History? Because it's Here!
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  • Sing Along to the Spring Siren Song
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  • Major Archie Butt Had a Gift for Friendship, Even on the Titanic
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  • Hoover Dam
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  • Alcohol in American History - John Barleycorn Tells Some of His Story
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    • Ignoring History is Irrelevant
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    • December 1, 1958: The Day Chicago Cried with Our Lady of the Angels
    • Remembering the Vietnam War - 37 Years Present
    • Rebellion, Murder, and Voting Rights in Rhode Island
  • Words and Remembrance-May 1970 at Kent State in Ohio and Jackson State in Mississippi
  • Rub-a-dub-dub in Your Historical Bathtub!
  • The Freedom Summer Murders Changed American Racial Attitudes
  • To Beard Or Not To Beard - That is the Historical Question
  • Scarecrows Historically Speaking
  • Diversionary Thoughts for the Dentists Chair
  • Humans in History
    • Suzanne Valadon and Maurice Utrillo, Artists of Montmartre
    • Grandmother Clara Zetkin Speaks
    • High Stepping Ohio Horseman
    • Philip Teitelbaum Creates a Money Making Machine
    • The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake..
    • Poul le Cour
    • John Collier's Fight for Indian Rights and the First and Last Superintendent of Indian Affairs
    • Lt. Colonel Ely Parker, First Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs
    • Clara and Henry Leffingwell - An English, American, and Australian Story
    • The Murderer and the Museum Curator - Nathan Leopold and Kirtland's Warbler
    • Wilbur Carr, the State Department, and Immigration - 1920-1945
    • Billy Sunday Preached His Prayer Pennant Willing Baseball Story
    • William Alden Smith, Michigan's Titanic Senator
    • Helen and Dickinson Bishop Survive An Earthquake and the Titanic
    • Faster Than Flames: Locomotive Engineer James Root Races the Hinckley Fire
    • Three Hot and Contentious Weeks in July 1925 - The Scopes "Monkey " Trial
    • The Confederados Become Brazilian, but Honor Their American Southern Roots
    • Fascinating Footnote: The Goosedown Divorce
    • Clara and Henry Leffingwell - An English, Australian, and American Story
    • The Molly Maguires - Trailblazers or Terrorists?
    • Lt. Uriah Phillips Levy Fights Prejudice and Saves Monticello
    • The Stavisky Affair - Sasha the Suave Scammer
    • General Santa Anna, Chicle, and Chewing Gum
    • James J. Metcalfe, Gangbuster, Reporter, Poet
  • Women Along the Historical Way
    • Lucena Brockway Adapts to Life in the Keweenaw Copper Mining Country of Lake Superior
    • Ida Tarbell- "Bachelor Soul." Transitional Woman, or Both?
    • SOE Agent Andree Borrel Lived Several Lifetimes in Her 24 Years
    • Ruth Becker's Faith Helped Her Survive the Titanic and Life Beyond
    • Clara Zetkin Speaks Against Hitler in the German Reichstag
    • Maria Mitchell, America's First Woman Astronomer
    • Lee Lawrence Ansberry - The Courage to Live
    • Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt and the First Mississippi River Steamboat
    • Margaret Fox Kane's Victorian Love Story
    • Chicagoan Kate Kellogg Meets a Ghost on a Train
  • Acting History-History Plays
  • Practicing History
  • Classroom Clues
    • Power Point Pointers
    • Pieces of the World History Puzzle
    • Time Machine Tours
  • The Haunted Hollows of History
    • Does Columbus Haunt His Ships...
    • The Phantom Plowman
    • The Western Reserve and the Gilcher
    • The Ticonderoga's Haunted Bell
    • The Train Chaser
    • Mary Surratt
    • Farmer Brunett's Ghost Lantern
    • A Bicyclist Encounters a Phantom
  • Wading in Historical Waters
    • The Lady and the Patriot- The Fateful Voyage of Theodosia Burr Alston
    • Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk- Snatching Soldiers from the Fingers of the Nazis
    • Beaver Island - Mormon Kingdom, Fisherman's Paradise, Pirate Lair
    • Captain Jedediah Spinnet and His Sons Caught Fish and Pirates
    • Roman Emperor Caligula and His Legendary Lake Nemi Ships
    • Great Lakes Steamers and the Black Hawk War
    • Captain Harry Ward Cruised Gold Fields and Commanded a Slave Ship
    • "Father Put Me in the Boat-" The Story of the Northfleet
