By Karu F. Daniels, AOL Black Voices

I grimaced when I saw this.

But it's some serious business.

Beloved filmmaker Spike Lee said he lives in a townhouse formerly occupied by burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee.

"When we moved in, my son saw her ghost," the 'Do the Right Thing' and 'Jungle Fever' reportedly told Webster Hall's Baird Jones. "My son said she was a nice ghost, I guess because we both have the same last name. But we haven't seen her since."

Rose Lee's legend has been immortalized for nearly 50 years via the multiple Tony Award nominated musical 'Gyspy' -- which starred Ethel Merman in 1959-- and the original 1962 film adaptation, starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood.

The true-to-life story is about how an overbearing stage mother turns her attention to her less talented elder daughter in hopes of making her a big Broadway star -- only after her star child runs off to get married. With a lot of pressure and not much moxie, the elder daughter turns out to reign supreme in the vaudeville circuit -- becoming one of its most renowned stars.

Lee (born Shelton Jackson Lee) is originally a native of Atlanta but claims Brooklyn as his own. He resided in the New York City boroughs black-centric Fort Green section for decades, and shot most of his films in and around the area. For almost decade, the 'Crooklyn' auteur, who turned 50 years old on March 20, and his family moved to the Upper East Side of Manhattan.