Minnesota does spooky season particularly well. Once October arrives, historic mansions reveal their ghosts, century-old streetcars roll past cemeteries after dark, and cornfields become significantly less welcoming.
Whether your preferred level of Halloween is “pretty pumpkins” or “please make the chainsaw man stop following me,” there’s something happening across the state this fall. Here are 25 Halloween events, haunted attractions, ghostly tours, and eerie experiences worth putting on your October—and early November—calendar.
Courtesy of Twin Cities Fear Fest
Twin Cities
St. Paul Ghost Tours: Sinister Sins & Shadows
Nightly in October | St. Paul
Follow a lantern through the darker side of St. Paul history during this nighttime walking tour. The hourlong experience mixes local history with tales of tragedy, scandal, and supernatural encounters in one of Minnesota’s oldest cities.
Lost Souls Cave Tour
Select dates throughout October | Wabasha Street Caves, St. Paul
Head underground into St. Paul’s sandstone caves for stories about the spirits reportedly still lingering there. The hourlong Lost Souls tour combines the caves’ Prohibition-era past with tales of unexplained happenings, making it a natural October outing for history buffs who don’t mind a ghost or two.
Candlelight Ghost Tour
Select dates in October | 300 Clifton, Minneapolis
Board a historic trolley at one allegedly haunted mansion and set out in search of more of Minneapolis’ supernatural lore. The Candlelight Ghost Tour explores some of the city’s purportedly haunted sites, with stories of mysterious sightings, unexplained sounds, and local legends along the way.
Courtesy of Minneapolis Trolley Tours
Grave Matters: The Story of a City as Told Through Its Cemetery
Oct. 4 | Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery, Minneapolis
Halloween season doesn’t have to mean manufactured scares. Hennepin History Museum heads to historic Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery for a walking tour exploring Minneapolis history through the people buried there. The 90-minute tour offers a more thoughtful—and naturally atmospheric—way to spend an October afternoon.
Twin Cities Horror Festival
Oct. 16-31 | The Crane Theater, Minneapolis
Why limit yourself to one horror story? The Twin Cities Horror Festival celebrates its 15th year with more than two weeks of theatrical terror. Billed as the nation’s longest-running live-performance horror festival, TCHF brings together theater, dance, cabaret, puppetry, film, and other deliciously dark forms of storytelling.
Graveyard Ghost Stories
Oct. 17 | Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, Minneapolis
Three ghost stories. One century-old streetcar. A cemetery. Darkness. The Minnesota Streetcar Museum has assembled a fairly compelling recipe for an October night, with Twin Cities personalities reading classic tales of the beyond as the historic trolley rattles through the darkness near Lakewood Cemetery.
Minnesota Children’s Museum Halloween Party
Oct. 23-24 | Minnesota Children’s Museum, St. Paul
For little monsters who aren’t ready for the full haunted-house treatment, the Minnesota Children’s Museum hosts two evenings of trick-or-treating, crafts, games, activities, and a dance party with a live DJ. Costumes are encouraged, and the entire museum remains open for play.
Gibbs Farm Halloween Trick-or-Treat Trail
Oct. 24 | Gibbs Farm, Falcon Heights
History gets a steampunk twist at Gibbs Farm’s fifth annual Halloween Trick-or-Treat Trail. The family-friendly afternoon and evening combines candy, costumes, a historic farm setting, and a little Victorian-industrial imagination for an option that’s more whimsical than terrifying.
Club Science: Halloween
Oct. 30 | Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul
No kids allowed at this museum night. Club Science’s 21+ Halloween edition opens the Science Museum after hours for costumed adults, drinks, exhibits, and appropriately spooky science. Consider it Halloween for anyone who would rather encounter something strange in a laboratory than in a cornfield.
Spirits on a Streetcar
Oct. 31 | Como-Harriet Streetcar Line, Minneapolis
For those who prefer their ghosts less literary and potentially more literal, the Streetcar Museum returns Halloween night with a 90-minute paranormal investigation aboard historic streetcar No. 1300 and inside its carbarn. Experienced paranormal investigator Heidi Steffens will bring equipment along to see whether anyone—or anything—answers.
BareBones Halloween Extravaganza
Oct. 29-Nov. 1 | Powderhorn Park, Minneapolis
Part spectacle, part ritual, and distinctly Minneapolis, BareBones Puppet Theatre’s annual Halloween Extravaganza returns for its 33rd year. Expect larger-than-life puppetry, stilting, dance, fire, live music, and song beneath the autumn sky. The Nov. 1 performance includes full ASL interpretation.
ValleyScare
Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 31 | Valleyfair, Shakopee
Roller coasters are scary enough in daylight. Add darkness, haunted mazes, roaming monsters, and scare zones, and Valleyfair becomes an entirely different park. ValleyScare returns as a separately ticketed nighttime event this year, with haunted mazes included in admission. The park warns that the experience may be too intense for younger guests.
ScreamTown
Select nights through Oct. 31 | Chaska
One of the metro’s longtime Halloween heavy hitters returns for another season of elaborate haunted attractions and outdoor scares. ScreamTown runs on select nights through Halloween, making it a destination for those who prefer their fall outings with considerably more screaming than cider sipping.
