South Coast Halloween Destination Guide: 6 Places You Must Visit This Halloween
Halloween is one America’s favorite holidays. Whether a kid or an adult with a big kid inside, it is a celebration that families look forward to every year. What’s not to like? Dressing up as our favorite super hero or villian, cartoon character, or…ahem, disliked politician. Role playing is not only acceptable, it’s encouraged.
We run around the neighborhood playing tricks on one another, trying to find opportune moments to scare family and friends, and get to devour our favorites candies, chocolates and treats with relative abandon. Days leading up to the holiday are just as exciting as the days leading up to Christmas Morning. There’s excitement in the air!
Our yards and homes get decorated – some just with simple cardboard cutouts in the window, others with elaborate setups that cost thousands of dollars, including graveyards, actors and smoke machines. Everyone enjoys a good fright – the trick part of the “trick or treat.” This is the reason there are so many haunted houses, trails, hayrides and even ships.
However, the only thing scarier than these spooky sites is the money spent celebrating the holiday. When you look at the receipt after buying all the costumes, candy and decorations, paying the entrance fees to haunted sites, you are nearly frightened to death. It’s worse than the boogeyman under the bed, the man with a machete hiding outside your bedroom window in a hockey mask, or a clown chasing you down the street with an ax.
With that in mind, we put together a guide that will cover all budgets. This will allow you to choose one or more places, perhaps all of them without costing you an arm and a leg (chop, chop!) You won’t have to fill the gas tank and drive 50 miles, you won’t have to take out a small bank loan to pay admission, and you won’t have to have sign a contract with Mephistopheles to make it all happen.
We’ve done all the work for you so that you and your family can stay focused on what’s important: entertaining the family, having a blast, and creating memories. I’ve included a “scare factor” rating (1-10) so you can, well, factor in who is going, their age, health condition, etc. So, don’t be scared homie….read on!
01. Fall River Factory of Terror
The Fall River House of Terror is a mill building where actors are constantly jumping out of the shadows, calling out your name, and otherwise terrifying you every moment from the entrance to exit. The 30 room house is haunted by the 113 factory workers who were mysteriously butchered in what is referred to as the Bloodworth Dungeon. The lone survivor was sent to the psych ward of a State Hospital, however, he ended up dying from mental torment, repeating “Bloodworth Dungeon Massacre” until his last breath.
The house is packed with actors and state of the art effects and each room is diabolically devised to squeeze the most scare – or pee – out of you. That includes one room that that gets completely blacked out, leaving you to grope around in the dark….bumping into who knows what. A variation of that theme is special nights called “Lights Out” night where the entire factory goes dark and you only have a small finger light to guide your way.
The website actually warns those that are pregnant or faint of heart to NOT visit. You’ve been warned.
Fall River House of Terror
33 Pearl St
Fall River, Massachusetts
(508) 324-4077
Website: factoryofterror.com/fallriver/
Facebook: facebook.com/factoryofterror/
October 4th-October 31st
Tickets are as low as $19.99 and price depends on a number of deals that they offer across all three locations.
SCARE FACTOR: 8
02. New Bedford Haunted Whaleship
Now for something completely different: a haunted whaleship. There are a haunted battleship and haunted pirate ship that I am aware, but I can’t imagine there are many haunted whaleships. Where else but New Bedford would have one! This family-friendly Halloween event is geared for children 12 and under and not made to terrorize you like the other ones on this list.
The kids will dress up in their favourite costumes and meet ghosts for the Whaling City’s seafaring past throughout the tour which include walking through the mad whaling captain’s lair. Since the focus is more on fun, there will be plenty of arts & crafts as well as refreshments.
In addition to the annual Haunted Whaleship, this year (2018) there will be a “Spooky Science of the Sea” event on October 27th from 2:00pm-5:00pm, which is free with admission. Read more here.
