Often overshadowed by the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the General Slocum steamboat disaster on June 15, 1904, was nonetheless the deadliest New York City disaster prior to September 11, 2001. The official number of deceased was 1021 people: mostly women and children. The legacy of this disaster not only includes the tremendous loss of life but the reshaping of an entire New York City neighborhood, Kleindeutschland. Already losing community members to Yorkville and the outer boroughs by the turn of the 20th century, the Slocum disaster accelerated the exodus of Germans from Little Germany and ushered in the more diverse immigrant communities that settled on the Lower East Side.

Hell Gate, explosion removing Flood Rock, ca. 1880. Hell Gate is a narrow tidal strait in the East River between Astoria, Queens and Randall's and Wards Islands. The waterway had a long history as a dangerous passage; large rocks and whirlpools caused by the convergence of converging tide-driven currents made the strait treacherous and resulted in hundreds of wrecks. Beginning in the 1850s and continuing intermittently for decades, the Army Corps of Engineers used explosions in an attempt to clear the channel and make it more safely passable. The largest of these explosion efforts came in 1885 when 300,000 pounds of munitions were set off to destroy the small island called Flood Rock. Flood Rock had been considered the most dangerous feature of the strait. The explosions, likely pictured here, created a geyser 250 feet tall and were felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey. Despite these efforts, disasters in the Hell Gate would not completely end. In 1904 the steamship General Slocum caught fire while heading though the strait on its way to picnic grounds on Long Island. Scared and desperate passengers jumped into the river to escape the flames. The ship eventually beached on North Brother Island, just above the straight. The total loss of life was more than 1000 members of the German community of the Lower East Side, mostly women and children.

We delve deep into the ghost stories, murder plots, and haunted location lists to bring you the most thorough collection of New York City's spookiest spots! Check out the historic photographs of the city's most haunted sites, from Psycho-esque mansions to abandoned lunatic asylums. How many have you visited? Proceed at your own risk!💀💀💀