The Dead End Hayride
Select nights through Nov. 1 | Pinehaven Farm, Wyoming
This is not your childhood hayride. The Dead End Hayride sends guests through a dark, isolated stretch of Pinehaven Farm before dropping them into a collection of haunted scenes filled with zombies, monsters, clowns, butchers, pyrotechnics, and more. More than 200 performers populate the sprawling experience.
Twin Cities Fear Fest
Select nights through Nov. 1 | Mall of America, Bloomington
Mall of America gets a decidedly darker makeover for Twin Cities Fear Fest. The indoor haunted attraction returns with elaborate sets, live scare actors, special effects, and multiple themed areas—including a new-for-2026 officially licensed Friday the 13th experience featuring Jason Voorhees. There’s also an Elvira pop-up shop and bar, plus a scare-free family experience for younger Halloween fans.
Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular
Through Nov. 1 | Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley
More magical than terrifying, the Minnesota Zoo’s signature fall event illuminates a wooded trail with more than 5,000 artistically carved pumpkins. This year’s experience adds a trivia theme, with answers hidden among the glowing jack-o’-lanterns, along with a Monster Mash dance party, seasonal food and drinks, and other pre-trail festivities. Halloween night itself is reserved for an 18+ celebration.
Courtesy of Minnesota Zoo
The Haunted Basement Bar
Through Nov. 7 | Travail Kitchen and Amusements, Robbinsdale
Dinner gets disturbing at Travail. The Haunted Basement has transformed the restaurant’s Basement Bar into an immersive Halloween dining experience built around a deeply strange “Annual Harvest Supper.” Expect a multicourse tasting menu, interactive beverage pairings, rituals, surprises, and plenty of theatrical mayhem. Costumes are encouraged.
Anoka + Stillwater
Ghosts of Anoka Walking Tour
Select evenings through Oct. 31 | Anoka
You can’t call yourself the Halloween Capital of the World without accumulating a few ghost stories. The Anoka County Historical Society’s 90-minute walking tour digs into the city’s history and mysteries on select evenings throughout October.
Anoka Halloween
Events throughout October | Anoka
Minnesota’s Halloween Capital stretches the holiday into a monthlong celebration. Among this year’s highlights are the Great Pumpkin Expo Oct. 4, Light Up the Night Parade and bonfires Oct. 17, Big Parade of Little People Oct. 23, and Grand Day Parade Oct. 24. It’s less one event than an entire town deciding October deserves its own civic identity.
Haunted History Trolley Tour
Oct. 9-30 | Stillwater
Stillwater’s already-atmospheric riverfront gets creepier after dark. The newly revamped ninth annual Haunted History Trolley Tour combines the city’s haunted history with live theatrical characters who have an unsettling habit of boarding the trolley along the way. Tours depart from River Siren Brewing on select nights.
Greater Minnesota
Duluth Haunted Ship
Select dates through Oct. 31 | William A. Irvin, Duluth
A massive ore carrier on the edge of Lake Superior is creepy enough after dark. For its 31st season, Duluth’s William A. Irvin transforms into the Haunted Ship, filling the historic freighter with ghouls and scares. This year also brings more activity to Harbor Drive, including food trucks on Fridays and Saturdays, bonfires, lights, and drinks.
The Haunted Farm
Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 31 | Moorhead
The Haunted Farm near Moorhead piles on the scares with a haunted house, haunted woods, dark maze, vortex, and an “Insane Clown Room”—which tells you quite a bit about whether this is the right fall outing for you. The attraction runs Friday and Saturday nights through Halloween.
Haunted Hidden Hollows
Fridays and Saturdays, Oct. 9-31 | Paul Bunyan Land, Brainerd
Paul Bunyan Land takes a sinister turn after sunset. Haunted Hidden Hollows includes a three-story haunted house, 14-acre corn maze, and select amusement rides, powered by a “Scream Team” of more than 125 performers. Families looking for less terror can visit Oct. 17, when the attractions open during daylight without live scare actors.
Voices From the Past Cemetery Walk
Oct. 3-4 | Woodlawn Cemetery, Winona
History quite literally comes to life during the Winona County Historical Society’s annual Voices From the Past Cemetery Walk. Visitors wander Woodlawn Cemetery, encountering performers who share stories inspired by Winonans of earlier generations. It’s an October tradition that blends local history, theater, and the inherently eerie atmosphere of a historic cemetery.
‘Frankenstein’ at Theatre B
Oct. 9-Nov. 1 | Theatre B, Moorhead
For chills without jump scares, Theatre B brings Mary Shelley’s monster to the stage in Nick Dear’s adaptation of Frankenstein. Told from the Creature’s perspective, the production follows his rejection, isolation, and increasingly desperate search for his creator. Performances run Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through Nov. 1.
Oakwood Cemetery Walking Tour
Oct. 10 | Oakwood Cemetery, Red Wing
Spend an autumn morning among Red Wing’s past residents during this guided tour from the Goodhue County Historical Society. The walk explores one of Oakwood Cemetery’s historic sections and the stories of people buried there—a quieter option for anyone whose idea of spooky season leans more historic than horrifying.
A NOTE BEFORE YOU GO: Halloween events are particularly prone to selling out, changing hours, and adjusting schedules for weather. Check the organizer’s current event page and ticket availability before making the drive.
