Founder of N.Y.C. Ghost Tour Reveals the Popular Site Where '1000s of Bodies Are Buried': It's 'Definitely' Haunted (Exclusive)

New York City is haunted. No one knows this better than Steven “Stevie” Garcia, the visionary founder and CEO of Empire Tours and Productions. While talking to PEOPLE, Garcia shares what people can expect from the Gangsters and Ghosts Tour in New York City — and which popular sites he believes are "definitely" haunted. “It’s really a two-in-one experience, part true crime history, part ghost story. We take people through some of Manhattan’s oldest and most infamous neighborhoods like Chinatown, Little Italy, the West Village, and the old Five Points, the same streets where New York’s original gangs, bootleggers and speakeasies once thrived,” Garcia shares. The N.Y.C. Gangsters & Ghosts Tour includes real-life locations featured in movies like Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and The Irishman. The tour boasts haunted locations and old crime scenes from the 19th and 20th centuries. “We connect guests to the history they've only seen or heard about in movies, documentaries and popular podcasts, dramatically increasing the tour's allure," he shares. "The tour is led by historian guides who walk guests through real events, murders, deals and betrayals that helped shape the city’s reputation during the early 1900s." “We talk about the hauntings and strange stories tied to those places today. It’s not theatrical or over-the-top, it’s grounded in history but still gives you that eerie, goosebump feeling when you realize how much of that past still lingers," he adds. One of the reasons for founding the tour was to show people that New York has living and breathing history. “Every alley, every corner has a story, and some of them are a little eerie once you know what went down there. While our tours are designed for tourists, they consistently delight long-time residents," he says. "For example, locals who've lived in N.Y.C. for years frequently leave with the 'I had no idea' realization, having uncovered hidden layers of their own city's past." When asked about whether there are haunted spots in New York City, Garcia says: “Definitely.” “Washington Square Park is one of the biggest; it was actually a potter’s field before it became a park, so thousands of bodies are still buried underneath," he says. "The old buildings in the West Village have plenty of stories too, especially some of those brownstones with a few too many unexplained sounds at night.” Speaking of unexplained sounds at night, Garcia shares that occasionally, during the tour, “someone catches something odd," such as a “photo with an unexplained blur” or a “sudden cold spot that makes everyone stop for a second.” “Our guides have their own stories too, especially around old crime scenes where weird things tend to happen again and again. Some have noted flickering lights and other unexplainable phenomena around the tour route.” While the tour stops at several interesting places in the city, one location that stands out to Garcia is the Five Points region of the city, a 19th-century, densely populated neighborhood in Lower Manhattan known for crime and poverty. The area, which is said to be the basis for Gangs of New York, was redeveloped and is now occupied by the Civic Center, courthouses and parts of Chinatown. “It was this chaotic melting pot where gangs, immigrants and early New Yorkers all collided," Garcia says. "Dangerous, yes, but also the birthplace of a lot of what shaped modern Manhattan." "We provide a nuanced view of the city's history, examining the power struggles within this neighborhood as a lens into broader themes of immigration, criminal law and the rise of N.Y.C. as a global power," he continues. "We strive to connect this powerful history without ever glorifying violence or criminal activity." Garcia shares that the fascination with this period of time has to do with the “mix of danger and glamor.” “The gangsters were ruthless, but they were also larger-than-life; they built empires in the shadows. When you add the ghost stories on top of that, it gives people this feeling of stepping into a real-life movie where history and mystery overlap.”