Subway tunnels are prime locations for magical activities requiring darkness — and grit.

NYC subways in the 1970s and early 1980s were a very different experience from what they are today.

Subways are a fact of life in New York. More than a fact of life, in fact. They are one of the defining characteristics of life in New York. They get us to work and they get us back home. They get us to the movies and to restaurants. They get us from the Bronx to the Battery and to Coney Island or Flushing. No one can say they’ve truly visited New York or had an authentic New York experience without riding the subway.

Subways feature in books about New York, of course. One great book about vampires on the NYC subways during the gritty days of the late 1970s or early 1980s is Light at the End. Another more recent vampire novel set on the subways is The Lesser Dead. (A wonderful guide to vampire literature of all sorts is The Monster with a Thousand Faces: Guises of the Vampire in Myth and Literature which I highly recommend as well.)

Subways tunnels are dark and dirty, prime sites ready for wicked magic and evil magic-doers: The Night Tourist opens doors to the world of the dead. Subways also take us to the East Village and other neighborhoods where occult supply shops like Enchantments can be found if you need a new Tarot deck, appropriate herbs and spices, or any other magical supplies.

Wouldn’t it be even more magical if everyone remembered a little etiquette while riding the subway?

Just as everyone-including men-should sit on the subway with their knees together, it is also true that everyone-including women-should keep both feet on the floor rather than crossing their knees and sticking one foot out into the aisle halfway across the space allotted for people to stand! ARGH!