The Tredwell family lived at 29 East 4th Street for nearly 100 years, and at least eight people died in the house. Since 1933, when the last of them died, staff, volunteers, visitors and neighbors have reported sounds, sightings and smells they could not explain. This week is the last chance this season to hear those accounts inside the house by candlelight: the Merchant's House Museum's ghost tours run their final two nights on Thursday, October 29, and Friday, October 30.

Two tours to choose from

The Candlelight Ghost Tours last 50 minutes and start every half hour from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Guides lead groups through the period rooms with the lights down, covering decades of reported activity, the results of years of paranormal investigations in the house and the museum's latest findings. Tickets are $45, or $35 for museum members.

The SUPER SPOOKY Candlelight Ghost Tour starts at 9:30 p.m. and runs 90 minutes. It is led by paranormal investigator Dan Sturges, founder of Sturges Paranormal and a regular on the Travel Channel's Paranormal Caught on Camera, who has investigated the Merchant's House since 2007. Tickets are $70, or $60 for members.

The research behind the stories

When the museum closed during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 and the house stood empty, Sturges teamed up with a neuroscientist, identified by the museum as Dr. Lee, to run systematic experiments using equipment built for the house. The museum says that research is building a fuller record of what people have experienced there. The two, with thanatologist Matilda Garrido, now host a monthly video podcast, In the Spirit of Science, recorded at the house and posted on YouTube.

Many visitors attribute what they experience to Gertrude Tredwell, the youngest of the family's eight children, who was born in an upstairs bedroom in 1840, never married and lived in the house until her death at 93 in 1933. The house opened to the public as a museum in the 1930s.

The house in daylight

The Merchant's House, built in 1832, keeps its family furnishings across five floors of period rooms and a rear garden. Outside of ghost season it is open Wednesday through Sunday, with a guided tour at noon for $20 and self-guided visits from 1 to 5 p.m. for $15, with last entry at 4:30. The museum is open during an ongoing restoration, with visitors entering through Manuel Plaza at 35 East 4th Street.

The museum also runs private ghost tours year-round for groups of up to 20, at a flat fee of $900, on weekday evenings, with limited availability in October and none in December; those must be booked at least two weeks ahead through programs@merchantshouse.org.

Getting there

The Merchant's House Museum is at 29 East 4th Street, between Lafayette Street and the Bowery, entered this season through 35 East 4th Street. The 6 train stops at Bleecker Street and Astor Place, and the B, D, F and M stop at Broadway–Lafayette Street. Ghost tour tickets are sold on the museum's website and listed on the NYC Parks events calendar; the museum's programs line is 212-777-1089.

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