George Washington, Vampire Slayer!

Excuse the Halloween hyperbole, but now that I have your attention, I can discuss hauntings during the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. Truth be told, if I had started the action and adventure series with a book titled, say, "The Marching Dead," I would be on easy street today. People enjoy being scared, and they prefer the macabre and horrifying over mundane things like action and intrigue. Just imagine, a tale of a rebel unit massacred while bivouacking at a cemetery. Only this unit of wraiths rises, zombie-like, whenever the Cause needs them. Still imagine a team of clever British officers desperately trying to find a way to stop this phantom army's onslaught, not realizing that silver, not lead balls, would do the trick... What's in your ammo box?

Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York

The American Revolution has its fair share of hauntings and spooky stories. Most of these are known only locally, as most hauntings are celebrated in their own communities. Many are tied to specific places... like a Poltergeist-like phenomenon. But one legend has become a national story: Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. The original story of Ichabod Crane, the superstitious schoolteacher afraid of the legendary headless horseman of the Old Dutch Church, has haunted both young and old for generations. I remember driving through the story's setting, Tarrytown, New York, with my father when I was a boy. I was about ten. As we drove south on NY 9, he pointed to the church and cemetery and said, "the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow is here, the Hessian's ghost haunts the cemetery," and I felt a chill run down my spine. It was broad daylight in summer. Can you imagine how I'd feel on a dark October night? I don’t think I knew what a Hessian was back then, but he had me at Headless Horseman. Over time, the story grew as new media brought it to wider audiences and stretched the original plot to its limits. It’s been adapted into radio shows, TV dramas, cartoons, and recently a major film (featuring Johnny Depp) as well as a TV series that takes the story even further.

The Headless Horseman is the iconic RevWar Spook

Ringwood Manor

The Mid-Atlantic is full of Revolutionary War hauntings. In a past Yankee Doodle Spies Blog, I discussed the Morris-Jumel House in New York's Harlem and the stories and tales of its haunting. The Van Cortlandt Mansion, Greenwood Cemetery (ground zero for the Battle of Long Island - a place that saw the most bloodshed of the war), are other notable New York sites. Just across the great North River, in Passaic, New Jersey, stands Ringwood Manor. 

This was once the home of General Robert Erskine, who was the geographer for George Washington's army. Later, he ran an ironworks on the property. He's buried near the manor house, and it's said that at dusk, he sits on his grave, gazing at the pond beyond. Some have reported his ghost walking the grounds, carrying a lantern. There are also French soldiers buried nearby, who fought for the American cause. They, too, emerge at night and walk along the pond, speaking in French. The house itself is not the original, but it has its own hauntings dating back to the 19th century.

Erskine's ghost haunts Ringwood Cemetery

New England Nightmare

New England, home of the Salem witch trials a century earlier, is no stranger to tales of the macabre. Boston Harbor’s scenic Long Island is known for one of the most tragic Boston ghost stories. At the end of the American Revolution's actions around Boston, the British still had several ships in the harbor, mainly to evacuate Loyal Americans who wanted to leave before the rebels took control of the city. Onboard one of these ships were William and Mary Burton. The young couple, passionate Loyalists, were among those fleeing. While sailing away from the harbor, a shot from the besiegers' battery on Long Island struck Mary in the back of the head.

Mary Burton's ghost roams
 Long Island Dunes

According to the legend, she lingered for several days in excruciating pain before dying. In her death throes, Mary supposedly asked her husband not to bury her at sea. After she died, William

returned to Long Island to fulfill his love's dying wish.

He wrapped her bloodied body in a red blanket that Mary owned and buried her beneath the island's sand dunes. Her headstone was a piece of driftwood carved with her name. Before leaving her

grave, William swore he would return someday with a proper headstone. He never did. But according to

the legend, Mary still waits for him.

Over the years, visitors to the island have reported seeing a woman with pallid skin, covered in mud,

wearing a scarlet cloak, walking among the dunes. Many have seen blood on her cloak and noticed a

gaping hole in the back of her head, where cannon fire had struck her skull.

Southern Spooks

The South is no stranger to incredible stories, and RevWar hauntings are no exception. The focal point is the site of a major war event, Yorktown, Virginia. In October 1781, a desperate British General, Charles Cornwallis, led his troops hoping the Royal Navy would rescue him from land now swarming with rebel soldiers and their French allies. Prolonged sieges under harsh conditions set the stage for eerie stories that still persist today. 

The anguish and suffering during the siege make Yorktown hauntingly memorable. From “Cornwallis’s Cave on the banks of the York River to Crawford Road – the town is filled with urban legends and ghost stories. Cornwallis’ Cave has no direct connection to Cornwallis, but legend says British troops hid in the cave to escape the constant bombardment by Continental and French artillery.

Cornwallis's Cave

Some legends suggest that the civilian residents of Yorktown took refuge there. Evidence does show that after the war, the cave was probably used by smugglers. It is located along the waterfront. Perhaps they spread haunting tales to keep prying eyes away from their lair? There are still reports that voices can be heard at night emanating from the dark recesses of the cave. Those who follow such stories believe them to be the voices of Revolutionary War soldiers, the moaning of the injured and dying hiding inside.

Myths are to cultures what dreams are to people. Similarly, horror stories are to cultures what nightmares are to individuals. The eight-year war for independence was a nightmare for everyone involved: the Americans who suffered during the rebellion; the Loyalists who lost their homes and property; and the British who lost their empire. It’s perhaps fitting that such a war serves as both a source of myth and horror. Have a spooky Halloween. Stay frightened, my friends.