Nevada [Spooky 2025]

spooky stays | creepy curiosities | seasonal fun

Nevada

W ith monthlong Halloween festivities, famously haunted hotels and creepy curiosities you’ll find nowhere else, Nevada is — quite simply — Spooky Season Central. Maybe you want to commune with the spirits of the Silver State's past. Or experience golf, games and ghouls inside a magical forest. Or make your way through a haunted house with such high production values, there's a Hollywood-issue movie trailer for it. And hey, if pumpkin patches and hayrides are the most you (or your kids) can handle, you'll find great options, too. Point is, when you feel the need for some seasonal fun, there’s no better place to go than Nevada. A scary good navigational aid? The revamped Paranormal Passport, full of spooky old favorites and eerily fun new additions that you check off as you go to turn your day trip or road trip into some swag. Read on for our favorite cases in point.

So great, it's spooky

in collaboration with:

BACK TO THE TOP

The Mizpah Hotel's Lady in Red

The Washoe Club

Spooky stays

Creepy curiosities

Seasonal fun

Lobby of The Mizpah Hotel

Plan your trip

The Mizpah Hotel

Goldfield High School

Tom Devlin's Monster Museum

Devil Made Me Do It saloon crawl

Nevada State Prison

Lattin Farms

SEE OUR OFFERS

For its part, Las Vegas will be home to several seasonal celebrations. One favorite is the ultra-family-friendly HallOVeen at the Magical Forest October 3-5, 10-12, and October 17-November 2. A seasonal takeover of a theme park at Opportunity Village, this extravaganza sets carnival games, trick-or-treating, rides, golf, shopping, entertainment and more against a cemetery full of spooktacularly adorned trees and jack-o-lanterns. And for more family-friendly fun, check out the fall festivals and train rides across the state. Nevada Northern Railway in Ely, for example, will be running everything from a Pumpkin Patch Train (October 4 and 11) to a Haunted Ghost Train (Saturdays from October 17-25). Also in Ely: The Renaissance Faire and Pumpkin Festival on October 18. And all in one place — the Andelin Family Farm in Sparks — you’ll find everything from a pumpkin patch to a corn maze to a mini train ride and hayrides. More farm fun for the whole family: the Fall Festival at Lattin Farms in Fallon, every Saturday from September 27 to October 25, plus October 24. There’s a lot happening during each installment, from wagon rides to a corn maze, but if you can be there on October 11 or 18, you can check out the onsite scarecrow factory.

As you might have gathered from the presence of two hotels so haunted they draw TV crews, Virginia City is a unique place. Thanks to the epic Comstock Lode and resulting silver rush, this 19th-century boomtown attracted all kinds of characters to the local mining tunnels and above-ground saloons, guest houses and brothels, and many of those Victorian era residents are said to be around in some form or fashion today. So when the town celebrates Halloween, the festivities last a full month — that is, October 1-31 — in the form of Hauntober. Check the calendar for the highlights that appeal most to you, whether the Spirits Made Me Do It Saloon Crawl, the costume contest and parade, the Bats in the Belfry Guided Ghost Tours, the V & T Railroad Pumpkin Patch and nighttime adult Lighted Trains, or almost any other All Hallows pursuit you can dream up.

Southern Nevada holds its own, too. In Las Vegas, there’s The Haunted Museum by Ghost Adventures host Zak Bagans, whose personal collection of haunted objects is on display here. Epic in their collective creepiness, these galleries also form the basis of a second Travel Channel show that stars the proprietor: The Haunted Museum. In nearby Boulder City, don’t miss Tom Devlin’s Monster Museum — an entire homage to Hollywood's favorite hellions (Frankenstein, Pennywise, Michael Myers et al.). In an attempt to preserve the history and artistry of special effects makeup and prosthetics — which Devlin himself has specialized in professionally — he’s amassed notable onscreen memorabilia of all kinds. Perhaps Southern Nevada's creepy piece de resistance? Coffinwood, about an hour west of Las Vegas in a community called Pahrump, is home to Coffin it Up — purveyors of not only handmade coffins, but also coffin-themed jewelry, purses and paintings. Even if you're not in the market, you can always go for a Sunday tour (reserve to see available times).

