Gotham City is home to many horrors. Any true New Yorker can sample personalized nightmares 24/7: cockroaches, tourists, food poisoning, subway service changes, credit card bills, and New Jersey. Halloween is the perfect occasion to diversify and find some new ways to experience the dark side.

There are many New York City ghost story walking tours available. A less tourist-oriented option is “Macabre Greenwich Village” with Joyce Gold (who teaches at NYU, and according to The New York Times is “the doyenne of city walking guides”) on Saturday October 28 at 1 p.m., meeting at the Washington Arch in Washington Square Park. No reservation is necessary. The tour costs $15. http://www.nyctours.com/

If a walking tour is too much exercise, you can enjoy an actor’s reading of works by Edgar Allan Poe (the poet and author of many famous chilling works of literature) just around the corner at the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden on East 61 Street between York and First avenues. The event takes place on Monday October 30 & Tuesday October 31. Reservations (call 212 838-6878) are strongly recommended as the show sells out. The tickets are $17. Click here for more information.

You can also pay homage to Edgar Allan Poe at Edgar’s Café on West 84th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue. Located on the block where Poe lived when he composed “The Raven,” the café décor includes a flaming roof and an ominous portrait of Poe nestled in the corner. It’s perfect for a dessert even after the witching hour, open until 1 a.m. weekdays, 2.a.m. weekends.

At the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, on Friday October 27 there is the annual Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of the Ghouls. The 1922 silent movie Nosferatu (loosely based on Dracula) is shown accompanied by live music. Afterwards the costumed musicians lead a dramatic parade through the cathedral. The $15 tickets (advance purchase necessary) are available through Ticketweb.com.

If you are a fan of Jack O’Lanterns there is the annual carved pumpkin sail on Harlem Meer in Central Park on Saturday October 28. In the afternoon, beginning at 4 p.m., there are events for children. At sunset, a flotilla of illuminated Jack O’Lanterns are floated across the water. http://www.centralparknyc.org/activities/specialevents

Another Jack O’Lantern event, on a spectacular scale is at the Van Cortlandt Manor in the Hudson River Valley. It’s less than an hour by train from Grand Central, and their annual Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze, runs in the evening on three weekends: October 6-8, 13-15, and 20-22. Three thousand intricately hand carved pumpkins with many unusual designs are on display. Tickets are $13 for adults, $9 for children. Early ticket purchase is recommended. http://www.hudsonvalley.org/halloween/blaze.htm

Nothing beats the Village Parade. Tuesday October 31 on Sixth Avenue from Spring to 21st Street. The parade starts at 7 p.m. http://www.halloween-nyc.com/index.php

Of course you could also stay closer to home and try to glimpse The Rockefeller University’s very own supernatural apparition. It is said that in Founder’s Hall, around midnight, the restless spirit of John D. Rockefeller Sr. has been seen wandering the corridors, haunting professors who have had too many grant applications rejected.