Free Highlights: Things to Do in NYC, October 2025

Paranormal art shows, urban illusions, and more happening this month in New York City

Anyone is welcome to participate in the annual NYC Halloween Parade through Greenwich Village. Photo: Steven Pisano

Personally, my childhood Halloween memories are laughably plain. I didn’t like dressing up. I didn’t always have a trick-or-treating friend group. But I still looked forward to the holiday. I loved to carve pumpkins and see the costumes. Some of my all-time favorite books and movies are horror, and even as a full-grown adult I will not turn away free candy.

I’ll add, too: As I get older, I appreciate more and more honoring death. I realize kids in zombie costumes is a far cry from honor, but for a little while, we are recounted ghost stories, played scary movies, and told everywhere to embrace the macabre. It feels rare to admit our ultimate fates so frankly. The month of October can be a chance to embrace magic, allow surprise, and confront death.

For October’s highlights, I skip the haunted houses, go light on the costume contests, and offer many ways to embrace the spirit of Halloween in ways that can still be found year-round.

Disclaimer: Before going anywhere, please confirm the date, time, location, cost, and description using the listed website. Any event is at risk of being rescheduled, relocated, sold out, at capacity, or canceled. Costs are rounded to the nearest dollar and may change. I try to vet quality and describe accurately, but I may misjudge. All views are my own.

One place to experience the paranormal this October is at the Metropolitan Opera House, as Don Giovanni ends with an encounter with a supernatural statue providing Giovanni’s comeuppance. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Paranormal and Supernatural

Wherever you stand on ghosts, aliens, zombies, and the like, Halloween is a chance to dress up and suspend disbelief. I recommend the Drawing Center in SoHo in many of my lists for its free, high-quality art shows. Their latest exhibit on the art of UFOs and paranormal phenomena opens on October 17.

• Thursday, October 9–Sunday, October 12: Stories for Future Ancestors Part II: Other Worlds

  • Theater work inspired by real and fictional events in outer space presented by aerial performance-based collective Constellation Moving Company

  • $20 general / $15 student/senior

  • Theater for the New City

  • 155 1st Ave (East Village, Manhattan)

• Thursday, October 16–Saturday, October 25: Zabrecky Supernatural Soirée

  • Performance by magician and performer Robert Zabrecky who specializes in mentalism; sets at 7:15 & 9:30 pm

  • $136–$218 (includes wine)

  • 69 Atlantic

  • 69 Atlantic Ave (Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn)

• Opens Friday, October 17: Voice of Space: UFOs and Paranormal Phenomena

  • Exhibition of contemporary and historical drawings and works that trace artistic responses to UFOs and paranormal phenomena

  • Free

  • The Drawing Center

  • 35 Wooster St (SoHo, Manhattan)

• Various days throughout October: Don Giovanni

  • Performance of Mozart’s classic 1787 opera Don Giovanni about an arrogant nobleman who encounters justice in the form of a supernatural statue; 7:30 pm; Sep 24–Nov 22

  • $33–$455

  • Metropolitan Opera House

  • 30 Lincoln Center Plaza (Lincoln Square, Manhattan)

Deceive Oneself

Magic shows are a “brand of illusion,” writes Michael Chabon in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, whose success depends on the audiences’ “keen awareness that, in spite of all the vigilance they could bring to bear, they were being deceived.” I recently got to witness Hayden Childress in action in his East Village basement show called “Urban Illusions.” The show began with the audience being stopped cold by a VHS tape recorded the previous night of Childress predicting the future, followed by dozens of feats with cards, photographs, postcards, and more, including the taped thumbs trick he performed on Penn & Teller: Fool Us, shown above. This month I wholeheartedly recommend his show, and from mask making to sci-fi films, leave you with a few additional ways to be deceived and surprised.

