The best Halloween events for 2022 in NYC

Autumn is the time to pick two of the season’s most emblematic fruits: apples and pumpkins. Fortunately there are some fantastic farms where you can go apple and pumpkin picking near NYC. These farms and orchards will get you into that fuzzy fall feeling in no time.

There’s nothing quite like taking a bite out of a crisp apple straight from the tree (even better, taking home a basketful for making pie), and your Halloween pumpkin will be that much more special when you pick it right off the vine. You’ll find a wide variety of apples and pumpkins at these farms, plus fun activities like hayrides, corn mazes and petting zoos. Don’t miss hot apple cider and other fresh-made treats at the farmstand. 

For pumpkins in particular, check out Hank's PumpkinTown in the Hamptons with plenty of pumpkin picking plus three (!!!) corn mazes.

Forget seasonal tales of ghosts and goblins. One of the most terrifying stories in American history is on display right now at New-York Historical Society—and it's completely true.

In just one year from 1692 to 1693, more than 200 residents of Salem, Massachusetts, were accused of witchcraft, leading to the executions of 20 people—most of them women. Now 330 years later, the echoes of those horrific events still resonate. A new exhibition called “The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming" gives new meaning to the famous trials through a contemporary lens by examining how mass hysteria can lead to fatal injustice.

In addition to the exhibit itself, don't miss a special Historical Hallowe’en event on Sunday, October 30.

Picking the perfect pumpkin is a rite of passage for many New Yorkers every autumn, but this year, you don't have to go far to to get into the fall spirit. For the first time, Greg's Great Pumpkin Patch is popping up in Domino Park with some 4,000 pumpkins in all shapes and sizes, plus lots of fall festivities.

In addition to the rows upon rows of pumpkins, each one carefully stacked onto hay bales, you can also have some harvest-themed fun with photo opps and a hay maze. 

Find Greg's Great Pumpkin Patch at Domino Park (South 1st Street and River Street) through Halloween, open from 9am-9pm daily (and often until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays). 

A favorite during the warmer summer months, the iconic Luna Park at Coney Island has turned into the ideal cold-weather destination this month as well.

Now through October 30, fun roller coasters, trick-or-treating sessions, tractor racing opportunities, balloon twisting fun, seasonal decorating stations and giant pumpkins will take over Luna Park's Halloween Harvest events. Dining destinations on site are serving delicacies like apple fries, pumpkin spiced funnel cake, Halloween-themed cotton candy, pumpkin spiced fried Oreos candy apples and more. 

Ulster Park's Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides and Haunted Houses is replacing its hayrides with a haunted walk called "The Haunting of Pumpkin Jack" that'll give New Yorkers an opportunity to slowly pass the creepy crawly things in the darkness and see the headless horseman himself.

"Are you brave enough to walk into the darkness of the Horseman's trail to find Pumpkin Jack and come face to face with the Headless Horseman? It can be done, but can you do it? How fast can you walk? Will the Horseman catch you? Some questions can't be answered until you Walk the dark trail!"

The experience is not kid-friendly, so no one's surprised.

Hotels these days offer all kinds of quirky amenities, like in-room beer taps, customized aromatherapy, and record players with vinyl, but this new offering from The James New York - NoMad turns the typical cultural experience to an occultural one.

The hotel will host its own witch-in-residence for the month of October offering astrology, “real ass hexing,” love conjuring, tarot, and more. Guests can book experiences with Shawn Engel, the in-house, on-demand witch-in-residence, through the hotel’s digital concierge.

The Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, led by Artistic Director Phil Nuzzo, will perform a night of Halloween-inspired music at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn Heights on Saturday, October 29.

"Hear the skeletons dance in Saint-Saëns classic Dance Macabre. Franz Liszt treats us to his usual fiendish pyrotechnic display in his Piano Concerto #2," the Orchestra says. "Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique give us a musical decapitation and a wild witches dance and Shakespeare’s witches continue the danse in Verdi’s Prelude and Ballet music from his opera Macbeth."

Pianist Konstantin Soukhovetski will return as a special guest, handling Liszt’s fiendish virtuoso tour-de-force. 

Tickets start at $40.

P.S. For families, there's a kids' version of the concert that morning.

Laughing in a funeral home might feel as taboo as shouting in a library or microwaving fish in the office, but Ben Wasserman’s Live After Death comedy show performed in a Brooklyn funeral home will have you laughing out loud. 

He's ending his fall season with a show on Halloween weekend (Saturday, October 29) with a show that promises juggling, karate, a seance, ventriloquism and intimate discussions with the audience about grief.

Get a ticket for $15.

The East Midtown Partnership is once again hosting "Trick-or-Treat with East Midtown" where businesses in the district will welcome trick-or-treaters and their families on Monday, October 31, between 3-7pm. Trick-or-treaters can visit any participating business on the map to collect their first treat and a trick-or-treat bag. It's free and a lot of fun.

The Washington Square Park Dog Run Halloween Parade and Costume Contest is back with cute dogs in fun getups with great prizes up for grabs. The content will be held on Sunday, October 30 at noon sharp.

Be sure to get there early to register or pre-register online here to get your spot. Plus if you pre-register you'll get a chance at a treat bag. 

The stars are coming out for Halloween again this year. After two years of streaming-only editions, Broadway's frightful-delightful annual fundraising concert I Put a Spell on You will be held live again at Sony Hall on October 23.

Audience members are encouraged to wear Halloween outfits of their own, and can win prizes in a costume contest; the show is followed by a blowout dance party. 

Tickets start at $35, with pricier tax-deductible packages available for larger donors, and can be purchased here through the Broadway Cares website. VIP packages include a pre-show party and gift bags. 

To really get in the mood for Halloween, these NYC ghost tours should be on the checklist too. The city is full of legit spooky spots and haunted places, from cemeteries and haunted mansions to a crumbling hospital and tragedy-prone island.

These ghost tours will take you through all the nooks and crannies where real-life horrors and paranormal sightings happened right in our own backyard. Be warned, however: you may never look the same way at certain neighborhoods ever again. These are the best ghost tours around town.