Kreischer Mansion – abode of ghosts of the past (7 photos + 1 video)

Dozens of eyewitnesses insist that ghosts live and thrive in this mesmerizing Victorian mansion on Staten Island. But in reality this is a real place of a prosaic crime.





The Kreischer Mansion is a luxurious Victorian home. Locals believe it to be one of the most haunted places in all of New York.



When Balthasar Kreischer arrived on Staten Island in the mid-1800s, he opened a brickyard. This sparked incredible economic growth in the area, which soon became known as Kreischerville. The businessman used twin mansions as an investment, which he built at the top of Kreischer Hill for his two sons. Unfortunately, Balthasar died just a year after construction was completed. But taking into account the following events, perhaps it was for the best that he did not catch them.





After the death of the elder Kreischer, the brick factory that his children inherited burned to the ground. The family tried to rebuild, but the blow was very strong. And quite quickly their fortune began to melt. As a result, one of the heirs could not bear the blows of fate and committed suicide in the mansion, which still stands here today.



Of the two Kreischer mansions, one was destroyed during the Great Depression. But the second, in which one of the businessman’s sons died, has been preserved. However, the exquisitely decorated Gothic house quickly became the object of local superstition. And quickly acquired all sorts of ghost stories associated with strange voices and lights.



Despite its reputation, the house was never completely abandoned, but no businessman or ordinary resident was able to stay there for long.



The very real crime that occurred there in 2005 gives additional credibility and plausibility to the creepy image of the house. On orders from a mob boss, the caretaker of a vacant mansion was paid thousands of dollars to commit murder, dismember the corpse, and burn it in the basement oven.



In 1968, the City of New York designated the Kreischer Mansion as a landmark, not for its dark history, but for its amazing stick-style decorative decorations. It represents a late 19th century architectural style, somewhere between late Queen Anne and Victorian.

The authorities have approved the development of the nearby area. And in the future, 11 new buildings will appear here. And perhaps, if you're lucky, the fate of the next residents will be better than that of the unlucky inhabitants of the mansion of the last century...