← All Of It with Alison Stewart
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- [00:07]
Alison Stewart
I'm telling you, we have ghosts in the machines. This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm grateful you are here. Happy Halloween. We have a suitably scary show for you today. We'll learn about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. And we'll hear our traditional Halloween recitation of the Raven by by Sharon Carlson. We'll speak with the artistic directors of Mex Fest, a celebration honoring the day of the Dead at Flushing Town Hall. And we'll talk about why America is so obsessed with true crime. That's the plan. So let's get this started.
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Caller/Listener
Ghostbusters.
- [01:06]
Christy Reeder
If there's something strange in your neighborhood.
- [01:10]
Caller/Listener
Who you gonna call?
- [01:12]
Alison Stewart
Ghostbusters. The Jersey Devil? Sleepy Hollow the haunting in Connecticut house The Tri State area is full of spooky sights. There's a chance you may have had your own story or encounter that you couldn't exactly explain. This month, a News 12 original series investigates different sites considered by some to be haunte throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The series is called Haunted Tri State. It's hosted by Christy Reeder, anchor and reporter for News 12 the Bronx. Christy visited Boonton, New Jersey, Wappinger's Falls, New York, Naugatuck, Connecticut and Huntington on Long Island. And yes, there are moments that even a reporter, she couldn't explain. Christy is with me now in studio to discuss the series. Christy, it's nice to meet you.
- [02:00]
Christy Reeder
It is such an honor to be here today and meet you as well to talk about this.
- [02:05]
Alison Stewart
Where did you get the idea for this series?
- [02:07]
Christy Reeder
Well, I cannot take credit. Our VP of news, Audrey Gruber, she had this idea and you know how it is, when you have an idea, then the work has to go into, okay, well can we really do this? So you know, a bunch of producers were like, okay, well why don't we, you know, see what's out there? You know, we have to get the team of paranormal people, we have to get the places, the places to agree. Cause we all know, you know, these places are, you know, supposedly haunted. But can we get access? So one of the producers on the show actually connected with one of the teams that was featured in the series, Full Moon Paranormal. So it's an all female paranormal group in the Hudson Valley area. And they invited her to a ghost hunt. So the producer's like, okay, okay. At an old grist mill in New Jersey. So she goes, and this is before I even came on the project she came on, you know, there stayed till like one in the morning talking to different people, making connections about, okay, well, you know, what places have you been to? What places would be open to us coming? And then, you know, it kind of goes from there. Okay, so we're going to go and, and you know, these are the places we have access. Okay, well, how do we build this show? And you know, it's a journalistic approach to it too, which makes it a little different about how we're going to tell this story.
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Alison Stewart
Before you went in, did you have a feeling about spirituality or ghosts?
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Christy Reeder
Yes, I would say I was talking one of the producers here. I'm a scaredy cat. The fact that I did this show, I see that I really take my job seriously because I won't watch a scary movie with my husband. But yet I will do this. Yes, no, I definitely, I'm kind of one of those people that I don't wanna mess with it. Okay, what maybe you believe, maybe you don't, but like, I don't wanna attempt either way. So at all of the shoots I always had very much, you know, respect. A lot of the groups are always like, we, we come in, we, you know, we explain what we're doing here. I'm not gonna lie, I had a little rosary in my pocket. Yeah, you know, I don't wanna, I don't wanna not have it.
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Alison Stewart
It's gonna be safe. Listeners, in honor of Halloween, let's have a little bit of fun. Tell us about your haunted corner of the tri State area. I know you've probably had an experience or two. Think of the spookiest or scariest encounter or one that just gave you tingles. Our Phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. What did you experience and where? How did it feel? We want to hear your stories. 2124-339692-21243. WNYC. So Christy, what did you learn about the reputation of the Tri State when it comes to haunted sites?
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Christy Reeder
There's a lot of them.
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Caller/Listener
Yeah.
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Christy Reeder
Or a lot of people feel that there are a lot of them, you know, depending on how you feel about the whole situation. But yeah, I was surprised at how welcoming the sites were to, hey, come on in with your group. Hear the keys, even like, we'll see it later. And letting us do this, I thought that was really interesting. I used to report in Missouri and you know, sometimes I felt like, you know, there it was a little Bit more guarded where here it was like, come on in. We want you to talk about that. Cause maybe if you have that, then you'll frequent the restaurants downtown or people will want to come to this. And it really is interesting, too, because you learn a lot of history about these places, and there's just so much history out here. And that's what the show has. It's. You know, the first part of it is really telling the backstory to these homes or bakeries or elks lodges and what the rumors are. And then we go in with the group.
