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A Shady Legend |
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This ghost take is complete with treasures, rising souls of the dead and greed. It happened right here in Amsterdam’s back yard. The scene was Guy Park Manor, which sits proudly at Lock 11 in Amsterdam. The time frame is the beginning of the American Revolution. The story begins at the manor, known at the time in question as Pride’s Tavern. The house had been sold to James Pride by Guy Johnson. It is unclear, however, whether the Prides or another family owned the house at the time the story takes place. A newspaper story dated Dec. 23, 1897 reports that the building was owned at that time by the family of Henry Kennedy. The Johnsons had lived in the square stone building constructed in 1773, the second house on the lot, as the original house of fancy wood design had been struck by lightning. The Johnsons were true British, and stuck with the mother country when the Revolution broke out. And like most Tories in the Mohawk Valley, the Johnsons packed their bags and headed to Canada. But they didn’t pack everything. As the legend goes, Guy Johnson left behind some important documents, or jewels, or both. In any case, there was a treasure tucked away in secret compartments of one of the rooms. He also left behind the soul of his wife (some will say it was his daughter), who died in the hasty departure from the house. Patrons of Pride’s Tavern, which was also an inn, consistently reported hearing tapping and strange noises in one of the rooms in the west end of the house. The owners of the building were terribly bothered and annoyed by this ghost, which was said to resemble Johnson’s dead relative. Perhaps the occupants of the haunted house were somewhat relieved when a stranger came to lift the bothersome apparitions from the house. The stranger, a German in every version of the story, took a keen interest in the spooky room, and insisted on spending the night with the ghost. The family was aroused in the middle of that very night by the sound of a gunshot. Yes, the noise had come from the room where the stranger was staying-the room where the valuable treasure was hidden. The family ran to the room to find the strange German standing, fully clothed, and ready to go on his way. In the middle of the night? He declared he had encountered the ghost and put it to rest with a bullet from his pistol. The people of the time believed that the ghost was truly killed-or exorcised-and peace was permanently restored to Guy Park Manor. Another version of the story contends that the German actually pointed the pistol out of a window in the room and fired the shot. The German did not leave the manor that night with only the satisfaction of quelling the owners’ fears of the ghost, but he also left with Guy Johnson’s lost treasure under his coat, or so the story goes. |
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