West Village Ghosts: Weird Tales From Out of the Past

These labyrinthine streets weave a ghostly spell

West Village Ghosts, this wonderfully weird walking tour, picks up where our Ultimate Greenwich Village Ghost tour leaves off, wending further westward through the labyrinthine streets of the West Village.

The West Village is a neighborhood that feels lost in time, a maze of secret courtyards and winding cobblestone lanes that are sometimes charming, sometimes unsettlingly disorienting. Its centuries-old brick dwellings seethe with supernatural stories and exude an air of ineffable mystery. The unexpected hush that greets you as you turn off a main thoroughfare and onto a quiet side street seems to offer glimpses of the past, weaving a ghostly spell that may tempt you to wonder if you’ve stumbled into another era…

Let us guide you through the weird tales and spectral stories of one of the city’s most haunting, mysterious, and wonderfully strange neighborhoods. Hear fantastic tales of restless spirits, phantom magicians, obsessive writers, fanboy body-snatchers, and spectral founding fathers. Find out how the Village influenced horror authors Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote “the archaic lanes and houses and unexpected bits of square and court indeed delighted me” on his all-night rambles through the vicinity. The Village has historically been a haven for poets and writers, and many well-known names feature on this tour — Dylan Thomas, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Shirley Jackson — as well as more arcane artists such as Walter B. Gibson, creator of The Shadow and a vast influence on paranormal pop culture. You’ll discover all of this and more uncanny tales and urban lore on Boroughs of the Dead’s haunting stroll through the past.

This tour is perfect for fans of ghost stories, strange tales, pulp horror, old time radio theater, magic, and mystery.

19th Century, Local Legends, Magic, Paranormal