By Paulette Safdieh

It takes a lot to impress a New Yorker. Out-of-towners and tourists, newly transplanted co-workers from the West Coast (and, at times, even our Uptown counterparts) get excited about seeing the latest Broadway show or MoMA exhibit, but we shrug our shoulders like we’ve seen it all before. We have our own idea of what’s cool.

Downtown thrives on the charm of unconventional culture—which is why a haunted house museum finds its home on Bowery and not on Museum Mile. Unbeknownst to a lot of us, our exclusive hub south of 14th Street has its own fair share of museums—depending on what your definition of museum is. Some travel from location to location setting up pickle exhibits, some cater to house ghosts and some showcase comic books like the Metropolitan Museum of Art does Rembrandt works. So what if you intentionally missed the Alexander McQueen exhibit this year? There’s a different kind of viable culture thriving in our own quarters that you don’t need to wait two hours in a line to experience.

Skyscraper Museum

Across the street from the Jewish History Museum and down the block from the Museum of the American Indian, this tribute to our city’s favorite form of architecture is yet another reason to hop off the train at Bowling Green. A small, one-floor space, The Skyscraper Museum showcases an array of historical documents (including newspaper clippings and World Trade Center floor plans) and an impressive wall exhibit of the world’s tallest buildings.

Black-and-white photographs of New York City construction sites line the ramp leading from the gift shop entrance to the one-floor dedication to our city’s—and the world’s — most famous high-rise buildings. Tall glass windows and overhead mirrors give the illusion of walking through an indoor skyscraper park, allowing visitors to navigate between the pillared cases that hold model buildings, including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest at 2,717 feet, and the Kingkey Finance Tower in Shenzhen, China.
Interactive touchscreens and wall-mounted television screens teach about skyscraper form and history—did you know there are jumbo skyscrapers (surface area up to 2 million square feet) and super jumbos (up to 4 million square feet)? The museum’s collection also includes a replica New York Times front-page story from 1947 announcing the proposal for the World Trade Center site and the letters exchanged between famed architect Minoru Yamasaki and the paper’s architecture critic.

The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Pl. (at Little W. St.), 212-968-1961, www.skyscraper.org; Wed.–Sun., 12-6 p.m., $5.

NY Food Museum

Because everyone loves food (although not everyone loves museums), the NY Food Museum opened in 1998 with mass appeal, giving New Yorkers a new way to celebrate tasty grub and learn a thing or two while they’re at it. Since originating the city’s annual International Pickle Day nine years ago, the NY Food Museum has continued to give us reason to believe that New York’s tastebuds enjoy food beyond the realm of red velvet cupcakes and Halal food from a cart.

The NY Food Museum is not a sight to be seen one afternoon and never revisited, mainly because of its traveling status. Sans a permanent home, the museum hosts discussion panels, film showings, traditional exhibits (including their first How New Yorkers Ate 100 Years Ago) and the upcoming Lower East Side Pickle Day this spring. Beware of the crowds; pickle day draws tens of thousands of visitors every year.

NY Food Museum, 59 Orchard St. (betw. Grand & Hester Sts.), 212-266-9010, www.nyfoodmuseum.org; call for exhibition dates, times and prices.

Italian American Museum

Appropriately nestled on the corner of Mulberry and Grand streets among the Italian bakeries and aroma of freshly cooked pasta, the Italian American Museum pays homage to the first Italian immigrants to come to New York City.

The museum’s director, Dr. Joseph Scelsa, an extremely knowledgeable—you guessed it—Italian-American sociologist, bought the building in 2008 from the Italian-American Stabile family, with the hope of archiving community artifacts from the last century and a half. The Stabile family emigrated to New York in the 1860s and first opened the space as a bank.

The museum’s interior is built around the actual glass booths where the tellers sat, and includes an array of artifacts from the 19th century through today. The collection ranges from Italian-American currency printed in New Jersey during World War II (when the U.S. occupied Italy) to the first vendor plates from the annual San Gennaro festival. Old passports and luggage tags are showcased beside community photographs, marriage certificates and even a restored wedding dress. The very back of the museum holds an organ that dates back to 1898, a 6-foot-tall bank vault and hand-cranked calculators used in the space years ago.

Welcoming about 100,000 yearly visitors, the museum preserves a culture unique to our city’s Little Italy—“the most famous Little Italy in the world,” according to Scelsa.

Italian American Museum, 155 Mulberry St. (at Grand St.), 212-965-9000, www.italianamericanmuseum.org; weekends, 12–6 p.m., $5.

