Photos by Winona Barton-BallentineOld houses have a way of calling the right owners," says Julia Drahos, reflecting on the serendipity that brought her to Miss Fanny's, her Victorian farmhouse in Wappingers Falls. Drahos, a psychic medium who also works in the funeral services industry, was searching for a multigenerational nest when she stumbled onto the empty home that seemed destined for a developer's wrecking ball. "I've always wanted an old house and I've especially always wanted an old Victorian," she says. "I also love history and all things creepy."
The moment Drahos saw the 1860s house, she sensed it was something special—although she didn't know just how special at the time. With 4,500 square feet of space spread over three stories, there was plenty of room for Drahos, her father, and her three kids. However, it was the home's intact Gothic-style Victorian detailing, seemingly untouched by 21st-century life, that captured Drahos's heart. Two wide downstairs parlors were accessed by a series of carved-wood French doors. Inside each, intact ceiling medallions, black marble fireplace mantles, and the original steam radiators seemed set for a 19th-century seance. Lanterns punctuated the home's wide entrance hall, complete with creaky wide-plank floorboards and the home's original staircase with a carved-wood balustrade winding from the entranceway straight into the past. "I didn't know anything about the home's history at the time," says Drahos. She didn't realize she'd found more than just a historic Victorian. "I certainly didn't know it was haunted."
Illuminating the Shadows
For someone who has one foot in the spirit realm, Drahos has a decidedly down-to-earth demeanor. The day I visited her one-acre property, she wore a black dress printed with spiders and had just finished decorating for an early Halloween party. Skeletons, cobwebs, and an open coffin layered onto the parlor rooms that were already decorated with a collection of Gothic antiques and Victorian artifacts. With the late summer sunshine splashing through the oversized windows, however, the scene was more festive wake than dour funeral. "I thought we were taking photos today," she explains of her costume, laughing. "Normally, I would dress down."Drahos admits to loving the kitschy macabre of it all. (And, yes, there is a creepy doll room on the third floor.) When she talks about her journey to become a psychic medium, however, it's clear her work is grounded in both compassion for the living and respect for those who have passed. "I don't advertise it a lot," she says. "And it's not my main job—it's very draining and also it feels too sacred for that."
Drahos grew up in Sleepy Hollow where her grandfather, great-grandfather and uncle all worked at the cemetery. "Basically, I grew up in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery," Drahos says. "My grandfather would tell us stories, some real and some he made up I'm sure, but I was steeped in the lore of the area. Everyone in my family seems to be drawn to the unknown." She followed in the family business, getting a job with a local undertaker.
Drahos's gift for communicating with the supernatural emerged early. "My mom's parents died when she was 10 so I never knew them," Drahos says. "But I would have visions and specific, vivid memories that would pop into my head like I was dreaming. I'd ask my mother about certain details I was seeing. She'd always say, 'How did you know that?'" Although her mother encouraged her, Drahos found her psychic abilities weren't always welcome in the wider world. "I learned to keep the gift to myself," she says after bad experiences in school.
Nevertheless, as she grew older, she continued to experience vivid otherworldly visions and have a heightened sense for paranormal activity. Sometimes she could pick up the residual activity and even messages from the deceased; sometimes she had clear visual or auditory impressions of supernatural activity around her. Usually, Drahos experienced paranormal activity like a strong daydream. "The visions are like memories that touch my mind's eye," she explains. "I might not actually see something in front of me but I can see it very clearly in my mind."
Cosmic Real Estate
After Drahos's mother died, her father moved in with her in 2002, which sent her searching for her dream house. "The realtors kept taking me to houses from the 1960s and I kept saying, 'no, no, no I want an old house,'" she recalls. "All the old houses they took me to were completely gutted. There was nothing intact with a sense of character."Driving through Beacon one day, Drahos passed by a For Sale by Owner sign. "It was a Victorian," she says. "So I pulled over and knocked on the door." The home was sold already, but the woman who answered was another realtor who understood Drahos's dream house immediately. "I know exactly what you want," the realtor said. Then she took Drahos to the house in Wappingers Falls.
Built in the 1860s by the Van Wyck family, the home was originally the center of a 120-acre farm. It was passed down through the generations until the 1980s when the last remaining family member, Fanny Van Wyck, died. "She left the property and the house to the town with the intention of making it a community center," says Drahos. "Instead it mostly sat vacant until developers bought everything." The surrounding farmland was developed but the home was initially rescued by another family. "They did some upkeep but didn't change anything," says Drahos. When she came across it, it again had been sitting empty for a while. "There were raccoons living in here," says Drahos. "I'm really shocked the developers left the house standing."
Although it was a bit worse for the wear, neglect had saved the home's historic interiors from being updated or altered. The scope of the project intimidated Drahos, but the sense of stepping back into history captivated her. "My kids were little at the time and it was a lot to take on," says Drahos. "But my realtor kept saying, 'The house needs you, it needs you.' It was the weirdest thing how that resonated with me."
After figuring out the logistics, Drahos bought the house. It was soon after moving in that she realized her family weren't the only residents. From the beginning, she began to hear unexplained noises. "I would hear laughter and giggling in the middle of the night," she explains. "I thought my kids were out of bed so I'd get up, only to find them fast asleep." After that, Drahos began to have clear visions of entities in the house. One of the most startling experiences was encountering a young African-American boy in old clothing. "I woke up at three am one night and after glancing at the clock, something caught my eye in the corner of the room. I looked down and there's this young Black male in a fetal position in old clothes sitting on the floor," recalls Drahos. "I froze in shock, then pulled the blankets over my head. When I looked again, he was gone."
Two other spirits have also made their presence known to Drahos. "One is an older gentleman who I believe is Stephen Van Wyck, who built the house," says Drahos. "We've also done EVP [electronic voice phenomena] recordings at the house and picked up a woman's voice saying, 'This is my house.'" After learning about the home's history, Drahos believes the voice is the spirit of Fanny Van Wyck, who also communicated with the spirit world by holding seances on site. "I believe she's a very protective spirit of the house," says Drahos. "She wanted the home to be open to the community somehow and we're doing that."
Drahos named the home Miss Fanny's in honor of the protective spirit. Over time, she restored the interior detailing to its original state, only replacing the windows and adding her own Gothic decor to the home. Along with hosting parties, gatherings, and the occasional one-on-one psychic medium session, she's been working to put the home on the national historic register. "I think it's important that no one messes with it," says Drahos. "There are so many memories here. Not just my family's but the collective memories of the people who came here before us. It's my job to honor them."