The New York Grimpendium: A Guide to Macabre and Ghastly Sites in New York State

by J. W. Ocker

Overview

From the author of The New England Grimpendium comes a new travelogue and insider’s guide to wicked, weird, wonderful New York.

When J. W. Ocker’s first book, The New England Grimpendium, emerged on the scene, Max Weinstein of Fangoria.com called it “a travelogue for those who revel in the glory of their nightmares.” Rick Broussard at New Hampshire Magazine said of it, “I’ve read a dozen books about New England ghosties and weirdnesses, and this one is my favorite. It’s also one of the few that actually came up with stuff I didn’t already know about.” Now the author of that Lowell Thomas Award winner has unearthed hundreds of similarly creepy and colorful places in the Empire State that will make your skin crawl and your hair stand on end! Ocker’s essays on these places, some little known, some area landmarks, include directions and site information along with entertaining anecdotes delivered in his signature wry style. It’s definitely a wild ride from a jar full of the harvested brains of dead killers to horror movie filming sites around the state; from a ships’ graveyard to lake monster sightings. If it’s in New York and it’s bizarrely noteworthy or wonderfully wacky, you’ll find it in The New York Grimpendium.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780881509908
Publisher:	Countryman Press, The
Publication date:	10/01/2012
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

J. W. Ocker is the Edgar Award-winning author of Poe-Land. He runs the website Odd Things I’ve Seen, where he chronicles his visits to various oddities of culture, art, and history. His writing has been featured in Rue Morgue magazine, CNN.com, American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty, and Studies in Australian Weird Fiction. Ocker lives in Nashua, NH.

Table of Contents

Introduction 10

1 Legends and Personalities of the Macabre 15

Edgar Allan Poe 16

Rod Serling 20

Washington Irving 23

Fox Sisters 27

Joe Coleman 31

Basil Rathbone 35

Joan Crawford 38

Conrad Veidt 40

H. P. Lovecraft 42

Harry Houdini 45

Peter Steele 47

Lloyd Kaufman 49

Charles Addams 55

Mary Shelley 57

Charles Fort 60

Henry Hull 62

Frank Belknap Long 65

2 Infamous Crimes, Killers, and Tragedies 69

Son of Sam Locations 71

Crave of a Jack the Ripper Suspect 74

Skull and Noose of a Murderer 77

Wall Street Bomb Damage 79

Sing Sing Prison Exhibit 81

Grave and Quarantine Island of Typhoid Mary 84

Cory Lidle Crash Site 86

The Butcher of Tompkins Square Park 88

American Merchant Mariners' Memorial 90

Rulloff's Brain 92

World's Fair Bomb Plaque 95

Yankee Leaper Sites 96

9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero 100

Wisteria Cottage 103

Boyd-Parker Torture Tree 105

Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument 108

William McKinley Assassination Site and Gun 109

Flight Crash Memorials 112

John Lennon Murder Site and Memorial 117

Love Canal 119

Renwick Smallpox Hospital 122

Grave and Memorial of Leo Frank 124

Joel Rifkin House 127

Brooklyn Theatre Fire Mass Grave 129

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Site and Memorials 131

Auburn Correctional Facility 133

The Electrified and the Electrifying 135

General Slocum Tragedy Site and Memorials 138

Angel of Death Hospital 141

Collyer Brothers Park 143

National Shrine of North American Martyrs 146

Van Nest Family Gravestone 148

3 Horror Movie Filming Locales 153

King Kong (1933) 155

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) 157

The Brain That Wouldn't Die (1962) 159

Rosemary's Baby (1968) 162

Dark Shadows Movies (1970/1971) 164

Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974) 167

The Sentinel (1977) 169

He Knows You're Alone (1980) 171

Fear No Evil (1981) 174

Wolfen (1981) 176

The New York Ripper (1982) 178

Q (1982) 179

Basket Case (1982) 181

Sleepaway Camp (1983) 183

Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (1984/1989) 185

C.H.U.D. (1984) 189

Lady in White (1988) 191

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) 193

Jacob's Ladder (1990) 195

Wolf (1994) 197

The Devil's Advocate (1997) 199

Wendigo (2001) 201

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) 203

1408 (2007) 205

I Sell the Dead (2008) 207

The Skeptic (2009) 209

4 Notable Graves, Cemeteries, and Other Memento Mori 213

Grave of Chester A. Arthur 215

Green-Wood Cemetery 216

Murder of Crows 219

The Three Crows 221

Grave of a Boy Killed by Kisses 222

Arthur Kill Ship Graveyard 224

Historic Pet Cemeteries 226

Morbid Anatomy Library 229

Ripley's Shrunken Head Collection 231

Reed's Tomb 234

Staten Island Ruins 237

George Eastman Suicide Note 239

Forest Lawn Cemetery 241

Utica State Asylum 243

Washington Square Park 245

Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel 248

Grant's Tomb 249

Grave of an Amiable Child 252

Body of Mother Cabrini 254

Grave of George Frederick Cooke 256

African Burial Ground 259

Wilder Brain Collection 261

Obscura Antiques and Oddities 263

Girl in a Glass Coffin 265

5 Classic Monsters 269

Cardiff Giant 270

Amityville Horror 273

Peace Fountain 276

New York Lake Monsters 278

Whitehall Bigfoot 281

Mars 2112 283

Cup and Saucer Diner 285

House of Frankenstein 288

Castle of Count von Count 290

Haunted Barn Movie Museum 293

Haunted Dark Rides 296

The Jekyll and Hyde Club 301

H. Leivick's Golem 304

The Slaughtered Lamb Pub 307

Gargoyles and Grotesques 310

Rolling Hills Asylum 312

Lily Dale Assembly 315

"Ghostbusters Ruling" House 319

Castle of the Lady in White 321

Cave of Evil Spirits 323

Georgetown Spirit House 326

Tahawus Ghost Town 328

New York Mummies 331

Acknowledgments 337

Index 339