Local Hauntings: Halloween in Southwestern Vermont
We know you need local Halloween event recommendations, and we’ve got them! But how to choose? Use your costume to determine which event is best for you.
Ghosts and Vampires
You will feel right at home in Bennington College’s own ivy-covered gray stone mansion: Jennings, the supposed inspiration for Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting at Hill House, now a horror series on Netflix. At 8:00 pm on Tuesday, October 31, music students and faculty will haunt it during their own “A Happening at Hill House.” Promotions promise “a night of audiovisual frights and delights that tantalize the ear, eye, and soul.”
Trolls and Witches
You can get a good old fashioned jump scare along with interactive storytelling and local history at the family friendly Monument Arts & Cultural Center’s Haunted Bridge of Bennington event 6:00-10:00 pm October 28-31, 2023. Students and others will put on a great show, perfect for trolls, witches, and scary gatekeepers of all kinds. An array of frightening experiences unfold on the property’s actual historic covered bridge. Admission starts at $10.80 for teens, and tickets are available on Eventbrite.
Lost Hikers and Chainsaw Murderers
Could there be anything creepier than visiting a forgotten graveyard in a haunted forest? The Waters Hill Cemetery hike, a moderately challenging 1.8-mile out-and-back trail through the southern edge of the Glastenbury Wilderness, only takes an hour, but it will give you the feeling of being in your very own Blair Witch Project. Several graves date from the early to mid-1800s and include those of Civil War soldiers.
Skeletons
MASS MoCA hosts an evening of joyful celebration and remembrance of friends, family members, and pets at 5:00 pm on Thursday, November 2. MASS MoCA’s Dia de Muertos attendees will enjoy hot chocolate from Casita, music by Yo Soy Arte, spirit drawings, an ofrenda, and much more! The event is free and open to all.
Any Quirky Handmade Creation
Bennington takes its Halloween parades very seriously. One of the oldest, through Greenwich Village, was started by Bennington faculty member and puppeteer Ralph Lee and celebrates 50 years in 2023. The local one, Vermont Arts Exchange’s Annual North Bennington Halloween Parade, is an impressive 31 years old in 2023. It starts at 3:00 pm Sunday, October 29 at Vermont Arts Exchange in North Bennington. VAE invites everyone to “join in on the fun, get creative, get weird!”
All Hungry Beasts
Get into character by consuming a favorite seasonal treat: the helpless cider donut. (Those who have been following along know that no Bennington College local recommendations article is complete without at least one place to get a donut.) Luckily, Boston’s 25 News has produced an interactive map including all of the places you can get your hands on the yummies. Our local favorite: The Apple Barn Country Bakeshop, where donuts sell so fast they are most often found still warm.
No matter who or what you choose to be or where you choose to go this Halloween, we wish you happy haunting.