ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood has nearly 220 years of illustrious history under its belt. Not all of it is what we would call normal though. Some would claim the home has roots in the paranormal as well.

"I wish I had something to tell you like there was a dastardly murder like at Cherry Hill, but there has been many families that have lived here and they’ve grown attached to the place," said Maeve McEneny, author of The Original Albany Ghost Tour. "And it seems like they’ve been a little reluctant to leave."

In 1798, the mansion was originally built for General Abraham Ten Broeck, who also served as Albany Mayor. Fifty years later, Thomas Olcott, a prominent Albany banker, moved his family into the home and they spent the next 100 years living here. Somewhere along the line, one of its former residents refused to leave, even in death, and is known today only as the "Woman in White."

"There were generations of people that lived in the Ten Broeck Triangle or their parents lived here who have looked up at that window or anywhere around the grounds and they’ve seen this apparition of a woman,” said McEneny. 

But who exactly is the "Woman in White?" No one really seems to know, but we have our theories.

"Given the lore of women in white, one could be the lady of the house, which would be Elizabeth Ten Broeck. She was older when she passed away in the house but there’s nothing to say that when you come back as a spirit you have to come back as the age you passed away in," explained McEneny. "So, she would’ve had her routine, as "women in white" tend to have routines."

Another possibility isn’t exactly a lady of the house, but she lived there as long as any of them and she was with the Olcott family.

"There was one figure by the name of Rossanah who was an African-American serving woman," McEneny said. "And she was so beloved, or cherished, or thought to be close enough to the Olcotts that she was buried at the family plot. So, this is another person who would’ve had their rounds and loops. Especially 63 years, you have to be set in your routine by then."

It’s likely we’ll never know who the "Woman in White" was originally, but maybe that’s part of the fun of it? She’s planted firmly at Albany’s intersection of history and folk lore and there’s something to be said for that.