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Heavily Investigated

Stand in Eliza Jumel's bedchamber long enough and you start to feel observed. The woman who clawed her way from poverty to one of Manhattan's grandest estates has reportedly never left — visitors describe an elderly figure drifting through the rooms in a violet dress, tapping on walls, pausing at windows. In Aaron Burr's former bedroom, people swear they hear footsteps and voices after the lights go out. On the stairs, a Hessian soldier is said to still keep his post. Even Eliza herself, when alive, complained the place was haunted.

Built in 1765 by British officer Roger Morris atop the highest point in Manhattan, the mansion served as George Washington's headquarters after the fall of New York in 1776 — a brief, desperate refuge on a hill. The Jumels bought it in 1810, redecorated lavishly, and set about acquiring respectability. Stephen died in 1832; Eliza married Aaron Burr in 1833 and divorced him the same year he died, in 1836. She outlived nearly everyone, dying in 1865 at roughly 90. The official record calls it a museum. The building, apparently, has its own opinion.