The spooky season is officially here, Seattle. It seems like every venue, from the city’s public parks to its movie theaters, is pulling out the cobwebs and inviting you to scream. So go pick your pumpkins, dress up your dogs, and prepare for Halloween time. This weekend is just the beginning.
Halloween Ghost Tours @ Pioneer Square
Learn some haunted history 📜
📸: Smith Tower | Photo by 400tmax
📅 Thursday, October 5th – Saturday, October 7th (and more dates throughout the month)
⏰ 7 pm
📍 Meet at Shawn O’Donnell’s American Grill and Irish Pub, located at the base of the historic Smith Tower: 506 2nd Ave, Seattle
🎟️ $15
If you’ve ever wanted to be a ghostbuster, it’s time to stroll through Seattle’s haunted history. Self-proclaimed as “Seattle’s best ghost tour,” the local ghost tour group Haunted History Seattle explores supernatural sites in Pioneer Square, the oldest neighborhood in town.
Tour guides here tout that they are all paranormal investigators or psychics—not actors. While the tour covers some disturbing stories from the past, it’s not meant to provide cheap scares. Instead, the focus is on local history that’s often been overlooked. Reviews rave about the passionate, otherworldly insight shared during the two-hour trek. There’s even a YouTube channel where guide Aten discusses ghost hunting, true crime, and spectrophilia, aka ghost sex. (Yes, this is a thing. Buzzfeed once wrote about two girls who tried to seduce a disembodied spirit.)
This tour starts at Shawn O’Donnell’s Irish Pub and is ideal for groups or a date night. Plan to arrive early to grab a bite before. Guests must be 16+ and accompanied by an adult. Also, this is held outdoors, so dress for the weather and wear comfy shoes. FYI: The legal disclaimer you sign holds the company harmless in the case of ghostly possession. So, you can’t sue if you need an exorcist after. PATHERESA WELLS
Haunted House @ Georgetown Morgue
Try the dark maze 🧛
📸: Courtesy Georgetown Morgue
📆 Thursday, October 5th – Sunday, October 8th (and more dates throughout the month)
📍 Georgetown Morgue: 5000 E Marginal Way S, Seattle
🎟 Starts @ $35
Want a haunted house in a location with an allegedly creepy history? Put Georgetown Morgue on your list.
Billed as one of the “most intriguing historic urban morgues,” the Georgetown Morgue claims to have a gruesome history. In addition to serving as a morgue and crematorium, the morgue’s owners suggest the site has been the home of a missing body—later found dismembered—and other deaths. That includes the alleged “Seattle crematorium massacre,” where the morgue’s haunted house operators say that in October 1968, armed assailants forced all nine of the morgue’s staff members into a crematorium chamber. Leaving everyone as ash. (Evidence supporting this story is scant.)
The rumored morgue history serves as the backdrop to a terrifying Halloween experience. Your ticket gets you into a walkthrough attraction in the style of a catacomb, where creatures (actors) roam. For those who want to experience more fear, add a new dark maze experience for an extra $8 a ticket. You and your group will try to flee a pitch-black maze. Good luck. (Leave young ones at home, as kids under 12 are prohibited.)
