Haunted Happenings

From eerie historic castles to bloodcurdling storytelling around the bonfire, Bucks and Montgomery counties are no stranger to this magical month.
By Shannon McLaughlin

October rings in the time of the year when orange and black reign and widespread fascination settles on all things spooky. Brimming with historic sites, fall festivities and tales of long ago, Bucks and Montgomery counties offer visitors endless Halloween haunts. Whether you prefer tractor-pulled hayrides or theater adaptations of your favorite scary story, we’ve got you covered for the area’s most chillingly fun festivities.

Frighteningly fun Festivities:

All Hallow’s Eve Festival at Pennypacker Mills
5 Haldeman Road, Schwenksville, PA 19473
October 17 from 1-4pm
(610) 287-9349
www.historicsites.montcopa.org

Bring the family and your friends to this fall celebration. Take a tractor-pulled hayride through the meadow, paint a pumpkin to take home, enjoy making kid crafts, jump in the hay pile, play bean bag toss, do gravestone rubbings, shuck corn the way farmers did one-hundred years ago, and step up and try your hand at crushing apples to make apple cider using a cider press!

CB-Cares Masquerade OH-9 at Town and Country Players
4158 York Road, Buckingham, PA 18912
October 24 at 8pm
(215) 489-9120
www.cb-cares.org

Do not miss one of the best Halloween parties in Bucks County! CB Cares is hoping that all you groovy guys and ghouls with join them to experience this wildly popular happening. This “grown-ups only” costume party continues to creep with popularity and attendance. A fall fabulous boo-fey of tricky treats will be served along with seasonal adult beverages. Prizes will be awarded in 6 categories: Most Hysterical, Best Celebrity Look-Alike, Best Time Period, Most Horrifying, Most Original Couple and Best Overall Costume.

PumpkinFest and HorrorFest at Shady Brook Farm
931 Stony Hill Road, Yardley PA 19067
Through October 31 from 11am to 5pm
(215) 968-1670
www.shadybrookfarm.com

Bring the family for a day of fall fun down on the farm at Shady Brook Farm! Admission at PumpkinFest includes hayrides to the pumpkin patch to pick your own pumpkins, inflatable amusements, live entertainment, Barn of Horror, Jr., Alien Encounter, SBF 500 Racetrack, themed play areas, a straw maze, barnyard animals, pig races, a giant corn maze and much more! Gem mining, pony rides, sand art, face painting, paintball, monster truck rides and other activities are also offered but not included with admission. For those who are a bit more daring, check out HorrorFest, where there are four thrilling attractions, including the Hayride of Horror, Barn of Horror, Alien Encounter and Deadtime Stories, as well as the corn maze in the dark! Take your pick of spine-tingling fun or try all four if you dare! Those who survive the spooky festivities can warm up by a toasty bonfire and roast marshmallows while listening to live music by great local performers.

Sleepy Hallow Hayrides
881 Highland Road, Newtown, PA 18940
Every Saturday and Sunday through October 31 from 11am to 3:30pm
(215) 860-6855
www.activeacresfarm.com

Ride in a haywagon to the pumpkin patch and pick up your own pumpkin at Active Acres Farm. Be sure to stay and enjoy their many other fun fall activities. Kids love the farm and there is always so much to do! Enjoy their refreshments at picnic tables and watch as the kids have fun on the inflatable haunted house and hang out with the farm animals. A 6-acre corn maze is also available for those who are a bit daring. There’s no better place to spend a fall afternoon!

Gasper Home & Garden Center Fall Festival!
316 Tanyard Road, Richboro, PA 18954
October 10 and 17 from 11am to 4pm
(215) 396-2880
www.gasper.net

Join Gasper Home & Garden Center for their fall festival and create your own scarecrow. Bring your own worn-out clothing and they will supply the straw, twine, pins and paint you need to make your own genuine scarecrow. Pumpkin carving and painting will also be offered, with their staff artists available to help visitors carve and decorate their pumpkins. Refreshments are served and parent supervision is required.

