Ghost Haunting in Brooklyn

Time for ghostly sightings. I lived in some old brownstone and limestone buildings in Brooklyn. No doubt they were built in the 1800's. When I lived there I thought they were built during the French-Indian War. They were not new and shiny like the new highrisers going up. I especially wanted to live in Manhattan. That's where all the tall buildings were.

My family owned the brownstone in Brooklyn back to when my grandfather was a boy. Since we were not the first to live in the house, I just knew some old people had lived and died there. Just couldn't prove it. The paquet floors creaked, and the cellar (not basement) was dark and damp. The only reason to go down there was to put coal in the furnace during the winter. Sometimes to my miss fortune, my grandfather would throw the chairs down into the cellar from the backyard. There was no grass in the back, just a concert yard. My grandmother put her plants out there during the summer. She and grandpa would sit out there on summer evenings. I hang out on the stoop, a much better place. Anyway, when the weather got too cold to sit out, my grandfather would sometimes toss the folding chairs down the cellar stairs, to keep the snow off them in the winter. I had to go down and put them away 'neatly.'

I hated it down there. It was dark, damp and spooky. When the furnace was turned off the draft blew through, making terrible noises. There was just one naked light that lite nothing. The windows were high up, because the cellar was below the street level. They were useless for adding any day light. I tossed those chairs in the corner 'neatly' and got out of there. It seemed funny to me that I had to go down there to help my father shovel coal into the furnace. I was so happy when we got the oil furnace.

Most of the time I was outside. When in the house there was usually someone home. My grandparents lived on the first floor so they didn't have to climb the steps. The second floor was the parlor floor (living room) and our kitchen. The bedrooms were upstairs.

I didn't know it then but Brooklyn was full of cemeteries. I had to go to a funeral at Evergreens Cemetery once. It was noted that there were a lot of supernatural events and ghosts in Brooklyn due to its "cemeterial environment." There were many cemeteries here and in Queens, many established during the 19th century as the original burial grounds in Manhattan became full and closed to new burials. The kids designated at least six houses on the block as haunted, but mine was not one of them.

The New York City Blackout of 1977 was an electricity blackout that affected New York City from July 13-14, 1977. Of course my sister and I were home alone. My grandparents were visiting my aunt. My father was on his way home from out of town. My mother took a job for the summer, and this day she worked late. She and my father were on their way home when they got caught first in delays on the subway; then in the blackout. My sister and I didn't know that. No cell phones at the that time. It was a job trying to find a working phone in the subway.

My sister and I were OK until it got dark. We were outside and knew nothing until the street lights didn't come on and it was dark. See the street lights were our clock. You had to be in the house when the street lights came on. The house was dark too, since the lamp I turned on couldn't work with no electric.

All the kids beat it home, if there mother's did not already call them in. I tried to get before the last fickler of daylight so I could find the flashlights. I had to turn on the gas stove in my grandparent's kitchen on so I could get some light to find grandpa's flashlight. His was the easiest to find since we used it to find the light in the cellar.

We use to hear the floor creaking and people walking up the stairs all the time. There was usually an adult home. Mother always said we were hearing the people next door, or someone in the house moving around. Tonight, we heard all that and more, and there was no one home but two kids. By this time it was too dark out to go to the neighbors. It was the first time I saw stars in the city. First, we saw someone or something in the upstairs hall. That was bad because that's where we were headed. Then we heard the sound of the couple arguing next door. The problem is that there was a nurse on one side and two guys living on the other side and no one ever heard them argue. Next someone was knocking on the door upstairs. When we got up, there was no one anywhere. The block was empty. So my sister an camped out on the second floor steps until we heard the neighbors coming out on their stoops. That's where my mother found us playing with the flashlight. We had to go to the bathroom soooo bad. When we told her about the 'ghostly sounds, we sat on the stoop until my father arrived and found the rest of the flashlights. We all slept in the parlor that night. My sister and I were never left home alone. There was never any explanation given about what we heard.