Gingerbread Manor House - HauntedHouses.com

LOCATION:

If one takes the train, this grand "Gingerbread" Manor House is found 40 minutes from Manhattan, New York City, in Ryan county, and was built on a bluff, which offers a view of the New Haven Railroad. (Privately Owned, no tours).

DESCRIPTION:

Built in the 1860s, by Jared B Peck, this immense, sprawling "Gingerbread" Manor House has 4 floors, with a wide, covered porch that goes all away around the perimeter of the "Gingerbread" Manor House's first floor. Although the estate that the "G" Manor House sits on isn't very big, the tall trees that surround it, block the road noises and give a remote, isolated charm to the property.

The first floor consists of a rather gigantic living room, a sitting room, and a kitchen. The second floor holds many smaller rooms, and has a winding staircase that takes one to the third floor, which was the servants' quarters whose bedrooms were even smaller. Finally, One goes to the fourth floor, the attic, by way of a sharply-angled staircase. The attic itself has a wooden door, to make it a closed fourth floor.

MANIFESTATIONS:

1) A ghostly apparition has been physically seen near the kitchen and on the upper floors.

2) Poltergeist Activities

A) Opening noises of the front door, swinging of the chain on the door, and heavy objects moving all by themselves.

B) A knife flew through a well-lighted kitchen and flung itself at the feet of the Manor's owners.

C) In one of the upper floor bedrooms, an ashtray sprung from its place and landed on the floor in slow motion.

D) The wooden attic door opens and slams shut by itself on many occasions.

3) Mrs. S, co-owner of the "Gingerbread" Manor House, as of 1991, was a portrait painter, and had her studio upstairs. One day, when Mrs. S had stepped out of her studio for a moment, the nude, professional model, who was the portrait model for that particular day, had the unnerving experience of suddenly coming face to face with an unknown lady, who quickly vanished, not bothering to use the door.

4) (1990-91) When Hans Holzer sent a film crew to this "Gingerbread" Manor House, in order to get some footage for a TV news series about the supernatural, the face and signature of a young woman unexpectedly appeared on a frame of the film footage.

PSYCHIC RESEARCH:

Hans Holzer did several investigations using his medium friends, Sybil Leek and Ethel Johnson Myers. Contact was made with 3 ghosts.

1) The door slamming incidents were perhaps done by a former owner, a Mrs. W, who was locked up in a small, third floor bedroom, by her family during her old age, the last years of her life. She deeply resented this treatment. (One third floor bedroom had signs on the door of a heavy lock being in place at one time.)

2) A second woman ghost, present in the "Gingerbread" Manor House, was connected to an earlier 18th century house that was originally built where the "Gingerbread" Manor House now stands. Through a medium, the ghost tells them of the terrifying fire that destroyed her house and about her horrible experience of being burned alive.

3) The young woman ghost who was seen on the TV film footage, had a tragic death also, but at the current "Gingerbread" Manor House, sometime during the 20th century. Mr. Holzer suspects that she is the one behind some of the continuing occurrences.

WITNESSES:

Past owners, visitors, Hans Holzer, Sybil Leek, Ethel Johnson Myers, Mr. & Mrs. W, and the TV film crew.

Still Haunted?

Yes.