Hudson Valley Halloween
Mid-Hudson haunts not for the faint of heart CHESTER Dare to be scared this Halloween season at some of the spookiest places in the Hudson Valley. Ghoulish ghosts are waiting to greet you in Orange County’s haunted houses and lonely lanes. Piercing screams split the night air, and clanking chains make spines shiver at numerous Halloween happenings. For the bravest of fright seekers, the Pure Terror Scream Park at The Castle Fun Center in Chester is new this year. Every Thursday through Sunday evening from Sept. 24 to Oct. 31, try to survive the four terrifying attractions as you wend your way through The Castle’s park. Diehard horror buffs who want additional scaring should take a trip to the hair-raising Terrordome in Newburgh. Another adrenalin raiser is the famously wicked Forest of Fear in Tuxedo where even the tarantulas are afraid to spin webs. Be warned! These sites open weekend nights during October are not for the timid. The underground cellars at Brotherhood Winery in Washingtonville provide a natural setting for Halloween adventures. This year’s program, The Legend of Brotherhood Winery and the Haunted Wine Cellars, is tame enough for 10-year-olds, spooky and exciting, but not designed to give nightmares. It’s ghoulishly good fun for the whole family every Friday and Saturday night from Oct. 1 through the 23. Adults don their terrifying togs to wear to Brotherhood’s traditional grown-ups-only Halloween Ball costume party the night of Oct. 30. It’s an evening of wine and wicked witchery. Jump on your broomstick and join the high jinx at Museum Village’s Haunted Halloween in Monroe after dark on Oct. 22 and 23. Take a bone-chilling hayride to the haunted house and join in with things that go bump in the night during the scavenger hunt. Fortune tellers will let you know if you’ll make it out alive. But there’s fun for young children, too, on Oct. 24. Museum Village hosts No Scare Sunday with games and treats just right for little kids. Families will also enjoy Haunted Hayrides on the evenings of Oct. 22 and 23 at the Orange County Farmers Museum in Montgomery. If you’re afraid of the dark, this beautiful country location is a great place to celebrate the daytime Harvest Festival on Oct. 23 and 24. Daytime Halloween celebrations continue at the Trick-or-Treat and Costume Parade at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets on Friday, Oct. 29. It’s another daytime fun event for kids who won’t want to miss the festive parade along the main walkway at 4 p.m. Finally, humans aren’t the only ones celebrating Halloween. The resident bears at Bear Mountain Zoo are in for some treats at Boo at the Zoo from 10:30 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30. Bears don’t just picnic, they party. For more information visit www.OrangeTourism.org or call 615-3860.