The 20+ Best Small Towns For Celebrating Halloween

When grinning pumpkins show up on porches and things go bump in the night, you know the spooky season is upon us. Salem is one of the best small towns to celebrate Halloween; parades like this one even attract monsters. Each year, along with about half a million humans, revelers assemble (excuse the pun, Frank; you’re already assembled) to scream and shiver over the tours, museums, historic houses and haunted happenings in this Boston suburb.

If you'd rather see kids in cute costumes than ghosts and ghouls, there are plenty of other tricks and treats out there. Some attractions and events are family-friendly, while others will scare you stiff.

Be aware (or should we say, beware?): Some Halloween experiences don't start until it's dark, and some have age restrictions. Check each website for opening days and hours (be sure you're seeing the 2025 info), age limits, notices about possible changes due to weather conditions and other details.

Read on, if you dare, to find the fun or fright that's right for you.

Dare to walk the shadowy streets of Old Sturbridge Village when the grand finale season of its popular Halloween event, Phantoms by Firelight, opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from Oct. 10-26, 2025. Wander through historic buildings and along fire-lit paths in the darkened Village and stop to listen to eerie tales around a crackling bonfire. You can also hear haunting melodies and watch mesmerizing performances by Cyrkus Vampyr's fire dancers, soaring acrobats, jugglers and more at this living history museum in central Massachusetts. Come in costume and snap a scary selfie, play wickedly fun carnival games and savor devilishly good food and drinks. If you can't make this event, the Village, designed to represent a rural New England town in the 1830s, offers various virtual tours and resources.

A haunted dredge boat? Yes. The U.S.S. Nightmare is the resurrection of the William S. Mitchell, a steam vessel built in 1934 that broke loose from its moorings during a flood several decades later. It wreaked havoc downriver, crashing into several bridges before being recovered. Later, it was sold and turned into as a floating, haunted house complete with strobe lights, sound effects and fog. Allegedly, a number of unexplained accidents and deaths have occurred onboard, and the gruesome backstory you'll hear when you visit, called the Mitchell Massacre, explains why the boat is called the "Death Dredge."

Today, the U.S.S. Nightmare is located on the Ohio River in Newport, Kentucky. The lines aren't usually bad until mid-October, when the wait can stretch to two hours, but you can buy Fast Pass or Front of the Line Admission tickets. Is it really haunted? We can't say, but the staff, crew and many visitors and paranormal investigators have reported horrifying sights and sounds, so we do know that it's really scary.

When a traveling carnival comes to town, the locals think it means that the evil legacy of the late Bludgeon family is finally over. Guess again, folks. At Dead Man’s Farm, located in Philadelphia, Tennessee, the Lost Souls Haunted Trail, Midway escape games, carnival games and "killer' food trucks scare up screams from Oct. 3 to Nov. 1, 2025. You'll also find a horrible host of special events, like the Lights Out Lantern Night on Halloween and the Dead Man's Market on Oct. 11; these are open to the public, too. When you're covered in goosebumps, take a break around a communal bonfire, buy a pumpkin and carve a Jack O'Lantern or try to make your way through the Bludgeon family's former home. The Farm has "chicken runs" for guests who want to bug out early, but there are no refunds. Be forewarned: the website says you'll encounter "fog, strobe lighting, intense audio, extremely low visibility, damp or wet conditions, special effects, sudden actions and moving parts." Parents are strongly discouraged from bringing children under 13, and kids under 10 must be accompanied by a guardian. Infants and toddlers are not allowed. Guests age 18 or older with ID as proof of age can buy the "touch" option, which allows the monsters to grab, corner or separate you from your group, even making you part of the show.

