Halloween season is here, Houston. Don’t be frightened of missing out this year, for there’s legions of terrific things to do in Houston for you to get into the spirit of it all. [Featured image: @lalis_zt]
1. Get your Tickets to House of Spirits: Casa Vega
Freely roam the mysterious Casa Vega, the haunted home of Francisco and Molly Vega. Experience a night of themed cocktails, macabre magic, tarot readings, strange roaming specters, bizarre characters, hidden secret games, giant Ouija boards and so much more!
2-3. Immerse Yourself in the Sounds of Halloween
A performance of some haunted classical music like you’ve never seen before. Fever’s Candlelight is an intimate performance set in a historical building that is almost as stunning as the pieces you’ll hear. Savor the music in a uniquely romantic atmosphere created by flickering candlelight and the other classical music lovers. You’ll be hearing some selections from the best known composers in history – discover new music and classics that everyone loves in the most magical setting!
- Candlelight Halloween: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari feat. Film Score by Two Star Symphony. Directed by Robert Weine, and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer in 1920, The Cabinet Dr. Caligari is a bizarre, twisted, and darkly brilliant film that is seminal, not just for horror, but for the whole of cinema. Considered to be the first true cult classic, the film is considered to be the quintissential work in German Expressionist cinema and a preclude to arthouse.
4. Venture into this Haunted Tavern: A Dark Pop-Up Cocktail Experience
The Haunted Tavern is an immersive cocktail experience run by the descendants of Ichabod Crane. You will visit one of the most haunted locations in Houston as the tavern keeper guides you through a 4-part interactive cocktail journey. Hear the chilling and dark tales that haunt the venue, and beware the ghost that never left… Your night will be filled with surprises—the ghost tends to sit in on the experience and scare those brave enough (or filled with enough liquid courage) to enter!
5. Zoo Boo 2022
The Houston Zoo’s annual eerie event is scheduled to return this year with a month of spooky, but not too spooky, fall festivities for the whole family. Details are still limited at this time, but you can stay updated via its website.
6. Boo on the Boardwalk
Boo on the Boardwalk is back for another year and promises a bag of treats for all ages. On weekends throughout October, the Kemah Boardwalk will feature themed nights full of Halloween fun activities. Whether you shriek by for Freaky Fridays, Scary Saturdays, or Spooky Sundays, you’ll be in for a hauntingly good time, with live music, magic shows, and festive entertainment.
7-8. Watch a Scary Movie
The Rooftop Cinema Club is an open-air theater on top of the Whole Foods in BLVD Place. It provides an atmosphere of what’s been called “social cinema” wherein viewers at times walk around and interact with the environment during the course of the movie. This October, they’re going all in all spooky features, with screenings that include: Coraline, Hocus Pocus, The Craft, The Nightmare Before Christmas, BeetleJuice, Tales from the Hood, The Addams Family, The Shining, and more!
- See a movie under the stars at one of the most uniquely Houston movie experiences at Moonstruck Drive-In.
9. Tour Houston’s Haunted
Bad news, Houston, evidently we’re one of the most haunted cities in America. Bars, buildings, town hall — all possessed by undead spirits dating back from the 1800s. Nightly Spirits gives you the opportunity to meet your incorporeal neighbors while unmasking the freaky history that plagues the local neighborhood. But keep your spirits up, the tour also makes a number of boozy stops at local haunts along the way.
10. Pop in to a Horror Market Pop-Up
Helmed by the frightfully fun Houston Horror Film Festival, the Haunted Halloween Horror Market is set to wake the dead at the Wildcatter Saloon on Saturday, October 29, with a market brimming with vendors, artists, filmmakers, costume contest, and celebrity guests. Tickets are priced from $5 – $10.
11. Scream at the Top of your Lungs
Houston Scream Fest, billed as the largest haunted amusement park in Texas, is coming back to life this October. The park is plagued with multiple haunted houses, a carnival-style midway, a zombie paintball course, live concerts, big screen horror movies, eats, and (free!) drinks Tickets are now available.
12. Venture Out to a Monster Mansion
Ghouls, goblins, and other unearthly creatures are invited to hang their head – er, hat – at Waxahachie’s Munster Mansion, a colossal replica of the house featured in ’60s cult-classic sitcom, The Munsters.
13. Catch a Burlesque Show
Watch out Galveston, Saturdays are all about the tease! Travel back in time to the Prohibition era as The Dollface Dames from Los Angeles bring burlesque to Mob Bar. Step into the Speakeasy for an enchanting evening of glitz, glamour, and forbidden spirits. Enjoy a rotating mix of the best burlesque performers in Texas, touring national and international burlesque stars, plus special guests from LA’s premier burlesque troupe. The Roaring 20s are alive again!
14. Pick the Perfect Pumpkin
Is there anything more representative of the fall season (outside leaves) than the pumpkin? Whether it’s sipping on a pumpkin spice late, digging into pumpkin pie, or re-reading instructions on how to properly carve a jack-o-lantern, the pumpkin is (literally, in the latter case) the face of autumn. Get your hands on one of your own at one of these bountiful pumpkin patches around Houston!
15. Gnash Your Teeth On Fall Treats
Beyond the Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts of the world, awaits a cornucopia of local bakeries, restaurants, and coffee shops that know how to enrich your autumn experience in Houston with all the season’s best flavors. (Trick or) treat yourself to 10 of our favorite spots to get fall treats in the city!
16. Experience Actual Fall
Let’s be real, the only way you can see fall colors in Houston is through filters and photoshop. Those that seek the upmost fall experience with breathtaking sights of blazen, changing leaves, will have to take their PSL to-go on a state-bound road trip.
17. Go Medieval at Texas Renaissance Festival (October 8 – November 27)
The 48th Annual Texas Renaissance Festival, the largest renaissance festival in the nation, is set to make its return this weekend on October 9 with a kingdom of entertainment for the whole family.
18-19. Venture Out to the Most Haunted Places in Texas
Ushering in the celebration of all that is spooky, we’ve compiled a list of the most haunted places in and around Houston as well as the grim tales that beseech them.
- La Carafe Wine Bar is a historic haunt housed in a building that’s stood for over a century and remains to be the oldest in the city of Houston.
20. A ‘Stranger Things’-Inspired Starcourt Pop-Up Is Now Open In Houston
From October 7 to October 31, visitors can step inside the iconic set of Stranger Things’ Starcourt in Houston. The Starcourt was of course a commercial center for the finest and zaniest of ’80s retail, a theater, arcade, and cultural hub for all things teenager. It was also a front for an underground Soviet base – but that’s neither here nor there.
See also: Bourbon Frosted Flakes And Bone Marrow, See What’s Behind The Bar At This Wildly Inventive Cocktail Lab In Houston