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[Updated] MTA Making Subway Scarier Than Usual This Month
By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 17, 2019
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Oct 17, 2019
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UPDATE, October 23rd: They have canceled the Haunted Subway this year :(
Last year, the MTA and the NYPD's Transit Unit transformed part of the subway system into a hellscape. Hard to imagine! But together, they managed to create a scary subway experience that went above and beyond the normal everyday horrors. While this did not include clawing oneself out of a trapped subway car, Biblical flooding, or pieces of the subway station crumbling down atop participants (these are year-round "surprise" attractions!), it did include some seasonal additions, like a smoke machine and Pennywise.
The Haunted Subway has now returned, and if it's anything like last year there will be dozens of costumed actors on hand (transit officers and volunteers), atmospheric lighting, dark corners, and spooky sounds. Gothamist writer Claire Lampen attended the inaugural transit funhouse in 2018, and reported back:
It was extremely dark inside the attraction, and I had a hard time telling the characters from fellow patrons. Still, the cast—a masked man with hooks for hands! a horned hellbeast brandishing not one but two swords! a zombie doctor who wants your braaaaaains! a chainsaw massacrer murderously swinging his saw at your face!—committed to their roles. One child in front of me gave the experience an immediate nope: her mom escorted her out after about 15 seconds. Two teens walking ahead fell down in apparent (and/or exaggerated) fright when two monsters launched a coordinated attack. Their terror seemed authentic. All in all, Haunted Subway delivers a surprisingly thorough spook job.
As with last year, you can enter the Haunted Subway at 14th Street Union Square Station-15th Street and Union Square West. It will be there waiting for you this Thursday and Friday, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. You must be 7 years or older to partake, because the horror is real (justcheck out the photos and video from last year). UPDATE: Upon arrival for the spooky subway experience on Thursday evening, the Transit Police in the station told us the Haunted Subway was actually happening "later this month."
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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