In this eerie sequel to Unearthing New York’s Secret Speakeasy Tunnels, host Amy of The Strange History Podcast delves deep into the ghostly afterlife of Prohibition’s underground bars. Discover the true haunted stories from beneath Manhattan and Brooklyn — from the restless spirits of McSorley’s and Chumley’s to the phantom jazz of Harlem’s Cotton Club. Featuring real accounts from construction crews, paranormal investigators, and historians, this episode blends history and hauntings with humor, atmosphere, and a few fake sponsors you’d definitely find in a haunted speakeasy. Join us for a chilling nightcap under the city that never sleeps… because sometimes, neither do its ghosts.
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This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Like and Subscribe:
Apple
Spotify
IHeart
Audible
This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back, dear listeners, to the world Beneath the world.
In our last episode, we explored the hidden speakeasy tunnels
of Prohibition era New York, the secret passages where flappers, mobsters,
and jazz musicians kept the party going when the law
said absolutely not. But tonight we're staying after last call
(00:20):
because when the lights went out and the music stopped,
something else stayed behind. These tunnels may be bricked over, forgotten,
and flooded, but according to construction crews, bar owners, and
a few unfortunate plumbers, not everything that moves underground is alive.
So grab your EMF reader and your gin. This is
(00:41):
Ghosts of the Speakeasy Tunnels, the haunted side of New
York's underground.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The echoes beneath mcsorley's.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We begin where so many stories do, with a creaky
wooden floor, a pint of ale, and an Irish ghost
who refuses to mind his own business. Mcsorley's Old Alehouse
has been around since eighteen fifty four, and beneath it,
workers uncovered a hidden storage tunnel lined with kegs and bottles,
(01:10):
sealed shut since Prohibition, but ever since that, discovery staff
and patrons alike have reported phantom footsteps from below, especially
after midnight. A longtime bartender once said he heard a
voice say pull one for me when he was closing
up alone. No one was there. The next morning, a
(01:31):
full mug of ale sat on the bar, still frothy.
Either the ghost wanted a drink, or it's just the
most polite bar spirit in Manhattan. Either way, I'd tip it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Booze be Gone ghost Spray. Tired of your haunted bar
patrons not paying their tabs, try Booze be Gone. Ghost Spray,
scientifically proven to remove ninety eight percent of restless spirits
and one hundred percent of customers named Chad. Now available
at select Bodega's right next to the sage bundles and
(02:03):
expired red bulls. Booze be Gone, because not all spirits
are friendly.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The Cotton Club and the Phantom Band.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
In the nineteen thirties, Harlem's Cotton Club was the epicenter
of jazz and danger. Its owner, Gangster Ony the Killer Madden,
used tunnels to sneak liquor and occasionally himself out of
police raids, but musicians who've performed there in modern times
swear the club still swings. After hours, when the lights
(02:32):
are off and the sound system dead, Faint trumpet solos
have been heard drifting through the floor. One janitor even
recorded it on his phone, a haunting version of it.
Don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
Experts claim its echoes from the subway below, but jazz
lovers prefer to think it's Duke Ellington himself, still riffing
(02:54):
from the other side the Afterlife's most exclusive gig, and
you just know Saint Peter's up. They're like Duke, buddy,
it's been eighty years clock out already.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The twenty one Club's locked room.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The twenty one Club, perhaps the most famous speakeasy of all,
has its own resident apparition. During renovations in the nineteen eighties,
workers uncovered a small, bricked over chamber in the sub basement,
filled with broken bottles, melted candles, and an old stool
facing the wall. The story goes that a watchman guarding
(03:28):
the liquor stashed during prohibition vanished one night and was
never seen again. Now staff say that the motion sensors
in that part of the building go off at two
twenty one am every night, despite no one being there.
One guard even claims he followed the sound of shuffling
footsteps into the tunnel, only to find a bottle of
(03:49):
nineteen twenties whiskey sitting upright on the floor with a
cork halfway out. Some people leave notes, some leave voicemails.
Others just leave Bourbon.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
After Life Insurance. This episode is sponsored by after Life Insurance,
the only policy that covers hauntings, hexes, and unexpected apparitions.
