Manhattan | Outer Boroughs | Upstate New York/New Jersey
MANHATTAN
Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of Ghouls
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., at 112th St.; 212-316-7540
An annual screening of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is followed by Obie Award winner Ralph Lee’s puppet procession through the cathedral.
• Date: Oct. 26, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
• Price: $15
Morning of the Gargoyles
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., at 112th St.; 212-932-7347
After a reading of Eve Bunting’s Night of the Gargoyles, children make clay gargoyles, skeletal creatures, and freaky masks.
• Date: Oct. 27, 10 a.m.–noon
• Price: $5 per child with adult
Scare School
Madame Tussauds, 234 W. 42nd St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 800-246-8872
Under the tutelage of the professor of frightology, kids make potions, practice pranks, and experiment with a “trick pot” that turns beans into frogs.
• Date: Oct. 27, noon–4 p.m.
• Price: $29 adults; $26 seniors; $23 kids
Gotham City Ghost Tour
Meeting locations vary; for reservations, call 212-465-3331
A burial ground at Washington Square and Edgar Allan Poe’s home are just two parts of this tour of Greenwich Village’s eerier landmarks.
• Date: Oct. 27, 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 28, 12:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.; Oct. 31, 6 p.m.
• Price: $15
Halloween Parade and Pumpkin Sail
Charles A. Dana Discovery Center at Central Park, 110th St. nr. Lenox Ave.; 212-860-1370
The eighteenth annual festivities around Harlem Meer culminate with an armada of candlelit jack-o-lanterns sailing across the pond.
• Date: Oct. 27, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
• Price: Free
HalloWeekend
Grand Central Terminal, Lexington Ave. at 42nd St.; 212-340-2345
Ralph Lee’s giant puppets make another appearance at the pumpkin patch in Vanderbilt Hall.
• Date: Oct. 28, 2 p.m.–6 p.m.
• Price: Free
Madeline Halloween
Bemelmans Bar, 35 E. 76th St., at Madison Ave.; 212-744-1600
Madeline High Tea gets mildly spooky when friendly spirits and demons infiltrate the room. Everyone’s encouraged to come in costume, and in tune with the season, each Hot Sludge Sundae will be topped with a ghoul’s eye.
• Date: Oct. 29, noon–4 p.m.
• Price: $40
An Evening With Poe
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, 421 E. 61st St., nr. First Ave.; 212-838-6878
In the museum’s candlelit Upper Hall, Kevin Mitchell Martin revives his one-man play based on the life and writings of the master of the macabre.
• Date: Oct. 29–31, 6:15 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Price: $18; $15 museum members
Twelfth Annual Halloween Celebration
Museum of Natural History, Central Park W. at 79th St.; 212-769-5200
More than 30 of the museum’s halls open for trick-or-treating, as characters like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George roam among youngsters—dressed as their favorite dinosaurs perhaps?
• Date: Oct. 31, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
• Price: $9–$18
Manhattan | Outer Boroughs | Upstate New York/New Jersey
BROOKLYN
Boo at the Zoo
Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Ave., nr. Empire Blvd., Prospect Park; 718-399-7339
Pumpkin-smashing baboons. A haunted barn. A wildlife witch show. Plus: Children march in the parade around the Sea Lion Court.
• Date: Oct. 27–28, 11 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
• Price: $6 adults; $2.25 seniors, $2 kids; free for kids under 3
Halloween at Green-Wood
Green-Wood Cemetery, Fifth Ave. at 25th St., Sunset Park; 631-549-4891
Jeff Richman, Green-Wood Cemetery’s leading historian, conducts morbid tours that pay respects to the final resting sites of actor Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz) and John Greenwood (George Washington’s dentist).
• Date: Oct. 27–28, 1 p.m.
• Price: $20
BAM BOO!
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Ave., at Ashland Pl., Fort Greene; 718-636-4100
The theme for BAM’s Halloween festival this year is “outer space” so alongside the ghosts, ghouls, and goblins doling out candy will be astronauts and aliens.
