Halloween Travel for Ghouls and Ghosts

Double, double, toil and trouble. Halloween is coming, and if getting spooked is on your list of things to do, then plan some travel to these great haunts.

There are many mansions, spooky amusement parks, creepy deserted jails and more around the U.S. to see and enjoy at any time of the year.

“I was just working with a client planning a Halloween trip,” said Denise Lorentzen, owner and travel consultant at Dreams Travel Consulting in Hughson, California. “If you’re into witches, Salem, Massachusetts is your place. They offer magic shows, séances, witches balls and much more.”

Lorentzen also suggests a three-day celebration in Mexico that begins every year on October 31.

“Around Halloween, they celebrate ‘Day of the Dead’,” she explained. “You could travel to Sleepy Hollow, New York for some spooky fun. This is where the legend of the Headless Horseman is from and, every year the 300-year-old Philipsburg Manor is transformed for Halloween as well.”

They also have one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States.

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If you’re into cruising, you might want to consider The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

“It runs a terrifying experience (not suitable for young children),” said Lorentzen. “Every year this cruise liner (noted to be one of the most haunted places in the world, to begin with) celebrates Halloween by becoming dark and scary with live shows, mazes and more than 200 spirits and ghosts, many based on actual spirits said to haunt the ship.”

Stacey Hartmann suggests heading to Florida for a boo-tiful time!

“Orlando is a great place to travel for Halloween,” said Hartmann, travel planner with Enjoy Vacationing in Waunakee, Wisconsin. “You can look for the Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando or the more kiddo-friendly events at Walt Disney World. The options are endless and the costumes are welcome.”

New Orleans, Louisiana is also a great place to travel to with its 42 spooky and paranormal cemeteries. At St. Louis Cemetery #1, you’ll find (or maybe you won’t) “Voodoo Queen” Marie Laveau, who is actually believed to still be haunting the property located outside the French Quarter. (Don’t forget to bring trinkets for her.)

There’s also Lafayette Cemetery with its 1,100 family tombs and more than 7,000 people buried there—one tomb inspired author Anne Rice to pen The Witching Hour.

READ MORE: Celebrate Halloween in New Orleans

In San Jose, California, check out the Winchester Mystery House, a legendary haunted mansion where you can enjoy a Hallowe’en Candlelight Tour through the 160-room Victorian mansion.

It was built by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester fortune. According to a movie (starring legendary actress Helen Mirren) about Sarah Winchester that comes out in February 2018, the house stands seven stories tall and contains hundreds of rooms. Sarah is not building the house for herself, but instead as an asylum for hundreds of vengeful ghosts. The most terrifying among them have a score to settle with the Winchesters.

READ MORE: Top Halloween Destinations in the US

Speaking of movies, The Stanley Hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado is where horror author Stephen King vacationed with his wife Tabitha. It inspired him to write the novel The Shining, which became the movie of the same name. King checked into room 217 back in 1973, so request this room when you stay there. There are 90-minute tours of the hotel, where you can see the “spirited hallways and former tunnels”.