New Bedford Haunted Whaleship
New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill
508-997-0046 ext. 100
Website: whalingmuseum.org
SCARE FACTOR: 2
03. Halloween Horror at Roxanne’s Garden Center
This Haunted House is your quintessential, classic haunted house. This is the style of haunted house that started it all – a small building with creatively spooky rooms, a few actors, and lots of scares. This pop-up last about 20 minutes and the fee is voluntary – donations are accepted. So, if you are really broke this year and want a scare for the family, this is up your alley…let’s just hope that alley doesn’t have Jack the Ripper waiting.
Halloween Horror at Roxanne’s Garden Center
185 Alden Road,
Fairhaven, MA
SCARE FACTOR: 6
04. Haunted Academy in Fairhaven
This kinder, gentler version of a haunted house is perfect if you have children with you or just prefer not to have your heart pounding out of your chest for 30 minutes. Having said that, if you like something that isn’t so tame it’s silly and do want a little bit of fright, the Haunted Academy is perfect.
The Fairhaven Office of Tourism sponsors this haunted attraction with spooky scenes and costumed characters both outside and inside the Visitors Center/Academy Building. You’ll encounter the re-incarnation of Lizzie Borden, a haunted toy shop, Mrs Lovett in her “meat” pie shop, a mad scientist and his creepy monster creation, a foggy graveyard with undead denizens, and more.
Best of all? The haunted academy is completely free thanks to the Fairhaven Office of Tourism. For a short haunted tour that is not too scary, but not too tame, this is the perfect place to visit.
Haunted Academy in Fairhaven
Fairhaven Academy Building
141 Main Street, Fairhaven
Parking in Fairhaven High School lot
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 26-28
6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Website: fairhaventours.com/haunted-academy/
SCARE FACTOR: 5
05. Lizzy Borden House
We all know walking into a haunted house that it is made up of actors dressed in costume. That, of course, doesn’t make it any less scary, but we all know this fact. While plenty of people are sceptical of the existence of ghosts, many do believe in them. If you’re that person, then the idea of walking through the site of one of history’s most notorious slayings should get you shivering. Not only can you walk the same footsteps that the killer walked, but you can sit in the very spot that the bodies lied.
The Lizzie Borden House is a bucket list item for fans of horror or those interested in the paranormal. Many people have had supernatural experiences at the Lizzie Borden House and the tour – a really excellent one by very knowledgeable guides – is very spooky. If you are REALLY brave or doubt the anecdotes of supernatural experiences, you can show off by spending the night and sleeping in Lizzie Borden’s bed (scare factor 8). People have up and left in the middle night because of mysterious bumps in the night and inexplicable sights.
So, if you are in a group and there is always that one “tough” guy saying how he isn’t scared at all and nothing scares him, throw down the gauntlet and ask him to spend the night.
The whole night.
Lizzy Borden House
92 2nd Street
Fall River, Massachusetts
(508) 675-7333
Website: lizzie-borden.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/Haunted-Lizzie-Borden-Tours
Every Saturday and Sunday at 12:30pm and 2:30pm
$15.00 per person, children under 12 only $10.00
SCARE FACTOR: 4 (tour) and 8 (overnight stay)
06. Fear Town Haunted House
Fear Town is a 45-minute ride through run-down buildings and haunted woods and has all sorts of monsters, creeps, and scares along the trail. The interactive theme is that some of these creeps will try to kidnap you and make you a permanent resident of the woods.
There is also a carnival “midway” where you can have some fun, play games, grab a bite to eat and even a selfie of the tears running down your face and perhaps something else running down your leg.
This is definitely not for kids and organizers explicitly state that it is not recommended for children under the age of 12. A glance at the reviews will demonstrate the popularity of the attraction and its effect on punters.
Fear Town Haunted House
Seekonk Speedway
1710 Fall River Avenue
Seekonk, MA 02771
Phone: (508) 296-0661
Email: Info@Fear-Town.com
Website: fear-town.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/FearTownHauntedHouse
Sept. 27-Nov.9
$15.00 per person, children under 12 only $10.00
SCARE FACTOR: 4 (tour) and 8 (overnight stay)
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