a Staten Island Lady*

TruTv on Kreischer Mansion

2012-08-06T00:58:00.001-07:00

Top Ten Haunted Places — Kreischer Mansion, Staten Island, N.Y.: Crime Family Bonanno Killing Place — Crime Library on truTV.com

I recommend checking this out. It had alot of the same aspects in it as my post did but is still informative. Plus I love that it was on a top 10 list on a major site. The post I did can be found in my archives with pictures and a real life story from a close friend of mine.

This manson is probably worth a new post if I can gather up any more info, and ghost stories, I always love a good ghost story.

to se my post click here.
aSiL* xo

The "Ghost" Ship

2012-07-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you the story of the Mary Celeste, the worlds unluckiest ship.

On November 4, 1872 just off the shore of Staten Island, sat a beautiful ship named the Mary Celeste. She was anchored and awaiting departure to Italy to deliver some 1,701 barrels of pure alcohol. On board there where 10 people in total; the Captain, Benjamin Briggs, his wife, Sarah with their 2 year old daughter Sophia, and 7 crew men. Three days later she set sail with over 6 months worth of food, to her destination.

According to records the ships last entry into its records book was November 25. The captain reported better weather since October was very hard on them. The Mary Celeste was found on December 4th, completely abandoned. She was found by a ship that had left the same harbor, and going to the same place, as well as carrying the same type of cargo but left a week and a half later. The captain on board had had lunch with Briggs and his wife a few nights before their departure and recognized the ship. After watching her move erratically about for almost 2 hours with no response from anyone on board, they decided to board the ship and see what was going on. They reported that the ship though it had rips in the sails and everything being wet, was still very much sea worthy and not at all in danger of sinking. They said that all personal items including all the cargo was still intact even saying that a childs rattle was sitting on one of the tables. All the hatches where open as well as the windows.

But, before she even set out she had some troubles in the previous years of her life. 3 of her captains died on board, the 1st captain died on her maiden voyage. She struck a fishing boat and after being brought to a shipyard caught on fire. After being repaired she set out again, only to later collide with another ship.

The Mary Celeste, after she was found.

So, what happened to the people that where on this ship? No one knows. Only a few things where missing, nothing of value, but the only life boat on board The Mary Celeste was missing. Another thing that sticks out as unusual is the broken rope that was found tied to the ship hanging over the edge. Many people speculate on what happened, theories range from sea-quakes, alien abduction, time travel, explosions, to homicide. Though non of these are of any truth. I found a logical explanation on another site that makes perfect sense.

My psychic connection to the Mary Celeste was unexceptional and yet astoundingly revealing at the same time. In fact, I was able to solve the mystery from a single word.

After several unsuccessful attempts at connecting, all I saw was water, water, and more water--huge waves crashing over me as if I'd been cast into the sea and couldn't find my way out. And then suddenly, I was on the ship's deck, the Captain stood before me, glaring down upon me and refusing to let me go any further on his ship. Yet, he seemed to know exactly what I'd come for, so perhaps I wasn't the first who'd attempted a psychic investigation of the Mary Celeste.

His expression as hard as stone, he seemed totally perturbed by my intrusion, but he uttered one word: "Alcohol." And then the connection broke.

Surely, I thought, there must be something more to the mystery than alcohol.

I decided to try again.

A few nights later, I returned to the ship, but the same thing happened. The stern captain again stood before me on deck, saying only: "Alcohol," and the connection instantly broke. He didn't want me there, and I knew it--could feel it, but he wasn't opposed to my knowing the truth; for each time I connected, he told me the answer, firmly and gruffly, "Alcohol."

Yes, some spirits are definitely more talkative and friendly than others. Perhaps the unfriendliness on the Captain's part stemmed from archaic notions about psychic matters--or perhaps he was trying to protect his family (if they were onboard), or maybe he wanted to be alone in his private hell (I believe he feels guilty about what happened.). I simply don't know why he's so menacing. I do know that he, and probably his crew and family alike, are not at rest and are still sailing the seas. Anyhow, back to the matter of alcohol. At first I thought well what in the world does that mean? This one word can't be the answer to one of the greatest sea mysteries of all time. But when I went to the research phase of my investigation, I found out that, indeed, "alcohol" provided the solution. Suddenly that one little word had a powerful meaning for it had indirectly claimed the lives of those on board the Mary Celeste. Mind you, it wasn't drinking alcohol, but a commercial type, such as ethanol, and the ship was loaded to the gills with it.

Conclusion: According to Captain Briggs himself alcohol was the key to this mystery. That, along with the clues that were revealed during the ship's examination by the Del Gratia crew, presents a solution about what happened on board during the crew's final moments. In fact, the pieces of the puzzle falls perfectly in place. But first, we need to step back to the beginning of the ship's journey.

The crew endured weeks of foul weather. The weather was unbearably rough throughout the journey and would have kept the crew working around the clock. On November 24, they encountered the worst storm yet near the Azores, which would have kept them on their toes all night. In the morning, the storm had let up. Surely, a welcome relief. There was almost no wind, but the probably didn't care. At last, they could rest. And finally, they could ventilate the hold (this type of cargo needed to air occasionally due to fume buildup), something they hadn't been able to do in weeks because of the rough weather.

They were in for an unpleasant surprise, however, because as soon as the hatches were thrown back, deadly fumes wafted from the hold, making the crew nauseous, light-headed, and dizzy. The rough weather had broken some of the barrels of alcohol and 450 gallons of it filled the ship's bilge. The crew, seeking fresh air, opened all of the hatches, doors, and windows. But it wasn't enough. The fumes were too potent and there wasn't a breeze to carry them off. The crew had no choice but to leave the ship until the fumes abated. Leaving their valuables because they expected to return, they used the peak halyard (the rope that drew the sail up the main mast) as a towline for the lifeboat. They had to remain connected to the ship. Without it, the lifeboat would drift from the ship with no way to catch up to it. The rope, the longest line, provided the tether. This is the reason why the Dei Gratia crew found the halyard hanging over the side of the ship--it had been attached to the front of the launch. If weather got bad, they'd draw the small boat back to the ship; however that wasn't possible, because the crew made two fatal errors that resulted in tragedy. First, the crew failed to haul in the sails. The sails on the foremast were left unfurled. This is probably because the crew would have had to go aloft via the ratlines to draw them in, and perhaps they were too dizzy or ill to make the treacherous climb. Or maybe they just weren't thinking clearly due to the potent fumes.

Second, they didn't tie up the ship's wheel. They either neglected to do so in their haste to flee the ship or they forgot. And then too, the weather was unusually calm. Perhaps they thought that the ship wasn't going anywhere anyhow.

At any rate, they got into the cramped lifeboat (or yawl), eight men, a woman, and a child, and they drifted a bit for some fresh air, but as soon as Briggs head had cleared, he surely realized the dangerous situation they were in. With four foresails still unfurled, a gust could set the ship off and leave them a deadly distance behind the vessel. Perhaps he hoped for the best, knowing he had no option but to wait this out and hope that the weather would remain calm.

But fate was against him. That afternoon, a dreaded gale came, and the weather changed quickly, churning the water. Briggs might have tried to pull them closer to the ship, using the towline, but it was too late.

The sails caught the wind and the ship took off, picking up speed. The crew probably began a tug of war to reach the ship. They would have struggled as long as their strength held out while waves violently rocked the tiny vessel.

At some point, the halyard broke (thus the reason it was hanging broken over the side of the ship), and the rest happened quickly. They would have paddled futilely against the powerful waves with no hope of catching up to the ship.

They were lost at sea and no one knows if they were claimed by the waves or succumbed from a lack of food or water. The only certainty is that they met their deaths--and it all came about because of alcohol.

http://www.underworldtales.com/celeste.htm

What do you think?

Supporting Local Stores on SI

2012-06-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

Staten Island used to thrive off them. It was all that our island used to be made up of. Why bother bringing in big wig companies, when the city was full of them and just a boat ride away? I am talking about local stores, mom and pop shops, family businesses and the like. We are always complaining about how the richer get richer, but what do we really do? Nothing we do not do anything but keep feeding them our money. My Aunt and her sister have a store on Castleton Avenue called Town & Country Gifts. They are kind of like the American Pickers, they go around and find things that they like or think that others would like and they resell them, in their store but also on ebay. Well they are in the running for a grant from Chase bank that will give them a $250,000 check to help out their store and to expand their business. They need about 200 or so more votes to get Chase to just consider and look at their store. In this post I will provide links to their Facebooks and Ebay, as well as the link to vote. I dont need to pressure you to do it, simply look at the items they have and judge for yourself. You wont be disappointed! VOTE VOTE VOTE! < click to vote.

Just connect with your facebook account and type in Town & Country Gifts but just remember to use & and not and.

Town & Country Gifts
1213 Castleton Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10310
718-447-8237

Lorrians Fav Finds on EBAY

Lorrains Fav Finds on FB

If you and your family have a business here on the Island I would be more then happy to add any links or info/description as well as photos here on my blog. I think i may just compile a list of local businesses and do a post about them, so if you would like to be in it just let me know.

Haunted Cloves Lake Park

2012-06-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a post about local haunts and legends on the island. It was pretty easy to compile a couple of stories and put them all on one page. I went to many different sites and found stories about Seaveiw, Wolfs Pond Park, Tottenville as a whole town, and I even found a site who talked about their group of friends traveling down from New Jersey to the Monastery, and what they experienced. All of this was very interesting to me, I was never fully aware of all the places legends creep into. As I was growing up my group of friends where pretty confined to a couple of areas and never really went exploring, unless we planned a trip to Seaveiw, which, by the way, I refused to go into at night. Well on this post a friend of mine on facebook left a comment about an experience that he and his friends saw with their own eyes. It took place in Cloves Lake Park. I have done some research and really I cant find anything about it. Looks like I am going to go to my next resource, the library. I'll see if I can find anything in the old newspapers, but I cant be sure. If anyone reading this story has any info on it or has witnessed close to if not the same thing please let me know! I will add your story to this post!

