Reid’s Ice Cream Factory

A Brief History: Reid’s Ice Cream Factory was located in Blue Point, New York. In 1879 Augustus Floyd Smith created a business in making commercial ice cream. The production facility was built sometime in the late 1800s. Augustus would use horses to turn the ingredients to create the ice cream. He would supply the local hotels in Patchogue and Camp Upton with ice cream from the facility. Later his son would take over the facility and eventually sell it in 1926 to The Reid’s Ice Cream Corp. In February of 1926 the factory opened. Reid’s Ice Cream Corp. stated that the facility was large enough to produce over 1,000,000 gallons of ice cream per year, making this one of the largest distributing and manufacturing facilities of ice cream in New York State. In the early 1930s Borden Food Corp. bought the facility. The facility finally closed its doors on October 3, 1969, and sat abandoned for about 30 years. In early 2003 the facility was finally demolished. The property where the former building stood went on the market for approximately 1.2 million dollars, and in 2006 houses were built on the land.

Haunted History: There are two main paranormal tales associated with Reid’s Ice Cream Factory. The first centers on a young woman who died on the property. There are two versions of the story, and it is unknown which or if either is true. They speak of a woman who worked in a nightclub referred to as the “It” in Bayport during the 1950s. The woman who some refer to as Linda is said to have met a man and agreed to meet with him after her shift was over. They drove to the abandoned Reid’s Ice Cream Factory, which was known as a secluded make out area. This is where the story splits. In version the woman ultimately tells the man to stop his advances on her. In a rage he murders her. In the second version of the story the couple is unaware they are being watched when someone kills the man, and then proceeds to rape and murder the woman. People passing the area claim to see the figure of a woman appear on the property. There are also claims of a female sounding crying and screaming.

The other most common paranormal claim deals with a young boy who played on the property. The male child who’s name is unknown hung around the property in the 1970s. Some people claim he had a mild mental disability. The story says that he was climbing equipment in the building when he fell to his death. People claim to hear the boy playing on the property. Supposedly the original demolition team walked off the job at Reid’s Ice Cream Factory. They had incidents involving doors that would open, close, and lock themselves, amongst other events. The crew refused to go back and a new team had to be brought in. Now that the factory is gone, houses sit on property concealing its former identity.