There’s a chill in the air. The floorboards in New York’s historic houses seem to creak a little louder, while birds hidden among the trees of Central Park stare down from crooked branches.

The lights atop the Empire State Building go dark, and the subway car you’re riding suddenly stops in the middle of a shadowy tunnel.

That’s right it’s an all-new … Bowery Boys Ghost Stories of Old New York podcast!

Tom and Greg have been recording ghost story podcasts since 2007, and this year they have somehow managed to conjure up yet another batch of historical urban legends, taked from actual newspaper reports:

— Stand Clear of the Closing Ghosts: An eerie encounter on the elevated train, from 1899, leaves one rider running for her doctor in fear

— Severed from the Spirit World: In 1896, a Flatbush man finds a disturbing artifact buried in his cellar, awakening a wandering nighttime spirit who frightens his nosy neighbors

— The Ghost That Slapped Back: A crowded Lower East Side schoolroom became a chamber of nightmares, sending the community to the streets in protest

— Who Is The Ghost In the Window? It’s street gangs vs strangely beautiful spirits in this 1902 tale of a deteriorating house on 42nd Street

— Rosabelle, Believe! This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of Harry Houdini, the legendary escape artist with an unusual relationship with death. His mysterious grave site in Queens has become the site of spooky ceremonies. But will he soon be making a return up at his former Harlem brownstone?

This show was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.

If you’d like the non-scary histories of the events featured in this show, listen to these past Bowery Boys podcasts