Chris Pedota
this story is about the ghost of clove lakes. 1 night, sometime between late july and mid august of 2003 i believe,. my cousin, a friend and myself were sitting on the concrete bridge that goes over the stream closest to forest ave and clove road. while we were sitting on the bridge, and the sun had just fully set
were we joking back and forth while smoking cigarettes when suddenly a cool breeze rushed passed us, we turned our heads toward the direction the wind came from. all 3 of us noticed as a woman in a white old historic style dress, possibly b4 the 1900s. she appeared to be walking from behind a bush and took a few steps toward us, just after her 3rd step, a man, dressed in a black suit of the same time era, with a top hat. (kinda like jack the rippers) appeared behind her. immediately following his appearance was a loud ear piercing blood curdling scream, and the 3 of us proceeded to watch as the man grabbed her and slit her throat, but just as the knife cut across the neck fully, they disappeared. no need to lie when i say my cousin, friend and i did the same thing.. we ran as quick as possible out of the park...

One of the bridges in the park, perhaps someone was killed here?

And then here is the original story Chris left on the blog as a comment

cpedota1218March 19, 2012 1:06 PM

i remember a time a few years ago when my cousin, a friend and i went to clove lakes park. forest ave side. and in the middle of the park is a concrete and block bridge at the base of the giant pond. it was around 9pmish, so it was dark. we were just talking and smoking cigarettes when out of nowhere we all heard this loud, highpitched scream. we all turn out head toward one end of the bridge and we see a woman dressed in all white. her dress look like it was made in the early 1900s if not late 1800s.. she inches towards us and twice she disappeared and reappeared each time getting at least 2 feet closer. then that last time she reappeared a man appeared with her dress in a black suit and hat from same timeframe, he grabs her from behind and cuts her throat. as he finishes cutting they both disappear completely. the 3 of us must of stood there for a good 10 solid seconds before we looked back at eachother, screamed and ran.. ive looked all over the internet to try to find a back story on this woman and man but have gotten nowhere

I dont know, what do you think about this? Have you ever encountered something like this in this park? Or anywhere else? Comment or inbox me!

Tragedy Under a Train Station

2012-05-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

When your a child, you are not aware of your surroundings. Your told by your parents that you should not talk to strangers, you should not get into the car with someone you do not know, my mother always said to run and scream fire! if i was ever in a situation where I was in danger. We are told not to trust people that we do not know, they are not to be trusted. But what about the people that we do know? Can we trust them? As children our sense of perception is not as keen as when we get older, we dont sense danger as we would at an older age. This to me has so much to do with the tragic story of Lorraine Pacifico, she knew her killer. Her brothers knew her killer, he was a local boy that hung out on the block and was considered to be quiet. In fact all his neighbors around his Oakwood home said they were sorry but that they really could not say anything bad about him. He was respectful and never caused any problems on the block. But this is all on the outside, in front of people who were older, his family was well off and presumably worried about appearances. But Lorraines older brother, Anthony Pacifico remembers Kieth Vischio, he remembers what he was. He was a loner who had never had a girl friend by the age of 20, he had few friends mostly just the kids that hung out around the Oakwood Train Station. Anthony recalls a time when he ran into Keith when he, Anthony was only 12 years old, Keith said to him " Why dont we go get a cat and put it in the barb wire on top of the fence and watch the birds eat it." He said no, that it wasnt a good idea. So at the very least the Pacifico's knew Keith for about 6 years prior to the murder of their baby sister.

On July 7th 1980, Lorraine Ann Pacifico was on her way home, It was about 5 pm on Monday afternoon when she walked into her house and called her mother as she always did to inform her that she was home and that she was going to go out and play with a few kids out on "the block". She had told her brother the same thing and went out to play. Her mother came home less then a half hour after the phone call and looked for her daughter to no avail. Around this time Lorraine's oldest brother Pete was waiting for the train in Oakwood, on his way to a concert in Central Park. He later said he had seen Keith at the station talking to a few girls. He got on the train and went to his concert, something I am sure haunts him to this day. Because by the time he got home later that night around 11 pm, his baby sister was no where to be found. Lorraine's mother called the cops and they had started to look for her asking around to the local kids, even back tracking to the Our Lady Queen of Peace school yard that was near by. A massive search was under way by the next day. Lorraine had never ran away, she excelled in school and she was by no means a "problem child", she was the apple of her mothers eye, her only baby girl. By the 9th of July there was still no leads in her disappearance and there was no motive as well. The people of Staten Island were shaken to the core, this event rocked the community. There was a kid napper out there at the very least. Parents kept their kids inside and watched the news every night thankful that they had their kids safe at home, but sick of the thought of what could have happened to this bright eyed 10 year old. The local police started asking around, even her killer had helped out with the investigation. A few kids has told the police that they should look in to Keith, that he had a loose mouth and was saying he knew a few things about it. But when asked about weather or not he saw her that day he said no, that he was not in the area on that day. This they knew was a lie because not only had Pete, Lorraine's older brother, seen him at the Oakwood station, but the two girls he was talking to had gone into the Guyon Market and told the store clerk that a man was bothering them. She then went outside to check it out and saw Keith who she knew as a local boy, and told him to leave the girls alone. He then went into the liquor store and bought 2 bottles of wine and drank one bottle while his friend, Mooch, drank the other bottle. Lorraine's brother had asked Keith, since he saw him in the area, if he had seen the young girl at any point, Keith in return said that he had not but that it was terrible that the family could not locate her and that if he heard anything he would be sure to let them know, as he hoped for her safe return.

Confession.

crime scene

On July 11th, while the search was underway, 3 auxiliary cops made the gruesome discovery. While searching under the overpass of the Oakwood train station, they found human remains. They were sure that it was Lorraine though the body was so badly decomposed due to the heat of this July, as well as the nature of the crime that dental records where needed to make the ID. When they found it was her it was plain to see the terror that she had endured, for Lorraine was beaten in the head over 20 times with a rock, leaving 6 fractures in her skull. Her clothes were removed and her body was slashed with a broken beer bottle from under her waist up to her neck. After it was determined that it was the young girl they needed to start looking for a killer. After sending evidence to the lab for results, they discovered that prints on the bottle belonged to Keith. The cops drove to the Oakwood neighborhood to pick up the suspect, when they saw him they simply asked him to come over to the car where they said he was under arrest for murder and to get into the car. Keith replied "what?", and the cop just repeated himself. After he got into the car the men told him they would explain everything when they got to the stati

UPCOMING STATEN ISLAND EVENTS!

2012-05-02T14:23:00.001-07:00

I know my blog is mostly about past history on Staten Island, but I thought it would be really nice of me if I put together a list of upcoming events in SI so that people could get involved in our community and enjoy what our island has to offer. Book mark this post and refer back to it from time to time as I will update it every so oftern. Enjoy!!

Nature Programs for Toddlers:

Every Wednesday 9:45 – 10:30 am

Greenbelt Tree Tots for three and four year-old children

Wednesday 11:00 – 11:30 am

Greenbelt Peepers for your two year old child

Join us for our Spring session of the Greenbelt Tree Tots and the Greenbelt Peepers. Sit with your tot and enjoy stories and activities centered around nature and our animal friends in the cozy atmosphere of the Greenbelt Nature Center. Registration required. Space is limited. Fee: $4 Greenbelt Conservancy members; $6 non-members. Call (718) 351-3450 or email: naturecenter@sigreenbelt.org for program details and registration. This program takes place every Wednesday through June 6 at the Greenbelt Nature Center.

Alice Austen House

Teen Studio Program

2nd Saturdays of every month: May 12, June 9, July 14, August 11, September 8, October 13, November 10 from 2:30-5:00 PM
Bring your own camera, or grab one of ours, and walk away with your own artwork!
Courses include materials
No experience or cameras needed
Develop your knowledge of photography
Including portfolio development, history, fine art techniques, professional lighting & light painting.
Contact Sara Signorelli, Director of Museum Services at 718-816-4506 x10 or aliceaustenhouse@aol.com for registration or scholarships fee is $20 per class.

05/20/121:00pm– 4:00pm

5/28/12– 09/3/12

Blue Star Museum

The Alice Austen House Museum is proud to support Blue Star Museum program beginning Memorial Day weekend and conclude Labor Day weekend. Active-duty U.S. military personnel and their families can enjoy free admission during the summer of 2012!
(photo on right is Austen's image taken in 1893. Her notes: The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; Summer; Illinois; travel; soldiers lined up)

Manners Can Be Fun! (Ages 5-7)

July 16 — 20, 2012 from 10am - 12 noon
Greetings, eye contact, speaking clearly, table manners, kindness, helping others and more! Lots of fun and terrific for development of social and communication skills.
$150 plus $10 registration fee

07/23/12– 07/27/12 Photography Camp (ages 7-12)

Learn basic photography using our digital cameras and printers! We will do self portraits, portraits, landscapes and Victorian dress vignettes as well as make your own pin hole cameras! Session #1: July 23-27, 2012 from 9:30am to 12:30pm (A second session may be added August 6-10, 2012 if there are enough students)
Cost $175 plus $10 reg

RICHMOND TOWN

Family Farm Breakfast August 12, 2012 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Decker Farm - Staten Island

Community Day: Ice House Frolics

August 12, 2012 11:00 AM - 05:00 PM

See how people kept cool-from the 1600s until today! Play in our sprinklers, participate in a demonstration of old time ice cream making, and try the latest in bubble technology with an old recipe for soap. Enjoy a free cup of iced mint tea before you explore furnished interiors of buildings dating from the 1690s through the 1890s.

