Next time I find myself on my fifteen minute walk to the C train, I plan on cramming a little Halloween in. New York’s Merchant’s House Museum has a new hotline where you can call up and simply listen to the cell phone audio tour, Tales Of The Strange and Inexplicable, featuring some of the Museum’s most notorious ghost stories. Should that whet you appetite for something more tactile, the Museum is currently holding candlelight ghost tours and will even be hosting an authentic 19th Century funeral — antique coffin to be physically borne down the Bowery and all. The hotline is 1-877-646-1832.

SPONSOR

I learned of the work of New York artist Katherine Mangiardi from the Merchant’s House Museum of all places. So appropriate. Mangiardi’s paintings of lace are unbelievably haunting, like the delicate, filmy fabric of a ghost, or like the painfully decaying lace of an antique dress. I also found her fabric installations at various historic museums around the East Coast rather beautiful. I find the idea of being able to set up an installation in a historic house pretty intriguing.

If you live in New York, or find yourself lucky enough to be visiting, and you have any interest in history whatsoever, be sure to visit the Merchant’s House Museum on the Bowery. Walking into the Merchant’s House, you are essentially walking into the home of the Tredwells, circa 1832. A virtual time capsule of life on the upscale Bowery in pre-Civil War New York City (yes, the Bowery was actually a very upscale locale 180 years ago), the house is filled with all the original belongings of the Tredwell family and imbued with their history. It’s one of the most fascinating places you will ever visit.