White Horse Tavern
New York · United States · Pub
Where Dylan Thomas drank on his last visit to New York. Regulars say he never quite checked out.
The White Horse Tavern opened in 1880 and is one of Manhattan's oldest continuously operating bars. From the 1950s it became a gathering point for writers and rebels: Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, James Baldwin, Kerouac. But the name that has stuck to the pub is that of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. During his last visit to New York he drank here, according to legend eighteen whiskies in a row on 3 November 1953. He collapsed at his hotel and died a few days later, only 39 years old. The figure of eighteen is probably exaggerated, and later analyses point to pneumonia and mistaken medication, but the story lives on.
Staff and regulars have maintained for decades that Thomas never quite checked out. At his favourite table, glasses are said to move and chairs to be pulled out, and a short, stocky man in a tweed jacket is glimpsed only to vanish the moment you look straight at him. Sit down for a while. If any poet were to refuse to leave his bar, it would be him.
FAQ
Where is White Horse Tavern located?
White Horse Tavern is in New York, United States.
More haunted places in New York
- St. Paul's Chapel: the oldest room and its graves New York · Church
- Amityville Horror House (112 Ocean Avenue) New York · Haunted house
- Chapel of the Good Shepherd: The Inmates' Church New York · Church
- Washington Square Arch & the Hanging Elm New York · Urban site
- Garibaldi-Meucci Museum – Esther's Cough New York · Museum
- The Hendrick I. Lott House – Farmhouse with the Hidden Closet New York · House
- Wolfe's Pond Park New York · Haunted site
- The Players – Edwin Booth's Club New York · Historic building
Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.
Image: New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Twachtman, Phyllis, photographer. · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons