Our New York Ghost Tours capture the spiritual side of the Big Apple through stories of lost opportunities, political intrigue, disease, and murder.
We offer two main ghost tours, one in Greenwich Village and the other on the Brooklyn Bridge. Scroll down for information on both tours.
Dates for each ghost tour are listed below but do check out our full tour schedule for up-to-date offerings. We also offer a seasonal tour, the Dark Side of the High Line.
- Greenwich Village Ghost Tour
- East Village Ghost Tour
- Ghosts on Broadway Tour
- Dark Side of the High Line
- Other Ghost Tours
Join Free Tours by Foot as we visit historic haunts, communicate with the dead, and walk the streets with the tortured spirits of the past.
This tour takes those who seek thrills and chills through the haunted streets of Greenwich Village and Chelsea. It is NOT for the faint of heart.
Stand above the hidden tomb of 20,000 yellow fever victims and a glimpse of a turn-of-the-century revolution set on an endless loop.
Hear tales of modern tragedy and murder, and trace the steps of our famous forefathers who tend to linger past their expiration date.
Highlights of this tour include stops and tales surrounding the following:
- Washington Square Park (pictured above)
- Haunted NYU
- Mark Twain’s “House of Horror”
- Residence of Mayor Jimmy Walker
- Chumley’s
- Aaron Burr's Haunted Carriage House
- And much more!
Who knows, maybe your own encounter with the ghouls of Greenwich Village tour will become one of our stories….
Tour information
Reservations: REQUIRED. Click here to reserve. Groups of 6 or more should visit our Groups Page.
Duration: Approximately 2 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1.5 miles (2k)
When: @7pm on Saturdays (mid-March through Thanksgiving weekend). View Our Full Calendar
Where: The tour meets at the Northwest entrance to Washington Square Park at the corner of Washington Square North and Washington Square West (map). Look for your guide with an orange flag!
Cost: This tour is free to take, and you get to decide what, if anything, the tour was worth when it's done. A name-your-own-price tour is a tour for anyone's budget.
East Village Ghost Tour
The ghosts of Greenwich Village are too numerous and interesting to meet in just one evening!
Due to popular demand, we are offering a new tour, "Ghosts of the East Village," as a companion tour to one of our biggest crowd-pleasers "Ghosts of Greenwich Village" tour.
Our tour starts at the arch at Washington Square Park, what some say is the most haunted place in New York City.
The tour wraps at St. Mark's in the Bowery at Second Avenue and 10th Street.
Haunted sites we visit include:
- West 3rd St. firehouse, haunted by the firefighter who committed suicide in the 1930s and now home to a famous newscaster.
- Poe House, New York University's "re-interpretation" of the house where Poe lived in 1844.
- The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory at the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place. Now the Brown Building and part of the NYU campus, this historic building was the site of the infamous 1911 fire that killed 145 workers, most of them young immigrant women whose spirits still haunt the building.
- Merchant's House Museum, a living museum haunted by the spirits of Gertrude Tredwell and her very dysfunctional family. Gertrude may have been the inspiration for Catherine Sloper in Henry James' "The Heiress."
- McSorley's Old Ale House, which claims to be the oldest operating bar in NYC (circa 1854). Mc Sorley's patrons included Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon, Teddy Roosevelt and Boss Tweed. One of its favorite customers -- magician Harry Houdini, who died on Halloween 1926 -- still haunts the bar accompanied by the famous McSorley cats, who were depicted in John Sloan's paintings.
- St. Mark's in the Bowery, haunted by the spirit of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch lieutenant governor of New Amsterdam, who has roamed his farmland property since his death in 1672.
Tour information
Reservations: REQUIRED. Click here to reserve. Groups of 6 or more should visit our Groups Page.
Duration: Approximately 2 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1.5 miles (2k)
When: @7pm on Fridays (mid-March through Thanksgiving weekend). View Our Full Calendar
Where: The tour meets at the Northwest entrance to Washington Square Park at the corner of Washington Square North and Washington Square West (map). Look for your guide with an orange flag!
Cost: This tour is free to take, and you get to decide what, if anything, the tour was worth when it's done. A name-your-own-price tour is a tour for anyone's budget.
Ghosts on Broadway
For some performers, the show must go on… even after death!
The Ghosts on Broadway Tour, led by a veteran New York City talent agent and local guide, will introduce you to these notorious theater legends who appear after the lights go dim.
You’ll hear about the Broadway impresario who haunts the theater that bears his name.
His apparition shows up on opening nights to congratulate the cast or “pinch” the leading ladies’ bottom!
Jazz age parties are heard almost nightly from his long abandoned apartment over his theater.
There’s also the beautiful, flirtatious chorus girl who died tragically young. Was it murder or suicide? She appears only in the early morning -- and only to men.
Most Broadway tours focus on current shows and performers. Our tour looks at some of the “longest-running” performances on the Great White Way!
Come join us as we meet some of the most famous New York ghosts!
Among the theaters and sites included on this tour:
- The Palace, a 1913 vaudeville theater that is rumored to be haunted by over 100 ghosts, including Judy Garland.
- The New Amsterdam Theater, once home to the “Ziegfield Follies,” where the cast & crew routinely say goodnight to the ghost of the bewitching chorus girl.
- The Belasco Theater, in which references to the theater's famous ghost are ad-libbed in its current production.
- The Lyceum, the 1903 oldest-operating theater where an acclaimed choreographer & Tony Award-winning director recently made his presence known to folks in the theater's latest production.
- Learn the curious superstitions by which theater folks live and die!
Tour information
Reservations: REQUIRED. Click here to reserve. Groups of 6 or more should visit our Groups Page.
Duration: Approximately 2 hours. Tour distance is approximately 1.5 miles (2k)
When: @7:30pm on Mondays (mid-March through Thanksgiving). View Our Full Calendar
Where: The tour meets on Shubert Alley between W 44th & W 45th Streets (map).
Cost: This tour is free to take, and you get to decide what, if anything, the tour was worth when it's done. A name-your-own-price tour is a tour for anyone's budget.
Catacombs by Candlelight
Step inside the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Little Italy and visit parts of the church grounds that are normally off-limits to the public.
With your tea lights in hand, visit the 200 year-old catacombs of the basilica, a labyrinth of vaults belonging to notable figures in New York and American History.
See the crypts of prominent 19th-century figures like Thomas T. Eckert, a Civil War general and close personal friend of President Abraham Lincoln. Listen to tales of long-forgotten secrets that lie within.
Then visit the cathedral’s two walled cemeteries where Catholic bishops rest in peace along with prominent Catholic New York families like the Delmonicos.
Tour Information
- Days offered: Mondays - Sundays
- Hours: 10:30 am, 11:15 am, 12:00 pm, 12:45 pm, 2:00 pm, 2:45 pm, 3:30 pm, 4:15 pm
- Duration: 80 minutes
- Ticket price: Adults $37 | Children/Seniors/Military (with ID) $32
- Free cancellation up to 2 hours in advance for a full refund