THE FOLLOWING EVENTS ARE LOCATED AT THE STATEN ISLAND CHILDRENS MUSEUM

Clay Day

When Every Wed, 1:30pm – 4:30pm

Description Satisfy a "knead" by working with some air-dry clay and create a tactile piece. Create a clay bead necklace for Mother's Day.


Tot's Time Plus When every Thu, 11am – 1pm Description Your pre-schooler will create artwork, sing along and listen to stories. Admission + $5/child

Kidz Cook

When every Fri 2pm – 3pm

Every Friday a different dish!

check out more events here! for the childrens museum.

THE FOLLOWING EVENTS WILL BE HELD AT SNUG HARBOR

Hersheypark Road Tour- July 21 1:00p - 4:00 p On the East Meadow. Games and prizes from Hershey!

Alice in Wonderland

2012-05-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

*Please take the time out to vote for the Alice Austen house to recive a $100,000 grant to help restore it voting ends may 21st and you can vote everyday once a day, just sign in with face book go to our borough and click the Alice Austen House www.partnersinpreservation.org

Strange that I would call this post Alice in Wonderland, but the life of Alice Austen is just that, a wonder. And her life and Staten Island was indeed a wonderland. Alice had lived through the turn of the century and saw riches that ultimately ended in rags due to the stock market crash in 1929 when she was 63, but it was her undying compassion of photography that would save her in the last months of her life so that she would die comfortably in Sea View Nursing Home. Alice often goes unnoticed, this in my opinion most likely has to do with the fact that she was likely a lesbian in a day and age where such a life style was considerably frowned upon and misunderstood. But Alice did not care and she made sure everyone knew this as you can see in some of her pictures. Also she never tried to sell her work or make a profit on it. She took pictures purely for leisure and her work was only published once in a book written by her friend about women riding bicycles.

Violet Ward and Daisy Eliot. Photo by Alice Austen. Violet was a childhood friend of Alice's. Daisy Eliot was a professional gymnast. Violet, an enthusiastic cyclist, invented a mechanism for bicycles that was universally adopted. Alice took the photographs for Violet's book, Bicycling for Ladies, published in 1896. Daisy was the model.

Alice And Gertrude

Alice Austen was born in Staten Island, New York on May 23, 1866 in St. Johns Church. She lived with her mother and her grandparents as well as her mothers siblings in their home on the north shore called Clear Comfort. Her father abandoned her and her mother before she was even born and so she was raised in her grandparents home. Her home Clear Comfort was in a prime location with beautiful views of the Narrows. She would often spend hours just watching the ships entering the harbor and departing. Her uncle was a chemistry professor at Rutgers University and he is the person who introduced Alice to her passion. She was just 10 years old when her other uncle Oswald returned home from Germany with a camera in his hand. Between her two uncles they helped to shape her passion by installing a dark room in a closet in the house. Back in a time with no running water, she would go to the well in her yard, no matter summer or winter to wash her glass plates and get water for developing her pictures. This has a direct contribute to the amount of pictures that she took. The price of developing pictures was astronomical, but with the wealth that the family had they were able to provide the best equipment for her to grow. It is estimated that Miss Austen took about 8,000 pictures, though not all of them have survived the years.

The Darned Club

Cross dressers


One to one thousand (south beach)

In 1899 Alice met Gertrude Tate in Brooklyn and they quickly became friends. After traveling to Europe with Alice on many summers, she finally moved in with Alice into Clear Comfort in 1917 against the wishes of her family since they felt that the "friendship" they had was not appropriate. They stayed together for some 55 years. Gertrude and Alice along side two other women would become known as the Darn girls or the "Darned Club". They welcomed this name from the men that tried to court them, since they never had any plans of marrying any of them, they became known as the darned girls. They mocked the men by cross dressing for photos and this was funny to them though not to anyone else. They did not care though.

Possibly the most interesting thing Alice took pictures of though is the street scenes. From bicycles to the development of cars, and everything in between. She took pictures of the poor, the working, and the rich. She never discriminated her subjects, as she saw the unique beauty in everything she laid eyes on.

horse drawn cab

Alice was very athletic. She was a swimmer, a tennis player, a bike rider, among other things. This was very helpful to her since she was well built she was able to carry around all the equipment she needed to take her pictures wherever she was or wanted to go. The capture of street life in turn of the century New York is really what has made her so well known. No one has done such a extensive job in doing this. The striking difference in Alice and other female photags in her time is very clear. Women where often known to capture fashion and love along with a childhood dream like feel. Alice as far as anyone can tell held little interest in this. She captured more of a nature/man relationship and the nitty gritty city life.

oyster farmers

Alice in her interview

decker

1951

When the stock market crashed in 1929 all of the savings that she was living off of from her grandfather was lost. Alice and Gertrude had no means to support themselves and started to sell off their silver and then the furniture in Clear Comfort. But this was all in vain and only bought them some time. After Alice took out two mortgages on the home it went into foreclosure and they had no where to go. Gertrudes family would only take her in, so Alice was sent to live in the Farm Colony poor house where she would stay for some time. Though right before the foreclosure, Alice told a friend where all her glass slides could be found and begged him to save them from the basement of Clear Comfort. In 1950 Picture Press started a project on the history of American women. Oliver Jensen of Picture Press sent out a standard form letter to various archives and historical societies, asking if any had interesting images for the project. C. Copes Brinley of the Staten Island Historical Society responded and invited someone to look through 3,500 uncatalogued Alice Austen glass plate negatives. Astonished at what he had found he tracked Alice down to the Farm Colony and interviewed her. After running her pictures and story in LIFE magazine as well as Holiday magazine ( lets not forget her travels), her portion of the money raised was around $4,000 and she was able to be moved to comfortable home in Sea View Nursing Home where she died about 8 months later on June 9th 1952.

With love, Staten Island

2011-12-27T09:26:00.000-08:00

Staten Island was a leading pioneer in many areas of industrial business. We had the first linoleum factory in the USA, a major brick producing company, oyster beds that were known even in England, a terracotta factory that produced, and Sea View hospital, which paved the way to cure TB. We also had a few breweries that employed hundrads of islanders and one particular was using electricity in the late 1800's as well as refridgration.
Procter and gamble set up a ivory soap factory here as well which operated from 1908 till 1991. This is where the name Port Ivory came from. The factory was moved to Mexico, leaving behind just this name.
Staten Island was also the home of Alice Austin, as everyone knows, a brilliant photographer who captured turn of the century innovation throughout the city and surrounding areas. She was a no bull women who believed that a women could do everything that a man could do, only better. She was also an open lesbian in a time where same sex relationships was unheard of.
We also house the oldest school building in America, the Voorlezer house, which is located in Richmond town. It was built around 1680.
The Nilla Wafer was invented here as well by confectioner Gustav Mayer who was also an inventor. He owned a shop in Stapleton, but his house still stands on Richmond Rd. Perched lovely on a beautiful piece of land, on top of a hill with vibrant colors.
Take a look through this blog and you can find pictures and stories and personal stories about most of these topics.

Good Ol' Linoleumville

2011-04-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

The town of Travis was originally named Long Neck. This was it's first name. But after a factory called The American Linoleum Manufacturing Company claimed its home in then's Travisville in 1873, the town became Linoleumville. It was right then and there that it became New York's worse neighborhood name, ever. At the time, 2/3 of that area was employed by the company and the area was booming. The factory was the first of its kind in America at the time it opened and took up 300 - acres of land in Travis. The area at the time, was undeveloped, so the started to build houses for workers and in less then 10 years it was a community complete with a Ferry. This was only one area to be named after a factory on the island, Kreischerville now known as Charelston was named after a brick factory.

The factory closed its doors in 1931 and left a vast amount of people unemployed. After its closing there was a town meeting held where people would decide the fate of the towns name. They would vote on either a new name or to keep the old one. The die hards wanted to keep the name of Linoleumville arguing that it was a piece of Staten Island History. In all 4 people voted to retain this name. More then 300 people decided on Travis. This situation was written about in the magazine Time. Follow this link to read it TIME MAG.

This is a short post because there is not much more to be said about Travis once called Linoleumville, it was a short lived era on Staten Island and often forgotten by residents. I am going to do a separate post on Travis because as a town Travis has some info to offer, but thats another story.

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

2011-03-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Creepyyy

A pool in Thompkinsville that is now a landmark

Conference House References

2011-03-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

RISEUP Paranormal

http://www.liparanormalinvestigators.com/nyc.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conference_House

http://siparanormal.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=si&action=display&thread=31

http://www.realhaunts.com/united-states/the-billop-house/#comments

http://www.nyparanormalsociety.com/taps_2007.html

Staten Island's Most Haunted House pt 2 ?

2011-03-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

I did not write these stories they are written by others and refer to their own experiences*

Mike says:

May 9, 2006, 12:00 pm

THE CONFRENCE HOUSE has much more activity. When I was a Teen we used to hang out there all hours of the night….one night we were on the front steps of the Confrence house ,like we did many times. But just in front of us about 70-100 feet we saw what looked like a Priest walk over from the Big tree thats in front of the house. He didnt say a word and kind of floated, well lets just say we didnt stick around very long. There also have been reports of people who walk the Cliffs to the left of the house have seen what appears to be Native Americans,and also claim to hear drums.

