In Photos: Westchester's Lyndhurst After Dark

Enter the estate gates and head down the dark drive. Turn into a field where a lady in a witch hat (on this occasion Interim Director Rena Zurofsky) will lead the brave folks down the windy walk to the spooky house.

Now is the time to view Lyndhurst by candlelight. The Halloween, house tour is fun, educational and just the right amount of creepy. 

The educational tour includes fun facts: how many people died during the Civil War, how black wreaths on doors indicate a death in the house, how the dead are laid out at home for wakes, the origin of that word "wake" and more.

There are blood-stained shower curtains, fingers poking out of goblets in a dining room Tim Burton would drool over, a crystal ball (authentic, not prop, from the estate collection,) puns on homeowner Jay Ghoul and the rest of the clan, Halloween organ music, some unnamed lanky man lurking in the hallways (a dead butler?) and more.

Tour guides, said Zurofsky, were asked to either dress dark or '60s (white go-go boots!)—call it vamp or camp—in honor of the House of Dark Shadows movies inspiring the tours and filmed at Lyndhurst.

Thanks to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery's Jim Logan for this series of photos from Lyndhurst's new "After Dark."

To buy tickets, and get more info on this and other seasonal-specific events, click on the Lyndhurst website here. 

Like us on Facebook  |  Follow us on Twitter  |  Sign up for our newsletter