In keeping with the week's Halloween theme, the Press investigates the rather scant number of haunted houses on the East End, a historic area that one would think to be rife with ghosts. The easy explanation: real estate. It seems the paranormal don't sell houses all that well, particularly in a luxury market, so on the surface, the Hamptons is utterly devoid of spirits. A 1991 court ruling in Upstate New York scared many storytellers, when a $650,000 house sale fell through after the seller didn't reveal the hauntedness of her house. A $32,500 deposit had to be returned after it was proven that the seller had relayed ghost stories to the local newspaper and Reader's Digest, but not to the freaked out buyer.
The article is chock full of anonymous brokers with creepy stories at confidential locations, with one exception being Sag Harbor. They love this stuff! The owner of the Kramoris Gallery on Main Street is happy to report a ghost living among the artwork, and at the collection of galleries at 125 Main Street, reports of 'a floating black phantom, footsteps...and a ghostly face peering out the window' were fully disclosed when that property was sold last January. In Bridgehampton, experts from the New York Ghost Hunting Team spoke about a ghost-ridden business that shall remain nameless, but had all of the 'classic signs' of a haunting. As for the competition (i.e. Nantucket, Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard), they're proud to share their spooky sightings, 'celebrating paranormal activity' every chance they get.
· East End Haunts Are Scare But Still There [SH Press]