Have a spellbinding time at Georgia's Macon Witches Float. Wear your best peaked hat and glide down the Ocmulgee River on Oct. 5, 2025, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Warlocks and wizards are also welcome at this ticketed event. Bring a non-motorized floatation device, like a kayak, canoe, inflatable stand-up paddle board, or rent one from Ocmulgee Outdoor Expeditions. Some witches don't like water (we're talking to you, Wicked Witch of the West). Landlubbers, take a Spirits in October tour through Historic Riverside Cemetery on Oct. 9-12, 2025 or Oct. 17-19, 2025. Stay over at Macon's 1842 Inn; it's allegedly haunted, and guests report getting phone calls from empty rooms. Elsewhere, a supernatural soldier from the War of 1812 is said to patrol historic Fort Hawkins, and Rock Candy tours offers macabre fun. Macon is said to be the most haunted town in Georgia. Look for more thrills and chills in its Spooky Guide to Halloween.

Don't fret if you're on the West Coast and your broom won't fly that far. Just dress in your witchiest finery and join the Annual Witches and Warlocks Paddle in Morro Bay, California, pictured here. Morro Bay is a seaside city on the Pacific Coast, about 12 miles north of San Luis Obispo. Scheduled for October. 25, 2025, this is the event's 13th magical year. Note: the website says this is a "non-permitted, non-sanctioned event," so you'll participate at your own risk.

Since its debut, over a million visitors have experienced the amazing Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island. Rain or shine (no refunds or rescheduling), guests walk a trail illuminated with thousands of creatively carved pumpkins at this annual event. Some are inscribed with tricky trivia questions about sports, history and pop culture; the brain-busters are new this year. Tickets for this family-friendly event, which runs from Sept. 26-Nov. 2, 2025, are sold online only. New this year: a virtual reality experience, Jinxed, at what is billed as the world's creepiest fun fair. It's a 5-minute ride recommended for ages 12 and up. Jinxed is ticketed separately and does not include admission to the Jack-o-Lantern Spectacular.

Ghouls, start your coffins! The Emma Crawford Coffin Races and Festival in Manitou Springs, Colorado, set for Oct. 25, 2025, is named for the late Emma Crawford, who came to this small town hoping its fresh air would heal her tuberculosis. Sadly, she passed away in 1891. After years of heavy rains and erosion, her coffin was unearthed from its mountaintop resting place and slid into town. For over three decades, locals have honored her memory by pushing coffins on wheels through the historic downtown area. Four pallbearer-pushers and one Emma rider compete for the fastest time on an uphill course that's about 585 feet long. The winning teams from Colorado's two coffin races--this one, and the Frozen Dead Guy Days Race of Estes Park, held earlier this year--face off later for a grand prize (date to be announced). Live music, food, drinks and macabre revelry add to the fun and reinforce the town's motto, "Keep Manitou Weird.''

Headless horsemen, inspired by Washington Irving's 1820 story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," ride again at Halloween. Stay "wary on the prairie" when you visit Conner Prairie, a living history museum in Fishers, Indiana, and the home of the Headless Horseman Festival. This family-friendly event takes place on Thursdays through Sundays, from 5 to 10 p.m., on Oct. 2 to 26, 2025. Visitors can take a hayride into Sleepy Hollow and enjoy live music, corn mazes, magic shows, a "Perilous Plunge" down a dry tubing hill and more.

Another horseman, shown here, gallops through the village of Sleepy Hollow, in New York State's Historic Hudson Valley. See the 2025 calendar of events for Halloween happenings in Sleepy Hollow country; you'll find a street fair on Sept. 21,2025, as well as ghost tours, a Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze (an exhibit of over 7,000 elaborately carved pumpkins), haunted hayrides, a costume parade, a dramatic retelling of Irving's legendary tale and much more. A word to the wise: tickets for some events and attractions are sold online only and weekends sell out especially fast, so book early.

Talk about a scary movie. Granville Haunt Farm, in Oxford, North Carolina, is a scary drive-in. Actually, it's a drive-though. As you drive through a prop that looks like a giant movie screen, monsters and characters from popular horror movies come to life in recreated scenes. This "horror safari" opens at sunset every Friday and Saturday in October 2025 and on Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2025. See the website for details on when the last tickets are sold; some are sold as late as 11 p.m., while others are sold until 10:30 p.m. You can also purchase them in advance. The venue stays open until the last customer leaves. Head down one street, and you might see Freddy Krueger waving his bladed glove. Make another turn, and a Jurassic-era dinosaur could roar past, or you'll encounter an animatronic zombie. (The monsters and characters are subject to change.) Just don't leave your vehicle if the scares make you jump. You'll have to stay in it until you drive away. The Granville Haunt Farm was named the 2023-2024 Visitor Attraction of the Year by the North Carolina Travel Industry Association.

