Guests from Gibbet Island by Washington Irving
- andybarger
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
Washington Irving (1783-1859) is best known for his headless horseman story: “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow."
It is still widely read some 200 years after its publication. His second best ghost short story was the Adventure of the German Student. Both were published in my anthology of The Best Ghost Short Stories 1800-1849. https://www.andrewbarger.com/best-ghost-stories-1800-1849
Another ghost story by Irving is quite good: “Guests from Gibbet Island.” Gibbet is an antiquated term for the gallows where criminals met their fate by hanging. Gibbet Island is known today as Ellis Island. That's right, Washington Irving appears to have penned the first ghost story involving Ellis Island and it's one of his finest, published four years before his death in 1855.
Guests from Gibbet Island: A Legend of Communipaw is an unincorporated community located in today's modern Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey.
The ghost story was purportedly found among the Knickerbocker Papers at Wolfert's Roost. Unfortunately it contains certain stereotypes.
Comments