How to have a Victorian Christmas in NYC December 7, 2017 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!
Macabre Holiday Gift Guide 2017 December 6, 2017 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 for Ghosts of Christmas Past on sale now! November 21, 2017 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.
Hart Island October 25, 2017 In the past, Hart Island has variously been used as a tuberculosis sanatorium, a Union Civil War Camp, a women’s insane asylum, and a boys’ reformatory. It was also used to launch missiles during the Cold War in the sixties from the Nike Missile Site, and it housed a rehab facility called Phoenix House in the sixties and seventies. And it has been and continues to be used as a potter’s field.
The Death of Young Edgar Poe: Some Observations on William Wilson October 1, 2017 Re-reading Poe’s short story William Wilson, I was struck by the significance of the story’s settings and the parallels between the story and events in the author’s real life. The thinly-veiled stand in for his alma mater, the University of Virginia, particularly evokes an important event that changed the course of Poe’s life forever.
Two Masters of Horror in NYC September 18, 2017 Boroughs of the Dead presents two walking tours dedicated to the masters of literary horror this October: Lovecraft in Brooklyn follows the trajectory of H.P. Lovecraft’s time living in Flatbush and Brooklyn Heights in the 1920s, and Edgar Allan Poe In Greenwich Village steps into the Greenwich Village of the 1840s, where Poe lived and […]
Tickets for Halloween 2017 on sale now! August 23, 2017 Tickets to all Boroughs of the Dead tours are now on sale for the Halloween 2017 season. Our meticulously researched ghostly and macabre historical tours are, as always, led by expert guides who are published authors, museum educators, and seasoned storytellers.
Truman Capote’s Haunting Perspective of Brooklyn August 18, 2017 Truman Capote lived at 70 Willow Street from 1955 to 1965. Capote never owned the house; it was owned by his friend, Broadway set designer, Oliver Smith.
The Poisonous Prohibition in Brooklyn Heights June 19, 2017 The following is a guest post from our tour guide Marie Carter, who will be conducting a lecture on “The Poisonous Prohibition” at QED in Astoria on Sunday, June 25, 2017, and leading our “Haunted Brooklyn Heights” tour — which will feature stories of poison during the Prohibition, true crime, haunting, murder, and more — […]