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Horror Street: The Brooklyn Mummy

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Somebody call Brendan Fraser! I know he’s currently making The Mummy 4 (or whatever it’ll eventually be called that’s coming next October) but he needs to know there’s another bandage-wrapped menace on the loose—and this one’s in Brooklyn!

What we’ve got here is a mural I came across in June of last year, during a wander through the industrialized neighborhood of East Williamsburgh—by “industrialized” I mean it’s all factories and warehouses and storage facilities, no homes or apartment buildings, although there are some after-hours clubs and the like to be found.

Prince Kharis (or maybe it’s Imhotep?) lurks just blocks away from the femme fatale I christened the Brooklyn Vampire, who kicked off the Horror Street series in 2020. If you’re ever in the area, be sure to track them down…unless, that is, the art has been replaced by some other intriguing mural. That’s the trouble with street art: it’s incredibly transitory. A mummy today might be a Hazbin Hotel tribute tomorrow. Who knows what you’ll find!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries, including: Jason Voorhees, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, a Beetlejuice sighting, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the Spooky Forest, and a ride on the Spirit Halloween Terror Train!

(Photo © Steven A. Roman)

Horror Street: Courage the Cowardly Dog

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

What we have here is a bit of graffiti-mural nostalgia: a tribute to a popular cartoon character named Courage the Cowardly Dog.

In case you didn’t know, Courage the Cowardly Dog was an animated series that launched in 1999 on the Cartoon Network and ran for four seasons (52 episodes) and a special. Starring an easily frightened beagle ironically named Courage, the series involved him protecting his owners, an elderly farm couple named Eustace and Muriel Bagge, from all sorts of supernatural and sci-fi threats that showed up in the nearby town of Nowhere. Apparently, his last appearance was in a 2021 straight-to-DVD crossover movie, Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog.

I don’t remember exactly when I took this picture, but it was probably in the early 2000s, at the height of the series’ popularity, as I was wandering through the Long Island City area of Queens. I do remember the mural took up a good share of the warehouse wall on which it was painted, that I shot this with one of those single-use disposable cameras you could buy at a pharmacy, and that I was aware of the series, but had never watched it.

If you’re a fan of Courage, it’s a pretty good likeness, don’t you think?

Interested in checking out Courage’s animated adventures (like I am)? Then head over to Tubi, where the series currently streams. (Unfortunately, the Scooby-Doo crossover is unavailable.) With Halloween fast approaching, it’ll help you get into the Spooky Season mindset.

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries, including: Day of the Dead 2025, the Brooklyn Vampire, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, a Beetlejuice sighting, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the Spooky Forest, and a ride on the Spirit Halloween Terror Train!

Horror Street: Happy Day of the Dead 2025!

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

A couple weeks back, I hopped on the #7 subway line and headed out to Flushing, a well-known Queens neighborhood in the eastern part of the borough, to visit Flushing Town Hall. My original goal was to check out a comics-themed exhibition, Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is… (which closed October 20), but then I learned there was another exhibition running—one that might be of interest to horror fans…

MexFest 2025: Day of the Dead/Rituals of Resistance is an art exhibition that, according to FTH, celebrates “Mexican culture in NYC—present visual works for a multidisciplinary exhibition honoring Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). This year’s MexFest theme, Rituales de Resilience (Rituals of Resilience), centers around memory, cultural ritual, and ancestral connection.”

There were, of course, other pieces than what you see here—some poetic, some spooky, some subtly political, and all worth giving a look to.

MexFest 2025—which is free to attend—ends November 30, so visit the Flushing Town Hall website for more information.

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, a Beetlejuice sighting, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and the Demon Door!

(Photo © Steven A. Roman)

Horror Street: Pennywise’s New York Adventure

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Check it out—three Horror Street entries in the same month! Well, with Halloween just a week away, and things like the Spirit Halloween Subway in town for the Spooky Season, the timing seems perfect for my latest NYC discovery, even if it doesn’t involve street art.

This week, my wanderings took me north along Manhattan’s prestigious Park Avenue, home to the headquarters of megacorporations and the apartments/condos/town houses of the ultrarich. And it was while I was waiting for a red crosswalk signal to change on a corner in the East 60s that a flash of red caught the corner of my eye. I looked toward one of the pedestrian islands that run along the center of Park Avenue and saw…

Well, now. Looks like someone’s a long way from Derry, Maine…

In case you’re not in the know, Derry is the fictional stalking ground of Pennywise, the evil, murderous clown who inhabits the town’s sewer system in the pages of Stephen King’s classic novel It, and later portrayed by Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgard on film and TV.

Has Pennywise grown tired of Derry? Has he set up house in Midtown Manhattan? Can he even afford the rents in New York—I mean, what does sewer space go for these days on Park Avenue?

Or maybe it’s just a very sly, very low-key way of promoting the clown’s upcoming TV series, It: Welcome to Derry, which premieres on HBO Max this Sunday?

Whatever the red balloon represents, it might be best to just avoid the area’s sewer gratings for a little while—unless, that is, you’re curious to discover if you can float down there…

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and Beetlejuice himself!