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Alison Stewart
Once you decided on. On the sites that you went to, what were your goals for the planned visit?
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Christy Reeder
Yeah, the goals were to bring the crews in and to see what we can find and, you know, how the process works and tell people, okay, what are. You know, there's a lot of different equipment I have learned after doing this. You know, phasma boxes, you know, they. A lot of. And some simple things, too, like just toys that, you know, motion sensor toys. So it was kind of trying to tell people, okay, here's the history. Here are the rumors. Well, and here's this group of people, the investigators. This is what they do. This is how their tools work. And then what are we going to experience while we're there? So as they're doing their ghost hunting, I'm asking questions, but I'm trying to be an observer. But I also have to do the part of, okay, well, why is that? Going off?
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Alison Stewart
The journal is a part of it.
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Christy Reeder
That's what's interesting.
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Caller/Listener
Yeah.
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Christy Reeder
Well, and when we were doing the interviews with the paranormal teams, too, we would talk about, okay, well, what drew you into this? And when you felt like you had this ability, especially talking to the mediums, it was, you know, like, how did you. When did you tap into that? And what made you, you know, realize that, hey, it's okay to talk about that? And it was just really. And they were all great to work with. One interesting one was a sketch medium. So as things come to him, he sketches it.
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Alison Stewart
Oh, that's interesting.
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Christy Reeder
Yeah. So usually it's people. And he does this. You know, he has a regular job and then does this too. And he, you know, will be sketching someone, and then all of a sudden, somebo like, that's my family member. And then you look at the pictures and you're like, what? So, yeah, the overall goal was really to give you a little history, show what the paranormal teams do, and then see if we could experience anything ourselves. But really let the viewers decide and Then the skeptics come in at the end. They watch our footage, and then they tell us what they think.
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Alison Stewart
Let's talk to Jim, who's calling in from New Jersey. Hey, Jim, thanks for making the time to talk to us here at all of it. What do you got for me?
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Caller/Listener
Hi.
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I just live in Hamilton Heights and I'm standing in my apartment and I.
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Feel a presence next to me and there's nobody there. Next.
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Next thing, I'm lying in bed and I reading a book, and I feel.
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A sheet being thrown over me like a brown.
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It felt brown. So I went to somebody to take care of it, wink, wink, and all.
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Those things went away. The next tenants had similar experience.
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Alison Stewart
That is a wild story, Jim.
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Host/Producer
Thank you for calling in.
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Alison Stewart
Do you find the places you went.
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Host/Producer
That people told you the same stories again and again?
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Christy Reeder
Yeah, a lot of them had, you know, like when we were in Naugatuck, Connecticut, at the Tuttle House, a lot of different people in the town because it used to be, you know, a school administration building. There was this little boy that people had seen, you know. And it's so interesting, too, as we get these callers in, when you just talk about the show, how many people would be like, right off the bat, tell you their experience? It was just wild, like nothing I had ever done before in news and all of that. It was interesting.
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Host/Producer
Let's talk to Diane from Flushing, Queens. Hi, Diane, thank you for calling.
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Alison Stewart
All of it on Halloween.
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Ira Flato
Hello.
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Caller/Listener
Thank you for taking my call. Many years ago, I lived on 165th street in Flushing, about 45th Avenue. And I was in a children's park across the street in the evening as the sun was setting, and all of a sudden I could see gravestones all around me. And I said to my niece, there's a graveyard here. And her mother said, oh, we have to leave. We have to leave. And many years later, I think it was sometime in the 90s that they rededicated that park as Old Town Flushing Burial Ground, which was a pauper's graveyard back in the 1800s.
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Wow.
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Christy Reeder
Oh, wow.
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Host/Producer
Thank you for calling, Diane.
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Christy Reeder
I'm writing down that address. Maybe that's a site we need to go to next season.
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Host/Producer
She's a good journalist.
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Christy Reeder
Her name is Christy Reeder, anchor and.
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Alison Stewart
Reporter for News 12 the Bronx.
