Gertrude Aldridge is a specter that haunts Aldridge Mansion Museum. When she was alive, she murdered all of her father's servants in one night.
History[]
Primary Canon[]
When she was alive, Gertrude was the eldest daughter to Sir Aldridge. On October 25, 1894, Sir Aldridge woke up and found no breakfast. He was angry at his servants, but then he found each and everyone of them were murdered by Gertrude. She had stabbed them to death overnight as they slept.[1] To spare the family public humiliation, they locked her in the basement and feed her through a the door slot.[2] Years later, the mansion was sold and her spirit resided in the basement. The new owner had her remains dug out but afterwards, he kept hearing strange sounds. He sealed the basement shut.[3]
Rowan North learned of Gertrude and discovered the mansion was on one of New York's Ley Lines. He planted one of his Hyper-Ionization Devices inside the basement under a piece of period wooden furniture near the basement door. It energized the Ley Line and Gertrude. On a Tuesday, around closing time at 6 pm, a tour guide named Garrett placed a prop candle back in its usual spot but the basement door creaked. He slowly walked back to the door and the knob turned. The door shook and a woman's scream was heard. He rushed to the front door – and the doorknob suddenly heated up when he tries to grab it. He recoiled in pain and saw the knob was flaming red. Gertrude, not yet manifested, then pushed Garrett into a wall, breaking a frame and table. Garrett panicked and ran to the drawing room. He grabbed a chair and threw it at a window but it stopped in mid-air and hurled itself back at him. Garrett ran for the nearest open door in the main hall but realized he was in the basement. Green Ectoplasm flowed up through cracks in the floor and the door slammed shut. He tried to run to the stairs, but the steps collapsed as he took each step. He hung on as the stairwell collapsed to the ground then Gertrude arose as a blue mist from the floor. She flew towards Garrett and he screamed. He allegedly soiled himself.[4]
After Garrett's encounter with Gertrude, Ed Mulgrave Jr., the mansion's historian, asked Erin Gilbert for help. Erin ended up accompanying Abby Yates and Holtzmann and investigating the events that had recently happened. After Erin stepped on some Ectoplasm, the basement door creaked open. Erin thought it was another one of Abby and Erin's pranks but they denied it. Gertrude flew out of the basement fully formed. Ultimately, Erin made direct contact with Gertrude and introduced herself. Erin detected a heavy ionization discharge coming off of her.[5] After a moment of trying to communicate with her, Gertrude suddenly transmogrified, dislocated her jaw, and projectile vomited Ectoplasm on Erin and then flew out through the wall and into the streets.[6] Abby later referred to Gertrude's assault as a "full-torso transmogrification with corporeal aggression."[7]
During the battle in Times Square, she returned and took Erin in the air and released her to a tall long legged Pilgrim ghost. Abby kicked over a Proton Grenade and saved her. Later in the battle, Gertrude and the Electrocuted Ghost returned to cause Erin more trouble. She pulled out her Proton Grenade Launcher and shot at them both, sending them flying backwards far into the sky. Gertrude returned to the Aldridge and continued haunting it.[8]
Secondary Canon[]
Ghostbusters Activision Video Game (2016)[]
Gertrude Aldridge appears as the boss of the the Aldridge Manor Level in Ghostbusters Activision Video Game (2016).
- Category:
- Type: Ghost (must trap)
- Attacks:
Containment Unit[]
Note that this is copied directly from the game, including misspellings and incorrect grammar.
Gertrude Aldridge
Gertrude Aldridge was the horribly disturbed daughter of a wealthy New York Aristocat. One night she snapped and murdered all the servants with a wickedly sharp kitchen knife. Horrified, her family locked her away in the manor's basement until her death. An angsty, unhinged, ghost with abandonment issues, oh my...
Classification[]
Primary Canon[]
Gertrude was a Class 4 apparition with a distinct human form.[9]
Secondary Canon[]
Lego Dimensions[]
Gertrude was a Class 4 apparition.
