BUCKOUT ROAD

The area of Buckout Road has been the subject of urban legends and strange occurrences dating back to its earliest inhabitants, The Siwanoy. Some may be warm-hearted, like the Native Americans' annual search for a mysterious white deer that visited the area during a full moon each May and brought good luck fortune to whoever spotted it. The deer was first spotted by Sachem Pathungo, who named his son Wapeto, meaning "White Deer," after the event.

Other tales are a bit more sinister, like Wapeto's cursed gravesite in the Buckout Road woods and Pathungo's fiery curse, which is said to be revenge for English settler John Underhill's slaying and burning of a nearby Siwanoy village, killing over 700 men, women, and children, and said to be the cause of numerous unexplained fires that have happened since.

Similarly, Pathungo and Sachem Cockensenko allegedly cursed the land of their adjacent former homeland after its new settlers violated an agreement not to destroy certain trees. It's rumored the eerie curse lingered over the residents of the farming village, promising certain doom. Eventually, the farming village of Kensico, NY, was evacuated and flooded to former the Kensico Reservoir.

Buckout Road is named after the Buckhout family, who emigrated from Holland and initially settled in Tarrytown, NY, before moving to White Plains. Members of the family made local news headlines, including Polly Buckhout who became Tarrytown's first murder victim and Isaac Van Wart Buckhout, who brutally murdered his wife Anna Louisa and neighbor Alfred Rendall in the Buchout home on New Year's Day 1870 after suspecting an affair.

Named after an extended family member who was one of the patriots responsible for apprehending British spy Major Andre in Tarrytown during the Revolutionary War, Isaac Van Wart, known as "The Mad Murderer of Sleepy Hollow" became the last man sentenced to death by hanging in White Plains.

On Halloween night, 1776, just three days after a bloody Revolutionary War engagement known as The Battle of White Plains, General George Washington used a thunderstorm to cloak the movement of The Continental Army. That evening, German soldiers hired by the British Army, known as Hessians, tried to raid supplies Washington had stored at a mill on nearby Lake Street in White Plains. The Hessians were met immediately by Patriot cannon fire.

A cannonball hit a Hessian warrior directly, knocking him off his sizeable black horse and taking off his head! His comrades carted the headless Hessian off the field and buried him at the Old Dutch Burying Grounds in nearby Sleepy Hollow, NY. The incident occurred on Lake Street on the White Plains and West Harrison border, just ¼ mile from Buckout Road.

Years later, a young man who was named after George Washington read about this incident while doing research in nearby Tarrytown, NY. The man was Washington Irving, and the incident inspired his iconic phantom, perhaps the first and most famous in American literature, The Headless Horseman.

Irving wrote: “Having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head.” As per Irving’s own words, it can be inferred that the Headless Horseman would not be searching for his head in Sleepy Hollow but instead in the actual battle area, near Buckout Road!

Before the abolishment of slavery in New York State, the Quakers of Buckout Road helped free slaves illegally. Led by Frederick and Deborah Stephens of Buckout Road, the Quakers donated land and helped establish New York State's first free and largest Black community. Located along Buckout Road, it became known as Stony Hill.

Many locals claim the community, which eventually had stores, a school, and a church, was part of the Underground Railroad. Stony Hill Cemetery, including the graves of former residents and numerous Black war veterans, is allegedly haunted by several wandering spirits, including "Albino Mary" and "The Bread Man."

Stony Hill was also the site of numerous vicious crimes,terrible tragedies, and violent murders which are all explored in the new Horrifying History of Buckout Road book.

Over 50 burials took place in the Foster / Buckhout family cemetery on Buckout Road, however just one gravestone remains. The stone belongs to John Foster Buckhout and his wife, Charlotte Cowan Buckhout. However, in 1977, vandals raided the cemetery, dug up their grave, and according to the police report, may have stolen their bodies! No arrests were made and the police think the heinous act may have been committed by a cult!

The other gravestones in the cemetery have either been stolen, destroyed, or according to local lore,"taken by The Westchester Historical Society for safekeeping" and are rumored to remain in an Elmsford office storage closet.

The cemetery is a rumored hotbed for paranormal activity, frequently visited by amateur and professional ghost hunters, some of whom have gotten eerie photos with orbs and plasmas and bizarre EVP recordings.

In September 2001, The Journal News printed an article that White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino and the North Castle Historical Society were erecting a monument in the cemetery containing the names of everyone buried there, however, sadly, that has yet to materialize.

Initially built by John Quincy Adams Buckhout, the Buckhout's house on Buckout Road was eventually passed to Mary Buckhout after her father's death. Spooky urban legends emerged that Mary's ghost haunts the street from the property grounds to her vandalized grave site down the road, searching for her missing children.

In 1920, the house belonged to actor John Barrymore, who, while living there, starred in numerous films, including America's first full-length horror movie, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

After John and his wife divorced, an artist and heiress moved into the house. Unfortunately, during a party, the artist was shot, though it remains uncertain who pulled the trigger.

A family moved into the guest house next door a few years later. A few years later, the son's dead body was found inside his car on Buckout Road. For generations, the house has been the subject of one of Buckout Road's most notorious urban legends. Ghost stories emerged from both houses before they were destroyed by arson fires.

According to legend, a young couple experienced car trouble on a stormy night in front of a small red house on Buckout Road decades ago. The boyfriend exited the vehicle to assess the situation. Moments later, while inside the car, the girlfriend heard three thumps on the car's roof. In horror, she leaves the vehicle and sees her boyfriend's feet dangling inches above the car, his body hanging from a tree. She then pounds on the car horn for help. After beeping three times, a group of cannibal albinos emerge from the house and devour the couple.

Variations of the tale have circulated for generations. In some versions, the albinos are also midgets. In other versions there's severed heads in the mailbox. While the details may differ in each retelling, the main thing people remember is that if you pull up in front of the house and beep the horn three times, then a clan of cannibal albinos supposedly appear and attack.

While a story about cannibal albinos is perhaps absurd, there is shockingly a factual basis to this scary urban legend beyond the rumors that the house once belonged to the local serial killer "The Gray Man" Albert Fish.

During the Revolutionary War, Gilbert Hatfield's house on Hall Ave (which becomes Buckout Road) became the headquarters of Continental Army General William Heath.

According to legend, Heath was almost captured by a British officer named Captain Tilton. While in pursuit of Heath, Captain Tilton fatally plunged off Muckle Stone Rock into a ravine in the woods of Buckout Road. His body was never recovered, however his spirit is said to roam the woods in search of his adversary.

Despite not getting the publicity of other nearby historical homes in White Plains, residents of Hall Avenue and Buckout Road have claimed that the Hatfield House also had another very famous house guest during the Revolutionary War, General George Washington!