- [10:31]
Host/Producer
She hosts News 12 series Haunted Tri State, which explores haunted happenings in the area. We want to hear from you. Since it's Halloween, tell us about your haunted corner of the Tri State. If you've ever had an experience In New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. What did you experience? Where? How did it feel? Call and tell us now. 212-433-969-2212, wnyc. You may call in and join us on air or you can text to us at that number. 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. We got a text here that says, what is a fan? A phasm box or whatever you said that you mentioned. Yes.
- [11:12]
Christy Reeder
Yeah. So the phasma box scans radio frequency. Let's see how much I remember of my research. It scans radio frequencies, and then when you pick up bits of that, you know, you'll ask questions, and then you listen to the phasma box, essentially getting your answers from the bits of, you know, radio waves that are coming in. I probably didn't do that justice with that explanation. And the paranormal team's like, christy, we told you what this is, but that's the general idea. Yes.
- [11:45]
Host/Producer
All right, let's talk about some sites in this series. Let's start with Elks Lodge, 1405 in Boonton, New Jersey. You say that there's been paranormal investigators have flocked to that area for years. What do they expect to find?
- [12:04]
Christy Reeder
So a few of the team members there, we interviewed Gail and she. They were, you know, a lot of people, when they drive by these places, they are just kind of a sense comes to them, like, I gotta get in there. And if you talk to a lot of the Elks Lodge members, they've all experienced different, you know, unexplained occurrences there, you know, something happening in that one. There was a staircase in the basement, and it's an old building. Well, a lot of these are old except for one, but old building. And in the basement, there's like a bar area, you know, very, you know, blast from the past, decor and whatnot. Now, the staircase. Staircase that leads up. And there's two old bowling lanes down there, too. The staircase that leads up. There's been a lot of sightings. And the spirits down there, they believe, are a little aggressive, I guess you could say. So, you know, there's good spirits and, you know, bad spirits, and some people get a bad feeling in the basement. Upstairs in the choir loft area, some people wouldn't even go up there. And of course, the producers of our show were like, christy, you got to go up there. There aren't. I'd always say when we were filming something to. I'd be like, okay, who's coming with Me, though. Okay. Like, I'm not going alone, but. Yeah, in that.
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Host/Producer
That place.
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Christy Reeder
And who.
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Caller/Listener
Who.
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Christy Reeder
Who was doing the haunting? I. You know, they didn't know if it was old Elks Lodge members or, you know, what people were experiencing.
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Alison Stewart
Did you feel anything strange?
- [13:41]
Christy Reeder
Yes. So I was doing an interview with one of the paranormal team. We were in the basement. We were right by that staircase. And I. You know, and there's different producers and photo photographers around, so they're getting different shots, but. And so I thought. I thought one was walking over the corner of my eye, and I look over, and no one's there. But I'm like, you know, I don't know. And then the paranormal investigator stops me, and she's like, was it alive or was it one of our spirits? It says something like that. And I'm like, oh, what? She's like, I saw you look over, you know, they're here with us. I was like, oh, boy.
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Alison Stewart
Another episode you focused on Wappinger Falls, New York, in the Hudson Valley, specifically the Mizir homestead. What was special about this place?
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Christy Reeder
So this place had ties all the way back to the 1700s, and it was one of those buildings that had been built upon. So it started as one, you know, small building, and then, you know, went, you know, larger and larger and, you know, different families, a loyalist live there. And there was the Wappinger's tea party. You know, all these different stories. And the building had then been converted into a police station. They believe children were there. At one point, you know, it was all different. You know, served all different purposes. And there. I remember the team that was Full moon paranormal, they. The different spirits, there would be some angry ones. You know, one time somebody felt. You know, that was with our team, one of the paranormal team. They felt so heavy, they had to leave the room. And I'm like, what we're doing to stay in here. And in that episode, in that room, and that was the oldest part of the house, I was holding an EMF reader. And that's what detects, you know, frequency around you, like electricity. And it. They had me hold it, and I went over to the corner where they were just really feeling something. And it goes all the way green. And then they test to try to see, okay, is this. You know, and then I. I felt like. I felt a little static on my pinky. Almost like a balloon was rubbing up against it. And then I was just like, what am I doing? And that was our first. That was our first location that we shot at. So that was a night.