Merchant’s House Museum

Celebrating its 75th year in business, the Merchant’s House Museum welcomes between 50,000 and 100,000 curious every each year to explore the supposedly haunted, 139-year-old row house on East Fourth Street. The museum first opened in 1936, three years after the death of Gertrude Tredwell, the last person to live at 29 E. 4th St. The Tredwell family lived in the house for over 100 years, and a visit to the museum suggests they—or their ghosts—still do.

Once you walk up the wsix steps from the sidewalk and step through the white marble door, be prepared to hear strange sounds of nonexistent footsteps and catch yourself looking over your shoulder in fear. Through the display of 3,000 untouched possessions from the Tredwell family and their four Irish servants, including old clothes and a wooden piano, the museum evokes a creepy sense of abandonment. Throughout the two floors, stationed amongst the roped-off furniture, fully dressed mannequins of the Tredwells appear more authentic than any sculpture at Madame Tussaud’s.

If you can get past the spookiness, the Merchant’s House Museum also serves as an educational opportunity to learn about New York City architecture and lifestyle history. A double parlor room on the ground floor showcases mahogany chairs, hanging gasoliers and paintings, all dating back to the early 1900s. The intricate mouldings lining the ceilings and brick exterior helped earn the building landmark recognition as the only historic house museum south of 14th Street.

Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E. 4th St. (betw. Bowery & Lafayette St.), 212-777-1089, www.merchantshouse.org; Mon.–Thurs., noon–5 p.m., $10.

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art

Some of us have a greater appreciation for the brilliance behind Charles Schulz comics than famous Renaissance paintings. The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art lets you know you’re not alone, presenting a collection of the best graphic arts, classic comics and cartoons from around the world. Located amid the tourist frenzy of Broadway in Soho, the museum has its own discreet, quiet space on the fourth floor of an office building.

Though small, the museum offers a collection of newspaper funnies, Japanese anime, comic strips and gag cartoons to bring back feelings of childhood nostalgia and leave you asking why you ever stopped reading Archie comics. It examines how issues of the First Amendment and censorship have tangled with graphics over time and how the images on display reflect the period in which they were created. Should a visit awaken your creative flair, offered classes include the Craft of Comics Writing and Writing for Animation. A gallery-style museum, rotating exhibits are set up every few weeks, so always call ahead to confirm whether the museum is open.

Leave time after your visit to head over to Animazing Gallery on Greene Street, a 26-year-old gallery featuring artwork from greats like Tim Burton and Maurice Sendak, to keep in the spirit of the day.

Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, 594 Broadway Ste. 401 (betw. Houston & Prince Sts.), 212-254-3511, www.moccany.org; Tues.–Sun., 12-5, $6. 

Museum of the American Gangster

Scarface fans, rejoice! This museum, hidden behind a 10-foot black gate on St. Mark’s Place, is home to some great gangster paraphernalia. Established just over a year ago in a onetime speakeasy, the museum showcases the scandalous and violent years of the Prohibition era with artifacts ranging from 100-year-old stills (the vesssels used to make moonshine) to the infamous bank robber John Dillinger’s death masks.

A visit to the museum, which more closely resembles a small schoolroom than the MoMA, starts with a showing of a 15-minute video about American history in the early 20th century. Simply furnished with a bench and four wooden chairs, the museum teaches about the history of the building itself and the gangsters who operated out of it, Walter Scheib and Frank Hoffman.

After purchasing the building in 1964, the current owner discovered a copper safe filled with $100 gold notes (equivalent to millions of dollars today), cigarettes and beer bottles left by Scheib and Hoffman. Over the years, the owner’s decision to gather these and other relics and expand the collection into a full-fledged museum came to fruition last spring.

The safe, now covered in rust, sits at the museum’s entrance filled with replica bills and the bottles found inside years ago. Wanted posters, newspaper clippings and Pat Hamou paintings line the walls of the museum, which has a special Valentine’s Day Massacre section and hand-drawn diagrams of American history. Although visited by local school groups and gangster enthusiasts, the museum has some days when nobody walks through the door. Make sure to visit the theater and bar on the ground level to cap off your visit and celebrate the legality of alcohol.

The Museum of the American Gangster, 80 St. Mark’s Pl. (betw. Ave. A & 1st Ave.), 212-228-5736, www.museumoftheamericangangster.org; 1-6 p.m., $15.

