Once upon a time, on the island at the mouth of the Hudson River, there were Indian burials and sanctuaries, and the island was called Shainashkinek - "a place for communication with ancestors." In the 1620s, the Dutch founded a nearby colony and named it New Amsterdam. In 1626, the colonists rented the island from the Sioux Indians for ten years, promising not to touch the graves of their ancestors.
According to one of the legends, at the appointed time, the natives sailed for the promised payment, but the Dutch met them with musket fire. The Sioux cursed the island and renamed it Manhattan - "the place where we were deceived."
However, it is officially believed that the name of the island comes from the words "manna-khata", which in one of the Algonquian languages means "hilly or small island". And about the Sioux and the Indian name of the island, it is not clear where this information came from, since there are very few sources about this. But the legends are legends for that, that it is often not clear where what came from, but took root among the people.
Subsequently, the colonists destroyed the old cemetery, but for a very long time they could not build anything there: the stones cracked, the walls collapsed. And in the second half of the 17th century, these places were captured by the British. New Amsterdam was renamed New York.
Many more legends are associated with the foundation of this city. This is perhaps the most romantic of them. An English merchant, one of the first settlers, buried a sword made of pure gold in the ground somewhere in the area of present-day Manhattan, as he believed in the predictions of the Druids that a golden weapon buried in the ground would protect both this land and their owners. And that's why Manhattan has become one of the most prestigious neighborhoods!
But why has the name of the City of Fears long been assigned to New York? Maybe this is fear of the future due to the fact that it is not easy to survive in huge metropolitan areas? Indeed, not everyone can cope with the feeling of loneliness and defenselessness in the “city of the yellow devil,” as Maxim Gorky called New York.
Is this to blame for the crime, which periodically covered the huge city with terrible waves? Or is it all about the ancient mystical power that was present here even before the arrival of the pale-faced?
The Indians even began to believe that a new city built on their land is a living creature capable of absorbing people. They tried not to come here, and if the need arose, they put on a special "mask of fear" made by a sorcerer to intimidate the monster.
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They say that in the 1920s, a strange old man named Good Harry appeared on 33rd Street near the Pennsylvania Hotel. He predicted fate. He was approached by both hotel clients and staff, and even the policemen on duty. And his prophecies always came true.
At the same time, Harry warned: "Do not curse New York, otherwise he will curse you!" Surprisingly, those who spoke badly about the city were indeed overtaken by misfortune.
It is said that the Harlem quarter, where the black population of New York has long settled, was the site of magical covens. For many years a dilapidated brick wall stood there, on which Negro witches drew their magic signs. And among them - "the last sign of life", which appeared by itself "on the night of the acute month" (when the month looks like a narrow sickle).
According to the myth, the building to which the wall belonged was built on the site of a wooden hut where the old black sorcerer Hat languished in prison. Among the first slaves he was brought to New York from Africa.
When it became known that Hat was performing magic rituals against whites, he was locked in a wooden house in Harlem, which at that time was inhabited by mostly wealthy Europeans. The old man withstood all the bullying. Then they decided to burn him alive.
Before his death, Hat cursed the land of New York: “And the air will be filled with fire, and the waters - with poison for your descendants. And the curses of different nations will destroy them all over the world … And the walls of huge houses will collapse, burying them under stones … And remember: the Black Mamba has already raised her head."
The sorcerer burned down, and a large brick house was built on the site of the shack. But its tenants were haunted by troubles: they died of diseases, went crazy, died under unexplained circumstances. And "on the night of an acute month" here one could hear footsteps, groans, creaks, children's crying. Whites began to move from Harlem to other neighborhoods, and blacks took their place.
After World War II, the sorcerer's house was turned into a drug den. When the police decided to close it, an explosion occurred in the building. Only one wall remained intact, and rumors about it spread throughout the city. They say that Harlem witches gather here at night and make sacrifices.
Sometimes miracles happened. One night a tramp buried his pitiful pennies under the wall, and the next night he could not dig them up, because the wall … disappeared! And he himself heard a human groan. The next morning the wall stood still, but the poor fellow was moved by his mind.
A young witch named Black Mamba appeared in Harlem. During the rat invasion that terrorized New Yorkers, she painted a cat on the wall chasing the rat. The next night, hordes of cats gathered in Harlem. They killed the rats and then disappeared on their own.
The Black Mamba has been seen dancing on this wall. Someone even noticed how she pressed against the wall and disappeared, as if seeping between the bricks! Her witchcraft also happened to be evil - it went to those who were at enmity with witches.
She made one jump off the wall and crash to death, the other hanged himself - a beam with a noose had already been prepared for him. Before that, the victims said that the wall was calling them.
Now this place is a wasteland. So nothing was built there.