The Merchant's House Museum: Manhattan's Most Haunted House

The Merchant’s House Museum is a red-brick row house on East 4th Street in NoHo, between the Bowery and Lafayette Street. Built in 1832 and lived in by one family for almost a century, it still holds that family’s furniture and belongings, and in 1965 it became one of the first buildings protected by New York’s new Landmarks Preservation Commission.

It is also, by its own account, haunted. The museum says staff, volunteers, visitors, neighbors and people passing on the street have reported sounds, sightings and smells since it opened in the 1930s. The New York Times has called it Manhattan’s most haunted house, and every October its candlelight ghost tours sell out. Here is the real history of the Tredwell family, the stories told about them, and how to visit.

History of Merchant's House Museum

Joseph Brewster, a hatter who built houses on speculation, finished the house in April 1832 as one of a row of fine homes on what was then a fashionable new street north of the crowded old city. In 1835 the merchant Seabury Tredwell bought it for $18,000 and moved his family in.

The Tredwells had eight children, and the youngest, Gertrude, was born in the house in 1840. The family’s fortunes and the neighborhood both declined over the following decades as wealthy New Yorkers moved uptown, but the Tredwells stayed. Gertrude never married. She lived on in the house as the city changed around it, and by the end she was its last occupant, keeping the rooms much as her parents had furnished them.

Gertrude died in the house in 1933, aged 93. The museum says at least eight people died here over the family’s nearly 100 years. Because so little had changed, it could open as a museum in 1936, with a private reception on May 8 and a public opening on May 11, complete with the family’s own possessions.

Its survival has been a fight. The house was named a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and was one of the first buildings designated by New York’s new Landmarks Preservation Commission the same year; its interior followed in 1981. Since 2012 the museum has opposed plans for an eight-story hotel on the lot next door, warning that construction vibration could cause irreparable damage. The city approved a revised plan in late 2023, and in 2026 preservationists were still asking it to reject changes. The museum stays open during the work, with its entrance moved next door.

The ghosts of the Merchant's House

Gertrude Tredwell

Almost everything is blamed on Gertrude. She was born in the house, lived her whole life in it and died in it, and the museum says many people believe she still watches over it. Staff joke that she does not like her belongings moved around, and most sightings told in the house are put down to her.

Those sightings are told by staff, visitors and neighbors rather than recorded in any documents, and the museum is open about collecting them as stories. It published a booklet of them, Some Say They Never Left, which is sold in the shop.

Footsteps, voices and slamming doors

The museum’s own ghost page describes doors slamming, floorboards creaking and voices calling when the house is closed. It says reports have come not only from people inside but from neighbors and passersby on East 4th Street.

Other members of the family

Not every story is about Gertrude. Because so many of the family lived and died here, other Tredwells come into the stories too, and since 2006 the candlelight tours have introduced visitors to family members through short scenes performed in the house.

The museum's own research

In 2020, while the house was closed and empty during the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum began its own paranormal research with investigator Dan Sturges and a neuroscientist, using equipment built for the purpose. The museum says the work supports the likelihood of paranormal activity, though it has not published methods or results in detail. Sturges, who says he has investigated the house since 2007, also leads its late-night October tours and a monthly video series on paranormal topics.

Where to look

• Gertrude's bedroom: on the upper floor, where she spent her last years and where she is most often said to be felt.
• The double parlors: the front and back parlors on the main floor, still furnished with the family’s belongings.
• The stairs: climbed by the family for a century, and part of every ghost tour.
• The front windows: seen from East 4th Street, where passersby are among those who have reported strange things.

Visiting the Merchant's House Museum

The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday. A guided tour starts at noon and lasts 60 to 75 minutes ($20), and self-guided visits run from 1 to 5 PM ($15, last entry 4:30 PM). While the hotel next door is under construction, the entrance is at Manuel Plaza, 35 East 4th Street.

The highlight for ghost hunters is October. In 2026 the candlelight ghost tours ran on six nights, with 50-minute tours every half hour from 6:30 to 9 PM ($45, $35 for members), and a 90-minute late tour with Dan Sturges at 9:30 PM ($70). Book early, because they sell out. Outside October, groups of up to 20 can book a private ghost tour on weekday evenings for a flat fee, with at least two weeks’ notice.

The house is not air-conditioned and has steep stairs. The museum does not run public ghost hunts, but you can report your own experiences to the staff.

• Visiting Museum open during restoration work next door; entrance at 35 East 4th Street
• Tours Guided tours Wednesday to Sunday at noon ($20); self-guided visits 1 to 5 PM ($15)
• Hours and season Wednesday to Sunday; candlelight ghost tours on select October nights
• Tickets Candlelight ghost tours $45; private ghost tours for up to 20 people by arrangement
• Ghost hunting No public ghost hunts; the museum runs its own paranormal research and ghost tours

Tips for your visit

• Book the October candlelight tours as soon as dates are announced.
• Do the noon guided tour first to learn the family before you hear the ghost stories.
• Look at the upper windows from across East 4th Street after dark.
• Pick up Some Say They Never Left in the shop.
• Combine it with a walk to St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery and the Village’s other haunted sites, all within a mile.

More haunted places nearby

• St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery: Peter Stuyvesant’s church, ten minutes’ walk east
• 14 West 10th Street: the so-called House of Death in Greenwich Village
• One if by Land, Two if by Sea: a haunted West Village restaurant for dinner after the tour
• The Bowery Hotel: a short walk away, if you want to stay nearby
• Haunted places in New York
• Haunted places in NYC

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

• Merchant's House Museum (official site)
• Merchant's House Museum: Ghosts
• Wikipedia: Merchant's House Museum
• Untapped New York: 10 famously haunted NYC locations
• Bowery Boys: New York City's most famous haunted houses