Ghost stories that never die

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - From the vaults of New York City history inside some of its oldest and most historic structures, many stories never die. Greg Young is founder of the Bowery Boys, a website that has documented many of New York's ghoulish tales like at the Chelsea hotel where a few famous spirits -- Nancy Spungen, murdered by boyfriend Sid Vicious -- are said to linger.

Sometimes New York City ghost stories may be sitting right next to you at the bar, like at the White Horse Tavern in the West Village. The spirit of writer Dylan Thomas is said to haunt the bar. He nearly drank himself to death sitting at a corner booth.

Kurt Bollers has worked at the bar for nearly 20 years. He says it is not uncommon for tools to mysteriously move around rooms.

Not far away on Spring Street is the Ear Inn, one of Manhattan's first taverns. Manager Gary says his own relatives were spooked by what some say is the spirit of a sailor said to haunt this historic site.

Ghosts can linger for centuries, like Peter Stuyvesant, one of Manhattan's earliest residents who entombed at St Mark's Church in the Bowery. Some say that to this day, you may hear a scratching across the stone floor as he paces back and forth inside the church.

This is a city with millions of stories, many belonging to the dead.