NYC is an excellent--albeit expensive--half-way point.  And there's so much to see packed into such a small area!

Looking up from the street...I can believe this building is haunted

When I looked up a list of haunted places in NYC to see what would come up, I was intrigued by The Dakota.  This is an exclusive apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, built in 1884 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The list of celebrities who have lived--or currently live--here is very long, but one of the most well-known residents was John Lennon of the Beatles, who was murdered at the entrance of the building in 1980.  Some claim to see Lennon's ghost, but John Lennon himself apparently spoke of some supernatural encounters in the building before his assassination.  He mentioned an encounter with an apparition in the hallway, who he dubbed "the Crying Lady Ghost".

Site of John Lennon's assassination

Another frequently seen spirit is a little blonde girl dressed in early 1900s clothing, sometimes bouncing a ball.  There have been reports of other apparitions, including a figure resembling Edward Clark, head of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, who built the Dakota but died before the building's completion.

Residents and employees have reported seeing objects move on their own, including things too heavy for a person to lift.

The exterior of the building is a Gothic blend of gables and dormers, arches and balustrades, with ornate iron details.  It is imposing and intimidating enough to have been chosen to represent The Bramford in the horror movie Rosemary's Baby, in which a Satanic cult in the building try to impregnate a new resident with the Devil's baby.  Thankfully, that is a fictitious tale created by Ira Levin in his book of the same name.

This intricate & somewhat sinister ironwork goes all the way around the building

I would have loved to explore the interior of the building, but as I mentioned, it's the home of many famous and affluent residents, and there is security at the entrances.  But I took plenty of photos of from outside, and while I don't think I caught any ghosts on camera, it did give off a spooky vibe that sent a few shivers down my spine.

This was as close as I could get...at one time,
these arched entrances allowed carriages inside.
A Christmas tree was still on display in the courtyard.

A #RosemarysBaby Remake - #paranormal postings

I'm a fan of almost everything paranormal, so I'll be interested to see the new remake of Rosemary's Baby on Sunday night.  I never saw the original movie, but I did read the book as well as the sequel, and the promo for the show brought me back to my initial reactions to the first and second Ira Levin novels about the Woodhouse family.  Warning - spoilers from the books ahead!

Somehow, the original Rosemary's Baby never made it onto my radar, despite my lifelong reading addiction.  I have always loved books dealing with the supernatural (especially ghost stories), and spooky material is fine by me (one of my all-time favorite movies is The Exorcist).  Perhaps I never discovered it because it was published before I was born. 



But a sequel, Son of Rosemary, came out in 1997.  I promptly purchased it, along with the original.  The first book, Rosemary's Baby, was an absolute page-turner for me.  When it was published in 1967, it sold over 4 million copies to become the top bestselling horror movie of the 1960s.  Rosemary's Baby is about a couple, Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse, who move into a New York City apartment building called the Bramford, despite dire warnings that suggest the Bramford has a history involving witchcraft and murder.

Their new neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet, appear overly welcoming, and Guy begins spending a lot of time in their apartment.  In no small coincidence, Guy's main rival at work suddenly meets with tragedy, and Guy advances to a lead role in a play.

Eventually, Rosemary comes to believe Minnie and Roman are the leaders of a Satanic Cult intent on stealing the baby growing inside her.  No one will listen to her wild theories, though--including her husband.  In the end, Rosemary discovers Guy is not even the father of her baby--she is carrying the Antichrist, implanted and nurtured by the acts of the coven.

I couldn't put this book down, but the sequel, Son of Rosemary, disappointed me--especially the ending.  In this novel, Rosemary awakens after spending 26 years in a coma, brought on by the coven when they discovered she planned to remove her baby, Andy, from their influence.  In her absence, Andy was raised by Minnie and Roman.  He's now 33, which happens to correlate to the age Jesus was said to be when he died.  In other biblical connections, Andy has 12 assistants, similar to the disciples, and a girlfriend (making the number of close supporters 13 - see this post for more info on the significance).

Andy runs a foundation, which appears to have altruistic goals but is in fact a front for Andy's plan to end the world.  The part that really got to me was the very end, when Rosemary "wakes up" back in 1965 to discover the entire saga, including the whole first novel, was only a dream.  I truly hate endings like that, and I was furious that Levin had essentially negated the original book.

However, there are a few hints that Rosemary's dream could be a warning vision of her future.  It is set up in such a way that perhaps we the readers can see she will eventually find herself living out the events of her nightmare.

But then, does the cycle repeat?  There is one anagram that is constantly repeated in Son of Rosemary: "Roast Mules".  Levin has never revealed what the answer to the puzzle is, but he has stated it is a word most 5-year-old children would know.  Guesses include "somersault", "soul master", or "almost sure"...a possible allusion to the ending.

The original movie starred Mia Farrow, and Levin dedicated the novel Son of Rosemary to the actress.  Since I never saw that one, I think I'll try the NBC series just to see what it's like.  And if it conflicts with Game of Thrones, well, thank goodness for DVRs, because I need my GoT fix on Sunday nights!

If you enjoy paranormal reads mixed with romance, try SILVER LAKE or GULL HARBOR...both are ghost stories combined with steamy romance, and I promise the ending is not "it was all a dream"!