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By Annie Lubin

Most (Proven) Haunted Place: Merchant’s House Museum

The Merchant’s House Museum is the oldest New York City home to have survived virtually intact. Built in 1832 and occupied by the same family for 100 years, the house would be interesting if only because it’s a portal into the New York of the past. But walk amongst the 170-year-old furnishings, clothing and personal items and you might feel a slight chill in the air or hear some distant footsteps. That’s because the Merchant’s House is famous for another reason: In the realm of things that go bump in the night, it is as close as any place gets to the real thing.

“The human brain has a great deal of power, so who knows if all this stuff isn’t manifested from us thinking about it,” said Anthony Bellov a museum board member with over 30 years of volunteer time invested in the home. “But as far as I’m concerned, there is something very unexplainable about this house.”

As Bellov pointed out, many of the stories from decades ago are exact duplicates of those happening to people today. Audio recordings of voices, footsteps, already closed doors slamming shut and the mysterious ringing of bells, just like the Treadwells would have done to call their servants, are among the commonly reported incidents.

“It leads me to think there is something going on in this house,” said Bellov. But it’s one thing to think and another to know for sure.

So for the past few years, the museum has been engaged in an investigation led by paranormal expert Dan Sturges, who brings a team in once a month and uses tools such as EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon) to find out whether the accounts of strange occurrences are real or imagined.

The results startled even Bellov.

“We had recordings of [spirits] speaking very clearly, responding to comments and questions being asked of them,” said Bellov. One such recording is of an investigator saying, ‘You don’t need to be afraid, we’re not here to harm you,’ and only in playback does the crystal clear voice of a child come through: ‘I am not afraid.’ The investigators caught something similar on tape when they entered the kitchen and asked, ‘If anyone is here, what was your role in the house?’ Upon playback they heard the clear voice of a male answer back, ‘Servant.’

“This family committed themselves to that house when everyone else was leaving the neighborhood,” Bellov continued. “They stayed in that house because they loved it. Why wouldn’t they want to stay on afterward?”

Bellov said he and the other staff acknowledge the spirits; they greet them with a good morning, forewarn them of any events that might bring a mass of unfamiliar people and tread lightly when it comes to home repairs, which always seem to stir things up.

While the collected evidence might be proof enough for some, Sturges thinks there’s more to be had.

“We need the kind of proof that no one can ever refute, the kind that is going to make a nonbeliever a believer. But we haven’t gotten that yet,” said Sturges. So for his next investigation, Sturges wants to bring in a psychic medium who will attempt to speak to one of these apparitions and ask the sort of questions that only a Treadwell or a member of their staff could answer.

Bellov and the rest of those involved in the museum are excited to see what else Sturges’ team might find. “For a lot of us, it’s not even scary anymore,” Bellov said of the staff and board members, who have all had their fair share of strange occurrences.

For those who want the chance to witness this firsthand, the museum is running ghost tours the last two weekends of October in which they share with the public some of the audio findings from the investigation. And on Halloween night, they will hold a drawing in which one lucky winner and a guest will be able to accompany the team on an upcoming investigation.

The Merchant’s House Museum isn’t the only place where spirits linger, so if you’re looking for more Downtown haunts whose folklore and character will leave you spooked, you won’t have to travel very far.

To hear audio snippets from Paranormal Expert Dan Sturges’ investigation of the House, click here.

Most Haunted Restaurant: One if by Land, Two if by Sea

The West Village restaurant, at 17 Barrow St., was once the carriage house of Aaron Burr, and is supposedly haunted by Burr and his daughter, Theodosia. Theodosia was on her way from South Carolina to see her father when legend has it pirates kidnapped her and made her walk the plank. The ghosts have been known to mess with diners, tipping over glasses and pulling off the earrings of bar patrons, pushing people down the flight of stairs and so on. The staff confirms this, saying they will have things disappear only to reappear somewhere else entirely, and they can’t shake the feeling that they’re being watched—and not by an overzealous manager.

Dom Villella, the leader of Paranormal Investigations of NYC, the oldest paranormal group still active in NYC, has conducted a few investigations into the restaurant. On his website, he pointed out several odd experiences during a 2008 investigation, including a strange presence in the bathroom, an unexplained image and a phantom leg that appeared in a photo he took and audio of an unusual music note that was not heard during the time of the recording.

Most  Haunted Campus: NYU

NYU is not only the jewel of New York’s private university education, it’s also the eeriest campus in Downtown Manhattan—nay—New York City, possibly even New York State and beyond.

In the 1830s, NYU used cheap prison labor rather than local stonemasons to construct the facades of its new buildings. This not only sparked the Stonecutter’s Riot in 1834—the first labor riot in New York City—but as rumor has it, propelled a lot of rage aimed directly at the University.