Tired of paying rent with a ghost roommate who doesn't
chip in, We've got you covered. Plans start at just
six dollars and sixty six cents a month because eternity
(04:22):
is expensive. After Life Insurance, because dying shouldn't mean losing
your deposit.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The subway that's sang.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Not all ghost stories involve old bars. Some are buried deeper.
In twenty eleven, maintenance workers under Canal Street discovered a
sealed service tunnel with remnants of tile mosaics and strangely,
dozens of empty whiskey bottles dated between nineteen twenty two
and nineteen thirty one. But that wasn't the strange part.
(04:54):
When they opened the tunnel, one worker said he heard
what sounded like a full band, tuning up brass, shuffling feet,
then silence. They thought it was reverb from nearby trains
until they realized the tracks above were inactive. The tunnel
was recealed, but to this day, subway conductors on the
(05:14):
late night shift report unexplained music under Canal Street a
kind of ghostly swing band in perpetual rehearsal. Imagine being
a ghost and still stuck playing second trumpet. That's the
real punishment.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
The Whisky Wells of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
In nineteen ninety four, during restoration work in the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, workers uncovered several hidden passageways once used for
smuggling whiskey off ships during Prohibition. Inside one chamber, archaeologists
found two rusted flasks engraved with initials JM and l R,
along with a pocket watch frozen at eleven forty seven pm.
(05:55):
When the watch was cleaned and inspected, it began ticking
again briefly, then it stopped. Locals claimed that the two
initials belonged to Joseph Mancini and Lewis Rocco, bootleggers who
drowned in a warehouse flood in nineteen twenty eight. People
say that if you stand near the old tunnel entrance
after midnight, you can hear men laughing followed by the
(06:17):
sound of rushing water. Ah Yes, the classic Brooklyn love
story Two guys, one heist, and a bad case of
drowning while drunk.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The ghosts of Chumley's.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Chumley's, the literary speakeasy on Bedford Street, has long been
haunted by more than just the ghost of Hemingway's ego.
After renovations reopened it in the two thousands, staff began
noticing strange occurrences, books flying from shelves, glasses shattering when
no one was nearby, and most chillingly, the sound of
(06:51):
a door creaking open to a tunnel that no longer exists.
Paranormal investigators claim there's residual energy from patrons who won
it fled police raids. Some EVP recordings even picked up
voices saying eighty six it the old slang forget out.
You know you've made it as a bar when even
(07:11):
your ghosts are shouting last call.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Spirited security systems are your motion detectors going off, but
you live alone. Protect your haunted home with spirited security
systems featuring twenty four to seven ghost monitoring and sage
scented air fresheners, because when the dead one in will
make sure they knock first.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Modern ghost hunts in old tunnels.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Paranormal investigators across the city have turned these tunnels into
their playgrounds. The New York Paranormal Society once explored an
abandoned tunnel beneath Mulberry Street rumored to have been part
of an Italian speakeasy. Using thermal cameras, they captured what
looked like two glowing figures, one seated at a table,
(07:56):
the others standing behind a bar. When they tried to
re enter weeks later, the tunnel had mysteriously flooded with
clean clear water, even though every other nearby passage was
bone dry. Meanwhile, urban explorers in Harlem recorded the sound
of piano keys echoing through an inaccessible basement near one
hundred twenty fifth Street. The building above once a jazz
(08:20):
club raided by the FEDS in nineteen twenty nine. You
can shut down a speakeasy, but you can't shut up
a jazz ghost.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Spirit Box Bar Edition want to contact the other side
and order a cocktail? Introducing spirit Box Bar Edition. It's
part ghost detector, park drink mixer. Just say Gin and Tonic,
and maybe, just maybe your great grandfather will join you
for one spirit box, because who doesn't want a haunted
(08:50):
happy hour?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
New York has always been a city of stories, and
some of them just don't stop even after death. These
tunnels were built to hide the wildest parts of human nature. Joy, defiance, laughter,
and of course gin. Maybe that's why their ghosts remain
not as warnings, but as reminders that life, even underground,
(09:12):
was worth celebrating. So next time you're in a bar
that feels just a little too old and you hear
faint jazz when there's no band playing, don't panic. Just
raise your glass. Someone somewhere might be toasting back. I'm
Amy and this has been the Strange History Podcast. Stay curious,
Stay spooky, and if you hear a trumpet under your feet,
(09:36):
maybe pour one out.