Cap says:

September 7, 2007, 7:53 pm

I can believe that strange things happen in the Conference House. Forty years ago ( or so ) I was a kid growing up on the Island and had made 2 visits to the house. Once with my school and once with my family. I remembered that I had gotten sick to my stomach on Both occasions and at the same locations in the house. At the “closed up” entrance to the “hidden” tunnel in the cellar and also on the stair landing above the first floor. I vaguely remembered these experiences through my early adulthood but never gave them much thought through the years. Having since moved away from the Island, I found a book on New York Hauntings by Hans Holzer about 10 years ago. When I got to the chapter on the Billop House and Conference house I had not really though too much about it until I read about two different places that Apparitions seemed to appear.
One on the stair landing where an apparent murder was reported as taking place a hundred years ago and the other site –the tunnel entrance where wounded soldiers died enroute into the house from their clandestine missions. That put a chill into my spine and has ever since.

Curtis Dunlap says:

October 27, 2007, 2:00 am

I have a couple pictures of actual ghosts around that properity there pretty damn good pictures to when you look at them close up and mess with the coloring ,skulls,3 diff spirits one with a black shirt one red and one like ablueish and you can also see what apears to be a full body and a faceless head only with eyes its truel incredible nyhcthreat18 im me at @ or mail me if you wanna see them there great

leeanne says:

March 4, 2008, 11:53 am

i am a total beiliever! i was there a couple of times.the last time i went inside the house i took pictures and theres faces in the mirror in two of the bedrooms! 0_o…and if your there a night,look in th middle window of the top floor,you could see someone,also iff your standing or siting on the pier of lawn of the house @ night,you will hear a womer cry.thats no joke!

• The site of a failed Revolutionary War peace treaty attempt, the Conference House is believed to be one of the most haunted spots on Staten Island. The manor house and surrounding land are said to host apparitions of British soldiers, a young boy, and a woman on horseback.

We did go to the Conference House park, but not into the house. The CH does not answer requests for investigations from us or any other group that I know of that tried. One other group went during their daytime public tours, but that's it. That doesn't mean I've given up, but there aren't any plans to enter yet! The CH park, by the way, was pretty strange. Cameras wouldn't work, we captured many voices, etc. We actually had someone with us who claimed to be a psychic and she got lots of impressions. Doesn't hold too much weight in our book, but definitely interesting. We posted some of the EVP's here:
http://siparanormalsociety.tripod.com/ConferenceHouse.html

when i was younger i used to go to the conference house park a lot (back then it wasnt a park, just the grounds of the house). kristi its funny u mention being creeped out in the basement because a few kids i used to see around there would swear they saw weird things happen in the basement when looking through the outside window. i looked through those windows for a long time and never saw anything, but maybe there was something to it. people also used to tell a story about a bloodstain on the second floor that only appeared when there was a full moon. again, i never believed it and never saw it, but it would be a great place to investigate, if ever given the chance.

When I was a teenager we used to hang out at the conference house alot.... The weird things don't happen at the House itself ...they happen in the woods and grounds around it. We would always hang out on the Cliffs it's on the left side of the conference house... It's old Indian Trails. There is also 2 hidden wells in the woods there where it is said that bodies were found at the bottom when they dried up. I had one experience there that freaked me out....One night about 1 A.M. 3 of us were walking down the cliffs to the grass that goes up to Hylan Blvd. We usually always checked before we came down because cops would sometimes be there ...So we saw that there were no cops and we came down to the lawn. Just as we did my friend pointed out asking what is that when we looked it looked like a Priest hovering about a foot off the ground, not looking at us at all he just started to move toward an old tree That is still there in the front of the house.Well we didn't stick around to check it out we ran like hell. We also have found Pentagrams , animal sacrifice's and other weird things in those woods surrounding the conference house....Check out the surrounding parts , not the actual House It's not haunted

Tour the Billopp House (also known as the Conference House) in Tottenville, a Staten Island neighborhood located at the southwestern extremity of the borough. The last pre-revolution house in existence in New York City, the Billopp house is home to several ghosts, including a little boy that's believed to be Christopher Billopp's grandson, a British guard that continues to stand on duty, servants that blow out candles and rearrange furniture, and a young woman that stares intently out of a second-story window. While touring the inside of the house, listen carefully for mysterious knocks, coughs, sneezes and footsteps. While exiting the property, take note of the large knoll located within the vicinity of the Billop House. This knoll once held the remains of many Native Americans. Since the remains were exhumed in 1897 by a retired Army General, there has been an increase in paranormal activity on the property

according to reports disembodied laughter and invisible voices have been heard coming from the upstairs bedrooms. There have been reports of seeing a large man running up the stairs toward a girl waiting on the first landing. As the story goes the cantankerous Capt. Billopp killed a female slave with a crooked knife on that very spot. Hans Holzer, noted parapsychologist, wrote about his findings in great detail in Great American Ghost Stories. He writes that Mrs. Malone, a former caretaker, reported seeing what appeared to be a British soldier. Psychics feel the Conference House basement kitchen was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War and British soldiers were buried on the property. This might explain the sighting of Revolutionary War soldier apparitions in the house and garden. There has also been other sightings including a servant girl who fell down a dry well shaft on the property and a child whose body was sealed in a wall. The child was a victim of a contagious and fatal disease. His parent feared the British soldiers might kill them if their son’s illness was discovered decided to seal his body in a wall of the house. (taken from the book ‘Haunted History of Staten Island’ written by Lynda Lee Macken)

Justin Malone says:

December 28, 2008, 5:44 pm

I lived in this house for 3 years..(1975-1977)…and what I became “friends” with was a soldier who had died on the grounds. My brother was the first baby to be born in the house in 200 years on January 9, 1977…after he arrived the unusual activity increased…we moved to the corner of Bently and Craig a few months later.

John N. says:

April 29, 2009, 12:21 am

I have studied and been to many of the haunted places in staten island and acctually studied the para normal. In all my studies I can say this, the whole stretch from the beaches of the confrence house to the end of the block which stretches out for about 1000 feet is said to be haunted. The legend is when two lovers go by the conference house Indians ride on horse back can be seen. Also revolutionary soliders and their wives can be seen walking by the water (which thank to certian women cannot be done at night anymore). I tried to interview the woman who lives in the house and i was told by her there is no way she will tell me about the house.

At one point a demonstration of yarn spinning was scheduled in a room and after the props were set up, the house was vacated and its doors locked for the night. The following day it was discovered upon returning that yarn and related materials were tossed about all over the room. Another manifestation seem in the children's room centers around a tour guide who - upon entering the room one day - saw the indentation of a handprint on the bed located there. Stranger still, was the woman's observing the print begin to fade away while she looked on.

There are also two related stories that have Col. Billopp stabbing a disobedient (or sexually unwilling) female servant with the poker from a fireplace and that of a nanny named Elizabeth whose had fallen in love with a local farmer, inciting anger in Col. Billopp who felt she had been "stolen" away from him. He immediately put out a warrant for her arrest. Elizabeth would eventually grow despondent over her husband's death some years later and hang herself. It is surmised that at least one of these three women haunt the Conference House.

Another spirit spotted has been that of a British soldier, in full redcoat dress. His ghost was seen by the young son of a Conference House caretaker sometime in the 1970s. The boy told his parents the soldier had woken him from sleep and patted him on his head. At first dismissing the story, the parents were nonetheless intrigued by their young son's all-too-accurate description of the uniform which a Tory soldier would wear in that era. In fact, there have been sightings of numerous British soldiers walking the grounds over the years.

Staten Island's Most Haunted House pt 1?

2011-03-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Where can I even start on this topic? Not only is this house really important to the history of our island, but of all America too. Not only that, but what about before it was apart of the Revolutionary War? How about after, with its notorious hauntings that have been told to every man, child, and women through out the decades. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, its a U.S. National Historic Landmark, and also a NYC Landmark.

That being said, we are lucky to have it. It sits on the southern most tip of New York State, and marks the end of New York. No one knows exactly when it was built or how old it really is but according to one of the oldest maps we have of the Island it was there in the year 1680. The house was named after Thomas Billopp, though him and his family called it Bentley Manor while they lived there, but it sat on Billopp point. Thomas Billopp was a captain in the Royal Navy and came to America in 1674. He was granted land on the southern most tip of Staten Island, where he built or had built his house that he called Bentley manor. It is thanks to Billopp that Staten Island is apart of NY rather then NJ, he was told if he could walk the whole circumference of the island in one day that it would be apart of NY, and that is exactly what he did (thank god!). Prior to this, these grounds where reported haunted since it was a burial grounds to the Raritan band of the Lenape Indians. The remains of a small child and 2 older adults where dug up here, it is unknown how old they really are. The burial ground is called Burial Ridge and is the oldest Pre-European burial ground in NYC. Aside from that, while the Billopps lived here it was the center of a murder scandal. A servant women was supposedly killed here by Billopp and its been reported that her figure appears every now and then. Some one sent me this story on what may have happened to the girl:
"Colonel Billop himself was a very forceful and unforgiving man, given to frequent fits of rage. During the war Colonel Billop was frequently kidnapped and held for ransom by the colonists. Colonel Billop became convinced someone in his house was informing the revolution of when he was in the house. Legend has it that one evening Colonel Billop saw a servent girl place a lamp in an upper floor window. Colonel Billop took this to be a signal to the revolution that he was home and proceed to accuse the girl of being a spy. He chased her through the upper floor to the downward stairs. It is not clear whether the Colonel pushed the girl down the stairs trying to kill her or she fell to her death trying to get away from Billop."

Christopher Billopp died on one of his trips to London in 1725 and left his daughters in charge of the Bentley Manor. The only daughter that had children bore a son in 1737 and he was named after his grandfather, born in the house and inherited it. He later went on to fight in the war and was named a Colonel. Before the war, He was in charge of the military on Staten Island and was active in making communication with NJ prohibited. When the Revolutionary War began he was an active member in fighting it. On July 16, 1784 He was taken prisoner by New Jersey and his house was taken from him. It was sold to Thomas McFarren, a merchant, for 4.695 pounds. This Christopher Billopp died in Canada in 1827. Only his two younger sons stayed in New York and became business men after the family moved to Canada.

