It’s that time of year when people dress in costumes, stalk the streets as ghouls and look for spooky goings-on. If you’re thinking of putting a little extra boo in your Halloween this year, here’s our list of some of the spookiest Halloween destinations and activities.
Halloween in the Big Easy
What’s the most haunted city in the U.S.? Our bet’s on New Orleans, which goes all out to celebrate Halloween. A hotbed of supernatural culture and voodoo, it’s offering up haunted tours and ghost stories galore. New Orleans Psychic Medium Cari Roy referred to his town as “paranormal gumbo” with its religious and spiritual history and it attracts all manner of seekers of the occult. Halloween visitors are sure to find something nightmarish to trick or treat their friends in tow. Discover New Orleans’ dark side on haunted history ghost tours. Hear tales of famous hauntings from local guides, and visit the French Quarter’s most infamous and eerie locations — hotspots for paranormal investigators and historical videographers. By the end, you see the Vieux Carré in a different (and profoundly more ominous) light.
Tour the city with a local guide to seek out the hottest spots for ghostly behavior. Some places either have a resident ghost or some gruesome history worth discovering. Tours often take place at night for dramatic effect and most of them are on foot, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes. (You might need to run away…quickly!)
WHO IT’S FOR: People who love walking tours and fans of ghost stories or ghost hunts.
WHERE TO FIND THEM: Most of the tours cover the French Quarter, the Garden District and the city’s cemeteries. Here’s our hit list:
More from New Orleans…The Mortuary
Located at the very dead end of Canal Street in New Orleans, horrors await at The Mortuary. Built in 1872, New Orleans’ famed Grand Victorian Mansion known as The Mortuary celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. This former funeral parlor and crematorium sits among more than a million graves within a one-square-mile radius. Between 1930 and 2003, more than 20,000 funerals took place within its walls. Imagine all the blood and bodily fluids of the dead swirling into a drain in the embalming room deep in the basement catacombs.
A Halloween tradition, if this self-guided tour of darkness doesn’t just get the adrenaline-pumping. It also induces nail biting, screaming, and nightmares. Enter if you dare. And don’t be surprised if you encounter the works of the twisted mortician frightfully known as Ravencroft.
WHO IT’S FOR: People with nerves of steel!
The Ghosts of Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina is also believed to be one of the most haunted cities in the south; no surprise as much of it is built on gravesites. Reports of ghosts are commonplace here and there are plenty of tours that showcase Charleston’s dark side. I booked the Cemetery and Dungeon experience with Bulldog Tours. The guide led us through the historic streets, cemeteries, back alleys and churches as we took in all the ghostly details. There were chilling stories of sightings, haunted houses, voodoo and Low Country superstitions. The tour concluded with a creepy visit to the Provost Dungeon in the Old Exchange Building, which housed hundreds of prisoners during the Revolutionary War. Jailed for either treason or sedition, many of them spent their final days there.
If you want to get goosebumps, join the behind-the-scenes tour of The Old City Jail. It was in operation from 1802 until 1939 and most of the original structure remains intact including the cells and warden’s quarters. The Haunted Jail Tour takes you through the cells and hallways and into the places where Charleston’s most infamous criminals lived and died. The faint of heart may want to skip this tour and opt for the Haunted Pub Crawl – at least the liquid spirits will help you ward off the supernatural ones.
WHO IT’S FOR: Tours are ideal for history buffs and lovers of ghost stories. The haunted pub crawl is for spirits lovers of another variety.
The Black Monarch Hotel
Looking for a spooky sleep? Look no further than the center of Victor—a picturesque Colorado mining town. Here you’ll find The Black Monarch Hotel, a former casino, and brothel beautifully renovated to reflect its rich history. If these walls could talk, they’d probably frighten you with stories of local hauntings. For the ultimate overnight experience, check out the property’s newest room—Bela Lugosi’s Dracula. Themed around the icon and cult phenomenon whose unique characterization of Count Dracula forever transformed pop culture’s portrayal of vampires, this nightmare-inducing room is not to be missed!
WHO IT’S FOR: Anyone who doesn’t mind cozying up with a spirit overnight!
The Missouri State Penitentiary
A hundred years older than Alcatraz and infinitely creepier, the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City has seen some of the most notorious criminals in US history including Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassin, James Earl Ray. Tour guides will lead you through Housing Unit 1, A-Hall—the oldest building still standing—where you’ll see the art left in the cells by former inmates. You’ll learn about the history of the site and all the strange and unusual events that have occurred within the prison’s foreboding walls. Tours also include a visit to the Dungeon Cells used for solitary confinement and a visit to the Gas Chamber where 40 inmates took their last breaths. You’re welcome to sit in the gas chamber during your visit if you dare.
If ghost hunting is on your must-do list, join one of the paranormal tours where you’ll learn how to use paranormal equipment and recognize paranormal activity. To check out all the prison cells you’ll need to be able to climb several floors of uneven stairs. And, if you’re taking one of the nighttime tours, bring a flashlight to help illuminate dark corners.
WHO IT’S FOR: Anyone who loves creepy history.
Meet Lili: Halloween’s Answer to the Elf on the Shelf
Even though COVID concerns are keeping many of us home this Halloween, that doesn’t mean we have to miss the season’s skin-crawling creepiness. Enter Lili, Halloween’s version of the Elf on the Shelf. It all started when a terrified resident found an unusual doll outside her apartment. Bringing it inside, she soon discovered the doll would move on its own turning lights on and off. Hoping to rid herself of this nightmarish toy, she surrendered it to the New Orleans Ghost Team who captured it moving on its own on video.
Historians have tracked Lily’s background to the early 1600s, unearthing reports of occult practices, pagan rituals, and warding rights imported from Europe by the Dutch Colonists of Lower Manhattan. Handmade figurines like Lily were left out to frighten off local spirits and new world ghosts, an archaic custom dating back to the Vikings and the Romans. Now you can do the same with your very own Lili…if you dare!
WHO IT’S FOR: Not the faint of heart!