Welcome back, dear listeners, to the world Beneath the world.
In our last episode, we explored the hidden speakeasy tunnels
of Prohibition era New York, the secret passages where flappers, mobsters,
and jazz musicians kept the party going when the law
said absolutely not. But tonight we're staying after last call
(00:20):
because when the lights went out and the music stopped,
something else stayed behind. These tunnels may be bricked over, forgotten,
and flooded, but according to construction crews, bar owners, and
a few unfortunate plumbers, not everything that moves underground is alive.
So grab your EMF reader and your gin. This is
(00:41):
Ghosts of the Speakeasy Tunnels, the haunted side of New
York's underground.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The echoes beneath mcsorley's.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
We begin where so many stories do, with a creaky
wooden floor, a pint of ale, and an Irish ghost
who refuses to mind his own business. Mcsorley's Old Alehouse
has been around since eighteen fifty four, and beneath it,
workers uncovered a hidden storage tunnel lined with kegs and bottles,
(01:10):
sealed shut since Prohibition, but ever since that, discovery staff
and patrons alike have reported phantom footsteps from below, especially
after midnight. A longtime bartender once said he heard a
voice say pull one for me when he was closing
up alone. No one was there. The next morning, a
(01:31):
full mug of ale sat on the bar, still frothy.
Either the ghost wanted a drink, or it's just the
most polite bar spirit in Manhattan. Either way, I'd tip it.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Booze be Gone ghost Spray. Tired of your haunted bar
patrons not paying their tabs, try Booze be Gone. Ghost Spray,
scientifically proven to remove ninety eight percent of restless spirits
and one hundred percent of customers named Chad. Now available
at select Bodega's right next to the sage bundles and
(02:03):
expired red bulls. Booze be Gone, because not all spirits
are friendly.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
The Cotton Club and the Phantom Band.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
In the nineteen thirties, Harlem's Cotton Club was the epicenter
of jazz and danger. Its owner, Gangster Ony the Killer Madden,
used tunnels to sneak liquor and occasionally himself out of
police raids, but musicians who've performed there in modern times
swear the club still swings. After hours, when the lights
(02:32):
are off and the sound system dead, Faint trumpet solos
have been heard drifting through the floor. One janitor even
recorded it on his phone, a haunting version of it.
Don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
Experts claim its echoes from the subway below, but jazz
lovers prefer to think it's Duke Ellington himself, still riffing
(02:54):
from the other side the Afterlife's most exclusive gig, and
you just know Saint Peter's up. They're like Duke, buddy,
it's been eighty years clock out already.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
The twenty one Club's locked room.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
The twenty one Club, perhaps the most famous speakeasy of all,
has its own resident apparition. During renovations in the nineteen eighties,
workers uncovered a small, bricked over chamber in the sub basement,
filled with broken bottles, melted candles, and an old stool
facing the wall. The story goes that a watchman guarding
(03:28):
the liquor stashed during prohibition vanished one night and was
never seen again. Now staff say that the motion sensors
in that part of the building go off at two
twenty one am every night, despite no one being there.
One guard even claims he followed the sound of shuffling
footsteps into the tunnel, only to find a bottle of
(03:49):
nineteen twenties whiskey sitting upright on the floor with a
cork halfway out. Some people leave notes, some leave voicemails.
Others just leave Bourbon.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
After Life Insurance. This episode is sponsored by after Life Insurance,
the only policy that covers hauntings, hexes, and unexpected apparitions.
Tired of paying rent with a ghost roommate who doesn't
chip in, We've got you covered. Plans start at just
six dollars and sixty six cents a month because eternity
(04:22):
is expensive. After Life Insurance, because dying shouldn't mean losing
your deposit.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The subway that's sang.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Not all ghost stories involve old bars. Some are buried deeper.
