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One alumni ghost is Stephen Vincent Benét (1898-1943) who in life and in death is devoted to his alma mater.  He received both a B.A. and M.A. from the college.  His master’s thesis was unique – the third volume of poetry that he published.  He was Yale University Press’s first judge of its famous poetry…

Chrystyne McGrath, our guide, reported the following: “The school’s well-known spirit resides in Berkley College, known as North Middle dorm, at 205 Elm Street, commenced at the start of the Civil War. Students when students volunteered to serve in the Union Army.  They would describe the paranormal manifestations they’d experienced there. At the nearby training…

The New Haven Free Public Library, at the northeast corner of 133 Elm and Temple streets, began in 1887 in a leased location but quickly outgrew its space.  The Ives Memorial Library, located on the New Haven Green, is the main branch of the system.  The neo-Georgian building was designed by Cass Gilbert and finished…

“The Lincoln Oak Tree is on the New Haven green near Center Church. The crypt is under Center Church, that’s my next ghost story.,” Guide and psychic Chrystyne McGrath recounts, “On the tour, I take the group to the seedling on the New Haven Green where the Lincoln Oak tree fell over.  The New Haven…

New Haven City Hall, at 165 Church Street, was built in 1861 by Henry Austin.  It is one of the country’s oldest and finest examples of the High Victorian architecture.  He also designed the gates of the Grove Street Cemetery and Dwight Hall of Yale University. A ghost haunts the iron staircase. Its footsteps can…

People who nod off during Center Church pm the Green services at 311 Temple Street claim they hear a voice asking if they have been saved.  Sometimes they even see a face that asks this question.  They then recognize that this image of  Theophilus Eaton, the co-founder of New Haven and of the church.   This…

I have been doing ghost walks since 2005 and started an all-year-round ghost company in 2006.  In all these years, I remained a skeptic of the ghostly experience except on two occasions. In 2005, when I first started doing ghost walks and I still did them personally, I ended a tour at the cellar of…

Ghosts of New Haven Blog 18 © 2018 by Philip Ernest Schoenberg, Ghost with a Blog # Ghost Cornelius Vanderbilt, originally from Staten Island, borrowed $100 from his mother to start a ferry business in which rowed the boat from Staten Island to Manhattan and back. He was the operator of the steamboat ferry line…

Ghosts of New Haven Blog 16  © 2018 by Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg, Ghost with a Blog # Ghost The Indians long before the coming of the white man had their own traditional ghost stories and tales of supernatural occurrences.  New Haven once had various Indian settlements where the Indians would farm the clearings while…

Benedict Arnold is a tortured soul. That is perhaps why he haunts the New Haven Green. He is not sure whether he wants to defend or to attack New Haven. When the shots were heard around the world at Lexington and Concord, Benedict Arnold was a very successful New Haven merchant. He quickly became head…

It is not often you get a local hero glorified and it a dog no less! Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is a 2018 computer-animated adventure film centering on the real-life Sergeant Stubby, a stray Pit Bull Terrier mix who becomes a hero during World War I. Directed and co-written by Richard Lanni, it features…

Ghosts of New Haven Blog 13 Reverend Timothy Dwight’s Ghost Story © 2018 by Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg, Ghost with a Blog # Ghost Henry Austin (1804-1891), a well-known architect of New Haven, designed Dwight Hall at 67 High Street.  It was built in 1886 more for the City of New Haven than for Yale…