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These NYC ghost tours will show you real-life horrors that took place in our own backyard
Halloween enthusiasts start prepping for the holiday even before the first leaves start to turn. There’s so much to plan, from picking a pumpkin to finding the perfect costume and decorations. To really get in the mood for Halloween, these NYC ghost tours should be on the checklist, too. The city is full of legit spooky spots and haunted places, from cemeteries and haunted mansions to a crumbling hospital and tragedy-prone island.
These NYC ghost tours will take you through all the nooks and crannies where real-life horrors and paranormal sightings happened right in our own backyard. Be warned, however: you may never look the same way at certain neighborhoods ever again. After uncovering local frights on an NYC ghost tour, you can opt for a more interactive screamfest at a haunted house, or just stay safely indoors with some popcorn and one of the best horror movies.
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Once upon a time, people lived in building now called the Merchant’s House Museum in Noho. Then they died ... but their spirits may not have moved on. This 50-minute tour reveals the dark, haunted past of this old structure—as well as its spooky present.
Try the Candlelight Ghost Tour where doors slam, floorboards creak, and voices call into the dead of night. Has all that construction nearby has dredged the ghosts from their slumber?
During this tour, you may just find out.
During this two-hour stroll through New York’s busiest part of town, you’ll learn about Broadway and Vaudeville Stars from the great beyond, dance the Time Warp, sing songs from Phantom of the Opera and visit legendary haunted theaters.
Haunted Broadway: The Ghostlight Tour runs on Saturdays.
Learn the basics of ghost hunting with a resident paranormal investigator at Manhattan’s oldest house, located in Washington Heights. The two-hour investigation includes an overview of paranormal theory, a history of ghost hunting and a hands-on, house-wide investigation of period rooms made famous for their otherworldly inhabitants. Just don’t be alarmed if you wind up communicating with one of MJM’s notorious former residents.
These sell out super quickly, so keep an eye on their website to book early.
The trolley tour that's outfitted to look like a Victorian funeral parlor—think chandeliers and velvet curtains—and takes you on a trip through the shadows of historic Brooklyn is back. The tour visits the secret location where Murder, Inc. disposed of bodies, alien abduction sites along the Brooklyn Bridge, a brothel and more spooky sites spanning 400 years of Brooklyn history.
Even if you're a supernatural skeptic, it's fascinating to see hidden cemeteries, mobster dumping grounds, and an EPA Superfund site. Plus, get the chance win prizes with spooky trivia.
Madame Morbid tours are offered on multiple dates in October and Noveber and now even feature ghost hunting equipment.
These ghost tours aren’t the cheesy kind with jump scares; instead, they explore the true, oft-hidden history and spirits lurking around New York City.
"Boroughs of the Dead: Macabre New York City Walking Tours" offers a bevy of tours this fall, including options in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Roosevelt Island. Plus, look for fan favorites "Edgar Allan Poe in Greenwich Village" and "Ghostly Women of Greenwich Village."
The tours promise a "dose of dark history, women’s history, hauntings, ghosts, the occult" and more.
Team up with NYC Ghosts to uncover Greenwich Village's most haunted historic places. Plus, you'll get to hear the true stories figures like Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Aaron Burr, and spirits of the city’s notorious ghosts.
Stand on burial grounds with thousands of graves, see old speakeasies and learn about historic events like the The Triangle Factory Fire on this hourlong tour. If you're looking for even more creepy history, extend the fun with a 30-minute bonus trip after the tour ends.
NYC Ghosts also offers a Boos and Booze Haunted Pub Crawl, during which you can enjoy some liquid courage while hearing about the city's historic haunts and drinking hotspots.
Known for creating fascinating storied adventures, Fable and Lark has put together a Halloween-themed edition of its tour through The Met. On this Ghost Stories exploration of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, expect an interactive tour of all things frightful.
From the spooky to the scary, the macabre to the mysterious, the ghostly to the ghoulish, "Ghost Stories" will unveil Egyptian, American, and European works of art, to name a few, all with a Halloween twist. Participants will travel across cultures and across time to see Flying Dutchmen and funerary brooches, sculpture and sarcophagi.
Tours are held on Saturdays September 30, October 14, October 28 at 11am and on Fridays, October 6, October 13, October 20, October 27 at 6pm.
Although it’s not officially a ghost tour, Untapped Cities' abandoned Ellis Island Hospital expedition is sure to give you the creeps. Don your hard hat and go behind-the-scenes for an unparalleled exploration of the institution’s contagious disease wards, autopsy rooms and other usually "off-limits" places. Each ticket includes your ferry ride to and from Ellis Island.
Once the standard for the U.S. medical care, the hospital has sat abandoned since 1954.
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