Manhattan - Empire State Building

A Brief History: The Empire State building was built in 1931 and was the world’s tallest building until 1972 when the World Trade Center was built. Designed in the style of Art Deco the Empire State building stands at 102 Stories. Opening during the great depression many of the office space that it held was left empty and it was not near the port authority, Grand Central or Penn Station leaving it in a less than desirable area. The Building was not considered to be profitable until 1950 and was then sold in 1951 to Roger Stevens for $51 Million. In 1945 a B-25 bomber crashed into the building killing 14 people. In 1986 the structure was established as a national landmark, and in September 11, 2001 when the world trade Center was destroyed, the Empire State building again became the tallest building in New York.

Haunted History: Over the course of the history of the building it is documented that there were 14 suicides that were attempted from the observation deck from as early as the construction of the building. The first suicide was when an employee was laid off while working on the Building and jumped. In 1947 the Observatory Terrace got a fence put in when 5 people committed suicide during a three-week span. One story that is told is of a woman that stands on the observatory deck that is dressed in cloths from the 1940’s, A person who claimed to see this said the spirit said she lost her husband during the war (WWII) and jumped off the building. Spirits from the suicides are said to haunt the Observation deck and have been seen jumping from the building.