Check Out These Northwest Haunted Attractions For A Spooky Good Time

It's that spooky time of year again, and aside from costumes and pumpkins, Halloween attractions like haunted houses are popping up again all over the Pacific Northwest.
It's that spooky time of year again, and aside from costumes and pumpkins, Halloween attractions like haunted houses are popping up all over the Pacific Northwest.

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The pumpkins are at the grocery stores, black and orange trinkets are fighting to hold off the red and green of the next major holiday, and kids have their costumes planned.

Halloween. The holiday brings many activities for revelers of all-ages. Finding the best haunted attractions, movies, TV and books can be challenging. Here are a few regional attractions you can visit. (For a quick look at upcoming movies, TV shows, and books, read this.)

The Walla Walla Corn Maze is one of the many Northwest attractions to enjoy this Halloween season. The maze features family friendly hours and a “Spooktacular” version later this month. CREDIT: T.J. Tranchell/NWPB

The Walla Walla Corn Maze is one of the many Northwest attractions to enjoy this Halloween
season. The maze features family friendly hours and a “Spooktacular” version later this month.
CREDIT: T.J. Tranchell/NWPB

We are beyond the “spook alley,” and these attractions have developed into permanent locations with various degrees of scares. Others are still the products of small towns getting together for a good time.

And not to sound too ghoulishly overbearing, but when visiting any of these attractions, it’s a good idea to wear a jacket. Lines to get inside get longer as Halloween gets closer and the weather gets colder.

Haunted Palouse
The town of Palouse, Wash., has been getting into the Halloween spirit for 17 years. The last two weekends of October find the center of town turned into a nightmare. With two separate haunts and a hay ride, those brave enough to enter are sure to get plenty for their $20 admission. Two tips: Haunted Palouse is a cash-only event and no one under 12 is admitted.

Spirit of Halloweentown
Like Palouse, St. Helens, Ore., takes Halloween to the next level. Taking cues from the Disney Channel movies Halloweentown and the NBC show Grimm, which films in nearby Portland, The Spirit of Halloweentown features several events, guests from the movies and shows they highlight, and the opportunity to get married at the same time as other like-minded folks. Events for all ages abound but be sure to bring cash for parking.

Post Falls Lions Haunted House
Locally run and staffed with mostly high school-aged volunteers, the Post Falls, Idaho, Lions Haunted House is the kind of place that if you drove by in the middle of summer, you’d wonder why the old house hasn’t been demolished. Inside is an intricate mix of new haunted house technology and old-school scares. The volunteers are enthusiastic in the way paid actors just aren’t.

Madd Hatter’s Haunt
This Yakima haunt has had a permanent home for two years after many years roaming locations and even a one-year hiatus. While not venturing into the nationwide fad of “extreme haunts,” Madd Hatters brings the scares and customers year after year.

Seen from inside the Walla Walla Corn Maze, the barn at the maze’s entrance appears closer than it is. CREDIT: T.J. Tranchell/NWPB

Seen from inside the Walla Walla Corn Maze, the barn at the maze’s entrance appears closer
than it is. CREDIT: T.J. Tranchell/NWPB

Walla Walla Corn Maze
This corn maze offers family friendly adventures during non-scary hours on weekends but turns frighteningly ghoulish by October 18 with the Halloween Spooktacular! Prices just for the maze depend on age, but the Spooktacular is $10 for everyone. Like many of the other attractions, the Walla Walla Corn Maze doesn’t take credit/debit payment.

Copyright 2018 Northwest Public Broadcasting

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