Whenever you visit Nevada, you’ll find no shortage of eerie attractions, especially in the aforementioned Virginia City. Take The Washoe Club, for example. Debuting in 1875, it represented the height of boomtown luxury, with a guest list that included Generals Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Sherman. Once inside, they could enjoy the posh parlor, billiards tables, and more. Now, regardless of your rank or stature, you can join one of the 45-minute guided tours that wind through the club’s three floors almost daily in search of interesting ghosts.

Two more legendary lodgings with ghost tours can be found in Virginia City, where the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures has visited repeatedly and turned the spotlight on both: The Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon, built in the mid 19th century — and The Silver Queen Hotel & Saloon, which came along a bit later in 1876. At the former, the miner’s cabin is said to be a hotbed of paranormal activity, while the latter reports staircase appearances by a lady of the night named Rosie, who checked into Room 11 but never checked out. The Ghost Adventures guys also made their way to Eureka to investigate the 1877 Jackson House Hotel (home to another reported Lady in Red) as well as Pioche, to check out the 1948 Overland Hotel & Saloon and the especially active Room 10. But for sheer creepiness, you can’t beat Tonopah’s cemetery-adjacent Clown Motel.

Certain hotels in Nevada have a reputation for “permanent guests” — i.e., people wandering the halls since the turn of the 20th century, when the state’s mining boom meant a concurrent boom in lodging. Among the early luxury hotels was The Mizpah Hotel, which opened in 1907 in Tonopah and quickly became the eternal home to the so-called Lady in Red, who’s said to have met an untimely end at the hands of a lover on the fifth floor. Room 502 is reportedly her favorite haunt, and you can stay in this Lady in Red suite — all crimson voile and velvet — for the best chance of a visit from her. Or stay on a lower floor if you prefer, say, the laughter of children who aren’t there, or pickaxe-wielding onetime miners.

Not to be outdone, the Reno area has an especially ghoulish lineup of its own. For starters, there's the Zombie Crawl on October 18, 2025, when some 20,000 zombies (okay, costumed merrymakers) take to the city's bars — or at least the 40+ participating food and beverage venues. The event also boasts DJs, dancers and other live entertainment, plus downtown hotel discounts. Not that you're likely to see much of your room: Nevada mandates no last call. And in nearby Carson City, an absolutely terrifying haunted house awaits from September 26 - November 1, with the very last night illuminated by nothing but the flashlight you're given. Set in a real former Nevada State Prison ("where you peel back the rusted bars to reveal what should've stayed buried"), the Dark Prison Haunted House comes with a vast professional cast and crew and a Hollywood trailer-worthy storyline. Scarily immersive, the experience leads everywhere from Unit 15, where a twisted medical officer's experiments have overrun the joint, to Solitary, where abject madness prevails.

You’ll find another hauntingly beautiful relic of the mining boom in Goldfield, a town that once had enough wealth to grant locals of all ages the good life: No expense was spared for the impressive Goldfield High School’s 1907 debut. But after the town’s fortunes turned a few decades later, the facility was abandoned — though not entirely, say ghost hunters. The boys' bathroom is reportedly home to especially spooky spirits.

Other historic guests who may or may not haunt the hotel have lent their names to its restaurants. Pittman Cafe is named for senator Key Pittman, who is rumored to have died on property during an election. And the Jack Dempsey Room is named for the heavyweight who fought in this part of Nevada early on in his career. So whether you stay a the hotel, dine at its restaurants, or simply book one of the ghost tours that are open to the public, at a minimum, you’ll have a brush with history.

Overland Hotel & Saloon

Ghost hunting in The Washoe Club

Nevada Northern Railway

Rhyolite Ghost Town

The Clown Motel

The Silver Queen Hotel & Saloon

Gold Hill Hotel & Saloon

The Silver Queen Hotel & Saloon

Ghost hunting in The Washoe Club

spooky stays | creepy curiosities | seasonal fun

Silver Terrace Cemetery, Virginia City

Devil Made Me Do It saloon crawl