We Went To A Secret Cocktail Party In The Catacombs & This Is What Happened

Halloween in NYC can usually be described as "rowdy." The streets are filled with parade-goers, the haunted houses are obnoxious, and, for the most part, you do NOT want to venture into your neighborhood pub for fear of some guy dressed up as a Frozen character spilling his beer on your homemade couture costume. No thank you. But just when we started to give up hope, we caught wind of a secret soirée that was sure to be different—a cocktail party in the catacombs.

The out of the ordinary event was hosted by the New York Obscura Society, the city's local branch of Atlas Obscura, a 'round-the-world guide of the strangest and most unique sights and sites a traveler can find. The unbodied co-host? Samuel Ward McAllister, the cemetery's most elite permanent resident. As an arbiter of New York's high society throughout the late 1800s, McAllister kept tabs on the crème de la crème of the city, and for one night only we found our names on his exclusive guest list. So what does a late night rendezvous in a historic graveyard entail? Click through for all the deathly-good details.