Ghosts and Murders of Manhattan

Book excerpt: Discover the darker side of New York City history with this collection of stories and photos. Amid the bustle of the city’s ever-changing landscape, Manhattan’s past still whispers. At Fraunces Tavern, George Washington’s emotional farewell luncheon in 1783 echoes in the Long Room. Gertrude Tredwell’s ghost appears to visitors at the Merchant’s House Museum. Long since deceased, Olive Thomas shows herself to the men of the New Amsterdam Theatre, and Dorothy Parker still keeps her lunch appointment at the Algonquin Hotel. In other places, it is not the paranormal but the abnormal—violent acts by gangsters, bombers, and murderers that linger in the city’s memory. Some even believe that Jack the Ripper and the Boston Strangler hunted here. The historic images and true stories in Ghosts and Murders of Manhattan explores the people and events that shaped this city, and live in the shadows of its majestic skyline.