Sparta Cemetery

A Brief History: Sparta Cemetery is located at 50 Revolutionary Road in Ossining New York. Sparta Cemetery is one of the oldest in the area established in 1764. In 1680 the Philipse Family purchased a huge plot of land making them the first family in Westchester County to own the most land. This cemetery is the final resting place for many Revolutionary War Soldiers. During the American Revolution there was a battle around this site and a cannon ball from the British Army hit a tombstone. The tombstone was vandalized and now there is a plaque where this occurred. Another famous story about this cemetery is that “The Leather Man” is buried here. Some people believe that the “Leather Man” is Jules Bourglay,A Frenchman who lived from 1858-1889. Regardless of what people say the “Leather Man” got his name by wearing all leather all the time during the entire year. The legend says that he was in the leather business in France were he failed as an owner and his future father in law broke up the wedding. He then moved to America for a new start, but was grief stricken about what had happened to him. He would roam around back and forth from the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers walking about 365 miles regularly. The town’s people would notice him often and always saw him wearing leather and that’s how he got his name “The Leather Man”. In 1998 Pearl Jam wrote a song called “Leatherman”, writing about the claims of this persons life. Over the years there has been much controversy to who the “Leather Man” is. This person really did exist but people want to know who this person was. In 2011 when trying to exhume his body in order to run a DNA test, his remains were nowhere to be found. The only thing found were nails from his casket. The nails were placed in another casket and moved into a more prominent area of the cemetery. The question that everyone is still trying to answer is who is “The Leather Man”. Maybe one day we will find out and be able to put this person at peace.

Haunted History: Visitors have claimed to have seen strange mists over the graves, mysterious lights and have heard screams in the cemetery.