On September 11th, 1776 a peace conference was held at the former Bentley Manor. To name a few people who attended this peace conference was Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, the purpose of this conference was to settle on an agreement to end the war. As we no the agreement was never made and the war continued for some time after. The conference house was at the time the British Headquarters, and where a lot of the Red Coats sought out food and shelter.

* I am going to do a post on stories of hauntings separately

The Ferry Boat That Sunk

2011-02-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

CROWDED FERRYBOAT SUNK IN COLLISION; Staten Island Boat Northfield Hit by the Mauch Chunk. TERRIBLE PANIC ON BOARD Fleet of Tugs Follows and Aids the Doomed Vessel. NO LOSS OF LIFE REPORTED It Is Thought, However, that Several Persons Must Have Been Drowned -- Some Passengers Injured, but None Dangerously -- Charges of Cowardice Against Men.

-NY Times Headline

One has to wonder why the Staten Island Ferry has so many crashes in its history.

The Northfield ferry was pulling out of the terminal at White Hall on June 14, 1901, as it did every other day to make a return trip to Staten Island's terminal in St. George. At this time the ferry was still apart of Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad Company, owned and operated by the B & O railroad. The reason for this was that Staten Island had only become part of the 5 boroughs shortly before hand, and wouldn't give over ownership of the transportation line that ran through the island. The greater New York used the sinking of the Northfield Ferry in their advantage, and shortly there after the line became apart of the city of New York. The explosion of the Westfield ferry was far more tragic with the loss of life and the apparent lack of knowledge some of the crew had. Upon pulling out and starting its ride, it was struck by another ferry called The Mauch Chunk. It was a ferry used by New Jersey at the time, in the line that connected Hoboken to Manhattan. It was 6:00 in the evening when the Northfield started to pull out of her slip at Whitehall, she wasn't even fully into New York Harbor at the time of impact. The wheelsman on the Northfield blew out the whistle twice to try to warn the Mauch Chunk, as he also says he blew the whistle twice before even pulling out of the slip, common practice to warn others of your presence. The other ferry responded with its own whistle and tried to get out of the way or "hook the engine " as reports say. The front of the Northfield met with impact the side of the Chunk. Pretty much demolishing the Northfield, there ending the 38 year run as a ferry boat to Staten Island.

Its a little unclear what exactly happened, the Northfield felt he was on the proper course so he kept moving in to Staten Island, but this is not consistent with the Chunks drivers testimony. The police department insisted that no one was killed, but they where wrong, about 5 people where in fact killed on the Northfield. Some where not discovered until the ferry was inspected by divers the next day, one body washed up on shore in Greenville, NJ, across the New York Harbor a week after the fact. Even though the death toll amoung humans was mostly low, it was not however for the 12 teams of horses that was on board the ship at the time, they where all lost.

Damage control was put into effect as soon as the two boats struck, the cities big fire boat, The New Yorker, arrived on the scene almost immediately to help rescue the 800 people on board. As with most tragedies there is always a hero and in the case of this tragedy the hero was Manuel Fernandez. He was standing in pier 10 at the time and started pulling people out of the water. He pulled a women out of the water and handed her over to a rescue boat. He then grabbed a small child from a women aboard the Northfield and jumped on to the Unity the boat that was picking up survivors. After he safely delivered the baby he jumped back in to the East River to save another, older child. The captain of the boat stayed on the ferry and supervised the evacuation and did not leave the Northfield until water was lapping into the ferries wheelhouse. By this time the Northfield was laid out on the muddy floor of the river, sunken.

The next day when divers where sent down to inspect the damage and raise the boat, they realized that there was no way of saving the Northfield. A week later the ferry was sitting in Brooklyn in a dry dock. The damage was total. She was crushed and cut open and there was no way of fixing her.Her captain, Johnson, was arrested and so was the Chunk's captain the following day. They were arrested and brought in to give their own statements as to what had happened and the reason as to why they had collided to begin with. The state of New York wanted to take over the S.I.R.T so badly and i assume they were using this accident in their favor. The blame was placed on the fact that the Staten Island's ferry boats where not proper boats for what they where being used for. In 1899 it was said in a commitee meeting by Staten Island Chamber of Commerce that "Middleton, Westfield, and Northfield are in no manner, and by no means adequate for the service for which they are intended, being to small, poorly ventilated, and at times ill smelling. The sanitary arrangements on these boats are abdominal". The crash may have happened because the two boats had to cross paths because the Northfield had the slip closer to Jersey where as the Chunk had the one on the other side of the Northfield, making them have to cross ways. This conclusion was thought up by a random New York Times reader, that the New Jersey Transit should have used the first slip, and the S.I.R.T should use the second. It should have been clear after the Northfields sister ship, the Westfield had the same brush with the boat Howard Carolle, under the same circumstances. During the trial, it was frowned upon that the Mauch Chunk kept on its track pulling into Whitehall and did not try to assist the doomed Northfield. The captain dropped off his riders and turned right back around to NJ, making him out of immediate reach of NY. Both captains where suspended for 30 days. But they where a little more easy on Johnson because the Northfield was so old, that her hull was not divided into water tight doors, thus resulting in her sinking. it was said that "Northfield is a very old boat and should have been condemned a long time ago". Another issue was that the life jackets on the Northfield where hard to get to and passengers complained about this fact, as it caused hysteria. Also the lack of life vests, since there was only 318 on board at any given time, never the less it was still right by law.

And so that was the end of the sailing of the Northfield ferry.

"She put up a Helleva Fight" - Jessica Tush's Story

2011-02-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Please Join the Jessica Tush Act on FB causes!

"Jessica was an amazing girl who was full of life. Her unfortunate end brought on by her ex-boyfriend is a sad reminder how dangerous domestic violence is. Her trusting nature is what betrayed her, since she was smart enough to break it off with the scum Thomas Paolino. Spread her story and lets not let her death be in vain."

Rest In Peace

Dec 28th, 1988 - April 2nd, 2008

Jessica Tush

On April 2, 2008 Jessica Tush left her house for work. She worked at the Staten Island Mall at BCBG. When she got out of work her ex-boyfriend, Thomas Paolino, was outside waiting for her. They had broken up prior to this encounter because of his abusive behavior towards Jessica. Its reported that she had came into work with 2 black eyes prior to her murder. Thomas persuaded Jessica to get into his car so that they could go visit a memorial for a friend, Andrew Clark, who had died tragically days earlier in New Jersey in a car crash. That night was his wake and Jessica was to attend it. E-ZPass records show Thomas was in New Jersey around the time of the murder. Its unclear what really went down in the car between them, but its thought that text messages Jessica was sending to her current boyfriend may have sent Thomas into a rage. She was reported missing when friends and family started to worry after she never showed up to the wake, and stopped texting her friends.

Jessica's parents and her murder

Her body was found, 2 days later, in a shallow grave near the road side memorial for Clark, by hikers. She was found buried in Wharton State Forest in Bass River Township, N.J. It appeared she was strangled and beaten, as she had many bruises. When Thomas was taken in for questioning it was apparent something was not right. His alibi didn't match up with his E-ZPass records, or his cell phone hits. He had scratches and bite marks all over his neck and arms. When asked about this he did not give any reason for the marks on his body. The memorial for Clark was tossed over the lose soil that covered her body. This led investigators to question if Andrew Clark's girlfriend, who lived near by, had something to do with the slaying. His girl friend was driving behind him when he crashed his car into a tree. Hopes that DNA would be found under her nails, would prove where Thomas had gotten his wounds from. The cause of death was determined to be from "asphyxia due to strangulation and sharp force injuries to the neck." By the coroner's report.

Thomas Paolino plead guilty to strangling Jessica Tush, and is facing 23 1/2 years in prison. Is this fair? Not at all. A family is left grieving for their beautiful daughter who is forever 19 years old. Friends are left asking questions and missing a wonderful friend. Her boyfriend is left lonely and haunted by what ifs? While he will be out by the time he is 40 years old. He will move on, possibly get married and have children. Hopefully he will have a daughter, so he can feel what it would be like to lose such a thing in life. Domestic violence lives all around us. It does not discriminate against age, or looks, not even race. It lives everywhere, and young girls go un-educated about the situation. Sure they know that a man should never hit a women, but they can not see the signs in the way he talks or acts or the way he handles situations. Harsh words and controlling everyday life are a form of domestic violence, it is the start of a long road that is painful and can have a devastating outcome such as Jessica's. She is one of many young girls that are killed at the hands of someone who "loves" them.

Jessica Tush's mother has had to endure harsh words from childish kids online, she has had to defend her daughter in this situation, and that is unbelievable: In a comment posted on silive.com, Dina Tush also takes issue with one reader's comment suggesting that Jessica Tush caused an argument with Thomas Paolino and that he was defending himself. "Thomas Paolino beat, strangled and stabbed Jessica in the throat possibly multiple times, enough to rip at 3 inch hole out of her throat. He stuffed her in a plastic bag and later threw her in a water filled hole and threw some dirt over her," she wrote under the screenname grievingmom. How could another young girl even suggest that that be a reasonable explanation for an outcome like Jessica's?

