Hunting for history (and ghosts) at Manhattan's oldest house
0Sitting atop one of the highest points in the city is the oldest house in Manhattan — the Morris-Jumel Mansion.
Built for British Army Colonel Roger Morris and Mary Philipse-Morris in 1765, this 258-year-old mansion is jam-packed with American history. And if you’re lucky, you may experience a piece of the past haunting the house.
"Things are always happening that are like unexplained…Hearing things, sometimes whispers, we get a lot of footsteps, shadows, things breaking," said Madeline Mungo, the Public Programs and Visitor Services Manager at the mansion.
The first known reports of the house being haunted were from Eliza and Stephen Jumel when they purchased it in 1810. Eliza was able to negotiate two thousand dollars off the asking price by claiming it was haunted.
Their most famous ghost story took place in the 60s during a school field trip that was visiting the museum. As the children are getting a bit rowdy outside the house, a woman comes out onto the balcony and yells at them to be quiet.
"The balcony doesn’t support human weight, it hasn’t for a long time but maybe if you were floating," explained Mungo.
The curator at the time then comes outside and apologizes for being late. When the teachers ask who the old woman was just yelling at their kids, the curator says there’s no one else there and that the house was padlocked so no one could have gotten in. Once inside the kids all start pointing at one painting, saying that was the lady that yelled at them.
"The curator says, 'That’s impossible. That’s Eliza Jumel, she died over 100 years ago.’," said Mungo.
From Washington’s War Room to Anne Northup working here while she and Solomon Northup were separated during his 12 years of slavery, to Eliza tripling Stephen’s fortune and going from a girl born in poverty to the richest woman in New York, possibly the country at the time, so much happened within the walls of this mansion.
"I think the history is my favorite part because there’s so much of it. Every day I’m learning something new," said Mungo.
For more information on upcoming restorations and tours of the museum, visit their website at https://morrisjumel.org
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