Updated for 2022. Curious about the Best Halloween Events in New England? Check out this spook-tacular collection of events to get you in the haunted Halloween spirit!
New England sure knows Halloween, and each year events and festivals throughout the region draw crowds in search of all things spooky, ranging from tricks and treats to horror and gore. While Salem, Massachusetts takes top honors each year with its packed calendar of Haunted Happenings, below are a few additional top picks for Biggest and Best Halloween Events in New England. We’ve gone with chills and thrills over terror, so if your taste runs towards the macabre (think Spooky World in Litchfield, NH or Field of Screams in West Greenwich, RI), consider this a starting point! Know of another spook-tacular event? Be sure to share it with us in the comments! Happy Haunting!
Best Halloween Events in New England Photo Credit : Dreamstime
Best Halloween Events in New England | Updated for 2022
Wander among nearly 10,000 carved and lighted pumpkins (some with spectacular designs) displayed on the quarter-mile Wetlands Trail at the Roger Williams Zoo. On Thursday through Saturday nights, performers add to the festive environment and entertain the kids. Costumes encouraged!
Terror at Quassy | Middlebury, CT
Weekends, October 7 – 30, 2022
Dare to visit spooky dungeons, misty walkways, zombie hospital, haunted cemetery, and more at this popular amusement park. Don’t miss the nightly themed live performances at the Carousel Theatre stage.
Enjoy thrills by day, and fright by night as the park offers over 20 shows, attractions, and haunted areas along with their world-class rides. Special events include concerts, a trick-or-treat trail for kids, and an interactive comedy show.
As night falls, the attractions turn spooky. Enjoy Canobie’s most popular rides plus live entertainment and five walk-through haunted attractions. Kid-friendly attractions include a Pumpkin Palace, petting zoo, and nightly Monster Parade.
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This annual Rhode Island event is a spook-tacular salute to the horror genre, screening several world premieres (both shorts and features) of top horror flicks from all over the globe. Take the H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour, check out special free screenings, settle in for the Saturday night double bill, and more.
Enjoy a lantern-lit 90-minute walking tour of Boston’s most historically haunted places led by a costumed professional. Hear chilling tales of Boston’s most famous ghosts and spooky sites, while learning more about the city’s rich past. This family-friendly tour is both entertaining and just the right amount of spine-chilling.
This annual community-funded event, taking place on Halloween night in the seacoast city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, calls itself “a grassroots, all-inclusive celebration of community, creativity and free expression that walks, stalks, dances, trumpets and drums its way through downtown Portsmouth.”
What are your picks for the best Halloween events, ghost tours, or the best haunted houses in New England?
This post was first published in 2013 and has been updated.
Aimee Tucker is Yankee Magazine’s Home Editor and the Senior Digital Editor of NewEngland.com. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.
