Jason Medina - Ghosts and Legends of Yonkers

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2015 by Jason Medina of Tribal Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved

Unless otherwise noted, all images appear courtesy of the author.

First published 2015

e-book edition 2015

ISBN 978.1.62585.052.2

Library of Congress control number: 2015945066

print edition ISBN 978.1.62619.519.6

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Tribe.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have so many people to thank for making this book possible. I will begin with my team, Yonkers Ghost Investigators. Some members grew up in Yonkers and are longtime residents, while a few moved away. There are also members who have never resided in Yonkers but still took the time to do investigations here. Many teammates have gone with me to some of these locations to verify if there was any truth to the rumors weve heard or read about.

First is my beautiful wife, Jo-Ann Santos-Medina, the teams first senior field investigator. She helps me in so many ways in regard to research and investigations, by going over hours of evidence and by helping to proofread my books. Shes gone with me on more investigations than any other member to date. Many of those investigations were conducted in Yonkers.

Next, Id like to thank my former co-team leader and founding member, my cousin Christina Claudio. She was the only one with me during the teams initial paranormal investigation on November 25, 2006. On that groundbreaking night, we were lucky enough to acquire our first photo of an apparition at Saint Josephs Cemetery in Yonkers.

My second senior field investigator and nephew, Chris Gonzalez, is next on my list. He was with me in 2006 on the teams third paranormal investigation when we got our third photo of an apparition. We were at Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers. Chris has been on the team longer than anyone else, aside from myself. He shared his personal experiences regarding his former residence, which is included in this book.

Former senior field investigators Giselle Hernandez and my cousins Jonathan and Meagan Morales, along with Tatiana Morales, have joined me on several investigations at a couple cemeteries in Yonkers. Meagan was actually at Saint Josephs Cemetery with Christina and I during our second investigation when we captured one of our best apparition photos to date. It was only our second investigation, and we already managed to obtain our Holy Grail of evidence.

Incidentally, the photos Ive mentioned are in this book.

Thank you to our former website manager, Melissa Mezo. It was because of her insistence that we have a website today. She was the one who created our first website and had the brilliant idea to add the name Yonkers to the front of our teams name. Until then, we just called ourselves Ghost Investigators. It was only a hobby, so we thought nothing of it. While on the team, Melissa was also instrumental in capturing excellent electronic voice phenomena (EVP) recordings at Saint Josephs Cemetery. After her amicable departure from the team, I created the current website from scratch and added pages to both Myspace and Facebook.

My technical crew chief, Xavier Gonzalez, has proven to be extremely helpful on investigations in and outside of Yonkers. It pains me to say I almost denied him membership to the team because I believed we had more than enough members at the time. We remained friends, regardless of this near fatal error on my part. In time, I saw the potential he had and quickly changed my mind. Im extremely grateful to have him on the team. Hes become a special part of our team and his photography skills have been an invaluable asset. He was even the photographer at my wedding. Needless to say, we are the best of friends.

Thanks to my other technical crewmembers, Richard Embree and my cousin Reuven Levy. Theyve both taken part on investigations in and outside of Yonkers. Im glad to have them on the team. Coincidentally, I almost denied Rich entry onto the team for the very same reason I denied Xavier. Once again, I realized I was making a mistake. Its a good thing, too, because Rich has been a tremendous help with researching locations for this book and with setting up video cameras during our investigations. Like with Xavier, we also became great friends.

Actually, my team members are like an extended family to me. For that reason, I am very careful whom I recruit and allow into our close-knit circle. I dont ever recruit complete strangers, although we get a lot of requests to join.

Other current teammates who have participated on investigations within the confines of Yonkers are my cousin Sarah Morales and our friends Andrew Ramnanan, Devin Larkin and Sam Bartels and one of our newest members, Kelly Seufert. Thank you all so much for helping out and doing your part.

I would like to take a moment to extend thanks to some of our former team members, who took part in some of our Yonkers investigations. A few were significant in gathering the information used in this book. Thank you very much to Natasha Brockington, Olivia Brockington, Amanda Velazquez, Kimberly Warek, Jason Bennett, Jessica Rivera, Amy Martinez and Barbara Gonzalez.

That covers my teams current and past members, in regard to our Yonkers investigations. Its time for me to thank those who helped out in other ways.

Let me begin with Whitney Landis of The History Press. It is thanks to her interest in my teams website that I was selected to write this book. She sought me out to write it. It wasnt the other way around. I was so honored, considering I was barely done with my first novel at the time. She was extremely patient while I finished with my other book projects and did not rush me to start this book. If not for her, this book may not even exist, or she might have found someone else to write it. Not to sound full of myself, but I believe I was the right person for the job, based on my dedication when it comes to doing a thorough research job, my experience with haunted locations in Yonkers, my connection to the Yonkers Historical Society and the fact that I simply love to write. Thank you, Whitney. You are an awesome person. If only all writers could have the pleasure of dealing with someone as patient and kind as you, but then you would not be as unique as you are now.

Of course, I definitely have to thank my helpful friends and fellow members of the Yonkers Historical Society for allowing me to enter their group and taking the time to assist me with research, while giving me input based on their historical knowledge and experiences, not to mention allowing me access to their extensive photo collection. There are so many to thank, but I can only name a few. Thank you to Mary Hoar, Margaret Vitulli, Joan Jennings, Peggy Murphy, Mina Crasson, Angelique Piwinski, Andrew Romano, Deirdre Rylander and, of course, Jerry Ostroff. Thanks for volunteering to help proofread this book, Jerry!

When I joined the Yonkers Historical Society, I dragged my new wife into it with me. We both became volunteers at the historic Sherwood House, the oldest farmhouse in Yonkers and the second-oldest house in Yonkers, second to Philipse Manor Hall. It was also home to Yonkers first doctor. Within a few months, we were both admitted into the Archive Committee, which is an incredible honor. I was even named the Volunteer of the Year for 2014, which was by far the greatest honor ever bestowed on me. It gave me a chance to shake hands and take photos with the Honorable Mayor Mike Spano. Thanks for attending my awards ceremony and for being both friendly and approachable. You are a true gentleman.