The Brittany Hotel, which is now an NYU dorm building, is said to be haunted, as reports of strange noises and eerie feelings are continuously brought up.

And the current NYU Physics building? It was once the site of one of the early 20th century’s most gruesome work disasters: the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 factory workers, mostly young women, were killed. Reports of seeing women in the ninth and 10th floor windows of the building, where the fire took place, have made many a science geek reconsider their course load.

But it is Washington Square Park, the unofficial quad of NYU, which has the eeriest past of all, a history that is probably unknown to the hordes of students, tourists and locals who cross through the park every day. Buried underneath the grounds are somewhere close to 20,000 bodies, as the area was used as an execution and burial ground in the early 1800s.

“Cemeteries are lousy places. They’re dead, they’re not getting up,” said Gordon Lizner, a guide who leads ghost tours throughout Manhattan. “But execution grounds, those are big exceptions. You’ll find a lot of angry spirits there.”

Most Haunted Brownstone: 14 W. 10th St.

West 10th Street is perhaps one of the nicest streets in Manhattan, populated with picturesque brownstones within the congestion of New York City. But one of those brownstones holds a dark past.

Constructed in the 19th century, this brownstone is where 22 different people took their final breaths of life. And all of them supposedly haunt the house, including one famous ghost, Mark Twain, who lived there briefly from 1900-1901 and whose ghost supposedly haunts the house’s stairwell.

This house might just be a blip on the city’s haunts if not for a gruesome crime that took place there a while back. In 1987, a New York lawyer by the name of Joel Steinberg was living in the brownstone with his partner and two illegally adopted children when, under the influence of cocaine he beat the eldest child, a 6-year-old girl, to death. The grisly case not only caused a media frenzy, but for those who believe in the psychosis that the presence of evil apparitions can bring about, it also served to add modern-day proof to the legend that there is something not right about 14 W. 10th St.

Most Haunted Church: St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery

The second-oldest church in Manhattan is said to be haunted by New Amsterdam’s last Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant owned a large portion of what is now the East Village and built a family chapel on the land that is now St. Mark’s Church, 131 E. 10th St. He was buried in a vault under the chapel in 1672. Stuyvesant’s grandson later sold the land to the Episcopal Church and in 1799, construction was completed on St. Mark’s Church.

But Stuyvesant’s legend remained even after death, and rumors have persisted that he haunts the church. People have claimed they’ve heard Stuyvesant’s unmistakable peg-legged walk throughout the church, and rumors of church services interrupted by Dutch hymns and the mysterious clanging of church bells have all contributed to the preservation of the legend.

Most Haunted Bar/Eatery: The Bridge Café

With the number of writers, artists and tortured souls who met their untimely deaths at the bottom of a double old-fashioned, the folklore surrounding the bars of Downtown Manhattan is rampant—and rightly so. Whether they were once speakeasies, brothels, boarding houses or the chosen hangout of Washington Irving or Dylan Thomas, the number of pubs that claim to be haunted is a little too high for comfort. The White House Tavern, The Ear Inn and Chumley’s have all reported the presence of ghosts lingering around their watering holes. But if there has to be one that stands out amongst the crowd, it is the Bridge Café, at 279 Water St.

The oldest drinking establishment in New York City would be the first place one looks for ghostly spirits. Built in 1794, the café has a long and tumultuous history, one involving boarding houses, brothels and an attraction for rowdy pirates and criminals. But it is the bar’s old bouncer who is said to haunt the place. The 6-foot tall Gallus Mug would drag rowdy customers out of the establishment, then named “The Hole in the Wall,” with her teeth clamped down on their ears—the unlucky ones got their ears bitten off, which were then put in pickle jars behind the wooden bar. This tactic was Mug’s undoing, when in 1861 she was shot and killed by a criminal whose ear she had previously bitten off. The Hole in the Wall was soon shut down, but rumor has it that Mug never left and continues to harass the bar’s patrons.

Most Haunted Neighborhood

As is the case with most territorial rivalries, this one is chalked up to East vs. West. Dr. Phil Schoenberg, who runs ghost tours throughout the city, said it comes down to the East Village’s Peter Stuyvesant versus Greenwich Village’s Edgar Allan Poe in the all-out bout for ghostly supremacy.

Schoenberg lists the ghosts and different haunts as if he’s an overly enthusiastic announcer introducing a fight: “We’ve got Lincoln, we’ve got Washington and we’ve got celebrity ghosts! We’ve got all these great ghosts we can tell people about!”

But is there actual legitimacy to the notion that these places are haunted? Is it just a way to attract customers? For Schoenberg, it’s more about the legends themselves than the promise of a ghostly sighting.