(Photo © Steven A. Roman)

Horror Street: Riding the Spirit Terror Train

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Whaaat? Two Horror Street entries in the same week? Hey, why not? It’s Spooky Season, after all, and even though this one doesn’t involve street art, my most recent discovery is something all horror fans in New York City should check out, if only for the fun aspect of it.

While wandering around Manhattan this past weekend, my feet took me along West 14th Street where, on the corner of 6th Avenue, I spotted a Spirit Halloween popup store. What I didn’t realize at the time is that this location (for this year, anyway) serves as Spirit’s “flagship store” in NYC, and is home to their theme for 2025: the Madison Scare Park subway station—complete with haunted subway car!

I mean, how could I not take some pictures of such a great-looking display, with its unique passengers like the mutant rat and the electrified corpse?

So, if you’re in the New York City area, head on down to the Spirit Halloween store on the corner of 6th Avenue and West 14th Street, and take a terror ride at Madison Scare Park!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and Beetlejuice himself!

(Photos © Steven A. Roman)

Horror Street: It’s Showtime!

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

With the Spooky Season in full effect right now, and today being the Monday the 13th (yes, okay, I know it’s not Friday, but…close enough for horror, right?), who better to drop in on than that ghost with the most, the one and only Beetlejuice!

I stumbled across the cinematic supernatural superstar this past summer, while wandering the streets of East Williamsburgh, in Brooklyn—a very popular industrialized neighborhood rich in street art. (I’ll have other pieces to show from that area in future Horror Street entries.)

There’s a good chance you’ll still be able to find BJ haunting East Williamsburgh—as temporary as mural art tends to be, sometimes the really good ones can remain untouched and unchanged for years. So, go hunt down that pesky ol’ ghost; be sure to tell him Lydia Deetz sent you!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and the Demon Door!

(Photo © 2025 Steven A. Roman)

Horror Street: The Tree Man of Long Island City

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Happy Summerween, and welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Back in October 2018, I was wandering the streets of Long Island City, Queens, and came across a mural on display at William Cullen Bryant High School. For the most part, the mural was composed of friendly images and uplifting messages to inspire the students…but then there was that one freaky-looking figure.

The Tree Man.

Is that his real name? Only the artist would know. But given TM’s toes are like roots, and a tree seems to be growing out of the mouth in his stomach, I figure it’s as good a name as any for this nightmarish high schooler.

I don’t know if the Tree Man is still lurking about the school—in all likelihood the murals have been changed one or more times in the past seven years, as murals are apt to do—but should you find yourself crossing paths with the Tree Man of LIC, don’t get too close to his stomach…that thing’s got a nasty appetite!

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries: the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, Where the Gene Wilder Things Are, the beast called Queens’thluhu, the scarifying Ghoulmobile, the regal Griffin, the Spooky Forest, and the Demon Door!

Horror Street: Fairyland

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Our latest entry comes from 2009, taken during one of my wanders through Long Island City, the eastern area of Queens, NY, that became a booming area for the real estate industry, as high-rise apartment buildings have sprouted up all over what used to be an industrialized neighborhood (with more on the way!).

What you see here is one of the many constantly changing murals that used to decorate 5Pointz (formerly the Phun Phactory), a mecca for graffiti artists from around the world whose talents were on display from street level to rooftop. The site was a run-down (but still in-use) factory that artists had moved into over time, starting in the 1990s. But by 2013, the building owner had plans to tear it all down and construct apartment buildings, which led to attempts to preserve 5Pointz as an artistic landmark and a lawsuit against the owner. Bottom line? He won, the artists lost, and today you’ll find an immense, high-rent apartment building also called 5Pointz where the original Phun Phactory once stood.

Well, this is one of the reasons I photograph murals like Fairyland—you never know if it’ll be there tomorrow! Graffiti may be a temporary artform, replaced by another artist’s work or ruined by unnecessary tagging, but tearing down the building it was on is a lot more permanent.

The fairy and her urban-fantasy landscape might be long gone from the Horror Streets of LIC, but the Internet will never forget her…

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries, like the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, and the Spooky Forest!

Horror Street: Long Island City Demons, 1990s

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

Our latest entry goes waaay back, to the early 1990s, during one of my wanders through Long Island City, the eastern area of Queens, NY, that’s become all the rage for real estate developers in the last decade or so, with high-rise apartment buildings springing up in what used to be an industrialized neighborhood (which explains how Queens recently became listed as one of the most expensive “cities” in America, rent-wise!).

But before the area was transformed into a place to be, it was a place to avoid…because it was roamed by graffiti demons!

I don’t recognize the characters, but they look inspired by either Japanese anime, or video games (or maybe a ’90s animated series?); looks really good, though. (I apologize for the quality of the photo, but back then I was using disposable cameras loaded with actual film, which was processed by a local pharmacy. Stone Age photography!) And, as often happens with street art, the next time I passed through that area, maybe a year later, the mural was gone, replaced by someone else’s art.

Stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! And be sure to check out my previous HS entries, like the Brooklyn Vampire, the demonic D-Rod, and the Spooky Forest!