• Fridays & Saturdays: Urban Illusions

  • 75-minute close-up, interactive magic show tucked away in an East Village basement featuring Hayden Childress; 8 pm

  • $95–$145

  • Urban Illusions

  • 95 E 7th St (East Village, Manhattan)

• Monday, October 6–Sunday, October 12: Japanese Sci-Fi Night

  • Selection of short Japanese science fiction films, part of Brooklyn Sci-Fi Film Festival; 7 pm (6:45 pm doors)

  • $11–$21

  • Stuart Cinema & Cafe

  • 79 West St (Greenpoint, Brooklyn)

• Friday, October 10: The Legacy of Pura Belpré: Puppet Making Workshop

  • Adult storytelling puppet making workshop and guided tour of a Puerto Rican folklore exhibit; 4–6 pm

  • Free

  • Bronx Library Center

  • 310 E Kingsbridge Rd (Kingsbridge Heights, The Bronx)

• Thursday, October 16: Leila and the Wolves

  • Screening and panel discussion of the 1984 time-traveling film Leila and the Wolves about a Lebanese woman in London; 6:30 pm; part of Censored Film Series

  • Free

  • Columbia University, Maison Française

  • 515 W 116th St (Morningside Heights, Manhattan)

Lost in the Maze

A puzzle can be a diversion anytime during the year. But as Halloween approaches, mazes, puzzles, riddles, and the like can take on a more sinister edge. Consider the hedge maze in The Shining, the “games” that players are given in Saw, or the literary labyrinth that is Mark Z. Danielewski’s 2000 novel, House of Leaves. Alas, fear not; the events I recommend aren’t in the least horrific, although they can still invite a little mystery into your October.

• Saturday, October 4 & Saturday, October 18: Jigsaw Puzzle Club

  • Social club with new and vintage puzzles for jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts, with encouraged puzzle exchanges; 11 am–3 pm

  • Free

  • Hudson Park Library

  • 66 Leroy St (West Village, Manhattan)

• Wednesday, October 8 & Wednesday, October 22: Jeopardy! Interactive

  • Interactive Jeopardy! style trivia game played on your phone against other Alamo Drafthouse patrons; 7 pm; every other Wednesday

  • $17

  • Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Staten Island

  • 2636 Hylan Blvd Unit 34 (New Dorp Beach, Staten Island)

• Thursday, October 9: Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend

  • Talk, signing, and podcast recording with author Barry Joseph on his book about composer Stephen Sondheim’s lifelong fascination with puzzles and games; 7:30–8:30 pm

  • Purchase of $35 book required for entry

  • Drama Book Shop

  • 266 W 39th St (Midtown, Manhattan)

• Through Sunday, October 26: The Amazing Maize Maze

  • Family-friendly three-acre maze through a corn field, with clues and associated puzzles; 11 am–4 pm; Saturdays, Sundays, and select Mondays

  • $16 adult / $10 child

  • Queens County Farm Museum

  • 73-50 Little Neck Parkway (Floral Park, Queens)

For those with constitutions strong enough for the sideshow antics of Selena Surreal, she’s represented twice along those events: both as part of a Rocky Horror shadow cast and as a guest for horror-themed drag trivia. Photo: Angel Rivera

Pushing Boundaries

There are a few lines I stick to when it comes to recommending events. I largely avoid events related to religion, sex, and politics, for instance, and I try to be judicious even recommending events that contain nudity. I also hesitate with anything that makes me personally squeamish. I found it hard just to look unflinchingly at the photo above! For one month, I say to hell with these rules and offer a few events that are a bit more, uh, shall we say scandalous?

• Tuesday, October 7: Funny Over Fifty Presents Old Woman Naked

  • One-woman show called Old Woman Naked in which actor Pamela Redmond tells the story of 72 years in her body; 7 pm (5:30 pm doors)

  • $50

  • Laurie Beechman Theatre

  • 407 W 42nd St (Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan)

• Thursday, October 9 & Thursday, October 23: Sir Richard Castle’s Naughty Little Show

  • Burlesque and variety acts hosted by comedy writer and actor Sir Richard Castle; 10 pm (9:30 pm doors)

  • $31

  • The Slipper Room

  • 167 Orchard St (Lower East Side, Manhattan)

• Exhibition opens Friday, October 17: Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages

  • Exhibition of art and objects showcasing themes of sexuality and gender from the 13th to the 15th century; 10 am–5 pm

  • Free with museum admission, which is pay-what-you-wish for NYC residents and NY, NJ, CT students, otherwise $30 adults / $22 seniors / $17 students

