Trip or treat this Halloween with 15 scary adventures at home or abroad
SPOOKS and ghouls are out in force as Halloween horrors take over cities, towns, castles and parks. Spectacular special effects are transforming attractions as monsters and zombies wait in line to pounce on their victims.
Don’t worry, there are also lots of events for those who aren’t so brave and younger members of the family. Trisha Harbord selects some of the best at home and abroad.
Fright festival
A town centre will be transformed into a sinister circus with more than 300 performers in a two-day fright fest.
Paisley Halloween Festival in Scotland will boast superb floats, giant puppets, voodoo acrobats, ferocious fire performers, funfair and a scary silent disco.
Super scare: Watching Into The Dark, a death-defying aerial act around a haunted castle at Paisley Abbey.
Go: Most events on October 25 and 26 free, silent disco £5 for adults, £3 for children. See paisley.is and visitscotland.com
Beach vampires
Blackpool Pleasure Beach becomes a danger zone as zombies and vampires take over the theme park after breaking free from the catacombs.
Watch out for Lougarock the werewolf, as he roams among you and watch bizarre acts at the Circus of Horrors. Dress up for “Nick or treating”, go to a drive-in Scream Screen movie and see the fireworks.
Super scare: Journey to Hell freak nights where you are guided through terror tunnels and mazes.
Go: Events from October 12-31 with park entrance from £23. See blackpoolpleasurebeach.com.
Terror towers
There is a spook or two in store for every age at Alton Towers, Staffs. The park has a freaky fun ball, a ghoul school and the kids can dress up for the CBeebies Monster Ball.
Scarefest is back – another maze has been added to the grotesque line-up. The Attic: Terror Of The Towers is home to the ghost of a governess who engulfs spirits of the living!
Super scare: Hurtling on a coaster towards a flaming Wicker Man in the dark.
Go: Selected dates until November 3 with tickets from £34, child (3-11) £28.50. See altontowers.com.
Dive demons
The name FearFest-Evil is a clue. This is as horrific as you can get.
Scare zones and a house of hidden chambers, cages and gruesome scenes with live performers are set around an abandoned railway line and disused quarry at the National Diving and Activity Centre near Chepstow, Monmouthshire. Live music and refreshments in the Water View Marquee help you to recover.
Super scare: Stumbling through a haunted forest.
Go: October 11-26 and special experience on 31, tickets from £29.99. See ndac.co.uk.
Ghouls galore
Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay is celebrating 20 years of fear and Howl-O-Scream 2019 is the scariest ever. There are sinister surprises as the park is taken over by ghouls and monsters.
They are everywhere – in six haunted houses where each door you open leads to a living nightmare, on scare zones and even sitting beside you on rollercoaster rides in the dark.
Super scare: Face cannibals feasting on “human flesh” in the Meat Market.
Go: Selected nights until November 2. Three nights’ room-only at the 4H Grand Hyatt, in Tampa Bay, with flights from Heathrow on October 30 and park tickets, is from £749pp. See purelytravel.co.uk/usa and visitflorida.com.
Castle chaos
Historic castles around the country are being turned into scenes of horror.
Oxford Castle & Prison is holding its tenth annual GhostFest, with potion making, murder mysteries and spooky tours from October 25 to November 2. Warwick Castle has three new attractions, including the Dead Of Knight scare maze from October 19-November 3.
Super scare: Oxford Castle’s terrifying midnight tour on October 31.
Go: Events at oxfordcastleandprison.co.uk from £9.50 and at warwick-castle.com from £15. See visitengland.com.
Catacomb haunts
Parc Asterix is celebrating the 10th Fear At The Park. Watch out for vampires, ghosts, the hypnotic powers of Magna Maleficus and witness an illusionist turning into a creature.
Monstrous creatures parade aboard a Viking ship through the park near Paris.
Super scare: Being trapped in the new haunted house deep in the catacombs.
Go: October 3 – November 3. B&B at La Cité Suspendue and a park ticket is from £77pp. See parcasterix.fr. Return easyJet flights, from Gatwick to Paris, are from £72.