Jessica's brave mother is setting out to keep her daughter alive in the law. The "Danielle DiMedici and Jessica Tush Act," named for the two domestic violence victims, is a law that would make a statewide registry for domestic violence offenders that would be accessible by civilians as well as law enforcement. Sort of like a sex offender registry. The other is the "Jessica Tush Act"-Educational Bil, this will provide New York State schools with curriculum in dating abuse and domestic violence. The causes page I have linked to the top of this post is the link that her mother had set up in hopes of people joining it to get the bill passed. They need 5,000 people to join. Please go there and join, lets break the cycle.

in loving memory of the victims lost to domestic violence. <3 if you or anyone you know are being victimized please call: or visit my myspace at www.myspace.com/break_tha_cycle

These Old Streets

2011-02-03T09:14:00.000-08:00

A British officer wrote in 1776 about Staten Island: "Surely this country is the Paradise of the world...the inhabitants of this Island are tall, thin, narrow shouldered people, very simple in their manners, know neither Poverty nor Riches, each house has a good farm, and every man a trade, they know no distinction of Persons, and I am sure must have lived very happily till these troubles."

After doing a lot of research on Staten Island, I kept seeing a lot of the last names in documents matched a few street names that i knew and had seen. So here is a list of street names and a little history about them.

Amboy Rd - Amboy road is one out of nine of the oldest streets on our island. It went from one side of the island straight to the ferry on the other side. It was most known for its straight way to the ferry.

Lovelace - Governor Lovelace had signed a treaty prohibiting the use of Native Americans as slaves

Flagg St. - Named after a famed architect that built extravagent houses in Grasemere.

Giffords Lane - named after Daniel Gifford, a local commissioner and road surveyor. Great Kills used to be named Gifford before it was changed in 1865

Fingerboard Road - The road once had a large finger-shaped sign pointing the direction to the county courthouse at Richmondtown. And people would say make a turn at the fingerboard.

Victory Blvd- Used to be named Richmond Turnpike was built in 1816

Van Pelt Ave - A well known family and maiden name of Polly Bodine's victim and sister-in-law, Emeline.

Housman Ave - Last name of the fisherman's family that fell victim to Polly Bodine. Emeline's married name.

Seguine Ave - Named after descendants of the French Huguenots who were among the South Shore's earliest settlers. This was their last names.

Yetman Ave . - This street was named for Hubbard R. Yetman, teacher, justice of the peace, state assemblyman, and first Borough Superintendent of Schools in Richmond County. Yetman lived at 5336 Arthur Kill Rd., at the southeast corner of Yetman Ave. The house was built by William Joline, Yetman's father-in-law, ca. 1845. Yetman Ave. was originally mapped as William Street, possibly to honor Joline. In the 1890's, it was popularly referred to as Hogan's Alley. The street was graded and paved in 1896, more than a year earlier than the town's most important road, Main St.

Butler Ave.- Named after Daniel Butler, a man who made his living in the Staten Island oyster trade. He lived and owned land on and around the corner of Butler and Amboy Rd.

Hylan Blvd . - Named in honor of John Francis Hylan (1868-1936). He was the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925. Hylan Blvd. was constructed in 1927. A median, though short-lived, ran down the center of the road from Page Ave. to the Conference House. And Hylan Blvd. continued to the water's edge, not ending at Satterlee St., where the Pavilion is today.

Fisher Ave.- The Fisher family came to Tottenville in the early 1800's. They owned a few acres of land and built one of their earliest houses that still stands today, to face the Arthur Kill. It was later turned in order to accomadate the newly opened road Fisher ave.. Before the 1940's traffic crossed the railroad tracks on Fisher to take Broadway, also known as today's Arthur Kill, into Richmond Valley.

Kreischerville's Rise and Fall

2011-01-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

Balthasar named his mansion Fairview, it sat on top of a steep hill in Kreischerville.

The Kreischer Mansion was built in 1885 by a man named Balthasar Kreischer. Balthasar was a wealthy and successful brick manufacture who learned what he knew of brick making in Europe before he immigrated here in 1836. He built this house along with another similar house for his son and daughter in law as a wedding gift.The other one burnt down ( reason unknown) after a very heated father/son fight, and the newlyweds were killed. From what I have heard the fight was very serous and Balthasar and his son where at each others throats. They weren't able to get over the fight and his son died while they were still fighting. The remaining mansion was turned into a restaurant and was said to be haunted. People reported doors slamming and lights turning on and off. I found a couple stories of the hauntings:

this is definitely i worked at the restaurant for about two weeks. i was a busboy there, and one night i waas sent into the basement to get supplies for the owner. i heard a door shut in the back of the basement. wondering who it was i went to the back and found nothing. after hearing some more suspicious noises i went back upstairs without the supplies. what i heard sounded like argueing but i was sure there was no one there. i quit my job there shortly after.-Chris

OMG! this place is freaky. 2 years ago a bunch of friends and I idled our car in front of the house. My friend (driver) started yelling at the house and siad that the guy dserved to bed dead and such… and some old guy in a pin-strip suit walked through the gate and made a swipe at the window. I screamed for my friend to hit the gas… turns out noone else saw the guy walk and the car and swip it…
Freaky part: after we were driving away finger marks streaked down the window on that side. My friend (driver again) goes “Oh yea… prove your here” “H-E-L-L-O” appeared backwards on the rear window so he could read it trhough his rearview mirror.
Needless to say I got outta that car ASAP. - Kabbit

Very Rare picture of the two houses together, this is the ONLY one I have found.

When I was a teen I used to hang out Feedback Studios which was right up the road from the Kreisher Mansion. This building intrigued me so much I did a day of research at the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences on the house. Balthazar Kreisher built the twin mansions for his sons, he did not inhabit any of the buildings. He had georgian style mansion that overlooked the brick factory. His mansion no longer exists.
Before the firs of the house, his son’s wife was having an affair with Dr. Washington who had his office and house on Main Street in Tottenville. In fact, his house still stands and a friend of mine’s parents still live there. The house is catty corner to the 123 precint. The last time I was there the house was yellow.(I now live in Savannah, Ga) Anyways, B’s son’s wife left her husband and then the house mysteriously burnt down. The fireplaces and some of the fixtures in the Dr. Washington house were actually salvaged from the Kreisher Mansion fire.
Now I have no doubt that the standing Kreisher Mansion is haunted. An ex friend of mine has pictures that prove to me that there are people still there. The last thing I have heard about the mansion is that the property was sold to a property developer that is making an old folks living community. With these changes there have been a ton of changes to the house, which saddens me. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture. - Michelle

this is indeed true my parents owned the resturant that once ocupied the house strange things happined daily we have since shut down the resturant and opened more profitable businesses but we still own the house ive also found that the house makes a greatt setting for a halloween party its a sure fire way 2 scare the sh*t out of my friends - James

MY COUSINS UNCLE OWNS THE HOUSE AND HE LEASES THE PROPERTY I KNOW THIS FOR A FACT AND ALSO WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID ME AND MY COUSIN WOULD GO IN THERE AND IT REALLY SEEMED HAUNTED AND THE COOK HUNG HIMSELF THERE IN THE KITCHEN IN THE EARLY 1900`S IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT AASOFTBALL@TMAIL.COM - Jeff

My grandparents, father and myself all grew up in Charleston, Staten island. My grandfather once told my father a story of how when he was a little kid (early 1900s)on halloween they went running through the yard of the mansion. One kid ran into legs and somebody had hung themselve in the tree right near the house. Maybe that person has somethign to do with the encounters. I also think that the history is incorrect, I think there was 3 mansions built two next to eachother and one across the road. My aunt used to knwo the poepl whome lived there as a house right before it bacame a resturant. I would be scared sh*t to live there. -Charles Kosa

What interesting is that this family supplied most of the area with its bricks, definitely all of Staten Island, and some of Brooklyn. You can still find some of them in brick work that hasn't been up rooted or destroyed. The business started out being run by two people, Balthasar and his partner Charles Mumpeton, who wound up passing away. The company was first called under the New York branch of The New York & Staten Island Fire-Brick and Clay Retort Works, Kreischer & Mumpeton, it was originally established in 1845. And so it stayed that way until about 1849, when Mumpeton died and Kreischer hired his nephew to help out around the factory along side his 3 sons. With the discovery of the abundant amount of clay that was found in the area around the Sandy Grounds up to what we know today as Charleston, the business flourished.

Post office

In 1863 a post office opened in Kreischerville, named obviously after the family and their business. It closed in 1879 but was then reopened in 1886. It was located on Kreischer and Androvette St. The little town also included a church, a town store, and a small school.

Its one of Staten Island's mysteries, what happened to the Kreischer family? We know that some of them are buried in a cemetery in Brooklyn, but as to where they went and where the descendants are is unknown. Balthasar died in 1886 and the factory burnt down a few years later and then was rebuilt, though the business never really recovered. Under the pressure of a failing business one of the 2 remaining sons shot and killed himself and his widow is said to still haunt the site as well.

After the restaurant closed down and the house was undergoing renovations to become housing for the elderly, the mansion became a sight for mob slayings. It became the scene of a crime commented against a man named Robert McKelvey, he was killed by Bonanno family associates over a "bad debt" after being lured to the house by the groundskeeper and mob associate Joseph "Joe Black" Young. McKelvey was strangled, stabbed, and drowned in a pool on the site. After they cut up his body, they burned it in the mansions inferno. Investigators went looking for the furnace for evidence, but by the time they started looking it had been replaced because of the renovations.

* Courtney Hayes My old neighbor murdered a man in Kreischer Mansion .. His house was soon raided by the FBI one lovely morning while I was leaving for school, and he is now in prison for life ;D Ahh I loved that house in Pleasent Plains lolol

Her neighbor did in fact kill McKelvey.

Hylan BLVD, Snake Hill, GreatKills, Arthur Kill rd in the 1980's (videos)

2011-01-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

1) Hylan Blvd. Staten Island August 1983 Great Kills To Tottenville

2) Staten Island Richmond Town Snake Hill Latourette 1983

3)Arthur Kill Rd (Pt.1)Staten Island August 1983 Kreischer/Outer Bridge

4)Arthur Kill Rd. Pt. 2 August 1983 Black Garter Century Inn

The video quality is poor but still you can see things you recognize and I still lovee the videos because it really captures what me and my friends used to do on a hot summer day on the island, just cruising around. Hope you enjoy!

