When President Lincoln was shot, one of his guests at the theater was Sen. Ira Harris’s daughter Clara. After the event, Clara’s white dress was stained by Lincoln’s blood, so upon returning home to this cottage, she had a special closet built for it, then had it sealed up. After that, she saw an apparition of Lincoln in her room, and in later years others have met up with the former president’s ghost in the house as well.
Loudon Cottage
Legs Diamond House
Jack “Legs” Diamond, aka Gentleman Jack, was an gangster during the Prohibition era. It was here that he was shot to death in 1931, in a small upstairs room. Subsequent residents have been awakened late at night to footsteps and voices on the stairs that lead up to the room.
Most Holy Trinity Church
Most Holy Trinity Church is housed in an 1880s building. Its school building was built atop a former cemetery, and is rumored to be haunted by some of the folks whose bodies weren’t moved before the construction: Lights go on and off in the school gym, voices come from seemingly nowhere, and witnesses have heard the sounds of people walking back and forth in the school. The church has lots of stories and legends. One says that its first two pastors are buried in a crypt under the narthex, and the second one, Monsignor Michael May, died on the premises in 1895 and still haunts his old room where he died. Another ghost here is George Stelz, a parish sexton and bell ringer who was murdered in the vestibule in 1897. Stelz’s blood and his murderer’s bloody handprint are said to remain on the wall in a bell tower stairway, and the bells sometimes ring by themselves.
1 LaVeta Place
1 LaVeta Place is a private home that’s said to have been haunted since at least the 1960s. It was owned by Helen and George Ackley, who at least once saw an apparition there and woke up every morning to a shaking bed. After getting used to and living peacefully with the ghost for 20 years, they sold the house, without mentioning its supernatural resident to new owners Jeffrey and Patrice Stambovsky. When the Stambovskys found out the house was haunted and backed out of the sale, the Ackleys didn’t want to give up their deposit, so the Stambovskys sued. This led to the “Ghostbusters” ruling, which states that sellers must disclose whether a house is haunted to potential buyers.
Stanley Theatre
Stanley Theatre, aka Stanley Center for the Arts, was built in the late 1920s as a movie palace. Witnesses say they have heard footsteps and seen shadows and apparitions onstage and in the balcony area. Legend has it that one seat, or a row of seats, remains unsold to leave room for the theater’s ghosts. Reports from people who have sat in the seats reserved for ghosts have felt something icy cold sit on them or try to push them out of the seat. There’s also a ghost in the ladies’ restroom, witnesses say.
Palace Theater
In 1913, Palace Theater opened as a vaudeville show place featuring the time’s top stars. Some who have graced its stage include Jack Benny, George Burns, Bob Hope, Ethel Merman, Irving Berlin, Helen Keller, Sophie Tucker, Harry Houdini and Fanny Brice. It is said to be haunted by tightrope walker and acrobat Louis Borsalino, who fell to his death during a performance in the 1950s. His apparition has been seen swinging from the rafters, then screaming as he falls.
Bowne Hall - Dutchess Community College
Bowne Hall at Dutchess Community College was built around 1913 as the Nettie Bowne TB Hospital. It is rumored to be haunted by what staff and students have called “strange presences.”
Christ Episcopal Church
Built in 1888, the Christ Episcopal Church is said to be haunted by apparitions and shadows that appear around the altar and elsewhere. One of the ghosts is an older female parishioner who appears in her Sunday clothes, sitting in a pew halfway back. Another is a happy man who has appeared as an audibly laughing face floating in the air, and still another ghost is said to take the form of a vanishing bat who causes the candles to go out. A ghost that has been identified is that of former church Rev. Alexander Cummings, who has been seen as an apparition on the bell tower steps and around the altar.
The Conference House - Billop House
The Conference House, aka Billop House, was built in 1680. It was the scene of a tragedy when in 1779 owner Christopher Billop, a British loyalist, accused a female servant of spying on him for the Colonists. She denied the charge, and Billop threw her down the stairs, breaking her neck. Apparitions of both Billop and the servant as well as British soldier ghosts are believed to haunt the premises. Neighbors have heard a man singing or shouting and a woman screaming and falling.
Dutch's Spirits
Dutch’s Spirits was an underground complex that hid a distillery run by the mob during Prohibition. It was financed by gangster Dutch Schultz, and may be haunted by him, too. Visitors can book tours, and some have noticed an eerie feeling of being watched.
