shambleth about
Godalmighty, it’s here again – Friday.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spooky. That’s what I was thinking while shooting this illuminated passage at the 1920’s era Sunnyside Gardens development. The actual gardens aren’t spooky at all, instead they’re rather quaint, but every now and then… what can I tell you, I like spooky. My father in law and I once left his house in Crete at 3:30 in the morning to go ghost hunting at the ruins of a Frankish castle called Fraggokastelle. Coincidentally, that’s the same time that I learned not to skimp on spending money on tripods as the cheap piece of crap I had carried halfway across the planet basically disassembled itself just as the sun was rising. Spooky.
Walking around the deserted streets of Western Queens in the middle of the night is somewhat spooky, but you really have to look for it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Other large northeastern cities in these United States are folkloric gold mines when it comes to tales of specters and apparitions. Once you cross county lines moving in the four cardinal directions, there’s a rich and well described narrative describing ghosts, goblins, forest spirits, and hauntings all around us and particularly so in the Hudson Valley region. I’ve always ascribed NYC’s distinct lack of supernatural lore to real estate valuation. It would cut into the worth of your property if it was commonly thought to be haunted, after all. There’s actually a NYS law demanding that you disclose your haunted status prior to closing.
The real estate boom of the last 20 years, which has seen significant acreages of older buildings demolished and replaced by modern glass box towers, has likely created a large population of homeless or unhoused ghosts. Nobody ever talks about that.
Pfah. You only care about people when they’re alive, you god damned metabolists.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you cared, you’d get yourself a Quija board and invite some of these unhoused spirits into your house. Let them in, I say. So what if they occasionally knock the walls, or slide Granny’s porcelain off the counter? I mean, really, what’s the big deal about having to clean up a bit of ectoplasm every now and then? Sheesh.
Saying all that, I’m always up for a good NYC ghost story. If you’ve got one to share, leave it in the comments, or if you want to share a story and remain anonymous – email it to me here.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, March 22nd. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
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The Newtown Pentacle 
Hi, what’s the location of the last photo? Great shot.
Barbara Pryor
March 26, 2021 at 11:11 pm
That’s the ped bridge bet 43rd st and laurel hill Blvd.
Mitch Waxman
March 26, 2021 at 11:15 pm
Thanks, i could never figure out where it starts
Barbara pryor
March 28, 2021 at 12:18 am
Head south on 43rd st in Sunnyside, follow indications for K Bridge bike/ped path. Scary, you walk alongside the onramp for BQE and follow the curly cue bridge over Highway to Laurel Hill Blvd by the Cemetery.
Mitch Waxman
March 28, 2021 at 2:26 am
Thanks , take care.
Barbara pryor
March 28, 2021 at 9:03 am
Were you seven months and five days too early with this post? heheh
https://943litefm.com/nys-says-dont-need-to-tell-buyer-your-house-is-haunted/
Tommy Efreeti
March 29, 2021 at 3:20 pm