Considered one of the top haunted houses in North Carolina, The Haunted Farm is a terrifying piece of farmland in Hendersonville, North Carolina. According to legend, two families once feuded over the rights to a creek, which led to decades of curses and devastation. Another tale says two lovers disappeared in the nearby woods, never to be seen again. If you get too scared when you visit the Farm, look for paths you can use to escape. (But sorry, no refunds.) In 2025, the Farm opens on Sept. 27, Oct. 3-4, Oct. 10-11, Oct. 17-19, Oct. 24-26 and Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Opening times vary by the date, and inclement weather can affect the events, so check the website for details. Prepare to scream in The Woods, The Farmhouse, The Demon Hay Shed and other attractions. There's no age limit, but remember: there are no refunds, and the entire Farm is intended to frighten and terrify. Wear a costume for the family-friendly Trick or Trail 5K and One Mile walk or run through Hendersonville's Historic 7th Avenue District on Oct. 25, 2025. Fall is harvest season, so look for U-pick orchards and market stands and find pumpkins, squash and weird-looking gourds at Nix Pumpkin Patch.

Every October, Louisiana’s capital city, Baton Rouge, turns into a pumpkin—oops, no, not a pumpkin. It becomes home to the non-profit, family-friendly Fifolet Halloween Festival, named for the ghostly lights that reportedly hover over the state’s swamplands. Click here for more details. From Oct. 16-19, 2025, attendees gather to enjoy the unique flavors, music and mystique of this Cajun region. This spooktacular event offers a costume ball, haunted and zombie pub crawls, a gumbo cook-off, 5K run, an arts market located on the Mississippi Riverfront and trick or treating for young goblins in the walkable downtown area. Think Mardi Gras: riders on colorful floats toss candy and trinkets to bystanders as a parade winds along the streets. If you’re feeling brave—and we really do mean you’d better have ice water in your veins, visit The 13th Gate, voted one of the best Haunted houses in the U.S. This 40,000 square-foot spectacle, which is open daily, year-round, has 13 nightmarish sections, ranging from a realistic pirate ship to a rickety bridge overlooking live snakes. Don't say you weren't warned.

Every fall, football fans flock to Athens, Georgia, home of the Georgia Bulldogs, to watch the team play. Athens is also known for its Wild Rumpus Halloween Parade & Spectacle, a kind of Mardi Gras that's been called one of the premier Halloween celebrations in the Southeast. Thousands of locals and visitors in fantastic, imaginative costumes march in this huge, free extravaganza, scheduled for Oct. 25, 2025, in a procession that heads downtown. It turns into a gigantic, street dance party, complete with fire performances, step and dance troupes, trapeze artists, sound and light shows on multiple stages and more. See the 2025 website for other events that are still being finalized; in past years, they've included a pre-parade meet-up, a Midnight Howl Official After-Party and an online auction.

Neewollah — that's Halloween spelled backwards — is a celebration that began in Independence, Kansas, in 1919, to encourage kids of all ages to enjoy positive fun instead of indulging in traditional Halloween pranks. Neewollah tickets and merchandise go on sale Sept. 27, 2025, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and lots of activities and attractions are offered from Oct. 17-25, 2025. Neewollah is a festival with parades, 5K and 10K races, arts and crafts, chili and dessert cook-offs, a carnival, pumpkin decorating, marching bands, a scarecrow contest and more; see the calendar for days and times. Watch for the Queen Neelah pageant, when one participant is crowned and others are selected for her court.

Colorado's magnificent, historic hotel, The Stanley, inspired author Stephen King to write his terrifying novel, The Shining, after he stayed in one of its rooms. It's located in Estes Park, a small town that's over a century old. Parts of the hotel are said to sit on a quartz and limestone mineral belt that helps conduct paranormal activity.