  • Catching Up with Clio's Creatures
    • Gertie the Duck, Black Bill, and the Muffled Memorial Day Parade
    • Verdun Belle Rescues a Shell-Shocked World War I Marine
    • Storks are the Stuff of Legend and Every Day Life
    • Susa White Gives Her Pet Lamb Nebby to Boston
    • Sergeant Stubby, the World War I Dog
    • Pistol Head, Cocker Spaniel, Combat Veteran
    • Goofy, The Warrior Dog Comes Home
    • Sallie the Civil War Heroine
  • Creative History
    • World War II Photographs by Sandy Blakeman
    • Church Going is a Common Historical Experience
  • Musical Muse
    • Lydia Maria Child Writes and Explores Over the River and Through the Wood
    • Solomon Linda, Mbube, Wimoweh, The Lion Sleeps Tonight
    • Leroy Anderson Captures Fun and Feelings in His Music
    • Harry Barnhart Helped Soldiers Sing Their Way Through World War I >
      • Presidents in a Package-George Washington >
        • Mary Breckinridge, Circuit Riding Nurse and Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
        • George and Harry Washington Fight for Freedom
        • Charles Wedel Served on Manitowoc Submarines >
          • Navy Diver Frank Prebezich Remembered Pearl Harbor by Salvaging Battleships
          • Stan Valentine at Pearl Harbor
          • World War II - Serving Aboard the USS Enterpise
          • Michel Linovich-an Italian in Napoleon's Grand Army
          • Charles Whittlesey- Scholar, Soldier, Humanist
          • The Five Sullivan Brothers Stick Together...
          • Kentuckian James Andrews and the Yankee Bridge Burners
          • General Grant, General Babcock, General McDonald and Journalist Colony: A Study in Scandal and Friendship
          • The Dudman Family Lived the Meaning...
        • George Washington Travels French Creek to Fort Le Boeuf
        • Miracle in World War I - the Christmas
        • Presidents in a Package - Thomas Jefferson
        • President James Monroe Inspects Michigan Territory - 1817
        • President Grover Cleveland's Secret Surgery on the Steam Yacht Oneida
        • John Kissinger Volunteers to Get Yellow Fever
        • Mary Todd Lincoln Considered April Her "Season of Sadness"
        • Violets for Valor - Two Bereaved Fathers in the Civil War
      • Clarence and Mildred Beltmann - Persevering Through Hard Times
    • Singing Kumbayah- Harmonious in Hope, Discordant in Derision
    • James Bird - The Battle of Lake Erie, The Execution, The Ballad
    • PDF Musical Muse- Music History
    • Phil Ochs- A Musical Conscience of the 1960s and Beyond
    • Dan Fogelberg and His Music
    • Philip Paul Bliss and His Trunk of Songs
    • Riding with Private Andrew Malone: For All of those who didn't Make it Home
    • Do You Ken John Peel?
    • "Mind the Music and the Step-" Yankee Doodle Sings History
  • Back Water River and British Bluster
  • Soldier's Stories
  • September 11, 2001 is a "Mixed Feeling Day"
  • Memories of the Pearl Harbor Attack Haven't Faded with Time
    • Memories of Pearl Harbor
  • Light and Radiance - Figure Skater Laurence Owen and Her Team
  • Historic Halloween Tales
  • Thanksgiving Perspectives
    • Drive A Thanksgiving Turkey!
    • The Centerpiece of Thanksgiving Celebrations is Giving Thanks >
      • Presidents in a Package - Abraham Lincoln
      • Americans and Britons Celebrated Thanksgiving 1942 in War Weathered England
      • Writing a Gratitude Journal for Thanksgiving Day
      • "Do You Hear What I Hear?" >
        • Christmas Eve, 1941-A Sailor
        • Alfred Burt and Wihla Hutson
        • Milwaukee Soldiers and Sailors in World War II
        • History Sports Scenes >
          • Throwing Out the First Pitch - American Presidents On Opening Day
          • Kenesaw Mountain Landis
          • Jim Rice - A Big Time Coach in a Small Town
          • Playing Lucky Baseball with Lady Luck Sitting in the Catbird Seat
        • Silent Night Had Simple Beginnings >
          • The Angels Song - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
          • Stuffing Stockings on St. Nicholas Day >
            • Mrs. Santa Claus- A Strong and Supportive
            • Katherine Davis-The Little Drummer Boy
        • Is There A Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon and
        • Carols Silent Night and O Holy Night
        • Happy New Year
        • The Holocaust in History >
          • Carl von Ossietzky Wins a Nobel Prize While in a Nazi Concentration Camp
      • City Scapes