In twenty eleven, maintenance workers under Canal Street discovered a
sealed service tunnel with remnants of tile mosaics and strangely,
dozens of empty whiskey bottles dated between nineteen twenty two
and nineteen thirty one. But that wasn't the strange part.
(04:54):
When they opened the tunnel, one worker said he heard
what sounded like a full band, tuning up brass, shuffling feet,
then silence. They thought it was reverb from nearby trains
until they realized the tracks above were inactive. The tunnel
was recealed, but to this day, subway conductors on the
(05:14):
late night shift report unexplained music under Canal Street a
kind of ghostly swing band in perpetual rehearsal. Imagine being
a ghost and still stuck playing second trumpet. That's the
real punishment.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
The Whisky Wells of Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
In nineteen ninety four, during restoration work in the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, workers uncovered several hidden passageways once used for
smuggling whiskey off ships during Prohibition. Inside one chamber, archaeologists
found two rusted flasks engraved with initials JM and l R,
along with a pocket watch frozen at eleven forty seven pm.
(05:55):
When the watch was cleaned and inspected, it began ticking
again briefly, then it stopped. Locals claimed that the two
initials belonged to Joseph Mancini and Lewis Rocco, bootleggers who
drowned in a warehouse flood in nineteen twenty eight. People
say that if you stand near the old tunnel entrance
after midnight, you can hear men laughing followed by the
(06:17):
sound of rushing water. Ah Yes, the classic Brooklyn love
story Two guys, one heist, and a bad case of
drowning while drunk.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
The ghosts of Chumley's.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Chumley's, the literary speakeasy on Bedford Street, has long been
haunted by more than just the ghost of Hemingway's ego.
After renovations reopened it in the two thousands, staff began
noticing strange occurrences, books flying from shelves, glasses shattering when
no one was nearby, and most chillingly, the sound of
(06:51):
a door creaking open to a tunnel that no longer exists.
Paranormal investigators claim there's residual energy from patrons who won
it fled police raids. Some EVP recordings even picked up
voices saying eighty six it the old slang forget out.
You know you've made it as a bar when even
(07:11):
your ghosts are shouting last call.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Spirited security systems are your motion detectors going off, but
you live alone. Protect your haunted home with spirited security
systems featuring twenty four to seven ghost monitoring and sage
scented air fresheners, because when the dead one in will
make sure they knock first.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Modern ghost hunts in old tunnels.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Paranormal investigators across the city have turned these tunnels into
their playgrounds. The New York Paranormal Society once explored an
abandoned tunnel beneath Mulberry Street rumored to have been part
of an Italian speakeasy. Using thermal cameras, they captured what
looked like two glowing figures, one seated at a table,
(07:56):
the others standing behind a bar. When they tried to
re enter weeks later, the tunnel had mysteriously flooded with
clean clear water, even though every other nearby passage was
bone dry. Meanwhile, urban explorers in Harlem recorded the sound
of piano keys echoing through an inaccessible basement near one
hundred twenty fifth Street. The building above once a jazz
(08:20):
club raided by the FEDS in nineteen twenty nine. You
can shut down a speakeasy, but you can't shut up
a jazz ghost.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Spirit Box Bar Edition want to contact the other side
and order a cocktail? Introducing spirit Box Bar Edition. It's
part ghost detector, park drink mixer. Just say Gin and Tonic,
and maybe, just maybe your great grandfather will join you
for one spirit box, because who doesn't want a haunted
(08:50):
happy hour?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
New York has always been a city of stories, and
some of them just don't stop even after death. These
tunnels were built to hide the wildest parts of human nature. Joy, defiance, laughter,
and of course gin. Maybe that's why their ghosts remain
not as warnings, but as reminders that life, even underground,
(09:12):
was worth celebrating. So next time you're in a bar
that feels just a little too old and you hear
faint jazz when there's no band playing, don't panic. Just
raise your glass. Someone somewhere might be toasting back. I'm
Amy and this has been the Strange History Podcast. Stay curious,
Stay spooky, and if you hear a trumpet under your feet,
(09:36):
maybe pour one out.
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