- [16:17]
Alison Stewart
We are talking about the series Haunted Tri State with Christy Reader. We'll have more of your calls after a quick break. This is ALL of it. You are listening to all of IT on WNYC on this Halloween. My guest is Christy Reeder. She's an anchor and reporter for News 12 in the Bronx. She hosts News 12 series Haunted Tri State, which explores haunted happenings in the Tri State area. We've got a call from John in Somerset, New Jersey. John, you are on the air on this Halloween.
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Caller/Listener
Good morning. I have a story about a day that my father and I and my four year old son, who is now 50, were driving through South Brunswick, which is where my family had a farm for over 100 years. And we were driving by a water tower and my 4 year old son said, pointed over to it and said, I used to go to school there. My father almost ran off the road because exactly where that water tower was was the old schoolhouse that my grandfather went to.
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Christy Reeder
Wow, we're gasping here.
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Alison Stewart
That's a good story. Let's talk to Luke in Crown Heights. Hi, Luke, you're on the air on Halloween.
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Caller/Listener
Hi. Happy Halloween. So I grew up on 106th street between Central park west and Duke Ellington. And we moved there in 94 when I was 2. And unexplained sort of harmless shenanigans would occur around the house. Like a good example is our refrigerator got unplugged. No one's going back there and doing that. But unprompted, I would say, like, oh, the monkey did it. And I, although I can recollect actually remembering it and seeing it sort of out of the corner of my eyes more just a sort of golden or it's like a light essentially. Just like a kind of a light. And much later I learned that actually the previous tenant there had two pet monkeys, one of whom passed away there. And they were sort of well known in the neighborhood. And yeah, I did not know that. And I did not know clearly I was a child. I didn't know about the previous tenant's pet history, but I unprompted called it the monkey, even though I saw it as a bright light. So spooky stuff.
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Alison Stewart
Spooky stuff. Thanks for sharing your story.
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Christy Reeder
Thanks for calling in.
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Alison Stewart
You mentioned this earlier. You went to Naugatuck, Connecticut to explore the Tuttle house. All right, who were the Tuttles and what is the haunted house lore?
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Christy Reeder
So a prominent family in the area, they had one child. She wanted this house, you know, and of course I always, you Know some of the history of it. When they're like, yes. And they spent $50,000 at the time. And it's this huge house. They built the house soon after, you know, he had passed. Mr. Tuttle, then Marianne, she was still living there. And then she always wanted to, you know, dedicate everything to education. So the house was then given to the city. It was used as a school. Then Board of Education came in. What was really creepy there after we. And we teamed up with a woman who performs ro. Who performs exorcists. And then this is kind of something, you know, light she does on the side. Because this wasn't a house that needed an exorcism. You know, it was just something she does kind of, because her work is so heavy. So there. What was interesting when we were doing research after, you know, the night, and, you know, there were eerie things that happened. But there was a fire that happened, you know, within the last, I think, 10 years or so. And the way the fire burned, it was wild. Like, investigators couldn't understand how it just stopped and the house was saved, essentially. And some people wonder, oh, was that her protecting the home? And there was all this gorgeous wallpaper that was, you know, from the time period. And, you know, with the sprinkler system, it was just covered in water, but yet it's perfectly fine today, so.
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Host/Producer
Right.
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Caller/Listener
Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
Let's talk to John from Brooklyn. I think he's calling in. Hey, John, thanks for calling all of it.
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Caller/Listener
Oh, great.
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This is such a fun show. Here's my story. This is a few years back. I was working in the archives at Cooper Union, and my boss, Kim, told me her story about her dog, who was really ill, exhausted, passed out. Whenever she would come home, she took the dog to the vet. They checked him out. There was no problem with the dog. The next day, Kim didn't feel so well. She came home early, and she found the dog jumping, running back and forth, back and forth in the apartment, playing catch with a ball, a red ball that she'd never seen before. She would run into the bathroom and someone would throw the ball out, and the dog would get it and run back into the bathroom. The ball would come flying out. There was no one in the bathroom.
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Christy Reeder
We run it outside.
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Caller/Listener
So she spoke to some neighbors, and it seemed that the guy who used to live in this apartment had a dog and a red ball would play with it all the time. And he committed suicide in that bathroom. So the thought was that the ghost of this guy was still playing with a dog.
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Alison Stewart
Thank you, for sharing that story. We got a text here that says the Morris Jumel mansion in Washington Heights is supposed to have the ghost of a Hessian soldier that haunts it. I don't know when it appears, but today might be a good day to test the theory.
