With the fall season right around the corner, Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati offer a full slate of eerie escapades perfect for families, ultimate scare fans, and everyone in between. Here’s a list from meetNKY:
New Frights and Delights
Underwater Pumpkin GLOW at Newport Aquarium is a new fall adventure taking place Sept 16 – Oct X. The event features an underwater pumpkin patch surrounded by sharks; giant, glowing pumpkin animals in your favorite exhibits; Jack-O-Lantern reefs; and special pumpkin enrichment for the aquarium’s animals.
Two stops, and the only ones in Northern Kentucky, have been added to the state-wide paranormal passport program “Kentucky After Dark.” The USS Nightmare has been offering tours since 1998, and it is now one of two Northern Kentucky attractions on the Kentucky After Dark paranormal passport. The. USS Nightmare invites guests to step aboard and step back in time to tour this one-of-a-kind haunted house. Experience firsthand why William S. Mitchell’s crew – those lucky enough to survive – called the old boat “the Death Dredge.” In addition, Covington Ghost Tours has also been added to paranormal passport. On this tour, the group will hear stories about the controversies, feuds, and the spirits that still haunt the grounds.
Frightful Fun for Scare Seekers
• American Legacy Tours offer captivatingly haunted tours in Over-the-Rhine, Covington, Newport, and more. Tour guests can walk in the footsteps of those who have come before (and may still be lurking nearby!) and learn the dark side of history in the region.
• Land of Illusion Haunted Scream Park offers the most spine-chilling experience as the USA’s #1 Haunted Scream Park. In its 28th season, it promises to deliver terror like never before.
• Kings Island’s Halloween Haunt transforms the amusement park to feature bone-chilling scare mazes and scare zones, sinister live entertainment, where hundreds of horrifying creatures lurking in the fog and hiding in every corner of the park waiting for you.
• The Dent School House, named CityBeat’s Best Haunted House in 2024, invites guests to learn the bone-chilling backstory of the school’s demise, the reasoning for its abrupt closure, and travel to the school’s unforeseen basement.
• Paranormal Investigations at Big Bone Lick State Historic Site take the brave of heart throughout the park accompanied by park staff and the ESP Encounters of Supernatural Phenomena investigators for a night of paranormal activity.
Just Here for the Boo-ze
• Second Sight Spirits’ distillery and lounge has an otherworldly vibe like no other. As guests enter and partake in the sampling of fine spirits, they will be under the watchful eye of the distillery’s most mystic fortune-telling still. For information on tours, visit secondsightspirits.com.
• Nightly Spirits Cincinnati Booze and Boos Tour journeys through the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, starting in the oldest bar in the city, past historic buildings hiding dark secrets, through a beautiful public park built right over the dead, and into some of the creepiest bars in town.
• Ghost Baby is located in the tunnels formerly used by a Cincinnati brewing company; four stories under Vine Street. The company discontinued beer production in the 1850s and these tunnels remained vacant until Ghost Baby moved in. This jazzy speakeasy invites guests to startle the status quo and enjoy an effervescent cocktail of electric sounds and eclectic soirees. View the line-up of nightly performances at ghost-baby.com.
• Three Spirits Tavern in Bellevue, can tell visitors ghost stories about their haunted establishment as you sip on one of three spirits: cocktails, beer, and wine. The former 1880s home is said to be named, in part, for those residents who have stuck around long after their time on this mortal plane. Check out the Three Spirits Tavern Facebook page for information on upcoming events.
Fall Fun for the Whole Family
• McGlasson Farms in Hebron has been family-owned for six generations, offering fresh-grown apples, apple cider, gourds, potatoes and a pick-your-own pumpkin patch.
• Neltner’s Farm in Melbourne hosts its annual Fall Fest featuring a pick-your-own pumpkin patch, corn maze, petting zoo and horse-drawn wagon rides along with lives music, homemade ice cream, local wineries, barbecue and more.
• Country Pumpkins in Dry Ridge celebrates fall with a family-friendly festival featuring a pumpkin patch, hayrides and plenty of activities including an adventure barn, pumpkin chuck, corn maze, turbo slide and Fairy Tale Trail.
• Tricks and Treats at Kings Island is a family-friendly event that is packed with fall festivities for all ages, including trick-or-treating, live shows, thrilling rides, a costume contest, and seasonal food and drinks.
• HallZOOween at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden is so much fun, it’s scary! Guests of all ages are invited to a day of fun with trick-or-treat stations and special animal enrichment.
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