David Glover is a storyteller with an extraordinary ability to resurrect the past.
Glover works at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, touring the fearless through the grounds under the cover of darkness.
It’s the final resting place for some 580,000 individuals, from Civil War soldiers to New York’s elite.
What You Need To Know
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is the final resting place for some 580,000 individuals, from Civil War soldiers to New York’s elite
The cemetery offers moonlight tours of its grounds. The after-dark experiences are especially popular around Halloween
Registered as a historic landmark, the cemetery hosts hundreds of events year-round
“We’ve got folks here who were buried in the 1780s and ’90s,” Glover said. “There’s Elizabeth Gloucester, who is a really wealthy Black woman in the 1800s who was an abolitionist. Boss Tweed, who’s sort of in New York infamy as a political villain and a crook, who stole what’s the equivalent of $3.5 billion from New Yorkers in today’s money.”
“You’ve got the number-one visited site here, which is the burial site of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one of the most notable artists, but Black artists, specifically, in history,” Glover added.
Registered as a historic landmark, the cemetery hosts hundreds of events year-round. The after-dark experience is especially popular around Halloween.
“My fiancé knows that I like morbid, creepy, spooky things,” night tour participant Damon Smith said. “I’ve never been here. [I’m] born and raised in Brooklyn, and so she got me this as a gift.”
“On this tour, you get to go in the catacombs, so it feels like, extra spooky,” participant Marlee Belford added.
Glover said more than 230 people are buried in the catacombs.
“And for folks who wanted and had the wealth to do it, you could be buried above ground,” Glover said.
Gabrielle Gato, manager of public programs at the cemetery, said the grounds “really tell a story themselves about New York City, about the history of what we thought was in fashion or not for our final forever homes.”
The tour also offers a glimpse at the city’s diverse roots.
At night, Gatto said the cemetery “is very different than the way you experience the grounds during the day.”
“We wanted people to not be frightened by the cemetery, but rather enlightened by the storytelling,” Gatto said.
With the moon overhead and the creatures of the night offering up their own serenade, the tour provides a backdrop to memorialize the spirits of the past.