The Hudson River Widow

Over a century ago, the dark waters of the Hudson River gave birth to one of Kingston's most sorrowful ghost stories. According to local legend, a young bride was tragically widowed on her very wedding night. Her new husband, who had just been appointed as the keeper of a lonely beacon out on the water, was killed in a sudden and bitter boating accident before they could begin their life together. Heartbroken and unable to move on, the bride's spirit is said to remain tethered to the earthly realm. Her phantom presence becomes especially active each year just after the fall equinox, where she can be seen perpetually roaming her stone tower and the surrounding shores, endlessly searching through the dark for the spouse the river stole from her Clue One: "I pace the lonely Rondout shore, a widow'd, weeping bride... And seek my dearest husband lost beneath the bitter tide... If thou wouldst trace our phantom steps where earthen kilns once roar'd... Search Hutton's ruin'd trail of clay to find the mark I stor'd..."