Best Places To Celebrate Halloween Around The World
By CARLIE HOKE
Famous for their Colonial witch trials, people flock to Salem in October to visit important historical sites and honor those executed for witchcraft.
Salem, Massachusetts
Haunted Happenings is a month-long festival with special events, resident mystics, and a bazaar with elaborate wands, witch hats, and other hand-crafted goods for your altars.
Join the fun of residents and visitors who walk the streets dressed in their spookiest garb, with street performers and magicians during the day and darker figures at night.
The inspiration for Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is over 1,000 years old, yet visitors claim to still feel a presence at Bran Castle and the surrounding town.
Transylvania, Romania
Transylvania is full of legend and superstition, which makes visiting at Halloween a particularly daunting prospect. The parties thrown here are unmatched in spooky vibes.
Bran Castle hosts an annual Halloween party that attracts creatures of the night in a medieval atmosphere.
The short story "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" describes a headless horseman who rides through the town where author Washington Irving lived for a time.
Sleepy Hollow, New York
The town has played up the story and uses the headless horseman as a mascot year-round. Visitors get a little extra spice around Halloween with decorations, parades, and markets.
The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze is a stunning display with sculptures and art installations made from thousands of carved pumpkins, including a life-sized covered bridge.
Originally, Halloween was known as Samhain, a Gaelic holiday celebrating the harvest. Irish legends like Stingy Jack inspired the jack-o-'lantern tradition.
Derry, Ireland
Derry holds one of the largest Samhain festivals in all of Europe, as tens of thousands of revelers come in costume over the course of four days for the festivities.
This small town transforms into the fictional city of Halloweentown every October and gives you the opportunity to fall into your witch persona.
St. Helens, Oregon
The town was used as Halloweentown for the films, and for over a month every year, it has all Disney kids feeling nostalgic for giant jack-o'-lanterns and skeleton cab drivers.
With film locations, oddity exhibits, haunted houses, and hayrides, the best time to visit is on the weekends, as some attractions are unavailable during the week.