Ghostbuster's Handbook[]
Gertrude was a Class 4 apparition.[10]
Trivia[]
- Gertrude Aldridge was created from the idea of a character like Lizzie Borden.[11][12]
- Gertrude Aldridge also shares some similarities with Gertrude Tredwell of the Merchant's House Museum. Tredwell was also the eldest daughter in an affluent family named Gertrude who died alone in the house which has been preserved intact and now her ghost haunts the museum.[13]
- Gertrude was originally going to be an ugly old woman.[14]
- Bess Rous wore a LED light suit and was placed in a rig that took her up and down.[15]
- For one take, Rous unexpectedly screamed and scared Kristen Wiig and all the others.[16]
- On Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #4, on the lower level is Gertrude Aldridge.
- Gertrude appears on the IDW Convention Variant Cover of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Answer The Call Ghostbusters.
Appearances[]
- Ghostbusters (2016 Movie)
- Chapter 01
- Chapter 03
- Chapter 04
- Mentioned only.
- Chapter 05
- Photo of portrait only.
- Chapter 06
- Alluded to by Abby.[17]
- Chapter 12
- Alluded to by Abby.[18]
- Chapter 13
- Drawing in Rowan's copy of Ghosts from Our Past
- Chapter 14
- Ghosts From Our Past: Both Literally & Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal
- Mentioned on Page 145.[19]
- Mentioned on Page 146.
References[]
- ↑ Tour Guide Garrett (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 1 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:01:57-00:02:28). Sony Pictures. Tour Guide Garrett says: "On the morning of October 25th, 1894, Sir Aldridge awoke, furious, when his breakfast was not waiting for him. So he called to his servants, but none of them responded. Why? Because, during the night, one by one, they had each been stabbed to death in their sleep. It was later discovered they were murdered by his eldest daughter, Gertrude Aldridge."
- ↑ Tour Guide Garrett (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 1 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:02:29-00:02:49). Sony Pictures. Tour Guide Garrett says: "Sir Aldridge once wrote in his diary, "I know God makes no mistakes, but I believe he may have been drunk when he built Gertrude's personality." Now, to spare the family public humiliation, instead of turning her in to the police, they locked her in this basement. And they fed her... through this slot."
- ↑ Tour Guide Garrett (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 1 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:02:50-00:03:06). Sony Pictures. Tour Guide Garrett says: "Years later, when a new owner moved in, they dug out her remains. But, after repeatedly hearing strange sounds, he sealed it shut. That's right. No one has opened this door since then."
- ↑ Ed Mulgrave Jr. (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 2 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:17:17-00:17:20). Sony Pictures. Ed Mulgrave Jr. says: "Garrett here saw it on Tuesday, and I believe it made him soil himself."
- ↑ Erin Gilbert (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 4 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:23:51-00:23:55). Sony Pictures. Erin Gilbert says: "I did detect a heavy ionization discharge. I mean, I could smell it."
- ↑ Jillian Holtzmann (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 4 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:23:40-00:23:43). Sony Pictures. Jillian Holtzmann says: "Till she dislocated her jaw and ecto-projected all over you."
- ↑ Abby Yates (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 4 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:23:55-00:23:59). Sony Pictures. Abby Yates says: "A full-torso transmogrification with corporeal aggression."
- ↑ Shaffer, Andrew (2016). Ghosts From Our Past: Both Literally & Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal, p. 146. Three Rivers Press, New York NY USA, ISBN 9781101906002.Line reads: "Despite the precautions, Gertrude Aldridge's ghost continues to haunt the Aldridge Mansion-ask Erin about her, if you doubt it."
- ↑ Abby Yates (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 3 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:20:11-00:20:16). Sony Pictures. Abby Yates says: "Class 4 apparition. Distinct human form."
- ↑ Narrator (2016). Simon & Schuster- "Ghostbuster's Handbook" (2016) (Book p.67). Page reads: "Gertrude had been haunting the mansion as a Class IV apparition with all the classic sights---AP-xH shift, ectoplasmic residue, and high PKE readings."
