East Hampton 'ghost house' finally sells
This house is 52 Middle Lane in East Hampton in early summer 2011, New York. Credit: Photo by Hampton Pix
The former home of the late Hamptons antiques dealer Barton Kaplan recently sold for $9.25 million, or about half of the original price tag of $19.5 million, according to the Long Island Real Estate Report and public records.
One possible explanation for the price drop is that the house is supposedly haunted, not just by Kaplan’s ghost but the ghosts of Montauk Indians buried on the grounds hundreds of years before, says Kaplan’s friend, Sam Wagner, who has made the claim over the years in newspaper reports.
Since Kaplan’s death in 2002, Wagner claims summer renters of the 2.5-acre East Hampton estate have said that lights have gone on and off without warning and that doors have opened and closed by themselves.
Kaplan’s family could not be reached for comment. But Michelle Tiberio of The Corcoran Group, who represented the buyer with Andy Volet, says they never saw anything disconcerting. “The house seems completely at peace,” she says.
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