DelVal College Farm Market
2100 Lower State Road, Doylestown, PA 18901
Daytime fun offered Saturdays and Sundays through October 25 from 11am to 4pm
Flashlight fun offered October 9-10, 16-17, 22-24 and 30 from 6:30 to 9pm
Halloween Haunting from October 23-25 from 7pm to 9 or 11pm
(215) 230-7170
www.delval.edu

Whether taking a hayride through a pumpkin patch or watching the children have fun on inflatables and pony rides, visitors and shoppers have a wide array of family fun awaiting them at The Market at Delaware Valley College. The Market also offers flashlight fun in the evenings, with family-friendly bonfires and hayrides. For those who are looking for some good old-fashioned frights, prepare to be scared at Halloween Haunting, presented by the students at Delaware Valley College from October 23rd through 25th starting at 7pm. A tour guide will accompany your group as you explore the mad scientist, clown, insane asylum and scarecrow scenes throughout the haunted house. The event ends with a twenty-minute Haunted Hayride, a journey which involves traveling through haunted fields where anything is possible! After the hayride, enjoy a fine cup of warm cocoa and a bag of homemade cookies!

Solly Brothers Farm
707 Almshouse Road, Ivyland, PA 28974
Every Saturday and Sunday through October 31 from 10am to 4pm
(215) 357-2850

Join Solly Brothers Farm for fun festivities for the whole family! From tractor and wagon rides, to apple and pumpkin picking, they have a wide variety of autumnal celebrations that will make you leave wishing it was October all year round. The staff is filled with generations of experience and will be there to educate children about the farm and crops. The country store is a must to stop and see, with delicious prize-winning pies and baked goods and farm fresh produce!

Creepy Horror Picture Shows:

Dracula at Tri-County Performing Arts Center
245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464
October 8-October 25
(610) 970-1199
www.tripac.org

Get ready for Halloween thrills and chills with the play based on the novel by Bram Stoker. A young friend of beautiful Lucy Seward dies unexpectedly and now Lucy is ill too. Her well-meaning father and fiancé consult the specialist, Van Helsing to seek a cure. Their mysterious new neighbor, Count Dracula, appears to be unusually attracted to Lucy’s predicament. Van Helsing is the first to realize the Count’s true nature, and together with Dr. Seward and Jonathan Harker, seek to destroy Dracula.

Frankenstein at Dramateurs at the Barn Playhouse
Christopher Lane and Rittenhouse Boulevard, Jeffersonville, PA 19043
October 2-October 10
(610) 539-2276
www.barnplayhouse.org

Rather than the common image of an inarticulate, lumbering, bolt-necked monster, the Creature of this adaptation of the Mary Shelly classic is restored to its original intent. He intelligently questions his existence and why he is shunned by his maker and by society. Filled with drama and tragedy, guilt and the journey to ease it, this play seeks to thrill as much as raise questions about man’s very existence.

Tales from the Bayou at the Renaissance Artist Puppet Company
311 W. Main Street, Lansdale, PA 19446
October 30-October 31
(610) 630-4259
www.lansdalecpa.org

This is a show that will tickle your funny bone and raise the hairs on your arms. Two vignettes based on Bayou folklore. You’ll never guess what Mama is cookin’ up in her kitchen and Taley Poe is very determined to get back what is his. This is excellent family Halloween fun. Stories are told with shadow, glove and rod puppets. Ages 6 to adults.

Haunted Houses and Chilling Tales:

All That Remains: A History of Cemeteries and Funeral Customs at the Mercer Museum
84 S. Pine Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
October 25 at 1:30pm
(215) 345-0210
www.mercermuseum.org

Historian Bruce Stocking unearths the fascinating history of graveyards and funerary rituals, from ancient Egypt through the 19th century. The program features an illustrated presentation on gravestone art and evolution, and up close viewing of antique funerary artifacts from the collection of Robert Rees. Registration required.

Mercer by Moonlight
84 S. Pine Street, Doylestown, PA 18901
October 29-October 30
(215) 345-0210
www.mercermuseum.org

What lurks in the shadows of the Mercer castle? Learn about the history and folklore of some of the museum’s more chilling or ghoulish objects, including the hearse, gallows, witch doctor’s canes, brooms and more on this seasonal nighttime tour. Sometimes fact is more fascinating that fantasy! Family friendly for ages 8 and up.

Mercer’s Night Tales at Fonthill Museum
E. Court Street and Route 313, Doylestown, PA 18901
October 23 at 6:30pm
(215) 348-9461
www.fonthillmuseum.org

Tour Henry Mercer’s castle home to learn about his love of detective and gothic literature, including the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The program concludes with a special dramatic telling of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” by popular local actor, Grover Silcox.

