House 7A tells the story of the Crowe Family: The father Justin, the mother Irene, and their children; Jessica (6), Isaac (4), and baby Julia. The family, like many others, was stationed on Governors Island in the 1980's while the land was still being used as a military installation for members of the US Coast Guard and their families.
Justin was career military and, according to members in his unit, was very vocal about his discontent with his family's life on the island. In September of 1989 during one of his many trips abroad, he reportedly learned of a way to solve all of his problems and finally be able to move his family away to live the life they've always wanted. But such things rarely come easy and never without a cost.
While no one knows for sure what happened inside that house in the weeks following Justin's return, the tragic end-results shook the small island community to its core. Some even claim the events directly led to the military's eventual departure from Governors Island a few years later.
On Halloween night, after several neighborhood children never returned home after trick or treating in Nolan Park, the authorities were notified by the distraught parents, and an emergency community meeting was called first thing the following morning. The entire island community turned up at the meeting, with the exception of the Crowe Family. With this, and the fact that neither Irene nor their children had been seen for some time, fingers were soon pointed toward house #7A.
Upon the police storming into the front door, Justin was found in the living room, filthy and raving with his rifle in-hand. He was gunned down where he stood by the police before he could take a shot. Onlookers reported hearing Justin frantically screaming for help at the top of his lungs before meeting his end, although who he would think would come to his aide under such circumstances is still a mystery.
Upon searching the remainder of the house, the bodies of Irene and baby Julia were found stuffed into the closet of the nursery, while Jessica, Isaac and the missing neighborhood kids were never found at all. The only traces of the vanished children that the police could find were the costumes they wore the night before, scattered in various locations around the house. There also appeared to be evidence of a children's Halloween party having taken place in the dining room.
In the weeks that followed, Justin was blamed for the murders and the matter was swiftly swept under the rug by the military, presumably to avoid scandal.
The house itself was left abandoned, and superstitious whispers began to emerge about what really went on that October. During the few remaining years that the island was still occupied, the house was shuttered up with many of the family's belongings still inside. However locals reported strange sounds and music coming from the windows at all hours of the night. Even in the years following when the island was converted into its current state as a public recreation space, similar reports have been filed by Governors Island security and grounds crew who currently work on the island.
But not since that fall in 1989 has anyone dared to enter the doors of House 7A.