Free parking is available, with public transportation nearby. The experience is wheelchair accessible. No drinking is allowed, but there are plenty of spots nearby. Remember there’s a “no touch” policy (you don’t touch them; they don’t touch you). Because of their reputation as one of the best scares, the lines are often long—but there’s a VIP line for an additional charge. PATHERESA WELLS
Fall Festival @ Stocker Farms
Take your people to a pumpkin patch 🎃
@theticketsea 🎃 WHICH PUMPKIN DO WE PICK 🎃 📍 Stocker Farms: 8705 Marsh Rd, Snohomish 📅 Thru October 31st It’s October, which means Snohomish has turned into pumpkin central. At Stocker Farms, you can pick up a variety of specialty pumpkins — just toss your pumpkins in one of their wheelbarrows, give them a wash in the farm’s pumpkin bath, pay based on weight, and take your new friends home. This generations-old family farm is also a full-on agritourism experience. Next to the farm’s U-Pick Pumpkin Patch, its Fall Festival offers a sunflower field, corn maze, and an abundance of active, low-tech playware like zip lines and jumping pillows. And on Sunday nights in October starting on the 8th, stick around for a fireworks extravaganza at 7:30 pm. (Feeling spooky? Stocker Farms turns into Stalker Farms once nightfall hits.) Advance online midweek tickets to Stocker Farms’ Fall Festival are $15.95, and weekend tickets are $21.95. A season pass goes for $49.95. Pumpkin cannons and hayrides are available on Saturdays and Sundays. #pumpkinpatch #seattlefall #fallthingstodo ♬ original sound – TheTicketSeattle
📅 Daily thru October 31st
📍 Stocker Farms: 8705 Marsh Rd, Snohomish
🎟️ Tickets here
This generations-old family farm is a full-on agritourism experience. The Cascade Mountains set behind aesthetic touches—they have a postcard-worthy pumpkin barn—makes this an ideal place for holiday photos. An abundance of active, low-tech playware like zip lines and jumping pillows are grounds for a tablet-free day. The 2023 corn maze will include donations to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington and Alaska. On Sunday nights in October starting on the 8th, stick around for the fireworks extravaganza at 7:30 pm.
Last time we checked, advance midweek tickets to their Fall Festival are $15.95, and weekend tickets are $21.95. Pumpkin cannons and hayrides are available on Saturdays and Sundays. Skip admission if you want to head straight to the patch. You pay for the pumpkins you pick to take home. In the evenings, visit haunted corn trails, “Stalker” Farms. MEGHNA JARADI
Stalker Farms @ Stocker Farms
Haunted corn trails 👻 🌽
📸: Courtesy Stalker Farms Haunted Attractions
📆 Friday, October 6th – Sunday, October 8th (and more dates throughout the month)
📍 Stocker Farms: 8705 Marsh Rd, Snohomish
🎟 Starts @ $28.95
Billed as Washington’s “original haunted corn trails,” Stocker Farms’ Stalker Farms is another Halloween spot with multiple attractions.
The “Slasher Family Homestead” and “Pogo’s Funny Farm” are full of torments for the fearless, featuring traditional haunted experiences like scary clowns and chainsaw-wielding creeps. The farm also offers a non-haunted nighttime corn maze that’s good for kids, plus a giant jumping pillow, ball toss zone, farmer foosball, and fire pits for rent. A VIP option, which includes a third haunted trail, “Eski’s Dark Harvest,” and a “shooting gallery,” is available. Hang out in the midway space before or after to enjoy food vendors, carnival-style gaming, and live entertainment on busy nights.
Heads-up: Wheelchairs are allowed, but accessibility could be an issue. All attractions are outside, so there can be mud, bugs, corn stalks, uneven ground, fog, and, yes, rain! A flash sale starts on September 25th, with online tickets at 30% off. PATHERESA WELLS
Where to Find Pumpkin Patches Near Seattle 🎃
Across the region, people are burrowing their heads into Carhartt beanies, ordering PSLs, and gearing up for one of October’s best traditions: pumpkin patches. Here is where to find them.
Halloween Pet Parade 2023 @ Volunteer Park
Dressed-up doggos 👻🐾
📸: Volunteer Park Trust
📅 Sunday, October 8th
⏰ 11 am – 2 pm
📍 Volunteer Park: 1247 15th Ave E, Seattle
🐕 Route: “We’ll parade from the stage located on the lawn in front of the conservatory, down the concourse around the Water Tower, and back to the amphitheater.”
🎟 Free
Taking Fido in a vampire costume on a walk through your neighborhood sounds fun, but why not give him a platform to really strut his stuff?