A Bicyclist Encounters a Phantom in Brooklyn's Prospect Park

​One night-not Halloween but it should have been- in 1896, a young woman cyclist went for a ride in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Her encounter with a phantom cyclist helped her immediately appreciate her bicycle and peddle it as fast as she could peddle.

The Brooklyn Eagle version of the phantom cyclist story begins one balmy spring night in June 1896. According to the Eagle, the young woman stood on the veranda of her Brooklyn home and decided to take a spin through Prospect Park on her bicycle. The Eagle story follows her through her ride and her encounter with the phantom bicycle rider.

The Complete Bicycling Costume

It took the young woman several minutes to put on her bike cycle riding costume. The Godey’s Lady’s Book recommended that the female cyclist of 1896 wear a straight, side pleated skirt of serge over one underskirt, and full trousers lined with flannel and made of material to match the dress. A warm jersey and jacket trimmed with fur with a matching cap completed the outfit. In Bicycling for Ladies, published in 1896, Maria Ward recommended a lightly boned blouse without a corset, a serge skirt, low shoes with spats to keep out the gravel, and a walking hat. Mrs. M. Cooke favored a cycling costume known as the "Londonderry." It was made of gray green hopsack which was a coarse, loosely woven cotton or wool fabric. The coat had long, full sides and it was worn over full knickerbockers with either a shirt or a double breasted cloth, wool or leather vest.

The Cyclist Dresses and Gathers Up Her Bicycle Gear

The well-dressed woman cyclist also wore leggings, a hat, doeskin gloves and a pair of the rubber soled cycling shoes that had first appeared on the market in 1891. She also wore a bicycle belt, complete with a small leather purse. Mrs. Ward urged women taking a bicycling trip or expedition — any trip over an hour — to outfit her bicycle with a lamp and to carry matches, tools, a repair kit, a sewing kit and a first aid kit.

The Young Woman Cyclist Enters Prospect Park

Eventually, the young woman cyclist finished dressing and wheeled her bicycle down Flatbush Avenue, turned into Fort Hamilton Avenue and entered Prospect Park through the Ocean Avenue gates. The balmy night had enticed hundreds of other female and male cyclists to take a spin and the main drive in the park that ran parallel with Fort Hamilton Avenue was crowded with cyclists.The female cyclist hadn’t anticipated such a crowd and she steered her cycle to the west drive which led to the more secluded parts of the park. She soon found the privacy that she sought in the more secluded section of the park and breathed a sigh of relief as she cycled down deserted roads and paths.

