Urban legend? Or did this really happen when they renovated The Towers?

by cobaltcupcake 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  cobaltcupcake

  My ex-husband was in Bethel when the Society bought and started renovating the Towers Hotel in Brooklyn. My family stayed there when the Society was renting a few floors - the place was beyond flea-bag - and people actually lived there. Once the Society took possession of the building they started renovating, and of course the residents had to be evicted. Some of the residents refused to leave, but a funny thing kept happening.

  A Bethelite would go around posting eviction notices on doors and notice a funny smell coming from a room of a recalcitrant resident. They'd get someone to open the door, and the person would be dead. This happened often enough to become legendary. Of course, the JWs took it to mean that Big J was smiting those who stood in the way of the WTBTS.

  Does anyone remember this?
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  james_woods

  No, but I think I stayed in the Towers back in the early 70s before the Society bought it (on a Bethel tour) and I can guarantee you that you needed at least a pint of whisky to go to sleep in that fleabag.
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  cobaltcupcake

  Our visit was in 1973. Our room was on the 4th floor, so we pressed the button for the elevator. A group of weary Bethelites was standing in front of it, and one of them groaned, "It's stuck again." We walked up the 4 flights.

  Oh, and do you remember the weird painting on the wall - "Towers - First Hotel on the Moon." It depicted a tall building on the moon.
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  jgnat

  I would believe the place is haunted.

  Worker Dies in an Elevator Shaft, 1927.

  Joseph Francis Savage 1931 too early!
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  mamochan13

  For some reason I vaguely recall hearing that story. So I guess it likely belongs in the urban legend category.
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  blondie

  There was a woman who lived in a small hotel at the end of Columbia Heights; then the WTS bought it and renovated. But she continued living there. She worked as a waitress at a local "diner." Was her name Ruby. I don't remember her ever being evicted or anyone asking God to hurry up her death. She actually liked being around the Bethel boys.
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  LoisLane looking for Superman

  Cobalt>>>I too stayed at The Towers in 1973...uneventful. I had stayed at The Towers previously, in 1970. At that time, during the middle of the night, I kept getting up to look out the window, because it sounded like, the numerous bell clanging fire engines and the siren blaring ambulances to be several floors directly below my window and that we would be evacuating the bldg. immediately. Imagine my surprise, when I realized this was just usual night sounds in the Big Apple,... OK, Brooklyn. lol

  PS...At my first try looking out our window, in 1970, thinking the building must be on fire, what with all the fire engines and ambulance noise, seemingly, directly, several floors straight down from us, I tried to lift the screen a bit from the window pane, all the better to see, right, and the stupid screen goes and falls right out and sails off, I guess to screen heaven...never to be seen again. I must say, it did make looking down and out a whole lot easier, for the rest of the night. lol I felt guilty for years, loosing that screen. Sorry.

  Follow-up PS. So when we stayed at The Towers in 1973, the night was noisy, of course, but I knew if the fire engines and ambulance noises were for our hotel, somebody would telephone or knock on the door and let us know. So I said my prayers and went to sleep.

  Just Lois
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  exwhyzee

  I had a room on the 9th floor in the Towers after it was renovated but there were still a few of the original tennants living there. One by one as they left, the rooms were renovated. We had a scary Bag Lady living oun our floor who was dead but nobody told her. She was very tall, gray skinned and sickly looking. She'd sort of spirit herself in and out of the building when no one was around. A few times I saw into her Apt and it was dark and stacked with newspapers and magazines from floor to ceiling...and the smell !!! Sometimes She'd get into the elevator and we'd all have to hold our breath for the entire ride. I was told that she was one of the ones who was found dead.
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  ShirleyW

  "We had a scary Bag Lady living oun our floor who was dead but nobody told her"

  . . . hmmmm, that's interesting
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  cobaltcupcake

  Bumping.