Sea View: Embolishment of The White Plague

2011-01-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Sea View Hospital was not always a hospital, it started out as a poor house in 1829 called The Farm Colony. In its day it was extravagant and prestigious, very well known. When the hospital opened as Sea View Tuberculosis Hospital on October 28, 1912 it was considered to be the finest in the country for the treatment of TB, also known as 'the white plague'. In all there was 8 patient buildings that formed a semi circle, a children's hospital, and a rehab center that had 6 units. In all the total amount of beds the hospital had was 1.402, but with added beds it could accommodate 1,682 beds. The largest amount it ever held was 2,000 in a census that was taken in 1940-41. The final cost of the hospital was four million dollars, which was twice the amount that was originally estimated.

The buildings where decorated with beautiful, and expensive Terracotta murals. I have in fact seen them on the old broken down buildings and wondered why no one has taken them down to preserve. A lot of fancy and expensive things in Staten Island where decorated with Terracotta because of the factory on the island at the time. But the story is different for these because they were made by a company in Holland called Joost Thooft & Labouchere. They made the murals using a technique called Sectile. The difference was that each piece of the terracotta was shaped to the lines of the design, instead of the design being divided over a number of tiles. This company was the first and only at the time to do this between the years of 1900 - 1910. This makes these murals very rare and actually, the best sectile work in America. The architect that designed the hospital, Raymond F. Almirall sketched out these murals to add something a little light to the atmosphere. They where extracted from the decaying buildings sometime after 2005 and now hang in the main building.

There is so much to be said about this place that we now see as ruins and haunted by its mental patients, but was it even a mental ward?

I can find absolutely no evidence to support the claim that Seaview was ever a mental hospital. I think what gets people confused, is that the Willowbrook State School was very nearby. The school wasn't built for years after Sea View was, but that school was knocked down and Seaview still remains. We pass by it all the time on Brielle Ave. It does look scary so I guess we just assume that it has a violent history, but in fact Sea View was a historical place where many discoveries where made. By the 1960's the medical staff at Sea view was discovering new medicine, they invented something called isoniazids, this was a treatment for TB. With the new medicine the demand for TB beds went down drastically and therefore Sea View in a way put itself out of business. This medicine, along with fresh air cured TB. The hospital was advance, they even had special houses that had ceilings that opened up to let in the fresh air. In whole the campus had 37 buildings. According to Wikipedia this is the list of houses: Administration Building (1913), Surgical Pavilion (1913), Nurses Residence (1913, addition 1932), Staff House (1913), Power House / Laundry and Ambulance Complex (1912, addition 1935), Kitchen and Dining Hall Group (1912), and Women's Pavilions (1909-1911). Sanatorium additions include the Auditorium or "New Dining Hall" (1917, now known as Colony Hall), Group Building (1917), and Men's and Women's Open Air Pavilions (1917). Later buildings include the Catholic Chapel and Rectory (1928), City Mission Chapel or Chapel of St. Luke the Physician (1934), Pathology Lab (1927-1928), Children's Hospital (1935-1937), Sputum House (1911 / 1932), and Richmond County Isolation Hospital (1928)

Because the hospital was going to go out of business with the cure of TB, the Farm Colony was turned into a 1,400 bed hospital for older patients with aging problems such as Alzheimers. Since then Sea View has stuck with its purpose of being a home and hospital as well as a rehab center for older patients as well as younger ones with brain injuries or other server injuries. If you ever find yourself visiting Sea View, make sure you stop by the museum that is housed right on the site, it takes you on a visual walk though on the history of the place.

This is only the 1st post I am doing on Sea View, this post is to simply cover the past of the hospital, such as what it really was and what good it actually did for history and TB. The next post I do will be more about the Sea View we see today, the abandoned and presumed haunted Sea view. As well as my own stories, since after all I spent two years going to school there.

Happy Holiday's !

2010-12-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

Richmond Ave. 1930

Start a New Family Tradition for the Holidays

2010-12-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

Staten Island can truly be a beautiful place around the holidays, if you know where to look and what to do. A lot of people tend to stick to old traditions that have been passed down from their own parents and grandparents, but never really consider starting their own with their kids. Why not though? It could be a great experience that would live on through your children as something that they will never forget. With the number of households that have both parents working increasing, our kids get lost in the everyday shuffle that has become our lives and we lose sight of the important things in life, especially around the holidays. It's no ones fault, there is just so much to do when the year's end starts racing in on you that you forget to take a breath. A simple way to spend time with your family around the holidays in Staten Island, New York, is a Richmond Town's famed Candlelight Tours.

Every year around the holidays you and your family can go back in time right in the middle of suburbia. Richmond Town, located at 411 Clark Ave. here in Staten Island, is beautiful this time of year. With its houses that can be dated back as far as the mid 1600's, its truly a gem that shouldn't be over looked. The whole town is lit up by only candles and oil lamps while everyone of the tour guides and staff is dressed in old fashioned attire. They teach about how Christmas came to be and how its changed and evolved through out the centuries. It's a wonderful way to teach your children how much more there is to Christmas then Santa and gifts, and they will learn to appreciate the holiday so much more. You will walk through all of the old fashioned buildings and experience them like you never have, surely you've been stuck at the light on Aurthur Kill Rd. and looked at this place, but have you ever taken the time out to truly experience it?

The tour costs $22.00 for adults and $10.00 for children under 12. They serve up freshly made old fashioned holiday sweets and they also hold a Wassail Bowl Reception in the towns courthouse. A Wassail Bowl is old fashion hot mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with slices of toast. The ingredients are put into a bowl and heated and and then the toast is added to sop it up. They have caroling and teach songs of the past. If your interested in this unique tour of the past contact 718-351-1611, ext. 281 for reservations, they are a must and slots fill up quickly. To contact through e-mail reservations@historicrichmondtown.org .

Rare pics from the New York Air Disaster

2010-12-16T14:46:00.000-08:00

With Due Respect to Those Lost in the Devestating Crash Of 1960, 50 yrs later

2010-12-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

2010 marked the 50th anniversary of what history calls The New York Air Disaster. To read up on the terrible disaster refer here, to my post about it . I am going to post people's memories that I was reading on a different site. This is important, just because these tragedies happened before our time does not mean people didn't die, they shouldn't be forgotten by any means. They say if you know where to look, you can still find the evidence of the event, such as debris that is still rusting in one mans backyard.

I was a second grader at St. Augustine’s School on Sterling Place, one block from the Pillar Of Fire Church on 7th Avenue that took a direct hit. My mother’s friend Benny, maybe Bernie, was selling Christmas trees in front of the church and was, in her word, vaporized. No trace. Same for the few praying parishioners inside. From my desk, I saw a piece of flaming wreckage falling through the air and seriously considered that the Second Coming might be upon us as the Mother Superior came on the squawk box to tell us to get under our desks. I remember my late mother telling me later that the pilot(s) had seen the flag on top of my school and others and was trying to crash in Prospect Park but couldn’t make it. She must have been freaked. A plane crash a block from your daughter’s school?
My late uncle Mike was NYPD SWAT and so he came to school to get me and then to the nursery school to retrieve my sister. They would not release us into the street to walk home, of course. As I recall, he walked me home basically with his hands over my eyes. Was the body of one of the planes in the middle of Flatbush Avenue for several days? There was wreckage everywhere for a very long time, and I imagine there were body parts in the beginning, but I never saw any blood that I remember. Firetrucks, ambulances, sanitation trucks.
I’d like to observe that as a result of this crash in the midst of the Urban Renewal movement, given the devastation to the neighborhood, there was a call to raze thousands of brownstones and put up “projects,” the same buildings we now rejoice to see imploded in a big bang. Park Slope (which in those days included what is now called Prospect Heights) was not a well-to-do neighborhood. Irish-Italian working class with the highest concentration of Irish bars in America occurring along Flatbush from the Bridge to the Park. There were always, however, fancy people in the buildings along Prospect Park West and Eastern Parkway, and along 8th Avenue, which we called “Doctor’s Row.” These people banded against the Urban Renewal projects and instead created the first Historic District in New York City, a most enlightened result. Hats off to the late Evelyn Ortner, with whom I studied in the country’s first Master’s program in Historic Preservation at Columbia University and later at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn (now grown to St. Ann’s Warehouse) and all her partners in this effort.
Rest in peace, every one.

— Janine Nichols

This was worldwide headline news.
I remember this even though I hadn’t yet lived in the city of New York at the time!
It wasn’t long after this that I started flying on commercial airliners back and forth from New York City to Bangor, Maine.
We just can’t spend our lives living in fear.
— Perley J. Thibodeau

I was an intern at Kings County Hospital that tragic day. We received word two planes had crashed over Brooklyn. We sent out medical staff and ambulances to the site. In the ER we discharged patients to floors and cleared out the ER. We set up dozens of clean beds with IV Bottles hooked up and ready to administer, The medical staff was greatly saddened and upset when we were told there was no one coming to our hospital. As I recall the lone survivor was taken to Methodist Hospital.
We all felt helpless. The docs and nurses ,when they came back, commented how unprepared they felt because of a lack of planning and equipment. Thankfully now much has changed in preparedness. Lessons learned.
— Louis Cardi, MD

I lived in Atlanta and this touched me as a ten year old in 1960- I was almost the same age as Steven. I am a videographer and made this tribute video of the crash which I shared with members of the Baltz family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaVywv17Q4c
thanks for the articles and look forward to reading more. as for “season to be jolly” this is more to the fragility of life and the hearts that reached out to Steven Baltz.
— mike brown

My father is a retired NYC Fire Department employee. He was a fireman on Staten Island at the time of this crash. He assisted in the recovery of bodies from the TWA plane. To this day he talks about this crash and vividly recalls how horrific it was.
— Greg Z.

