No Tricks, All Treats: Where to Celebrate Spooky Season in the Silver State

Go batty for this list full of ghosts, monsters, and even a pumpkin patch or two

Haunted Houses
Fall Farm Festivals
Month-Long Celebrations
Ghost Walks & Tours
Nevada Day
Haunted Hotels & Museums

Haunted Houses

Immerse yourself in eerie settings with wicked creatures, jump scares, and blood-curdling screams around every corner – if you dare…

In the Biggest Little City, Dark Corner turns the National Bowling Stadium into Dark Lane Mall, an abandoned shopping center now overrun by a freak show infected with a shadow plague. Neighboring Sparks is home to the Corn Creepers Haunt, where terror lurks within an outdoor corn field.

Head south to Las Vegas if you’re brave enough to check into Hotel Fear (which has been taken over by an unknown government agency) – just don’t end up in the next-door Asylum, which may not be the “mental health facility” it purports to be. At Nightmare at the Museum in Boulder City, it’s flashlights only as you discover which iconic movie monsters come to life in the dark.

Fall Farm Festivals

Looking for less Halloween and more autumn adventures? Head for the farm(s)! Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and hayrides are practically a guarantee, and some offer everything from scarecrow factories and cow trains to farmers markets and apple cider donuts. With all the fall fun awaiting you at these four farms, consider your October weekends already boo-ked.

• Fallon – Lattin Farms’ Fall Festival
• Sparks – Fall Attractions at Andelin Family Farms
• Las Vegas – Gilcrease Orchard’s Fall Harvest
• Las Vegas – Farm Fall Harvest Festival at Las Vegas Farm

Select Your Scare Level

Virginia City is regarded as one of the most haunted places in Nevada – and the whole country – and the town naturally celebrates Hauntober all month long. Choose from paranormal tours, opportunities to “talk to the dead” at historic cemeteries, and train rides to a pumpkin patch, along with one-off events like a saloon crawl, bingo, and trick-or-treating.

While it’s called Fear Factory, this Las Vegas experience is home to four different attractions with scare levels ranging from none to medium. The Museum of Monsters has dozens of Hollywood-quality photo opps, and both the Zombie Escape Maze and Zombie Axe Kingdom let you test your mettle against the undead. At AREA15 – ScAREA15 for October – a handful of Halloween events range from a “Goth and Glampire gRAVE” to an immersive screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” along with a kid-centric “Tricks and Treats” experience celebrating Nevada Day.

Ghost Walks & Tours

If you ain’t afraid of no ghosts, then good news – Nevada’s full of ‘em. Always popular (and sometimes sold out) during spooky season, many of these history-packed ghost tours are offered year-round.

And clearly these spirits aren’t leaving the Silver State anytime soon…

• Eureka – Great Eureka Ghost Hunt and Eureka Underground Tunnels
• Carson City – Carson City Ghost Walk and Nevada State Prison Tours
• Virginia City – Bats in the Belfry Guided Ghost Tours
• Lovelock – Lovelock Ghost Walk
• Reno – Reno Ghosts Tour
• Las Vegas – Vegas Ghosts Tour
• Boulder City – Haunted Boulder City Ghost & UFO Tour

Nevada Day Parties

October 31 is a big-deal date around here, and not just because of how much we love Halloween. The Silver State officially became a state on October 31, 1864, and now the last day of the spookiest month is celebrated as a state holiday. You’re always invited to the big birthday bashes, too.

Nevada’s capital city becomes party central for commemorating our favorite state. Carson City’s Nevada Day Celebration kicks off with a hot air balloon launch and a massive parade, complete with military flyover and more than 200 floats. The fun continues with a fan-favorite beard contest – where folks compete for awards like longest, shaggiest, best groomed, and best overall beard – and single-jack rock drilling, where contestants honor 19th-century mining techniques by boring holes by hand. Bring an appetite for a pancake breakfast at the governor’s mansion and a chili feed, and celebrate all weekend long at the Nevada Day Powwow.

It’s a three-day extravaganza in the “Gateway to Death Valley,” too. Beatty Days Festival takes over the entire town with a loaded schedule of only-in-Nevada events. The legendary Bed Races are not to be missed – teams of kids and adults race actual beds down main street. Then there’s competitions like root beer belching, chicken drop bingo, and the pickle liquor hoot-n-holler, where you take a shot of pickle juice and hot sauce then yell out in style.

And that’s truly only scratching the surface of everything Beatty has going on over the weekend. Pumpkin carving, pinata breaking, trunk-or-treating, a pet parade, and a tombstone 2K walk/5K run (plus more!) will fill your days with endless entertainment.

Haunted Hotels & Museums

How spook-tacular is this? The Silver State is home to so many haunted hotels and museums, they deserved their own featured spotlights.

If you’re hoping to spend the night with some spirits, check out 13 Ways to Creep into Nevada’s Haunted History. We detail some storied locations – including Tonopah’s Mizpah Hotel, Virginia City’s Silver Queen Hotel, and Pioche’s Overland Hotel & Saloon – and even tell you which rooms are believed to be favorites of numerous ghosts.

For more unconventional history and eerie artifacts, dive into Paranormal Nevada: Where to Experience Otherworldly Oddities. Places like Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum, Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum, and The Washoe Club & Haunted Museum in Virginia City are awesomely frightful any time of year, but visiting during October makes everything extra spine-chilling. You’ll also get a peek at the alien adventures you can partake in throughout the Silver State.

Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum is home to what’s believed to be the world’s most haunted object.

At the Overland Hotel & Saloon, it might be easier to ask which rooms aren’t haunted.

Will the Lady in Red leave a pearl under your pillow? Try for a chance encounter with this famous ghost at the Mizpah Hotel.