• Date: Oct. 31, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
• Price: Free
Halloween and Harvest
Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton St., nr. New York Ave., Bedford-Stuyvesant; 718-735-4400, ext. 378
The harvest season finds costumed revelers creating cornhusk dolls, getting their faces painted, hearing spooky stories, and meeting slithery and scaly reptiles.
• Date: Oct. 31, 4 p.m.–7 p.m.
• Price: $3
Ghouls and Gourds Festival
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Ave., at Eastern Pkwy., Crown Heights; 718-623-7200
Live music, a corn-grinding workshop, non-permanent tattoos, and the chance to make “ghost portraits” from sassafras-leaf rubbings.
• Date: Oct. 28, noon–5:30 p.m.
• Price: $8 adults; $4 seniors and students; free for kids 12 and under
QUEENS
Halloween Harvest Festival
Socrates Sculpture Park, 32-01 Vernon Blvd., nr. 11th St., Long Island City; 718-956-1819
There’s something intentionally empowering about the works on display at the Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, so kids should be in their element as they make their own costumes, listen to creepy music spun by DJ Luzmob, or enter their dogs in a costume contest.
• Date: Oct. 20, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.
• Price: Free
THE BRONX
Boo at the Zoo
Bronx Zoo, 2300 Southern Blvd., at Crotona Pkwy.; 718-367-1010
Sure, they’ve got bats. But the zoo’s staff has other ways to help you get into the spirit such as magic shows, spooky stories, concerts, and (yet again) a costume parade.
• Date: Oct. 20–21 and 27–28, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
• Price: $14 adults; $10 kids 3–12
STATEN ISLAND
Scary Stories at Historic Richmond Town
Historic Richmond Town, 441 Clarke Ave., nr. Tysen Ct.; 718-351-1611, ext. 280
Those gathered round the campfire hear some frightful tales based on true (or almost true) stories from the Staten Island Historical Society’s archives.
• Date: Oct. 27, 7:40 p.m.–9:40 p.m.
• Price: $10 adults; $8 kids
Manhattan | Outer Boroughs | Upstate New York/New Jersey
UPSTATE NEW YORK
The Great Jack-o-Lantern Blaze
Van Cortlandt Manor, 525 S. Riverside Ave., nr. Croton Point Ave., Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.; 914-631-8200
Talk about spectacle! Four thousand hand-carved, illuminated pumpkins are set against the 300-year-old Van Cortlandt Manor.
• Date: Oct. 5–7, 11–14, 18–21, and 24–30, 6:30 p.m.–9 p.m.
• Price: $14–$16 adults; $10–$12 kids 5–17; free for kids under 5
Legend Weekend Nights
Philipsburg Manor, 381 N. Broadway, nr. Pocantico St., Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.; 914-631-8200
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow finds the perfect setting as Philipsburg Manor is transformed into a wicked, wicked place with ghosts, witches, pirates, and other characters from local lore.
• Date: Oct. 19–20 and 26–28, 6 p.m.–9 p.m.
• Price: $14 adults; $10 kids 5–17; free for kids under 5
Washington Irving’s Sunnyside
89 W. Sunnyside Ln., nr. Fargo Ln., Tarrytown, N.Y.; 914-631-8200
There’s a nineteenth-century magic show with a Charles Dickens impersonator, balladeer Linda Russell singing of betrayal, and storyteller Jack McGuire regaling listeners with Irish ghost stories.
• Date: Oct. 27–28, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
• Price: $12 adults; $6 kids 5–17; free for kids under 5
NEW JERSEY
Fright Fest
Six Flags Great Adventure, 1 Six Flags Blvd., Jackson, N.J.; 732-928-1821
The theme park increases your options with witch-doctor storytelling, trick-or-treating, and a Wheel of Fright that lets you cut in line if you eat a cockroach.
• Date: Oct. 6–8, 13–14, 19–21, and 26–28, Fri. 5 p.m.–11 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.–11 p.m.; Sun.–Mon. 10:30 a.m.–10 p.m.
• Price: $59.99 adults; $29.99 kids under 54 inches tall; free for kids 3 and under
Additional reporting by Ben Kawaller