Take an indoor and outdoor walk on The Shining Tour for, as the website says, "a lot of Stephen King, a bit of history and a whole lot of stories of the spirited variety." It's currently offered daily. Are you dying, so to speak, to hear from some of the past--and passed--hotel guests? Book 13, a theatrical seance held at the hotel with its resident apparitionist, Hannibal. Be aware: he does not and will not contact or attempt to contact anyone lost to the people in attendance.

For a truly bone-chilling experience, take a Frozen Dead Guy Tour and visit a 1909 ice house located near the hotel. You'll explore the world's only International Cryogenics Museum and learn about this science of extremely low temperatures. You'll also see a real frozen dead guy: a Norwegian who died in 1989. His family, supporters of cryogenics, packed him in dry ice. Eventually, he was moved to the ice house and later preserved in liquid nitrogen in the museum. If frozen dead guys sound familiar, scroll back to Colorado's Emma Crawford Coffin Race.

Salem is famous-- or infamous--for the witch trials that occurred there in 1692. Despite that dark chapter in its rich history, it draws visitors to explore its role in literature, art, seafaring, trading, piracy and more. Learn about the trials at the Salem Witch Museum and see classic, new and cult-favorite Halloween movies at the Salem Cinema. Visit gift shops like The Witchery to bind your own spell book or let the littles decorate a broom and mix potions at The Good Witch of Salem. Don't miss the psychic, tarot and spiritual experiences; the International Monster Museum and other chilling attractions. Catch live action and ghostly projections at the Gallows Hill Museum Theatre, immerse yourself in the fantastical at Professor Spindlewink's World of Wizardry and set sail on eerie harbor tours. Don't miss the House of Seven Gables, known as the setting for author Nathaniel Hawthorne's Gothic novel of the same name. Need more? Find them here: Salem Haunted Happenings.

Not every Halloween adventure has to be screamingly scary. The Dinosaur Place at Nature's Art Village, located in Oakdale, Connecticut, offers family-friendly fun. (Oakdale is a village in the town of Montville.) The Dinosaur Place is a 60-acre theme park that transforms at Halloween into The Pumpkin Passage, a festive trail of illuminated pumpkins, friendly dinosaurs and fun things to see and do. The trail opens on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in October 2025 and on Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day, October 13, 2025.

The Pumpkin Passage also opens on select Thursday nights in 2025, when ticket prices are reduced. Bring the kids on Saturday, November 1, for Trick-or-Treat night. You'll find nightly entertainment, food trucks, family lawn games, free marshmallow roasting, inflatables like a 20-foot slide, bounce houses and other activities and adventures. As the organizers say, think lights, not frights.

Savannah is considered one of the most haunted cities in the country, thanks to its old cemeteries, historic buildings and haunted houses, restaurants and inns. Take a hearse ghost tour or catch a Blue Orb Tour to look for zombies or apparitions. Some tours are adults-only; others are suitable for families. Find more spooks and scares on the Trolley of the Doomed, take a creepy pub crawl or admire the hauntingly beautiful resting places at the Bonaventure Cemetery and the Colonial Park Cemetery. Many hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and inns are said to have resident spirits that just might haunt your dreams. Scary movies like 2022's Halloween Ends and the classic Cape Fear, made in 1962, were shot in this lovely, atmospheric Southern city.

Galena Country, Illinois, feels magical when the trees change colors in fall, and it's delightfully spooky at Halloween. Start early with old-fashioned family fun from Sept. 26-27, 2025, at the annual Warren Pumpkin Festival, where you can play carnival games, watch a parade, join a 5K walk/run and see a car show and garden tractor pull. The Galena 45th Annual Halloween Parade and Festival, said to be the largest and longest in the Tri-State Area, takes place on Oct. 25, 2025, with marching bands, fantastic costumes, floats, prizes and treats. If that's not enough, sign up for Matthew's Haunted Pub Crawl, Amelia's Galena Ghost Tours or a Haunted Galena Tour Company experience. Make time for a hayride and picking pumpkins, apples, sweet corn and more at Dittmar Farms and Orchard in the village of Elizabeth.

