The Ghosts of Brooklyn: Thrilling Accounts of Souls, Spirits and Ghosts

Book excerpt: What is it about the story of a haunting that appeals to our nature? What is it about Brooklyn-with its history dating back to the mid-17thcentury when this was New Netherland-that offers a rich history from which to draw out the ghosts that live here? There is a natural human fascination with ghost stories. In this collection the author has assembled some of the most captivating accounts of the ghosts, spirits and souls that inhabit Brooklyn. This book offers the contemporary reader a fascinating insight into the lives-and afterlives-of some of the more intriguing characters to inhabit Brooklyn. Ghost stories ignite the reader's imagination, of course. With riveting accounts of these tiny tales of terror, Brooklyn now has an authoritative book that tells the stories of the haunted places and the hauntings that have characterized the most spiritual borough in New York City. Organized by neighborhood, the stories are told in a manner conducive to self-guided walking tours, with maps at the end to facilitate the wandering of a curious pedestrian. The stories, whether they are ghosts of dead soldiers from the Civil War, or Victorian sibling suicides, or catatonic gargoyles or the young man slain by a coven of witches in Vinegar Hill, offer exciting insights into the breathtaking diversity and exuberance of Brooklyn's paranormal history.