First-time tourists to New York City typically stick to Manhattan’s big and famous attractions. But on a second visit, if you want to get deeper into the history of the city and some of its grimmer chapters, there’s much to explore, and much that’s apropos for Halloween.
Check out Roosevelt Island, which is largely built up now but does maintain the ruins of The Smallpox Memorial Hospital that quarantined thousands of the diseased in the 1800s. The site is said to be inhabited by ghosts but the brave can explore the site where reinforced walls remain.
New York City is actually filled with uninhabited islands and one with a dark history is North Brother Island in the East River, a protected area for birds. There is only limited access for humans for scientific or academic reasons. The island once housed veterans, a drug rehabilitation center and a hospital but famously was where the paddle boat The General Slocum crashed in June 1904, killing about 1,000 people. That was considered New York City’s deadliest disaster until 9/11.
For horror movie buffs, there is a walking tour of locations where famous monster flicks and psychological thrillers were shot, including Greyshot Arch in Central Park, where the climatic “Cloverfield” scenes were filmed, and the historic Dakota apartment building, as seen in “Rosemary’s Baby.” It’s also the site where John Lennon was shot. Information can be found at erin@onlocationtours.com. There’s also the “Ultimate Greenwich Village Ghost Tour” of where supposed paranormal activity occurred, ghosts were sighted and murders were committed.
For literary fans of the macabre, there’s the Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, where the American author/poet of “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Fall of the House of Usher” did much of his writing and cared for his ailing wife. The modest, two-level brick structure is located on Kingsbridge Road and the Grand Concourse in The Bronx and is an historic landmark.
Not many people are aware of it but there are catacombs in New York City situated beneath the basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Little Italy in Manhattan, which is not to be confused with St. Patrick’s uptown on Fifth Avenue. Candlelight tours are given.
Green-Wood Cemetery, while containing thousands of gravesites covering 478 acres in southwest Brooklyn, is unlike other cemeteries in that welcomes visitors for occasions other than burials. There are poetry readings, performance artists, and, of course, talks on death. Even though it’s a cemetery, it actually is a great place to stroll through given the grounds’ impressive monuments, ornate mausoleums, lush greenery, ponds, curvy roads, rolling hills and vistas for grand views of New York Harbor. Among the most notable monuments are a statue of Dewitt Clinton, the Steinway & Sons mausoleum and the tomb of Samuel Morse.