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Christy Reeder
What was that? Washington Heights. I'm writing these down.
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Alison Stewart
Worcester Mill Mansion. Let's talk to Vincent. Hi, Vincent. Thank you so much for calling all of it on Halloween.
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Caller/Listener
Hey, happy Halloween, ladies. How are you guys doing?
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Alison Stewart
Okay?
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Ira Flato
Yes.
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Caller/Listener
So my story is when my wife and I moved from Brooklyn to Jersey, we bought an old Victorian, about 1880, you know, beautiful home, wraparound porch in a historic district in North Plainfield. And it had a third floor, which was the servants quarters of the time. And we were doing renovations and all this stuff, and it just like shenanigans like the other caller had mentioned. You know, curtains would move, tools would be moved. You could feel the presence. But we never really, really paid it any mind. It was kind of cool to have something like that in the house. We used to do Christmas tours because it was a historic district. And, you know, we used to dress up, period, all that stuff, and people would come in and out of the homes. And one Christmas, a couple came in and the woman stopped dead in foyer and said, the captain is here and he enjoys your company. And we were like, how crazy. What?
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Christy Reeder
Oh, my goodness.
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Alison Stewart
The captain is here. He enjoys your company. I'm glad he enjoys your company. I didn't want to think about it otherwise. Thanks for calling in. Just this week, your final episode aired about a haunted bakery in Huntington.
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Caller/Listener
Yummy.
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Alison Stewart
Tell us more.
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Caller/Listener
Yes.
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Christy Reeder
So this one I was mentioning how not all of them are, you know, really old, you know, places. This is like a strip mall in Huntington. Fiorello Dolce. The owner, Gerard, shout out to you. He's great. He's actually put out a book on it. But yeah, we. I honestly, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be easy night. I pull up, there's like, you know, it's a small bakery that was creepy. They had a back alley. And of course, the producers were like, you have to go back there. And once again, and there were different. There was this. He had a couple seances there before, and he had gotten this name Eddie. And who is Eddie? And also these little girls. One was Gracie and had thought maybe there was even a picture of them in the back. And, you know, so we went out there and, you know, we heard different things. Things come through the phasma box, you know, different, you know, names like that Eddie. We heard Gracie, we heard our producer's name, Virginia. And at that place too. It was all of his security footage that he allowed us to use as well for the show. That was just you double take, you know, carts moving, cups moving around. And even the day after yesterday, he sent me a message of the camera above. And some would say, maybe it's dust. Others would say orbs. But it was the day after, the morning after the episode aired. And all these orbs. Yeah. So, yeah, I put that on my Instagram page.
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Alison Stewart
Let's go to Dave. Dave has a question for you. Dave, you're on the air.
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Caller/Listener
Hi. So as a longtime reporter, I was.
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Wondering how hard was it to walk.
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The line between skeptical journalists and just kind of being open minded on these experiences?
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Host/Producer
Ooh.
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Christy Reeder
It was tough because, you know, I wanted the process to play out, but then at the same time, I have to ask the questions. And so sometimes we would walk, you know, we would look at the footage and I'd be like, oh, I should have asked that, or this. But then also, I didn't know if maybe something was gonna happen in that moment. And I didn't wanna, you know, get into it as far as. Yeah, putting on my journalism cap. I think that's why I did the whole thing. Because if you just told me as a regular person, go in there, and I'd be like, no, I'm scared. But when you take a standpoint of, hey, let's tell a little history, let's see what they're going to do, or, you know, let's see how these paranormal teams work and ask them questions. Why do they think this or that? I think it gives it a different take. So basically they. They told me, go in there as just a regular person, as, you know, as a journalist, ask the questions. That's the whole, you know, the basis of the show. We want to know about this place, we want to know about these teams, and then we want our viewers to decide how they feel.
- [27:05]
Alison Stewart
The name of the series is Haunted Tri State. I have been speaking with Christy Reeder, anchor and Reporter for News 12 in the Bronx. Thank you so much for being here and taking our calls. We really appreciate it.
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Christy Reeder
I am so honored that you had me call in or come in and be with you here today. And the show is. You can stream it, you can. It's gonna be airing all tonight to Mer, so tune in. Thank you so much.
- [27:30]
Alison Stewart
Say it. Happy Halloween.
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Ira Flato
Yes, this is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday for over 30 years. The science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship wnyc. Org.