4. A Lower East Side Building Is One of the Most Haunted Places in New York City
The city-owned building that now houses the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center has a long history in the Lower East Side. In a former life, it served as a public school (P.S. 160), which was left abandoned in the 1970s due to a fire. It became an illegal gathering place for drug addicts and squatters before it was ultimately cleaned out and transformed into a community center for Spanish-speaking immigrants. Today, the Clemente administration occupies the building, offering long term studio space for artists and on-going arts programming.
Clemente notably used to host classes and events for students of the Wiccan Family Temple Academy of Pagan Studies, New York City’s first magick school. According to local legend, the center is also one of the most haunted places in the city. The five-story structure is said to be infested with spirits, including a little girl “clad in early-20th century clothing.”