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What Lies Beneath: New York’s long-forgotten graveyards

Bryant Park in 1907, with construction on the library well underway.  This was the site of one of the final official potter’s fields in Manhattan before they were moved to the islands of the East River. (Picture courtesy New York Public Library) Happy Halloween!  To put you in the spirit of the season, take a… Read More

Dressed for success: The tradition of Thanksgiving masking, children in drag, begging for money!

Turkey anyone? Thanksgiving maskers, in New York, taken sometime between 1910-15. Whatever you do, don’t look the ‘lady’ directly in the eye! My new column for the Huffington Post is live, and the topic is a strange, forgotten holiday custom called Thanksgiving masking, popular among New York kids from the 1890s-1930s. Children dressed as exaggerated… Read More

If you lived here, you’d be scared right now

My new column for the Huffington Post just went live. It’s kind of an overview of why we continue to produce ghost story podcasts every year for Halloween. (Well, outside of having a hell of a good time doing them!) And then my countdown of eight of New York City’s most haunted houses — actually… Read More