You asked for it! I was in my Junior Year of college, and I was spending it as a visiting student at NYU. It was 1977 and the Punk Underground scene was in full swing at CBGBs.and to a lesser degree, at Max's Kansas City. I was always psychic and intuitive but I felt nothing evil when I first saw the apartment. It was on St Mark's Place between 2nd and 3rd! The hub of everything cool at the time! It faced the street so I could see from my balcony (they have since taken it down) all of the action on the street. Little did I know all of the "action" that was about to take place inside!
I think decause of the most desirable location, I would have not perceived anything evil anyway, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. I wanted that apartment!
The things I saw were witnessed by many people, some of them now famous, alas a few of them who have passed on.
The apartment was fine for the fist few months. I had a job working at Max's Kansas City as a waitress. We had to wear black T shirts with the name of the establishment printed on them. I had three. Frequently they would get lost, as would important course work for school. I also was a freelance Rock critic, and I attributed some of this to being over worked or disorganized.
A paper would disappear out of the typewriter (remember there were no computers, so this was serious!) then
reappear just where I thought I left it, but a day later - enough to be annoying and to lower my grade.
One day I returned home from work and found the shower, which was in the kitchen, overflowing on to the floors! (it was a tenement - they frequently had tubs or showers in the kitchen)
Water was a frequent problem - puddles of water would appear even in the living room, where there was no source of water! My mattress was ON A LOFT BED 8" above the ground and one night I returned home and found it soaked with - greasy water.! There was no leak from the ceiling! We came to dub the water "Greasy Lake" after a lyric in a Bruce Springsteen song.
Dishes also broke spontaneously, as did glasses and light bulbs. People
SAW THIS - I was having a dinner party and light bulbs popped and dishes split in half! Beer bottle exploded in peoples hands. Some people were laughing, but most of us were spooked. One was very spooked. Stiv Bators from the Dead Boys said "this place is
evil!" He had a Roma (Gypsy) grandmother and said he had heard of such things. I countered that it was poltergeist activity, which I had read about. He said very firmly, "
some is, but there is something else here too, and I don't like it"
All of the above continued, but escalated. I began to awaken with scratches all over my body. On my back, on places that I couldn't possibly have reached. I also began seeing a huge dark shadow person. This apparition was witnessed by others. It would pass from the air shaft at the back of the apartment through to the front window. The place almost vibrated or buzzed with electricity, when it passed! This electrical buzz was audible and palpable on many levels. My hair on my head would lift, then go back in place.
The worst event was when a few of my friends had gathered to dress for a night at a show. The proprietors of Manic Panic, the first Punk Boutique were visiting, as was my cousin from Long Island. We began to talk about the haunting and the room filled with the
scent of flowers. This was NOT a pleasant aroma, it was sickeningly sweet. Almost, like a funeral where people had gone over with flowers. It was disgusting. really. When we all mentioned it out loud it became stronger, and more horrible.
Then it was replaced by another smell - the smell of decaying rotting biological matter, mixed with the smell of excrement. Ugggh...just thinking about it 30 years later makes me feel ill! The "dueling smells" as we had come to call them, became a permanent feature in my apartment.
And all of the other things stayed. And got worse. I switched to paper plates.
Another thing was the greasy water - it began to appear as patches on the walls yellowy and oozy - also fowl smelling. I also had a "Greasy Lake" in the living room.
I did complain to my LL, (a devoutly Catholic Polish woman whose command of English was poor), about the water. Her first response was that I had left water on while running out of the house.( Typical LL response)
When I complained about the patches of greasy water, (I don't know what else to call this crap...) she came by with her huge nephew who looked over the place, checked the pipes etc. They were speaking rapidly in Polish and I could see that the LL was upset and flustered.
I asked the nephew what was wrong and he rolled his eyes and said
"My Aunt thinks it is Devil" As she left the house she crossed herself.
The next day she returned with a plastic bottle of Holy Water. And scurried away from my door, once again making the sign of the cross.
I am Protestant, but I accepted the Holy Water. I was begining to think is might have been "Devil"
There is more.... I need to tell you about the crying baby...
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