Who's Haunting The Empire State Building?

 

Forget the haunted house down the block. New York’s got a skyscraper where a ghost can ruin your evening eighty-six floors above the sidewalk. Grab your Halloween candy—we’re heading up the Empire State Building.

The star of this spooky show is a mysterious woman in 1940s clothing. A tourist spotted her crying on the observation deck in 1985. The tourist stopped to help, which is usually when things start going sideways in a ghost story.

The stranger said her husband had died in the war in Germany. Then she walked straight through the safety fence and vanished over the edge. Just like that, a sightseeing trip turned into something you’d tell people about for the rest of your life.

The horrified tourist rushed into the restroom to pull herself together. And who was standing there touching up her makeup? The same woman, apparently getting ready to head outside and start the whole terrifying business again.

That’s the legend, anyway—there’s no verified account establishing that it happened.

Some versions identify the ghost as Evelyn McHale, a real 23-year-old woman who died by suicide in 1947. The wartime-widow story doesn’t match her biography, but ghost stories have never been particularly careful about checking identification.

Here’s something a little more real. On July 28, 1945, a B-25 bomber slammed into the skyscraper between the 78th and 79th floors. Fire  tore through the building as firefighters raced to put it out.

Fourteen people died in the crash. Later ghost accounts folded the tragedy into the tower’s haunted reputation, although the historical record gives us much firmer ground than the supernatural stories. The real disaster was frightening enough.

And then there’s the time somebody tried to get Thomas Edison on the line. In 1932, with the Depression making tenants scarce, a seance on the 82nd floor attempted to contact the late inventor. As publicity schemes go, that certainly beats handing out brochures.

There’s no evidence that Edison showed up, but you’d think a man associated with electric lighting could’ve managed a flicker.

So this Halloween, picture that observation deck with fog swallowing the skyline and wind rattling past the railings. Then imagine a woman in old-fashioned clothes stepping out beside you.

She’s just fixed her lipstick. And you’re beginning to wish you’d taken the stairs down sooner.

And if you hear the roar of a plane, you better wake up before it hits.