This
story deals with the house that my wife, Cynthia, spent her teen years
in. The house is situated on the Hudson River at the bottom of a dead
end street. It was/is a 5000 sqft Victorian house with 3 levels plus a
full basement and Attic. Cynthia's parents, Helen and George Ackley,
bought the house in the late 1960's. At the time the big Victorian sat
vacant and was in disrepair. Neighbor kids told them as the moved in
that the house was haunted. It wasn't until later that the Ackley's
found the truth. The Ghosts and the Ackley's live at peace with each
other. There was never an intentional scare to any of the Ackley's or
their visitors.
Nyack sits approximately 20 miles north of New York City
on the West bank of the Hudson. Many people of the area know about the
haunting of this house. As a matter-of-fact, the Hudson Valley is known
for many haunted places. Just straight across the river lays Tarrytown.
Just outside of Tarrytown is the legendary Sleepy Hollow. This was made
famous by the Washington Irving's Halloween tale of the Legend of Sleepy
Hollow. Many of Irving's tales are based on legends of the lower Hudson
Valley.
The Legend of the Nyack House made
print in the Reader's Digest by a article submitted by Helen Ackley
herself in the May 1977 edition. She told of various instances about
the ghosts making their presence known to the family. Here are a few
tales:
- One ghost would wake my wife up
every morning for school by shaking her bed. When spring break came,
my wife made a loud announcement before going to sleep that it was
spring break, there was no school and she wanted to sleep in. Her
bed did NOT shake the next morning.
- A few of the grandchildren received
'gifts' from the ghost in the form of baby rings. All of sudden they
just appeared.
- My wife received a gift of a small
silver sugar tong.
- My wife's older brother's wife
received coins.
- While painting the living room
Helen saw one of the ghost looking in approval of the color. She
always got the feeling that the ghost liked the renovation they had
done on the house.
I had two personal experiences with the
ghosts. They both happened soon after I moved in with my future wife
Cynthia and occurred about one month apart.
- The first happened on Christmas
eve. I was home alone due to various activities. I was playing
Christmas elf in the living room putting gifts together. It was
totally quiet in the house. After a while I kept hearing a muffled
conversation coming from the dining room around the wall. I would
get up and walk over, and nobody was there. I felt like I was being
watched. I had purposely turned on every light in the surrounding
rooms. I was getting nervous. Then my future Brother-In-Law suddenly
pounded on the door making me jump out of my skin, and the talking
stopped.
- The second incident happened in our
bedroom on the third floor. It was a clear dark night, Cyn had
already fallen asleep and I was drifting. Then I heard the bedroom
door creak, and the floor boards squeak. My back was to the edge of
the bed. Suddenly the edge of the bed by my mid-section depressed
down, and I felt something lean against me. I went literally stone
stiff! I was speechless and could hardly move. I was able to twist
my neck around enough to see a womanly figure in a soft dress
through the moonlight from the bay windows. I felt like she was
looking straight at me. After about minute, the presence got up and
walked back out of the room. I finally relaxed enough to shake my
wife out of sound sleep acting like a toddler who just had a
nightmare.
Later I reflected on the incident. I
believe the ghosts were checking me out because they knew my wife and
her ex-husband. They probably wanted to see if I was a "good" person for
her. It was the women that used to shake Cyn's bed every morning to go
to high school. After that episode no other sightings occurred. I did
get the impression that they did "approve" of me, and my wife and I were
married about 18 months later.
In 1989/90 taxes started going out of
control so Helen decided it was time to sell the house and move to
Florida or Texas. This lead into a big court case featured on the
next page.
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