The Cyclist Chooses a Secluded Path and Regrets Her Choice

By this time, the moon had climbed high in the sky. The Brooklyn Eagle story sets a sinister mood when it describes the female cyclist spinning along the road to the top of the hill. She glanced to each side where the inky blackness of the woods pressed against the road. Her heart fluttered and she speculated that anyone could be lurking in those inky woods and jump out to ambush her. As she considered the possible phantoms lurking in the woods, she pedaled faster so she could get back quickly to the more crowded paths. She turned into a road leading south that she thought would lead her out of the park. Quite matter-of-factly the Brooklyn Eagle account continues. Suddenly she noticed a bike and a rider bent over it like a racer draw alongside her. The cyclist’s heart gave a leap of joy. She felt quite relieved to see another person on the lonely trail.

The Young Woman Meets the Phantom Cyclist

It's said that the young woman took a second look at the bicyclist and almost fell off of her bicycle. The Brooklyn Eagle story described the phantom cyclist as wearing a flowing white transparent robe that plainly revealed the skeleton underneath. The phantom bent over in a double curve and the place in the skull where the nose had been almost touched the handle bars. The skeleton’s bony hands held the handlebars with a firm grip. The phantom’s bones rattled as it approached and shot past the female cyclist. Then the phantom rider slowed down as if to show the shivering female cyclist that she couldn’t escape by fast riding. The Brooklyn Eagle story graphically describes the terror of the female cyclist. She felt her blood freezing in her veins, but she pedaled as she had never pedaled before. She would escape by fast riding if she could! The phantom rider effortlessly kept pace alongside her. The female cyclist closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at the phantom rider, but she felt a mixture of terror and fascination. She peered through her lashes at intervals to see if the phantom rider still kept pace with her.

The Phantom Cyclist Leads the Way, Wins the Race, and Vanishes

According to the Brooklyn Eagle story, the phantom rider led the young woman in a ride around the park as if she had no will of her own. Utterly exhausted, finally she found the Prospect Park gate where she had entered what seemed like a lifetime before. The female cyclist peered at the phantom rider through her lashes one more time and discovered that it had vanished. She lost no time in speeding her bicycle home through the dark streets of Brooklyn.

​
References:
Brooklyn Eagle, June 14, 1896.
Frances Willard, Wheel Within a Wheel, Applewood Books, 1997. 

