Category: Holiday

Every once in a while the universe converges to make a ready-made experience just waiting to fall into your lap. This year, a fortuitous confluence of events means that if you’re the type who wants to recreate a Victorian Christmas in New York City in 2017 (because why not?) then you’re in luck!

Your guide to macabre gifts that matter. Our choices are still wonderfully grim and strange but with a tinge of something more than the usual fare, at the end of this nightmarish year.

Tickets to our annual holiday tour, Ghosts of Christmas Past, are on sale now! This two-hour walking tour combines some of the best true ghost stories of Greenwich Village with a special seasonal focus on the history of Christmas and its unique connection to New York City. It’s a refreshing alternative to the usual holiday fare, and perfect for anyone who likes their holidays with a side of creepy.

Frau Perchta isn’t as well known as Krampus these days, which is a shame, because this Christmas-time goddess/witch/all-around-terrifying-gal deserves a lot more press. She’s a staple in the Alpine regions of southern Germany and Austria, but relatively under-the-radar in North America. So let’s get to know Frau Perchta a little better, shall we?

The time is upon us for another Macabre Holiday Gift Guide! This year, we’ve decided to focus solely on books, in part because there were so many amazing ones this year, and in part because our Boroughs of the Dead guides have had quite a few publications among them in 2016. Also, who doesn’t love a book for the holidays?

Boroughs of the Dead’s “Ghosts of Christmas Past” combines New York City history, Yuletide folklore, and local ghost stories into a holiday walking tour unlike any other.

Delve deeply into sites such as Strawberry Fields, the Bethesda Terrace and Lake, Belvedere Castle, Cleopatra’s Needle, the Ramble, and Conservatory Water, and explore the arcane, occult and spiritual side to Central Park on this one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day tour.

When you think about it, most ghost stories also have elements of romance in them, don’t they? Most ghost origin-stories run one of three ways — a murder or misdeed, an unjust, sudden or premature death, and the old standby: died of a broken heart. Since New York City abounds with ghost stories, it makes sense that we’d have a lot of love stories here, too. And so in the spirit of Saint Valentine, who was very romantically beaten with clubs and beheaded on February 14th, we present here a short list of some of the most romantic ghosts in New York City.

What could be more romantic than a stroll on a winter’s eve, just you and your loved one and a small group of twenty or so other people, as you listen to bone-chilling ghost stories and enthralling true tales of NYC’s dark and gory past? This Saturday, February 13th, join us for a special Valentine’s Day edition of The Ultimate Greenwich Village Ghost Tour, led by Boroughs of the Dead founder Andrea Janes.