Ghosts, Secrets, and Mystery Lurk in This New York Landmark

One of the most well-known parks in not only New York but the entire country may be one of the most haunted.

Central Park isn’t just New York City’s backyard — it’s one of the most visited parks on the planet, pulling in around 42 million visitors every single year since it opened back in 1857.

People come for the scenery, the skyline views, and the carriage rides. But what many visitors don’t realize is that beneath all that postcard-perfect beauty is a long, unsettling history packed with tragedy, mystery, and more than a few ghost stories.

Crime, Murder & Ghosts

Believe it or not, the first recorded murder in Central Park happened in 1870, the same year the park was completed. A man was stabbed in a tragic case of mistaken identity, setting an eerie tone early on.

READ MORE: 7 Most Haunted Places in New York to Scare You to Death

Fast forward to the early 1980s, and the park had gained a darker reputation, with more than 1,000 crimes reported each year. Not exactly the vibe tourists expect when they’re posing by Bethesda Fountain.

Chilling Legends

Some of the park’s most famous legends are downright chilling.

Take Janet and Rosetta Van Der Voort, two sisters who lived next to the park in the 1800s. Their father was extremely overprotective, and the only place they were allowed to go was the pond to ice skate.

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After both sisters passed away in the 1880s, locals claimed their spirits never left. Even today, people say they’ve seen two Victorian-era women gliding across the ice on quiet winter nights — still skating, still free.

Secrets in Central Park

Then there’s Calvert Vaux, the park’s co-designer, whose story reads like a conspiracy thriller.

In a 1895 letter, Vaux claimed he had hidden a secret of major historical importance somewhere in Central Park and feared for his life because of it. Two months later, he was found drowned in Brooklyn’s Gravesend Bay. Accident… or cover-up?

READ MORE: One of Most Haunted NY Cemeteries Home to Cursed Bronze Lady

The mystery lives on through the so-called Central Park Papers, which allegedly hold clues to the secret’s location.

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Dakota Building Dark History

Nearby, the Dakota apartment building casts its own shadow.

In 1980, Beatle John Lennon was tragically shot in its archway, and decades earlier, the building had been used in the filming of the horror classic Rosemary’s Baby, where it’s revealed that Satan fathered the baby.

Dark Mysteries

Add in the infamous Suicide Cave, now sealed, whispers of a massive underground complex tied to the Manhattan Project, and paranormal investigators claiming they’ve captured eerie voices on ghost radios — and suddenly Central Park feels a lot less peaceful after dark.

With its tangled history, eerie legends, and chilling mysteries, it’s easy to see why Central Park is considered one of the country’s most haunted spots.