Enter the annual Halloween Pet Parade. Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park Trust has organized an afternoon for pets and pet-parents to don their best Halloween attire to ring in the ghoulish season. From 11 am to 2 pm on Sunday, October 8th, there’ll be food trucks and live music appropriate for the entire family. You can enter your pet into a costume competition with a pet-related gift basket prize offered in these categories: Best Pet/Owner Combo, Most Creative, Spookiest Pet, and Best Personality.
If you’re looking for inspiration, some pet-parent costumes could include Elle Woods and Bruiser, a witch and her familiar, Anakin and Princess Leia, or a groomsman (provided you have a llama).
They had a damn llama in their wedding. 😫😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/IHZD4AUmYl
— Maya 💋 (@NorthForReal) June 29, 2023
The pet parade—led by the 8-Bit Brass Band and free to enter—will start at the lawn in front of the Volunteer Park Conservatory, head down the street, loop around the water tower, and end back at the conservatory. During the entire celebration, cars will only be permitted to enter at the 15th Ave entrance and exit at 12th Ave, so plan to get there ahead of time. JAS KEIMIG
Here’s the day’s schedule:
11 am — Gather at the stage for the Pet Parade!
11 am to 12:30 pm — Register Your Pet for the Costume Competition at the Stage Area
1 pm — Speakers on the Stage
12:30 to 1:30 pm — Costume Competition on the Stage
• Each winner receives a pet-related gift basket!
• Prizes offered in 5 categories:
○ Best Pet/Owner Combo
○ Most Creative
○ Spookiest Pet
○ Best Personality
1:45 pm — Costume Competition Winners announced
A Guide to Haunted Houses Around Seattle 💀 🔪
Are you a freak for fall? Ready for a Halloweentime right of passage? Read our complete guide on local haunted houses here.
A Korean Horror Film Series @ SIFF Film Center
Zombies, specters, costumes, and films 🎥 🇰🇷
📸: Kim Jee-woon | SIFF
📅 Sunday, October 8th – Monday, October 30th
📍 Virtual and in-person at SIFF Film Center: 305 Harrison St, Seattle
📞 (206) 464-5830
🎟 Class Pass including all classes and screenings: $100 Regular | $75 SIFF Member
🎟 Individual Talks: $25 Sustainer | $15 Regular | $10 SIFF Member
A train filled to the brim with zombies. A domestic horror featuring a housemaid. A ghost tale about two sisters. A foreigner who brings a wave of gruesome deaths.
If any of that sounds at all bewitching, then pull up to this Halloweentime film series at SIFF. For October, SIFF will jump into the gory, terror-filled world of Korean horror films—and no language or previous knowledge is required to enjoy these movies and chats. The four-week screening and film talk series will explore four famous South Korean films: Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid (1960), Na Hong-jin’s The Wailing (2016), and Sang-Ho Yeon’s Train to Busan (2016).
The day after screenings, which happen on Sundays, Seattle-based film programmer and researcher Hannah Baek will dig into the week’s discussion, whether it’s about zombies and disease or ghosts and specters, and how each movie illuminates a sociopolitical undercurrent in Korean culture. There are supplemental (but not mandatory) films for each discussion, and SIFF encourages attendees to don costumes that fit each week’s theme. JAS KEIMIG
Series Schedule
October 8th – Screening – A Tale of Two Sisters
October 9th – Film Talk – Week 1: Ghosts & Specters
October 15th – Screening – The Housemaid
October 16th – Film Talk – Week 2: Succubi & Killers
October 22nd – Screening – The Wailing
October 23rd – Film Talk – Week 3: Foreign Devils & Monsters
October 29th – Screening – Train to Busan
October 30th – Film Talk – Week 4: Zombies & Viruses
Where Famous Movies (Like the Horror Movie The Ring) Filmed in Seattle 🎥
Seattle is one of the most scenic places in the country to shoot movies. Want to revisit famous spots? We’ve got a list of them here.
