This image is the cover for the book Ghosts and Murders of Manhattan, Images of America

Ghosts and Murders of Manhattan, Images of America

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.

Elise Gainer

Elise Gainer, a New York City licensed tour guide, owns and operates Ghosts, Murders, and Mayhem Walking Tours. She is a member of the Merchant’s House Museum as well as the American Society for Psychical Research, Inc. The majority of images she presents in Ghosts and Murders of Manhattan come from the rich archives of the Library of Congress, primarily the collections of George Grantham Bain, the Detroit Publishing Company, and the New York World-Telegram and Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection.

Arcadia Publishing