HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1713 English-style windmill relocated to Shinnecock Hills in 1890 and converted into a playhouse for Beatrice Claflin, who according to local accounts fell down its steep interior stairs and died — her face has been reported in the windows by students ever since.
39 Tuckahoe Road, Southampton, NY 11968
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
The windmill is on the Stony Brook University Southampton campus, accessible as a drive-by and exterior landmark. Campus grounds are publicly accessible. Interior access is not generally offered to the public.
Access
Limited Access
Campus grounds; the windmill sits on a rise above the main administration buildings
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1713 · 1713 construction; sole survivor of three original Southampton windmills · Navigational landmark for coastal ships until relocation in 1890 · Gilded Age estate development by Arthur Brigham Claflin; architect Grosvenor Atterbury · Tennessee Williams wrote 'The Day on Which a Man Dies' here, summer 1957 · Designated Literary Landmark
The windmill was built in 1713 on Windmill Lane in Southampton Village, making it one of the oldest intact mill structures on Long Island. For nearly two centuries it functioned as a working grain mill and as a visual landmark for ships approaching the Long Island coast. In 1890, Janet Hoyt had it relocated five miles to Shinnecock Hills, where her husband William Hoyt had opened the Shinnecock Inn and she had founded the Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art.
In 1896, Arthur Brigham Claflin, a New York linen merchant, purchased the Shinnecock Hills property and hired prominent architect Grosvenor Atterbury to design a Gilded Age summer estate he named Heathermere. The main Heathermere building now functions as the administration building for Stony Brook Southampton. The windmill was restored and converted into a playhouse and cottage during the Claflin era.
The property's cultural significance deepened in the summer of 1957, when playwright Tennessee Williams lived in the windmill cottage and wrote his experimental one-act play 'The Day on Which a Man Dies' there. The structure was subsequently designated a Literary Landmark in recognition of this association.
Long Island University operated the campus for decades before Stony Brook University took it over in 2006. Stony Brook has committed to a multi-phase renovation of the windmill. The structure remains the campus's most visually distinctive feature and continues to draw visitors.
Sources
The ghost narrative at the Shinnecock Hills windmill centers on Beatrice Claflin, daughter of estate owner Arthur Brigham Claflin, who reportedly fell down the steep interior stairs of the windmill cottage and died. No death certificate or newspaper record corroborating the incident has been located in public sources, and the story exists primarily in the local ghost literature and in author Kerriann Flanagan Brosky's book Ghosts of Long Island.
Despite the absence of documentary confirmation, the report has persisted for decades and been documented by multiple independent sources. Students at Stony Brook Southampton have reported seeing a child's face appearing in the windows of the windmill after dark. The reported audio phenomenon is specific: the sound of grain sliding down the chutes inside the structure, which has been inoperable as a working mill for well over a century.
Brosky also documents an account of a car breaking down without mechanical explanation directly outside the windmill — a type of mechanical-failure report common in Long Island ghost literature. The MTA Away travel guide lists the windmill among Long Island's haunted historic sites, and the Dan's Papers Hamptons horror coverage has cited it in multiple years.
The sensitivity flag for this venue is the minor-victim character of the lore: the narrative involves the death of a child. The lore is reported here in the restrained terms available — a fall, a broken neck — without elaboration.
Notable Entities
The 1713 windmill stands as a landmark on the Stony Brook Southampton campus. Visitors can view and photograph the exterior. The structure served as a navigational landmark for ships before its 1890 relocation and was later used as a cottage and guest quarters — Tennessee Williams wrote his one-act play 'The Day on Which a Man Dies' here in the summer of 1957. The windmill is designated a Literary Landmark.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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