“Some have had experiences, others have not,” said Schoenberg. “But it’s more about the story. We do our best to provide information about the folklore and the history.”
But ask anyone who’s witnessed firsthand the presence of a ghost and they’ll tell you, they can’t make this stuff up.

Top photo: Merchant’s House Museum

Thursday 10/27
The Pumpkin Pie Show
Under St. Mark’s, 94 St. Mark’s Pl. (betw. 1st Ave. & Ave. A); 8 p.m., $18.
Its name derives from the Southern tradition, when true horror came through storytelling in the fields. Creators Clay McLeod Chapman and Hanna Cheek bring chilling tales of romance gone wrong. Stories include Lovey Dovey, Michelle, Condo Lothario and Ascending the Stairway, four tales that promise to terrify.

The Freakiest and Funniest Food Tour
New York Food Tours, 220 Canal St. (betw. Baxter & Mulberry Sts.); 2:45-5:15 p.m., $55.
Spend the evening walking through Chinatown and sampling some freaky (to those raised on American cuisine) foods, including chicken feet, Durian, and thousand-year-old, or Century, eggs.

Carsten Höller: Experience
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 235 Bowery (nr. Prince Street); $12.
The German artist behind the revolving “hotel room” in the Guggenheim in 2008 is back at it, this time transforming the New Museum into a highbrow and interactive fun house. Just in time for Halloween, the installation includes slides, perforated ceilings, a mirrored carousel, and a sensory deprivation pool called the Psycho Tank.

Friday 10/28
Blood Manor
Blood Manor, 163 Varick St. (betw. Charlton & Vandam Sts.); 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m., $25 advance, $35 at the door.
Take the tour, if you dare, of one of NYC’s best haunted attractions. Blood Manor features 5,000 square feet of themed rooms and a labyrinth of hallways designed to terrify. The tour is not recommended for children under 14.

Gotham City Ghost Tour
For reservations & meeting place info: 212-465-3331; 5:30 p.m., $20.
The walking tour explores the historic, infamous, eerie and macabre of Greenwich Village history. The group will see the spooky cemetery at St. Mark’s; the hanging elm, a 19th-century execution site; the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire; the home of Edgar Allan Poe; and the burial ground at Washington Square, just to name a few.

Candlelight Ghost Tour of “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House”
Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E. 4th St. (betw. Lafayette St. & Bowery); 6-7 p.m., $25; 8-9 p.m., $30; 9:30 p.m., $40.
Tour the Merchant’s House Museum by candlelight and hear about the freaky and spooky occurrences from the people who experienced them.

Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race
Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place (at 1st Place); $12.
Get yourself good and scared with some real-life monsters from our past. This exhibit takes a look at the Nazi regime’s efforts to alter the populations genetic makeup through “racial hygiene,” or eugenics.

Saturday 10/29
Halloween Drinkfest
Chelsea Manor, 138 W. 25th St. (betw. 6th & 7th Aves.); 9 p.m., $15.
Look no further than Chelsea Manor for a good monster bash. Come dressed to impress and ready to dance. A guest DJ will be playing until 4 a.m., so break out your best costume and join the freaks that come out at night.

Halloween Haunted Pier Party
South Street Seaport, 89 South St. (at Pier 17); 9 p.m.-4 a.m., $20.
Dance the night away at this 21 and over costume-mandatory party with music by Hot 97 and Heavy Hitter.

Play Dead
Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal St. (near
Minetta Lane); $40.
Had enough of the run-of-the-mill ‘death-defying’ stunts performed by magicians? Check out Todd Robbins, an illusionist who prefers death-embracing stunts. The fake blood and real amazement flows plentifully at this show directed and written by Teller of Penn &Teller.

Sunday 10/30
From Parlor to Grave: Funeral Reenactmant
Merchant’s House Museum, 29 E. 4th St. (betw. Lafayette & Bowery); 3–5 p.m., $30 ($10 for graveside service and cemetery tour only).
The parlors will be draped in black crepe as the museum recreates the 1865 funeral of Seabury Tredwell. After the service, mourners are invited to follow the coffin to nearby New York City Marble Cemetery—rarely open to the public—for a tour. Nineteenth-century mourning attire encouraged; black crepe armbands will be provided.

Monday 10/31
FREE Village Halloween Parade
Meet at 6th Ave. & Spring St.; 7 p.m.
Every year, NYC’s weirdest crawl, slither and fly down to the Village in their most impressive costumes. Head downtown to march with the freakiest NYC has to offer or just watch the spookery unfold.