Deadly dungeons
Relive the horrors of Jack the Ripper’s murders at London Dungeon’s scariest ever show. You need to be fearless when being transported back to the streets of Whitechapel where the killer committed his heinous crimes.
Face skeletons, rat-infested cells, scenes of torture, cannibalism and the bubonic plague and join the vigilante society to hunt the Ripper down.
Super scare: Plummeting into the water on the vertical free-fall ride Drop Dead.
Go: Until November 3, tickets from £31. See thedungeons.com/london.
Cartoon creeps
Mickey and friends host Halloween fun at Disneyland Paris, from gentle spooks to horror rides. The Sleeping Beauty Castle is hosting a terrifying meet and greet.
Daredevils can brave the new version of the Twilight Zone Tower Of Terror.
Super scare: Phantom Manor, a dark ride through a mansion of ghosts.
Go: Until Nov 3. Two nights’ room-only at Hotel Cheyenne, three-day park tickets and return Eurostar for family of four from £1,626. See disneylandparis.co.uk
Chainsaw chases
Shiver at Thorpe Park’s spine-chilling Fright Nights. Brave seven live-action horror mazes and gory experiences with hordes of zombies, then ride the attractions in the dead of night.
Meet ghosts on the Surrey park’s haunted train track Platform 15 and grab your popcorn for a horror-movie marathon.
Super scare: Chainsaw chases in the Creek Freak Massacre.
Go: Fright Nights until November 3, tickets from £33. See thorpepark.com.
Lego spiders
Little pumpkins will love Legoland’s celebrations at Windsor and Dubai – from Monster Rocker’s dance party to Lord Vampyre’s brick-or-treat trail.
From October 16, the Dubai park gets a Cobweb Castle, pumpkin patch and Lego Frankenstein.
Super scare: Giant spiders.
Go: Oct 17 – Nov 2. Windsor tickets from £36; see legoland.co.uk. Five nights’ half-board at the 4H Lapita Hotel, tickets to Dubai Parks & Resorts and Heathrow flights between Oct 20 and Nov 3, from £779. emiratesholidays.com.
Monster balls
Enjoy Halloween parties at Haven or Butlin’s. At the seaside resorts of Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness, Butlin’s has trick or treat trails and monster balls.
And there are spooky nature trails, arts, crafts and skeletons galore at Haven’s 40 UK resorts.
Super scare: Master Blaster flume ride at Butlin’s Minehead.
Go: Half-term Oct 21-Nov 3. Four nights’ self-catering in a Haven holiday home from £129 for family of four. See haven. com. Three nights’ self-catering at Butlin’s for four from £395. Butlins.com.
City shivers
Giant inflatable monsters are on the streets and climbing buildings at Manchester’s Halloween festival. Follow a trick-or-treat trail to spooky houses and watch skeletons, stilt walkers and unicyclists parade, led by Grimm Rita.
Some of the city’s best-known buildings will be lit up green and there is a Mad Science Castle in St Ann’s Square.
Super scare: A poisonous maze filled with creeping vines and talking bushes.
Go: Free events between October 25 and 31. Find out more at ilovemanchester.com.
Brexit bogeymen
Stockeld Park’s haunted house is so up to date, it has a Brexit room from which there is NO escape.
The park near Harrogate, North Yorks, also includes a laser gun challenge and an ice fright skating disco with DJ Bloodbath. For little ones, there is a monster mash panto, a fancy dress competition and 4,000 pumpkins to make into lanterns.
Super scare: Zombies in the laser arena.
Go: Oct 26 – Nov 3, tickets from £13.50. See stockeldpark.co.uk.
No1 screams
Go at your peril to the UK’s Best Scream Park, as chosen by ScareCON. Halloween festival FEAR at Avon Valley Adventure And Wildlife Park is a mix of terrifying games and five scare mazes.
There’s an escape room, extreme fairground rides, circus acts, fire shows, stilt-walkers and strange characters.
Super scare: Phobia: Rebirth, an interactive maze tests your fears.
Go: From Oct 18-20, 25-27 and 29-Nov 2. Fear pass from £20. See fearscreampark.co.uk.
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