Photos by Maria Rocha-Buschel

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

As if the subway weren’t scary enough on a daily basis, the NYPD created a family-friendly haunted house inside the Union Square subway station earlier this month. The enclosed structure was set up in the station’s underground hallway near the 15th Street exit.

Officers for Transit District 4, which is located within the Union Square station, dressed in costume to hand out cotton candy and other treats to kids. Despite the real-life nightmare of commuting, the haunted house proved popular, with crowds lined through the station on Thursday afternoon in the midst of the evening commute, waiting to get inside.