The day of the crash

it is one of those events that you’ll remember as long as you live, i was in the kitchen visiting and talking with my grandfather at his home on 18 street ,about a mile from the accident site, we were stunned by the sound of the crash, it sounded like a bomb and to tell the truth being that those were the days of the deepest cold war when everybody was building atomic shelters, i thought it was an atomic bomb.on one hand we were relieved when we found out later that it wasn’t but still we were saddened by the loss of life both on air and on the ground.
— turiddhu

My family’s dear friend Herman Muller was killed in that crash. He lost the joy of his life and so did we.
He was an exciting man. On summer vacations he got my dad to help saw and chop wood for the fire of our annual big cook out of bean hole beans. During the rest of the year we’d occasionally visit his family in Hackensack, where he had built a tower in the back yard for no particular reason other than the joy of it..
I believe Herman was an ex CCC guy, and his ourdoorsy tendencies were infections. He was a great influence on our lives.
Saul Berkowitz
— Saul Berkowitz

I was in the 3rd grade at Crompond Elementary School in Yorktown Hgts., NY. The crash was announced over the loud speaker system. I remember Wendell Hoffman said his father was supposed to be on board a plane that morning. He was really scared and we were really scared for him. And my Grandpa Pete lived only a few blocks from the crash, he ran over right after it happened. He recalled that it was a terrible thing to see. Buon Natale, Nonno. Chicken Little didn’t seem so little after that crash.
As it turned out Wendell’s dad missed the plane………….
— Jeff in RI

I was sitting in a freshman class at Brooklyn College when this happened. I will never forget the sound that echoed across the borough.
— Debbie Garson

I was 9 at the time, living in Mass., and due to go with my mother and brother to visit my grandfather in Florida soon after the crash. I was glued to the news, and put up such a scream about air travel that my parents cancelled the flight and booked train tickets. During that ride between Boston and St. Petersburg I saw rural trackside poverty that changed my life.
Took me 10 years of flying to be comfortable in turbulence.
— Fraidy Cat

My late father, Ernest L. Gayle, was a top administrator of what was then the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA), and offered expert testimony at the inquiry which determined the cause of the crash. The day the planes collided was my sixth birthday, and I remember hearing the news on the kitchen radio in my childhood home. I will remember it always.
— debategirl1mom

I was attending St. Saviour’s High School, about 12 streets away when that plane crashed, and we could feel it in our classroom.
The nuns had us pray for the people on the plane and sent us home early. Streets were blocked off, acrid smoke mixed with the rain, and although we were told only that there was a crash and there may be survivors, we couldn’t imagine anyone surviving that impact.
It took years for me to gather enough courage to get on a plane after that, but have flown many times since. However I am always thankful upon landing and tell the pilots and crew how much I appreciate their skill and efforts.
Marjorie
— Marjorie Riley Nagin

My father, returning from a business trip, was booked on the United flight. He and his co-worker were running through O’Hare to catch the flight. They passed a gate where another flight was scheduled to depart for New York. My Dad, figuring they were likely to miss the United flight, said they should just wait and take the other flight. That’s what they did.
I was a child then and I remember hearing the news and the anxious hours. My mother, his company, our whole family, thought he was dead. When he surfaced, there was such overwhelming relief. My parents are gone now and this series of articles is helping me to flesh out my memories and to realize how much this must have affected my father. It wasn’t until I read this article that I realized that my Dad died sixteen years later of cancer almost to the day (December 18, 1976) that this accident happened.
— Marilyn Miller

40 years from now there’s going to be a story like this about 9/11, though probably much bigger/widely read .And then all of us who’ were old enough to know what was going on will remember …just like these folks.
— Joe

I remember 12/16 /1960.
That crash took place during a bad snow storm that had started that AM. The geniuses at our Junior High in Queens literally threw us out of school at 1PM because they felt the buses that picked us up at 3PM wouldn’t make it.
None of us had boots and few had gloves or hats as the severity of the storm was a surprise.
My friends and I walked just about a mile to get home.
It was miserable.
Just one of the many reasons I hated Junior High.
When we got home the story about the collision was on all the TV stations.
— Frank Leja

I remember the collision — it transfixed the City much like 9/11 later did. The tabloids ran the story on their front pages for days. The television news media was just coming into its own in the City and covered the event and ensuing stories afterwards. One young passenger survived the crash and lived for a couple of weeks capturing the public’s sympathy.
But goodness knows — if 50 years ago that plane had fallen into any other nabe in NYC we wouldn’t be seeing this extensive write-up in Park Slope-centric CR today.
And it’s axiomatic that Park Slope (as is the case with any urban nabe) had to first decline before it could be gentrified and thus ultimately find itself home to the bulk of the NYT’s CR reporters.
That said, at the time, the plane crash seemed but another example of the decline Brooklyn seemed to be undergoing. By ‘58 the Dodgers had left and white flight was accelerating from areas like Fort Green, Brownsville, Crown Hts., East NY etc. Abraham & Straus was on its last legs as the downtown commercial center around Fulton Street went into a long-term decay. Heck, even the Heights was “in trouble”,
What a difference 50 years makes.
— George

My family lived @ 180 sterling Pl at the time of the crash. My mom thought the boiler (apt heat) had blown up. Took my brother and sister & hid under the bed. Quite a day for the Addotta family and all who lived near > One of my closest friends.. helped carry the bodies to the near make shift morgue… The Plaza Bowling Alley ! He has Never flown in a plane… .NEVER !! & never will because of this day. Says the smell still haunts him.” You never really leave a place you love… part of it you take with you, leaving a part of you behind…” : ((
I LOVE NEW YORK xoxoxox
— Joyce

REST IN PIECE TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES <3

Any Body Out There?

2010-12-07T13:47:00.000-08:00

Do you have any questions? Things you have always wondered about? Ask them. E-mail me, leave a comment even tweet them to me @statenislndlady . Or maybe you have a story you would like to share or pictures.
I am open to ideas so let me know!

Thank you!
Ashley

The Witch of Staten Island

2010-12-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

The year was 1843, it was Christmas Day. In a house that once stood on Forest Ave. across from where now there is a Wendy's and a Perkins, lived sea caption George Houseman, his wife Emeline, and their 20-month-old daughter, Ann Eliza. While the caption was out at sea, as he was on this day, his sister Polly Bodine stayed with the family, as the wife Emeline was scared to be alone. All three of them slept together in one bed in a corner in the kitchen. This being because winters where so hard on Staten Island and they wanted to be closer to the wood burning stove, of course in the summer the bed was moved to a bedroom. As two boys where on their way home from a skating party at 9:00 pm, they noticed a fire blazing, it was a house on fire! The boys rang the fire alarm as fast as they could. Fires where not taking lightly, all the houses where made from wood. People from the surrounding houses came rushing to the house, although they figured that no one was home for the holidays. They knocked down the door and ran into the blazing home searching to make sure there wasn't anyone in the home. That is when they uncovered the horrific scene of a infant babies skull crushed, and her mothers throat cut, her arms broken, and what appeared to be a number of hits to the head using an axe.

Polly Bodine was no where to be found. She didn't live with her brother, she lived across the street with her father. But George's wife was always so scared of people breaking in. She even begged George to take the $1,000 in cash he kept in the house, to his mothers.

The court reports the condition of the body of Emeline as follows: ''The back part of the head was very much burned, part of the skull wanting, and the brain baked by the action of the heat. On the left arm, both bones of the forearm were broken, and one of the bones was white and clear, the other blackened by the heat. . . .'' The baby girl even worse off.

After a few days police had a suspect, and her name was Polly Bodine. No one could figure out why she would do such a thing since she was always so helpful with her niece, and kept her sister-in-law company many a nights. As far as the money that was in fact stolen, Polly had her own money. But nonetheless suspicion fell onto her. She was always at the center of local gossip, even old Staten Island was the same with the gossip. At a time when abortion was unexceptional, Polly had one, while being seperated from her husband, she was sleeping with another man named George Waite who had a drug store in Manhattan. The way she acted following the event had not worked in her favor. On Dec 26th she said she was in the city visiting her lover Waite, but she was seen on the ferry boat leaving Staten Island drinking Gin and eating pie. She was later spotted in a pawn shop, pawing items that belonged to the victims. She was wearing a hooded cape and looked completely detached.

She was arrested on New Years Eve for her crime and gave birth to a still born 3 days later. Her trial was the talk of all media outlets, reporters from all over came to report on the matter, one by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. In his own words he said ''This woman may, possibly, escape. For they manage these matters wretchedly in New York.'' All the top news papers where running stories about the case. People where outraged, a women who had an abortion and a still born, who also killed another child and the mother, ought to be killed herself.

Poe turned out to be right though, she was acquitted at her first trial because it lacked ''circumstantial evidence in the fourth degree.'' No one really knew what this meant. Another trial went forward but was moved to Manhattan in hopes to find a jury that wasn't biased. She was convicted of the crime but somehow the verdict got over turned. On her third trial her lawyer managed to get her out of the situation completely. She was found not guilty and after spending two years in jail, her first words where " Can I sue Barnum now?" P. T. Barnum made a wax exhibit dedicated to the crime in his museum and dubbed her The Witch of Staten Island. He presented her as a 70 year old toothless hag.

Polly moved back to Staten Island with her reputation ruined. She died at the age of 82 leaving behind two grown children. The case, 152 years later remains unsolved. The final resting place of Emeline and her infant daughter Eliza sits across from a Shoprite in Granitville.