happy halloween week #44

Last night... hmmm... was, I hate to say it, sort of lame. I hesitate to say that only because a group of people put a lot of time and effort into the Halloween at Woodlawn Cemetery tour, and it's not like it was terrible, I just think it was mis-advertised and a bit poorly executed. First, it wasn't scary at all. Not even spooky. Not creepy. Not even a little bit. You'd think, "Hey, I'm going to a cemetery at night, this is going to be freaky." But alas, that was not the case. The stories that were told at some of the grave sites were more along the lines of, "Here lies Bailey, of Barnum and Bailey. He died of a heart attack. He had $6 million dollars. Moving on." None of the stories were really that scary. Don't get me wrong. The cemetery is still really beautiful and interesting, but I feel like it might have been better held during the afternoon on any given day, than billed as a Halloween Cemetery tour led by flashlights.

Which brings me to my second point -- poor execution. I didn't have to sign a waiver or anything, so I guess that meant if I were to trip and fall over a headstone and hurt myself, they'd be liable. If that's not the case, I don't know why I was told every two minutes to "be careful" and "walk slowly." I am not exaggerating. Every. Two. Minutes. Maybe more often. I get it buddy, I get it. We were also a group of probably 100 or so people of all ages, so maybe that's why he kept repeating himself. I'm not sure, but it got annoying fast. Also, the size of the group was ridiculous. I had to reserve a spot for this, so I'm not sure why they didn't try to keep the numbers down, or send us out in two groups. Half of the time you couldn't hear the story that was being told, or see the grave that was being pointed out, because there was a herd of humans all trying to gather around. There were stragglers at every turn making the tour last longer than anticipated and made for a lot of waiting around.

All in all, I'd say it was a waste of my night. Again, I have to say, Woodlawn Cemetery is a beautiful place. It would be great to go during the daytime with just a small group and look at all of the extraordinary grave markers and learn a little history about past titans of New York. Just don't do the Halloween tour.

However, if you are looking for something fun to do in New York on Halloween, may I suggest riding the subway. People were hysterical. Costumes and debauchery galore. So happy Halloween everyone! I leave you with this.