A friend recommended Joan to look at a Manhattan penthouse apartment for sale that used to be the ballroom of a large mansion. Rivers was enamored with the space and put ‘all of her energy’ into renovating the run-down apartment. One Labor Day weekend when the workmen were gone, she dropped by her new home to check on the progress. It was a very hot night, but the apartment was freezing cold. Her dog, a ‘little yorkie’, refused to enter and bizarre ‘pornographic writings and markings’ were scrawled on the walls. She complained to the doorman, who said, ‘Oh, I guess Mrs. Spencer is back.’
Mrs. Spencer, allegedly a niece of J.P. Morgan, used to occupy the entire building as her private residence. As she grew older, she rented more and more of the building out until she resided in an apartment that what was once her ballroom. After passing away in ‘the ballroom’, her spirit reportedly returned and ‘did things’ to residents, such as tear the heads off of every cherub in a neighbor’s chandelier.
Joan’s discomfort in the apartment grew. It was freezing even when she blasted the heat. Her dog continued to refuse to enter, and the workmen ‘didn’t want to be there either’. The NYU parapsychology department reportedly referred Rivers to a voodoo priestess from New Orleans. The voodoo priestess flew in and met Rivers at her apartment. The priestess began communicating with Mrs. Spencer and claimed that the former owner still considered herself the ‘grand dame’ of the building and was furious that the residents were defiling her home. After an exhaustive exorcism involving ‘chanting…and drumming’, the priestess assured Rivers that Mrs. Spencer had departed. According to Rivers, she felt an immediate difference in the space, and even though it was now 2:30 am, she went door to door with the priestess offering to cleanse the neighbors’ apartments. ‘Not one neighbor refused.’ Rivers said. ‘Everybody had a story.’
After moving in, ‘things started again’. Her dog once again behaved strangely. The apartment was frigid and Rivers complained that her ‘electrical things’ constantly went haywire. Mrs. Spencer was apparently back. Despondent, Joan addressed Mrs. Spencer directly, pleading for the specter to leave her in peace. Shortly afterwards, she found a portrait of Mrs. Spencer and hung it in the lobby of the building. Rivers said she then received a telephone call from the voodoo priestess claiming that Mrs. Spencer had appeared to her to say she was pleased with Joan’s renovations and asked that Joan continue to keep fresh flowers in the ballroom. For the last eighteen years, Rivers stated, she has kept fresh flowers in the ballroom.
Rivers went on to say that Mrs. Spencer continues to visit her ‘just about every night’ at about three o’clock in the morning and that she feels comforted and protected by the spirit’s presence. ‘We’re friends,’ said Rivers. ‘It’s nice to know I have Mrs. Spencer to say good evening to every night.’
According to an article in the NY Times, an apartment Rivers bought ‘about 20 years ago’ with a ‘double-height ballroom’ was listed for sale over the summer for an astounding twenty-five million dollars. No mention of Mrs. Spencer in the article. This Vanity Fair interview appears to confirm that Rivers still occupied the apartment in August.
With twenty-five million dollars possibly on the line, is Rivers required to inform prospective buyers about Mrs. Spencer? A Corcoran real estate broker (who didn’t want his name used) confirmed that brokers are obligated to reveal if there was a death on the property if a buyer happens to ask, but that there wasn’t a law requiring brokers to disclose reports of paranormal activity.
Rivers should be advised of the landmark case Stambovsky v. Ackley in which Helen Ackley and members of her family reported to several newspapers between 1977 and 1989 that their house was infested with ghosts. In 1990, when Ackley put her house on the market, neither she nor her realtor told the buyer, Jeffrey Stambovsky, about the haunting before he signed a sales contract. When Stambovsky learned about the reported poltergeist activity, he filed an action requesting nullification of the contract of sale. The New York Supreme Court ruled (on appeal) in a majority opinion that the Ackleys’ public and persistent claims that their house was haunted were sufficient grounds for the buyer, who was not aware of the alleged haunting, to legally rescind the sales contract. examiner.com