Haunting Stories by the Bonfire at Pennypacker Mills
5 Haldeman Road, Schwenksville, PA 19473
October 3 from 7-8:30pm
(610) 287-9347
www.montcopa.org

Storytelling around the bonfire, marshmallow roasting and things that go bump in the night. Some scary stories may not be appropriate for younger children. Ages 12 and up.

House of Horrors at LuLu Shrine Center
5140 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
October 9-October 31
(610) 828-9050
www.lulushriners.org

Board a creaky wagon that will transport you through the dead of night and dump you at the entrance to the deadly graveyard. Survive and find yourself at the entrance of the House of Horrors. Dare to enter to find horror at every turn.

Valley of Fear & The Original Haunted Hayride
301 W. Bristol Road, Feasterville Trevose, PA
October 1-25, every Thursday; Nightly October 27-November 1
(215) 942-9787
www.valleyoffear.com

Ride and walk through the deepest and darkest woods in Bucks County. Three chilling attractions are available to explore, including The Original Haunted Hayride, The Erie Miles Manor Haunted House, Captain Willies Shipwreak Cove and the Valley of Fear Haunted Walking Trail. Now in their 20th year of fear and fun, the Valley of Fear will have live bands, radio appearances, bonfires, prizes and nightly entertainment. Join them if you dare!

Children’s Spooktacular Events & Parades:

The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular at Sesame Place
Sesame Place, 100 Sesame Road, Langhorne, PA
October 3-October 31 (weekends only)
(866) 464-3566
www.sesameplace.com

Sesame Place celebrates Halloween with The Count. This event is fun for the whole family to enjoy together! Guests are invited to visit Sesame Place dressed in costume, trick-or-treat throughout the park, walk through County’s castle, see the characters dressed in costume, ride hayrides and enjoy their all new Halloween-themed Elmo’s World Live Show.

Park in the Dark at Norristown Farm Park
2500 Upper Farm Road, Norristown, PA 19403
October 30 at 7pm
(610) 270-0215
www.montcopa.org

Explore the park at night as you learn interesting facts about nocturnal animal adaptations. They’ll tell a few scary stories and who knows, maybe you’ll see a “specter” or two. This walk is in the dark and not meant for the weak in the legs or faint of heart. Walk co-sponsored by the Farm Park Preservation Association. Ages 7 and up; meet at the Milk House.

Pumpkinfest at Moravian Pottery and Tileworks
130 Swamp Road, Doylestown, PA 18901
October 17 12-9pm
(215) 345-6722
www.buckscounty.org

Pumpkinfest features a pumpkin gallery where local artists carve amazing works of art out of 100-300 lb. pumpkins, with live musical entertainment on two stages, games, food, storytelling and children’s activities.

Skippack Children’s Halloween Parade at Skippack Village
4046 Skippack Pike, Skippack, PA 19474
October 17 at 10am
(610) 584-0900
www.hotelfiesole.net

The parade will begin at 10am in the Hotel Fiesole parking lot and will end at Mal’s Diner with treats. You must register by October 14th at Mal’s. The rain date for the parade is October 24th.

Spooktacular Halloween Kids Night out Party at the Philadelphia Sports Club
One Highpoint Drive, Chalfont, PA
October 30 from 5:30-9:30pm
www.mysportsclubs.com

Drop your child off in costume at the Philadelphia Sports Club for a night filled with fun—a pizza party, laser tag, sports and games, arts and crafts—all with a Halloween theme! There will be a pajama party for children 6 weeks to 3 years old who are not potty-trained. Tell your classmates, teammates, neighbors and family to pre-register early because this party sells out! Ages 6 weeks to 12 years old.

What are you Going to be for Halloween?

Foster’s Toys & Party Center
4373 W. Swamp Road, Doylestown, PA 18902
(215) 345-0701
www.fosterstoysandpartycenter.com

Foster’s Toys & Party Center carries a high variety of costumes and unique masks. From ghouls and goblins to today’s current politicians, Foster’s has all the accessories you’ll need to complete your costume. Foster’s also carries a year-round selection of holiday costumes as well as children’s historic costumes and accessories for school projects.