Copyright Notice

All of the material on this website is copyrighted.  You are free to link to any of the articles and to download any of the PDF books to read and use as long as you credit me as the author. I fully hope and expect the classroom activities to be freely used.      kathywarnes@gmail.com
Picture
Sunset on Lake Michigan in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
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  • Welcome to History? ...
  • Sing Along to the Spring Siren Song
  • Ohio Ghosts Whisper....
  • Major Archie Butt Had a Gift for Friendship, Even on the Titanic
  • A Love Story for Valentine's Day - Marie Antoinette and Count Axel von Fersen
  • Valentine's Day Crossword
  • Titanic Headlines, Titanic Questions
  • Hoover Dam
  • Journalists in History
    • Ernie Pyle
    • Robert St. John
    • Joseph Morton
    • Robert Cromie
    • Agnes Meyer and Katherine Graham
    • Walter Cronkite
    • Sigrid Schultz
    • Jack Denton Scott
  • March is Women's History Month!
  • Alcohol in American History - John Barleycorn Tells Some of His Story
  • As Relevant As Today- The Past Connects with the Present
    • Ignoring History is Irrelevant
    • Honoring a Veteran: Veteran's Day, November 11, 2012
    • December 1, 1958: The Day Chicago Cried with Our Lady of the Angels
    • Remembering the Vietnam War - 37 Years Present
    • Rebellion, Murder, and Voting Rights in Rhode Island
  • Words and Remembrance-May 1970 at Kent State in Ohio and Jackson State in Mississippi
  • Rub-a-dub-dub in Your Historical Bathtub!
  • The Freedom Summer Murders Changed American Racial Attitudes
  • To Beard Or Not To Beard - That is the Historical Question
  • Scarecrows Historically Speaking
  • Diversionary Thoughts for the Dentists Chair
  • Humans in History
    • Suzanne Valadon and Maurice Utrillo, Artists of Montmartre
    • Grandmother Clara Zetkin Speaks
    • High Stepping Ohio Horseman
    • Philip Teitelbaum Creates a Money Making Machine
    • The 1755 Lisbon Earthquake..
    • Poul le Cour
    • John Collier's Fight for Indian Rights and the First and Last Superintendent of Indian Affairs
    • Lt. Colonel Ely Parker, First Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs
    • Clara and Henry Leffingwell - An English, American, and Australian Story
    • The Murderer and the Museum Curator - Nathan Leopold and Kirtland's Warbler
    • Wilbur Carr, the State Department, and Immigration - 1920-1945
    • Billy Sunday Preached His Prayer Pennant Willing Baseball Story
    • William Alden Smith, Michigan's Titanic Senator
    • Helen and Dickinson Bishop Survive An Earthquake and the Titanic
    • Faster Than Flames: Locomotive Engineer James Root Races the Hinckley Fire
    • Three Hot and Contentious Weeks in July 1925 - The Scopes "Monkey " Trial
    • The Confederados Become Brazilian, but Honor Their American Southern Roots
    • Fascinating Footnote: The Goosedown Divorce
    • Clara and Henry Leffingwell - An English, Australian, and American Story
    • The Molly Maguires - Trailblazers or Terrorists?
    • Lt. Uriah Phillips Levy Fights Prejudice and Saves Monticello
    • The Stavisky Affair - Sasha the Suave Scammer
    • General Santa Anna, Chicle, and Chewing Gum
    • James J. Metcalfe, Gangbuster, Reporter, Poet
  • Women Along the Historical Way
    • Lucena Brockway Adapts to Life in the Keweenaw Copper Mining Country of Lake Superior
    • Ida Tarbell- "Bachelor Soul." Transitional Woman, or Both?
    • SOE Agent Andree Borrel Lived Several Lifetimes in Her 24 Years
    • Ruth Becker's Faith Helped Her Survive the Titanic and Life Beyond
    • Clara Zetkin Speaks Against Hitler in the German Reichstag
    • Maria Mitchell, America's First Woman Astronomer
    • Lee Lawrence Ansberry - The Courage to Live
    • Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt and the First Mississippi River Steamboat
    • Margaret Fox Kane's Victorian Love Story
    • Chicagoan Kate Kellogg Meets a Ghost on a Train
  • Acting History-History Plays
  • Practicing History
  • Classroom Clues
    • Power Point Pointers
    • Pieces of the World History Puzzle
    • Time Machine Tours
  • The Haunted Hollows of History
    • Does Columbus Haunt His Ships...
    • The Phantom Plowman
    • The Western Reserve and the Gilcher
    • The Ticonderoga's Haunted Bell
    • The Train Chaser
    • Mary Surratt
    • Farmer Brunett's Ghost Lantern
    • A Bicyclist Encounters a Phantom
  • Wading in Historical Waters
    • The Lady and the Patriot- The Fateful Voyage of Theodosia Burr Alston
    • Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk- Snatching Soldiers from the Fingers of the Nazis
    • Beaver Island - Mormon Kingdom, Fisherman's Paradise, Pirate Lair
