Things That Go Bump in the Long Islan d Night

Michelle Gross

With the release of the 2005 remake of the Amityville Horror, based on a book that told of the “actual events” that occurred on Ocean Avenue , I decided to do a little ghostbusting of my own and dig into a few other urban legends on Long Island .

All alone on a long dark road

            Driving anywhere late at night is scary enough to make you check the locks on your car doors and make sure you have enough gas. But for Long Islanders, driving on Sweet Hollow Road in Huntington is a place you don’t want to be alone.

            Sweet Hollow Road , off of Jericho Turnpike in Huntington , has been shrouded for years in myths and ghostly legends. According to several websites and many native Long Islanders, the most common story is the one about a woman in a white veil who walks right out in front of cars and then disappears. Another legend has it that a young girl was killed on the road in the 1920’s. Her ghost supposedly has been seen walking down the road at night. There are also stories of hitchhikers who seem to be there and then disappear and a host of other sightings.

Beware of Ghosts in Water

            The Lake Ronkonkoma Legend is one that dates back to the rival Indian tribes of the Secatagues and the Poospatucks. Depending on who you ask, you will probably get one of the two most common versions of the tale. The first tells it is as a Romeo and Juliet tale. It begins with a Princess from the Secatague tribe, who live on the land that is now Sayville and a prince from the Poospatucks tribe who lived on what is now Bayport. The two were forbidden to see each other. As legend has it, they snuck out one night and took a canoe to Lake Ronkonkoma to find a romantic spot.  Lake Ronkonkoma is believed by some to be bottomless.  The spirits did not approve of the lovers meeting and that evening the boat with the prince and princess sunk and their bodies were forever left in the river. As the story goes, every year the princess kills two lovers and pulls their bodies into the lake.

            The other claims that the Indian princess actually committed suicide by drowning herself in the lake and every year kills a male and takes his body into the lake with her. While neither version of this story has shown any evidence of being true, it is enough to make you think twice before going on a romantic boat ride on Lake Ronkonkoma .

Noises From Below

            The banging on the walls and screams of pain are still said to be heard on the grounds where the Kings Park Psychiatric Center stands. Opened in 1885, the Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park covers 800 acres of land and once housed over 9000 patients being treated for various mental illness in its 150 buildings. Along with the centers 150 buildings, the complex also contained a library, firehouse, cemetery and morgue.  It is said that this land is full of those who could not find peace and rest in the afterlife. 

            The buildings have been closed for many years now and have fallen into decrepit states beyond repair. It is rumored that there is a network of underground tunnels and confinement units where abuse and torture took place. It is the sounds of those patients that many say can still be heard.