Ghost City: NYC Complains Of, Investigates, Phantom Roommates

NEW YORK GHOST CITY — One New Yorker is living a Dickensian nightmare up in The Bronx, according to 311 records obtained by Patch.

"The ghosts of Christmas past and Christmas future keep waking me up and trying to make me visit alternate timelines," the New Yorker told 311 on Oct. 22, 2021. "Please they are harassing me and I can’t take it."

This is one of eight complaints the city’s 311 system received regarding ghosts in New York City over the past year, according to records Patch received in response to Freedom of Information Law request.

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While one complained New York had become a "ghost town" and another worried about "ghost guns," it seems some city dwellers had sightings that left them spooked.

"Tell his mother that [there] is a ghost in the house," another Bronx resident demanded.

A third New Yorker to report ghosts in his city abode did not call 311, but told interviewers from the Yankees' YES Network.

"I don't care what anyone says," Mayor Eric Adams said of Gracie Mansion. "There are ghosts in there, man."

Vinny Carbone, a paranormal investigator from New York City, says other-worldly beings glide rampant across the five boroughs.

“I would say New York City is just as haunted as any other major metropolis in the world,” Carbone told Patch. “It’s because it’s a melting pot and because so many people all over the world have made New York their home.”

Carbone's fascination with ghosts dates back to his childhood and the release of a movie that rhymes with Most Dusters. No, not "Coast Lusters," although one Patch reporter may now be considering writing that screenplay.

"When I was four years old, my mom tells me I was crying because I wanted the 'Ghostbusters' proton pack that I saw on TV,” Carbone said. “I’ve been fascinated with all things supernatural my entire life."

Carbone grew up watching television shows such as "Unsolved Mysteries" and "In Search Of," which he contrasts with today’s programs that are “over the top.” He said more recent shows can put people off contacting paranormal investigators.

“They don’t want a group of wackos coming into the house,” he said.

The paranormal investigator — whose resume also includes working as medic in Brooklyn — rekindled his unworldly passion when a friend and fellow ghost enthusiast asked him to organize a ghost hunt for a bachelor party.

After some research, Carbone ended up on a phone call with the uptown Manhattan museum the Morris-Jumel Mansion, whose staff soon asked him to host ghost hunts.

In what Carbone called a “totally unexpected turn of events," he eventually ended up becoming the museum’s program director.

"I ended up writing a show about the ghosts of the house,” he said. “I did so based on private letters and newspaper articles.”

Carbone prides himself on a matter-of-fact, not sensationalized approach to paranormal investigations, as seen on his YouTube channel.

While Carbone said his investigations have taken him across the U.S., he notes there is an ample supply of spirits in New York City.

“No one really thinks about New York. Why not?”

New York City’s does have its share of famous haunted places — Merchant’s House, Morris-Jumel Mansion, Fraunces Tavern and Historic Richmond Town, where Carbone hosts paranormal investigations — that all have deep histories, but Carbone said there is another, often-overlooked location for ghosts.

“I’m going to tell you,” Carbone said. "Someone has absolutely died in that brownstone."

Carbone stresses that New Yorkers not need fear ghostly co-habitats.

“What they should know is they’re more-than-likely not in danger,” he said. “Quite often you just have an invisible roommate.”

"I know it sounds unusual," Carbone said. "You have to learn to live with it.”

New Yorkers who are spooked, literally, by their spectral roommates, need to start small, Carbone told Patch.

Look for explanations that are more down-to-earth than the paranormal, such as drafts, thin walls, or the need for an interesting thing to say on a first date.

But once the simple explanations are eliminated, Carbone says, New Yorkers can conduct their own investigations with a few simple tricks:

1. Use a smartphone recorder app to find for electronic voice phenomenon. Record yourself addressing the ghost in your house, then listen back for a response.
2. Do not use a Ouija board. (“Either it’s completely BS and I don’t have time for that. Or it’s completely legit, and I don’t have time for that…That’s a conduit for something other than ghosts.”)
3. Purchase electronic-based and other scientific equipment and join Carbone in the field of paranormal investigation. (“You yourself can become a paranormal investigator in your due time,” Carbone said. “Don’t rely solely on, ‘I have to find an expert.")

Once you've confirmed the presence of a phantom roommate, it's time to do what you do with the living ones: set boundaries and lower your expectations.

“Just by doing that you can see a decrease in activity,” Carbone said. “I honestly don’t think you can get rid of a ghost. If there is a such thing as a ghost, they’re going to leave when they’re good and ready.”