Since its 1968 inception, New York Magazine has had a long and “storied” (pun intended) history of publishing features that make the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. The magazine’s June 11–24, 2018, issue explores the likelihood of a nuclear bomb detonating in New York City, and what the fallout would actually look like. From David Wallace-Wells’s 2017 opus detailing all the different climate-change scenarios we should actually be worried about, to Fred Graver and Charlie Rubin’s 1995 look at the earthquake that scientists believe is coming for New York City, we’ve collected some of the best narrative bone-chillers published in New York Magazine over the years, in case you’d like to scare yourself some more.
The Uninhabitable Earth
By David Wallace-Wells
Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think.
Worst Roommate Ever
By William Brennan
“You’ve got your whole life in front of you. You’re pretty, you’ve got this house — well, you don’t have this house anymore. This house is my house.”
The Big Hack
By Reeves Wiedeman
The day cars drove themselves into walls and the hospitals froze. A scenario that could happen based on what already has.
Waiting for the Big One
By Fred Graver and Charlie Rubin
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But many scientists agree: a quake is coming. And New York isn’t ready for it.
The Bad Guys Are Winning the War on Crime
By Nicholas Pileggi
From a 1981 issue of the magazine — when New York was an open city for criminals.