  • The Met Cloisters (Gallery 002)

  • 99 Margaret Corbin Dr (Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan)

• Saturday, October 25: Creatures of the Night: A Drag, Burlesque & Sideshow Shadow Cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show

  • Burlesque and sideshow shadow cast production of the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show by the all-trans all-BIPOC Black Cherry Sideshow company; 9 pm

  • $30

  • Coney Island USA

  • 1208 Surf Ave (Coney Island, Brooklyn)

Pink Metal’s monthly drag trivia with Pacha is horror-themed this October and features special guest Selena Surreal (shown earlier in the article). Photo: Heidi Rodewald

Death and Horror

In Danse Macabre, Stephen King writes, “We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.” For those who do a lot of coping through horror films, perhaps you can try your hand this month at a horror-themed drag trivia happening in Bushwick. There are some calmer ways to confront death head-on this October, too, such as walking tours of Victorian women’s graves or concerts performed on burial grounds.

• Sunday, October 5: T’nA: A Horror-Themed Drag Trivia Extravaganza

  • Horror-themed trivia contest with prizes hosted by drag queen Pacha and featuring the “dark priestess of purgatory” Selena Surreal; 8–11:45 pm

  • Free entry (tips appreciated)

  • Pink Metal

  • 253 Bushwick Ave (Bushwick, Brooklyn)

• Wednesday, October 8–Friday, October 10: Death of Classical: Relics & Martyrs

  • New cantata by composer Doug Balliett performed in a cathedral crypt, part of Death of Classical, a concert series of classical music performed at burial grounds

  • $5–$20

  • St. John the Divine cathedral crypt

  • 1047 Amsterdam Ave (Morningside Heights, Manhattan)

• Sunday, October 26: Fame, Fortune & the Forgotten: The Untold Stories of Victorian Women

  • Guided walking tour of tombs and gravesites of Victorian-era women interred at Green-Wood Cemetery; 3–5 pm

  • $30

  • Check in at the Gothic arch at 5th Ave & 25th St

  • 500 25th St (Greenwood Heights, Manhattan)

• Tuesday, October 28: National Theatre Live: Frankenstein

  • Film screening of the 2011 National Theatre stage production of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller; 7:30 pm

  • $25 general / $24 senior

  • Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space

  • 2537 Broadway (Upper West Side, Manhattan)

One classic NYC parade every year is the costumed Dog Halloween in Washington Square Park, this year taking place on October 26. Photo: Petful

Parties and Costume Contests

While I sought many ways to celebrate the spirit of Halloween, this city is still a premiere place to be traditional, donning a costume and going to a party. Frankly this could be a list in its own right, and I recommend sources like Eventbrite and Fever if you’re looking for an exhaustive list of Halloween-themed parties and events. This month I call attention to a few highlights, notably the NYC Village Halloween Parade and its official after-party in Industry City.

• Sunday, October 26: Washington Square Park Dog Halloween

  • Annual pet dog parade and costume contest presented by the Washington Square Park Conservancy; 11 am (parade) and 12:30 pm (costume contest)

  • Free

  • Washington Square Park

  • Around 5th Ave & 4th St (Washington Square Park, Manhattan)

• Tuesday, October 28: An Unhinged AF Halloween Extravaganza

  • Booze-free “unhinged cocktail party” costume-themed Halloween party with performances, prizes, snacks, and non-alcoholic drinks

  • $35–$45 (includes drink and gift bag)

  • The Parkside Lounge

  • 317 E Houston St (Lower East Side, Manhattan)

• Friday, October 31: New York City’s 52nd Annual Village Halloween Parade

  • Annual public participatory Halloween parade with costumes and music, with the 2025 theme of “Potluck”; 7 pm

  • Free

  • Throughout Greenwich Village (map of parade route)

  • Along 6th Ave from King St to W 15th St (Greenwich Village, Manhattan)

• Friday, October 31: The Vampire Ball: Halloween Festival

  • Official all-night after-party of the Village Halloween Parade with music and themed performances and experiences; 9 pm–5 am

  • $35–$55+

  • Throughout Industry City

  • 220 36th St (Industry City, Brooklyn)