    • Captain Jedediah Spinnet and His Sons Caught Fish and Pirates
    • Roman Emperor Caligula and His Legendary Lake Nemi Ships
    • Great Lakes Steamers and the Black Hawk War
    • Captain Harry Ward Cruised Gold Fields and Commanded a Slave Ship
    • "Father Put Me in the Boat-" The Story of the Northfleet
  • Catching Up with Clio's Creatures
    • Gertie the Duck, Black Bill, and the Muffled Memorial Day Parade
    • Verdun Belle Rescues a Shell-Shocked World War I Marine
    • Storks are the Stuff of Legend and Every Day Life
    • Susa White Gives Her Pet Lamb Nebby to Boston
    • Sergeant Stubby, the World War I Dog
    • Pistol Head, Cocker Spaniel, Combat Veteran
    • Goofy, The Warrior Dog Comes Home
    • Sallie the Civil War Heroine
  • Creative History
    • World War II Photographs by Sandy Blakeman
    • Church Going is a Common Historical Experience
  • Musical Muse
    • Lydia Maria Child Writes and Explores Over the River and Through the Wood
    • Solomon Linda, Mbube, Wimoweh, The Lion Sleeps Tonight
    • Leroy Anderson Captures Fun and Feelings in His Music
    • Harry Barnhart Helped Soldiers Sing Their Way Through World War I >
      • Presidents in a Package-George Washington >
        • Mary Breckinridge, Circuit Riding Nurse and Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
        • George and Harry Washington Fight for Freedom
        • Charles Wedel Served on Manitowoc Submarines >
          • Navy Diver Frank Prebezich Remembered Pearl Harbor by Salvaging Battleships
          • Stan Valentine at Pearl Harbor
          • World War II - Serving Aboard the USS Enterpise
          • Michel Linovich-an Italian in Napoleon's Grand Army
          • Charles Whittlesey- Scholar, Soldier, Humanist
          • The Five Sullivan Brothers Stick Together...
          • Kentuckian James Andrews and the Yankee Bridge Burners
          • General Grant, General Babcock, General McDonald and Journalist Colony: A Study in Scandal and Friendship
          • The Dudman Family Lived the Meaning...
        • George Washington Travels French Creek to Fort Le Boeuf
        • Miracle in World War I - the Christmas
        • Presidents in a Package - Thomas Jefferson
        • President James Monroe Inspects Michigan Territory - 1817
        • President Grover Cleveland's Secret Surgery on the Steam Yacht Oneida
        • John Kissinger Volunteers to Get Yellow Fever
        • Mary Todd Lincoln Considered April Her "Season of Sadness"
        • Violets for Valor - Two Bereaved Fathers in the Civil War
      • Clarence and Mildred Beltmann - Persevering Through Hard Times
    • Singing Kumbayah- Harmonious in Hope, Discordant in Derision
    • James Bird - The Battle of Lake Erie, The Execution, The Ballad
    • PDF Musical Muse- Music History
    • Phil Ochs- A Musical Conscience of the 1960s and Beyond
    • Dan Fogelberg and His Music
    • Philip Paul Bliss and His Trunk of Songs
    • Riding with Private Andrew Malone: For All of those who didn't Make it Home
    • Do You Ken John Peel?
    • "Mind the Music and the Step-" Yankee Doodle Sings History
  • Back Water River and British Bluster
  • Soldier's Stories
  • September 11, 2001 is a "Mixed Feeling Day"
  • Memories of the Pearl Harbor Attack Haven't Faded with Time
    • Memories of Pearl Harbor
  • Light and Radiance - Figure Skater Laurence Owen and Her Team
  • Historic Halloween Tales
  • Thanksgiving Perspectives
    • Drive A Thanksgiving Turkey!
    • The Centerpiece of Thanksgiving Celebrations is Giving Thanks >
      • Presidents in a Package - Abraham Lincoln
      • Americans and Britons Celebrated Thanksgiving 1942 in War Weathered England
      • Writing a Gratitude Journal for Thanksgiving Day
      • "Do You Hear What I Hear?" >
        • Christmas Eve, 1941-A Sailor
        • Alfred Burt and Wihla Hutson
        • Milwaukee Soldiers and Sailors in World War II
        • History Sports Scenes >
          • Throwing Out the First Pitch - American Presidents On Opening Day
          • Kenesaw Mountain Landis
          • Jim Rice - A Big Time Coach in a Small Town
          • Playing Lucky Baseball with Lady Luck Sitting in the Catbird Seat
        • Silent Night Had Simple Beginnings >
          • The Angels Song - It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
          • Stuffing Stockings on St. Nicholas Day >
            • Mrs. Santa Claus- A Strong and Supportive
            • Katherine Davis-The Little Drummer Boy
        • Is There A Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon and
        • Carols Silent Night and O Holy Night
        • Happy New Year
        • The Holocaust in History >
          • Carl von Ossietzky Wins a Nobel Prize While in a Nazi Concentration Camp
      • City Scapes