Halloween in San Francisco: Parties, movies and other events

After last year’s successful debut, the SF Mint is back with two immersive, interactive horror houses. At the Terror Vault, the Mint’s Halloween team has created a horrifying, adults-only experience full of escape rooms, fear-inducing mazes and heart-palpitating performances ($62/person). The brand new Apocalypse ($35) is a desperate run through a zombie-infested maze where only the strong will survive. If you want to peek behind the curtain, sign up for the Behind the Scenes Tour ($55), which will give you an intimate look at the Mint’s hidden horrors with producers Peaches Christ and David Flower.

There are no fewer than five separate haunted attractions at the Pirates of Emerson theme park. An almost 30-year-old tradition, the Pirates of Emerson are sure to terrify this October’s crop of fright-seekers with the intriguingly named spaces like Hillbilly Holler, Mystery Mansion and Dorm of Doom, not to mention their namesake ghostly pirate ship. Outside of the haunted houses, the park keeps the adrenaline pumping with mazes, a frightmares sideshow, a misfortune teller, and live music. Tickets start at $30. 

As if the Winchester Mystery House weren’t creepy enough, this year they’re going full ghost with a terrifying immersive experience, Unhinged. Step inside the psychological and paranormal horrors of the legendary cursed estate where visitors will trespass forbidden rooms never opened to the public before and confront the twisted secrets of Sarah Winchester and the spirits that haunted her. Tickets start at $44.

Get inside the home, and mind, of creepy Doctor Ash Gravemind as he debuts his new invention, a machine to commune with the dead. Don’t expect your visit to be safe. The good doctor’s home is full of hidden rooms and secret doors, dark tunnels and scary surprises, and his latest work is bound to put you, and his other guests, in grave danger throughout the night. You’ll have to find your way through the free roaming, actor guided story if you want to survive. Tickets are $85.

There will be screams at San Leandro’s Fear Overload. A lot of them. Because this isn’t your average haunted house: Fear Overload has two new spaces to get your heart pumping. Tiptoe your way through the first, Night Terrors, a dangerous house with a murderous past. In the ghoulish The Tooth Collector, an evil doctor is after your pearly whites. Tickets start at $25 for admission to both haunted houses. 

This October the Gregangelo Museum, San Francisco’s whimsical house of oddities, hosts a magical immersive experience accented with a Malaysian tasting menu and tea elixirs. Explore the historical home and its enchanted installations and interactive games then delve into the supernatural and open your mind to voices from other realms during the ancient tea ceremony hosted by Fabula Tea. Tickets start at $80.

There's no better way to celebrate the fall season than from the finish line of a corn maze in the Bay Area.