Preserved late-1700s well inside the lower level of the SoHo COS clothing store at 129 Spring Street, where Gulielma Sands was murdered in 1799 in the first recorded American jury trial.
129 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free admission to the COS retail store at 129 Spring Street; the preserved Manhattan Well is visible in the men's department on the lower level during regular store hours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Modern retail store with elevator access between floors; the well is integrated into the lower-level retail floor.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1817 · First Recorded American Jury Trial · Hamilton And Burr As Co-counsel · 1799 Murder Of Gulielma Sands · Preserved 18th-century Well
The Manhattan Well was constructed in the late 1790s by the Manhattan Company, a banking and water-supply corporation founded by Aaron Burr that would eventually evolve into Chase Manhattan Bank. The well was one of a series intended to supply fresh water to Lower Manhattan but was never connected to the company's distribution mains.
On December 22, 1799, 22-year-old Gulielma Elmore Sands left her Greenwich Street tenement, telling her cousin she was going to be secretly married. Her body was discovered eleven days later, on January 2, 1800, at the bottom of the Manhattan Well on Spring Street. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation; the body had been thrown into the well after death.
Levi Weeks, a carpenter who lived in the same tenement as Sands and was believed to be the man she had planned to meet on the night of her death, was arrested and charged with her murder. The trial that followed, conducted in March and April 1800, was extraordinary in several respects. Weeks's brother, the prominent New York builder Ezra Weeks, retained as joint defense counsel the three most prominent attorneys in early-republic New York: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and Brockholst Livingston. Hamilton and Burr were political rivals already on the trajectory that would lead to their fatal 1804 duel, and the case is the only known instance in which they collaborated as co-counsel.
The trial was the first American jury trial transcribed in detail, producing a published trial record that became a foundational text in American legal practice. After two days of testimony, the jury acquitted Weeks in less than five minutes. The verdict was extremely controversial — Hamilton was reportedly assaulted by Sands's grieving cousin Catherine Ring on the courthouse steps, who shouted that he and Burr would suffer divine judgment for the acquittal.
The well was filled in and built over in the early 19th century. The 1817 William Dawes Federal-style townhouse at 129 Spring Street was constructed on the lot. The well lay forgotten for more than 180 years.
In 1980, basement excavations during a renovation rediscovered the original brick-lined well shaft beneath the building. The well was preserved in place and integrated into the building's lower-level retail space. Then-tenant Manhattan Bistro operated above the well from the 1980s through 2014, and during that period staff and customers reported a sustained pattern of paranormal phenomena that linked the well to its murdered occupant. Following Manhattan Bistro's closure in 2014, the building's lower level was taken over by Swedish retailer COS (Collection of Style), an H&M sister company, which preserved the well as a feature of the store and continues to display it to the public.
Sources
According to the NY Ghosts and Inside Edition coverage of the address, the haunted reputation of 129 Spring Street activated in 1980 immediately following the basement rediscovery of the Manhattan Well. Then-tenant Manhattan Bistro, which operated above the well from the 1980s through its 2014 closure, repeatedly reported paranormal phenomena including: bottles falling from shelves, glasses and place settings flying from tables, doors opening and closing on their own, lights switching on and off without explanation, and a sensed female presence on the lower level.
After Manhattan Bistro closed and COS opened the present retail location in 2014, the new tenant reported a continuation of the phenomena. Inside Edition's coverage documents COS staff accounts of missing merchandise, malfunctioning elevators, and unexplained electrical issues, with the staff attributing these to the ghost of Elma Sands. The retailer has preserved the well behind glass and metal protective enclosures and treats its presence as a historical feature rather than a paranormal attraction.
The Lineup feature and Classic New York History account also cite secondary witness reports from passersby and SoHo residents describing screams heard near Greene and Spring Streets and at the building corner — particularly in the late evening and overnight hours. These accounts are folkloric and not independently documented, but they have circulated in SoHo ghost-tour programs since the 1990s.
The Manhattan Well haunting is a notably well-anchored New York paranormal narrative because the underlying murder is exceptionally well-documented in the historical record. The 1800 trial transcript, the printed indictments, the trial advocacy materials, and contemporary newspaper coverage all survive, providing one of the most detailed early-American crime archives. The paranormal accounts post-dating the 1980 rediscovery layer onto this primary historical record rather than substituting for it.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the COS clothing store at 129 Spring Street during regular retail hours and descend to the lower level (men's department), where the preserved 18th-century Manhattan Well is integrated into the retail space behind a glass and metal enclosure. Signage and a brief historical plaque explain the well's history and the 1799 murder of Gulielma 'Elma' Sands.
Several SoHo and Greenwich Village ghost-walking tours include 129 Spring Street as a featured stop, providing the context of the 1799 murder, the 1800 trial featuring Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr as defense counsel, and the 1980 rediscovery of the well during basement excavations.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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