Halloween is becoming a bigger holiday every year, it seems, and Connecticut attractions are offering a variety of spooky fun to entertain children and adults this October. Here are my picks for some of the best Halloween events and haunted attractions in Connecticut for 2011. Visit them all... if you dare!
Haunted Graveyard photo provided to the media by Lake Compounce.Graveyard Productions' 21st annual Haunted Graveyard is back for its twelfth year at Lake Compounce amusement park in Bristol, Connecticut. This Halloween attraction stakes the claim of being southern New England's largest and scariest Halloween event, and there's plenty of horror in store for 2011.
© 2009 Kim Knox BeckiusIf you're looking for Halloween fun for little ones that is merry, not scary, head to East Hampton, Connecticut, where PumpkinTown USA's zany pumpkin-headed people delight visitors of all ages. This affordable Halloween attraction is immensely photogenic, and it's for a good cause: the Sandy Peszynski Breast Cancer Foundation.
From chilling tales to fortune telling to tours of a haunted ship, spine-tingling fun awaits at
Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut, during the month of October. Be sure to purchase your tickets in advance for these special, family-friendly evenings of Halloween mischief, scheduled for October 21-22 and October 28-29 in 2011.
Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut, hosts four evenings of ghostly Halloween fun October 27 through 30, 2011. Enjoy a haunted maze, underwater pumpkin carving demonstrations, scavenger hunts, spooky ice carvings, live music, special Halloween shows and more. This family event is designed to be appropriate for all ages.
Want to hear spooky tunes at midnight on Halloween? Then be glad you live in Connecticut, where each year, the Yale Symphony Orchestra performs a Midnight Halloween Concert at Woolsey Hall in New Haven. Purchase tickets in advance for this unique multimedia extravaganza and live performance, which is always a sell-out.
Climb aboard a vintage train at the Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Connecticut, for an old-fashioned pumpkin picking outing. Halloween Pumpkin Patch Train Rides will be available Saturdays and Sundays from October 15 through October 30, 2011.
Visit Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport on Sunday, October 30, 2011, and children under 12 dressed in their Halloween costumes will be admitted free with a paying adult. Special events will include music, hayrides, a reptile show and the chance to vote for your favorite of the more than 60 scarecrows on display.
On Friday, October 28, 2011, tour Hartford's historic Cedar Hill Cemetery by lantern light on the only night the cemetery is open after dark all year. Reservations for specific time slots are required in advance for these "spirited" tours featuring actors telling dark tales: Call 860-956-3311. Bring a flashlight!
If Mark Twain was alive today, he'd surely have something humorous to say about our obsession with Halloween. You'll hear about Twain's own fascination with the supernatural and hear mysterious stories when you reserve your spot on a ghost tour at the author's Hartford home this October. Reservations are required for these one-hour evening tours, which include all three floors of the house, plus the servants' wing and the spooky basement. Tours are scheduled for October 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22, 27 and 28, and reservations may be made by calling 860-280-3130. The Mark Twain House will also a Steampunk Halloween Masquerade Ball on October 21 and performances of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by storyteller Jonathan Kruk on October 25 and 26.
The Windsor Chamber of Commerce sponsors its annual Nightmare on Broad Street in Windsor, Connecticut, on Monday evening, October 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The free event features hay rides, a walk-through haunted graveyard, a trapeze show and trick-or-treating at Windsor businesses. You can also have your picture taken with a ghoul.
