The first Nightmarish Neighborhood book explores the lost village of Kensico, which is now mostly submerged under the depths of Kensico Reservoir. The site of several structures from the village of Kensico, NY, including the Raven Lakeview Hotel, sat on Old Orchard Street. The hotel was near the modern-day location of the Jennie Clarkson Home, but a filmmaker burned it to the ground for an old motion picture shortly after the flooding of Kensico. From the hotel's old location, there is still a view of the water that blankets the former village.

The iconic Kensico Dam, with as much masonry as some of Egypt's pyramids, was completed in 1917 and built from materials harvested from an adjacent Old Orchard Street stone quarry. In front of the towering 300-plus-foot structure that stretches for over 1,800 feet, is Kensico Dam Plaza.

What used to be a swamp is now the site of various cultural festivals, concerts, and events. It has sadly also been the site of numerous tragedies, including drownings, suicides, the horrifying 1942 slaying of two kidnapped girls by a teenage killer who was later executed at Sing Sing Prison, and the discovery of at least a half dozen dead bodies in the water, including one of a British soldier stuffed in a sleeping bag.

Nearby on Old Orchard Street is Cranberry Lake. Surrounded by acres of nature, hiking trails, and the old stone quarry, the surrounding woods, once known as the Cranberry Forest, used to extend into the lost village of Kensico.

The fall of 1894 was a time of fear and tension in the community. Residents reported the eerie presence of a mysterious gorilla-like beast lurking in the dark woods near Cranberry Lake. This hairy, scary monster, known as the Cranberry Creature, struck fear in the hearts of the locals, leading to armed patrols and heightened vigilance.

Other Kensico men witnessed the monster near Cranberry Lake. Farmer Charles Mosher tried shooting the beast, but it vanished unharmed, adding to the mystery of the Cranberry Creature. The creature remained at large, terrorizing the residents of Kensico. Perhaps even scarier is that if frightened citizens managed to escape its vicious grip and return to the safety of their homes, locals claim to have spotted the mysterious monster peeking in their windows!

After the flooding of Kensico to create the Kensico Reservoir behind the Kensico Dam, it's thought that the Cranberry Creature was a prophetic being, similar to West Virginia's The Mothman, sent from beyond to warn people of an impending doom.

Since the 1960s, the nearly 200-acre Cranberry Lake Preserve has been a haven for animals and plants, including migratory birds, turtles, and dragonflies. There are also populations of vultures, snakes, and a rare native breed of bark-eating beetles.

The grounds near the old stone quarry include a four-acre lake, several ponds, a mysterious stone chamber, a swamp, an abandoned tennis court, and a collection of junked automobiles. Sadly, the Cranberry Lake Preserve has also been the site of multiple tragic events, including several deaths, and the eerie discovery of dead bodies.

In recent years, several productions have filmed scenes at the picture-esque preserve, including the NBC drama Manifest and the Netflix series Maniac, which shot scenes there in 2017 with Academy Award winners Sally Field and Emma Stone.

With a terrifying reputation for committing robberies and murders in Westchester County during the 1770s, the dangerous Shubael Merritt joined a Loyalist group at age 17 during the American Revolution, followed by joining the area's roughest posse, DeLancey's Cowboys, an elite unit known for its hit-and-run-tactics marauding Quaker farmers throughout "the neutral ground" of Westchester County throughout the Revolutionary War.

Born in nearby Rye, NY, the feared outlaw, perhaps Westchester's version of Billy the Kid, allegedly came close to capturing George Washington and, according to lore, may have subsequently met his grim fate on North Broadway in North White Plains. Though, as we revisit stories of the life of a forgotten figure of the Revolution, there may be a surprising twist.

North White Plains is home to several steep hills utilized by the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, including Miller Hill, where General George Washington had his headquarters during the conflict, and the adjacent Mount Misery, overlooking Old Orchard Street.

Rumored to have gotten its name after a group of Huguenots massacred a large group of Native Americans long ago, a detachment of Washington's army occupied the steep and freezing cold peak of Mount Misery in the late fall of 1776.

Decades before legendary wanderer The Leatherman roamed the connecting woods of Buckout Road in the late 1800s, the area near the base of Mt. Misery was home to the iconic hermit, James Johnson, better known as the legendary Jimmy-Under-The-Rock! Discover what's remembered of this local enigma and who he may have inspired.

A century ago, long before popular local eateries on North Broadway like Sir John's Plaza and Pee Wee's, later The Little Spot, existed, there was a notorious local two-story establishment marked with a large "DINING DANCING" sign facing North Broadway. Situated near the former North White Plains School was The Gretna Green Inn, a rumored mob-run speakeasy.
Local residents tried to shut down the shady establishment in 1930 however, the purported hangout of organized crime members and various personalities of the underworld continued its operations until its owner was mysteriously was pumped with lead. Be prepared to discover what went down at what is now...well, you'll find out.

Built on a swamp between Old Orchard Street and George Washington Elementary School, the North White Plains Shopping Center, now anchored by a Super Stop & Shop, was once home to Finast, Koven's Deli, Kaddish Pharmacy, Embassy 5&10, and, as far back as the 1940s, the iconic Handleman's.

Bandits broke into Handleman's in the 1950s, and in 1979, a dangerous fire with 250-foot-high flames engulfed the iconic building, burning it to the ground. During the 1980s, the rebuilt Handleman's became home to the area's first annual walk-through Halloween attraction.

Sadly, during the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, numerous businesses in the shopping center were victimized by armed bandits. Eventually, most of the shopping center's stores were destroyed to make room for the supermarket Stop & Shop, which occupied the old site of Finast, later rebranded as Edward's, to expand into a "Super Stop & Shop" that features a robot, Marty, that cleans up aisle spills.

Despite the store's expansion, it is still possible to see and smell the vast neighboring marshland and swamp from the supermarket's entrance. A few months after Super Stop & Shop's opening, a gigantic brush fire broke out at the marshlands, which used to connect to the shopping center's grounds and had caused the previous grocery store to sink.

The exclusive members-only Rocky Ledge Swimming Association has been a local landmark since its inception in the 1960s. Located at 1406 Old Orchard Street next to a stench-ridden landfill, a firefighter training facility, and a police shooting range, the elusive Rocky Ledge Pool has been the home of fun summer-time swimming for patrons who paid for an annual membership.

The chic club, home to Middies Swimming, featured a BBQ area, recurring events such as its annual Jump Rope Contest, a summer camp program, and a $25 premium "Italian Night" BYOB event featuring a DJ sponsored by the local Knights of Columbus. In 1975, bloodhounds led a posse of New York City police officers on a manhunt at the Rocky Ledge Pool, where they apprehended a suspect wanted for murder.

Starting in 2010, Rocky Ledge became home to a popular spooky walk-through attraction on weekends leading up to Halloween. At their peak, The Haunt drew several hundred patrons paying at least $25 each to walk through its haunted houses, spooky cornfield, and a scary, haunted walk through the woods. The Haunt successfully operated for over a decade.

The Haunt's location at Rocky Ledge was perhaps ironic to some locals, as the purported "scary, haunted woods" they populated with make-believe monsters, witches, killer clowns, and Dracula actually borders Buckout Road, the street infamously dubbed as "America's scariest street," the subject of several scary nonfiction books and a horror movie starring Danny Glover.

In 2022, after about 60 years in business, the once-exclusive Rocky Ledge pool announced its closure following the news that the New York Attorney General had filed a lawsuit against the Rocky Ledge Swimming Association for fraud.