- ↑ EMPIRE Online "Empire Podcast: Ghostbusters Spoiler Special with Paul Feig" 14:34-15:07 7/27/16 Paul Feig says: "No, it was... we just liked the idea of this sort of spooky history of this Lizzie Borden-type character who killed people and the family locked her down. That's a real -- Katie Dippold likes that sort of spooky stuff like that and it just felt... I -- we really like the idea that there's the ghost that would be powerful enough to work their way back or would stick around to be re-energized are the one's carrying enormous hatred and evil with them."
- ↑ Katie Dippold (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Special Features; "The Ghosts of Ghostbusters" (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 0:02:06-0:02:09). Sony Pictures. Katie Dippold says: "The inspiration for the ghost in the opening was Lizzie Borden."
- ↑ New York Times "The Ghosts of New York's Past" 10/28/2018 Article reads: "For nearly a century, members of the Tredwell family occupied the house at 29 East Fourth Street, near Washington Square Park. If you believe the reports, at least one of them still does. The ghost of Gertrude Tredwell is said to have roamed the house since she died there in 1933, in the same bed in which she was born. One of the first sightings came just weeks after her death, according to Anthony Bellov, a board member of the Merchant’s House Museum, which occupies the house and preserves it as a testament to the Tredwells and the era in which they lived...The museum opened to the public only three years after Gertrude died. One of its early caretakers, a woman named Florence Helm, later described having several mysterious experiences there. Once, she told The New York Times in 1953, she watched a silk tassel twist and turn as though someone were playfully twirling it. Other times, she heard a consistent tapping on the wall...Visitors have reported seeing Gertrude as she appeared at various stages of her life, from her late teens on. Most say she was wearing a long, brown taffeta gown, though that description matches none of the 40 gowns in the museum's collection, Mr. Bellov said...The Tredwell family moved into the house in 1835, when Gertrude’s father, Seabury, retired from a successful career in the hardware business. Five years later, he and his wife, Eliza, had Gertrude, their eighth child. Legend has it that Seabury prevented Gertrude from marrying her true love, which may explain why she remained in the house over the years, even as her family members slowly streamed out. By 1909, she was the last Tredwell still in the house, which she made few changes to over time. Aging and weak, she rarely left the residence in her final years there and died poor and alone."
- ↑ EMPIRE Online "Empire Podcast: Ghostbusters Spoiler Special with Paul Feig" 15:09-15:37 7/27/16 Paul Feig says: "Originally it was written to be this sort of ugly old woman then I worked with Bess Rous. She was one of the stars of my show "Other Space" I did for Yahoo! that's been geo blocked here which I'm trying to desperately get you guys because I love it and she's so great. She's perfect. She can do that almost Kubrick-ian thing where 'beautiful face but minute she tips her head down like the face becomes evil and the eyes get evil' and stuff like that. So I was, it has to be Bess."
- ↑ The Verge "Analyzing the Ghostbusters trailer with director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold" 3/3/16 Line reads: "To be able to get Bess Rous, who was one of my actors in Other Space, I thought that would be great if she was the ghost [in the museum scene]. So we got here in this LED light suit, and put her on this rig that took her up and down."
- ↑ The Verge "Analyzing the Ghostbusters trailer with director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold" 3/3/16 Line reads: "But then she could interact with my cast, and even surprise them. At one point, she did this thing where they didn't expect it: she just screamed. It scared the shit out of Kristen and all the others. It was great."
- ↑ Abby Yates (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 6 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 00:40:43-00:40:48). Sony Pictures. Abby Yates says: "We got another Class 4, and this one's even more ionized than the one at the Aldridge Mansion."
- ↑ Abby Yates (2016). Ghostbusters (2016 Movie) Extended Edition; Chapter 12 (2016) (Blu-Ray ts. 1:17:56-1:18:05). Sony Pictures. Abby Yates says: "All right, I would like to remind everybody here that in a very short amount of time, we have seen multiple Class 4 malevolent apparitions."
- ↑ Shaffer, Andrew (2016). Ghosts From Our Past: Both Literally & Figuratively: The Study of the Paranormal, p. 145. Three Rivers Press, New York NY USA, ISBN 9781101906002.Line reads: "They'd been stabbed to death by his eldest daughter, Gertrude."
Gallery[]
Primary Canon[]
Behind the Scenes[]
Secondary Canon[]