The rushing waters of Niagara Falls USA in New York are a natural wonder. The Falls overflow with supernatural marvels, too. Follow The Haunted History Trail to dozens of hot spots across the state like creepy pubs, historic sites, museums, a haunted asylum, an abandoned amusement park and more. The Winery at Marjim Manor offers appointments with Tarot readers and physic mediums, ghost tours, murder mystery dinners and other special events during the season. Bed down at the historic Red Coach Inn, shown here, where a bride and groom are among the ghosts said to walk its halls. If you’re experienced, hike the challenging trail at Devil’s Hole State Park. It's open year-round, but restrooms are closed seasonally, and parts of the trail may not be safe or accessible during heavy rains or snow. There aren't any artificial lights, either, so the gorge trail is extremely hazardous at night. When you reach the Cave of Evil Spirits, listen for the echoes of British soldiers and a local Seneca who died in a 1763 massacre. Other otherworldly things to look for: graveyard ghosts at Oakwood Cemetery, where daredevil Annie Edson Taylor, a schoolteacher, is buried. In 1901, on her 63rd birthday, Annie was the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel. She lived to tell the tale.

If you've got little boys and ghouls--or girls--head to Boone, North Carolina, in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. On Grandfather Mountain, a Beary Scary Halloween, scheduled for October 25, 2025, blends spooky fun with educational nature programs about native animals and crawly critters and offers trick-or-treating. Kids in costumes get in for half-price. For more thrills, head to the Tweetsie Railroad. This Wild West theme park transforms into a Halloween experience beginning on Sept. 19, 2025, complete with trick-or-treat stations, a black light puppet show, haunted house, "Freaky Forest" and amusement rides at a creepy carnival. Climb aboard for a spooky ride on Tweetsie's Ghost Train, a fun, safe, not-scary adventure for the whole family; see the website for dates and times. Wrap up the season at the annual Boone BOO!, a festival held downtown on October 31, 2025. The festivities take place on King Street, where you'll find inflatables, a judged costume contest, crafts, Halloween goodies and more. Shown here: The Tweetsie Ghost Train.

Adams, Tennessee, is home to the Historic Bell Witch Cave, one of America's most famous haunted sites. According to legend, a cruel witch tormented John Bell, the owner of the property, and his family. She vowed to kill John and haunt his descendants and eventually claimed responsibility for his death. Visitors now report hearing voices, groans, growls and other sounds from the cave, leaving them to wonder if the witch came back after Bell's death, or if she never left. The Bell Witch Fall Festival presents a ticketed performance of Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch, from Oct. 16-18 and Oct. 23-25, 2025. The festival also features performances of Smoke: A Ballad of the Night Riders, which tells the story of the tobacco wars in the early 1900s, and an Americana musical, Johnny & the Devil's Box. See the website for dates, times and prices. Visit the cave and explore other otherworldly experiences that range from the mild to the terrifying, including lantern-lit tours of a replica of the Bell cabin. Todd and Leanne Escue, of The Black Wolf Paranormal, will host public and private investigations of the cave, cabin, a Native American burial ground and other locations on Oct. 9 and Nov. 8, 2025, weather permitting. These are ticketed tours for ages 12 and up.

Myrtle Beach charms visitors year-round with its sandy beaches, happy vibes and sunshine, but communities in this coastal area cast a different spell in autumn. Conway, South Carolina, about 15 minutes away, changes its name to “Halloween” for the entire month of October. This is the fourth year the self-described "City of Halloween" transforms itself with elaborate decorations, costume parades, midnight markets, pirate adventures, a skeleton disco, spooky swamp, tunnel of bones, a "Wicked Crawl for Cancer," Halloween movie night and more. A pumpkin sale runs Sept. 27-Oct. 30, 2025, and other events and attractions are held from Oct. 1-31, 2025.