New Yorkers already have plenty of skeletons in their closets. But if you’d like a run-in with a ghost or a spook in the night, you’ll have to summon them.
For A CoupleIf it’s a little haunted romance you’re after, set the mood by booking a room at the Lafayette House, a narrow, 15-room hotel inspired by 19th century boarding houses of Greenwich Village (flocked wallpaper, marble sinks, lots of stairs). Rumors of apparitions and strange instances have been neither substantiated or denied by the staff. Lafayette House, 38 East 4th Street, between Bowery and Lafayette Street (212-505-8100).
For The Cool KidsThe Steampunk Haunted House, situated on the Lower East Side, has a neo-Victorian aesthetic -- a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland-meets-Industrial-Revolution. There’s no gore to speak of, but there is a pervading sense of creepiness and hyper reality. Think gas masks, forceps, stopwatches gone wild.Steampunk Haunted House, Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, at Pitt Street. October 22-31, ages 8 and up.
For The FamilyThe New York Botanical Garden opens its sculptural Haunted Pumpkin Garden on weekends throughout the month. But on Saturday evenings (October 22 and 29), kids can roam the grounds to trick-or-treat with flashlights under cloak of night. Haunted Pumpkin Garden, New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Boulevard, Bronx. October 1-30, all ages.
For The TechieCity Tech’s department of entertainment technology has been working on the animatronic sets of the Gravesend Inn Haunted Hotel. It’s high tech haunting built on an old cemetery of Brooklyn’s first settlers. Real ghost-sightings may ensue.Gravesend Inn Haunted Hotel, Voorhees Theatre, 186 Jay Street, just north of Tillary Street, Downtown Brooklyn (718-260-5588). October 20-31, ages 8 and up.
For The TraditionalistIs there anything more Halloween-appropriate than a headless horseman carrying a jack-o-lantern? This calls for a visit to the secluded glen made famous by The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Join an evening lantern tour through the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, pay respects to Washington Irving, and maybe bump into a few ghosts of the Revolutionary War movement.Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Cemetery north gate, 540 North Broadway, Sleepy Hollow. October 7-29.
To create your own haunted house, follow the easy instructions below.