The Top Haunted Houses in Massachusetts

From hayrides to haunted mansions to ghost tours, 15 killer attractions within driving distance from Boston. Boo!

Photo via Witch’s Woods

We love a good homemade haunted house, but if you’re searching for a semi-professional scare, look no further than these spooky attractions in Massachusetts and beyond. They’ll give you all the chills and thrills you need this Halloween.

(Note: In general, most venues leave age appropriateness up to parents or recommend no kids under 10-12. In other words, make wise judgments and try to not traumatize your children for life.) 

Updated October 6, 2023. Have a killer haunted attraction to suggest? Email us!


OPEN ALL SEASON

Barrett’s Haunted Mansion. / Photo by Steve McGowan via Barrett’s Haunted

Barrett’s Haunted Mansion

Indoor + Outdoor | 20 miles South of Boston

With fall 2023 marking its 32nd year in operation, Barrett’s is a veritable South Shore institution. Run by the proprietors of Abington Ale House & Grill, located next door, longtime owner Mary Barrett Costello and her team of actors fully commit to the theatrics: out front sits a hearse; monsters and ghouls unnervingly patrol the ticket line; screens play horror-movie clips while you wait. Inside, the Haunted Mansion’s dramatic execution—pun fully intended—only gets better every year. A second attraction, Condemned, takes participants through an elaborately designed toxic zone and employs the next-level fright tactic of Bungee Scares. (Don’t look up the term if you want to be surprised.) Visitors can also buy tickets for special events like Devil’s Night, an amped-up version of the attractions where actors can touch you. No refunds if you can’t take it, you big baby.

1235 Bedford St., Route 18, Abington, 781-871-4573, bhmansion.com.

Connors Farm’s “Unexplained” corn maze for fall 2023. / Courtesy Connors Farm.

Hysteria at Connors Farm

Outdoor | 22-28 mile drive Northeast of Boston

By day, Connors Farm is a kid-friendly destination of pick-your-own bags, train rides, and family fun. By weekend night in the fall, it’s a much creepier affair. The main attraction is Haunted Fields, a 45-minute walking trail through corn stalks, orchards, and forest patches inhabited by scary actors. A more chill option is the Flashlight Maze, a seven-acre corn maze that Connors Farm proudly proclaims “received international attention when a family ‘got lost’ and called 911 to find their way out.” Charge your phone—this really happened.

30 Valley Rd., Danvers, 978-739-4192, hysteriadanvers.com.

Witch’s Woods

Outdoor | 30-36 mile drive Northwest of Boston

For Halloween, Nashoba Valley Ski Area dresses up as Witch’s Woods. Open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays throughout October, the scream park’s premiere attraction is a haunted hayride, but there are three other macabre adventures to explore, including something called Castle Morbid. For the meeker ones in your group, send them to the Jack O’Lantern Jamboree—a display of hundreds of illuminated professionally carved pumpkins. The Jamboree is free to visit—no admission required—as is the Horrorwood Chamber of Chills, a more macabre walk-through that promises “past and present horror movie icons with a surprising twist.” Lovely.

79 Powers Rd., Westford, 978-692-3033, witchswoods.com.

Courtesy of Factory of Terror

Factory of Terror

Indoor | 50-55 mile drive South of Boston

Factory of Terror is not for the faint of heart. At this Fall River location, you enter a deserted factory where—so the story goes—113 workers were murdered, and wind your way through such spine-tingling sections as the Bloodworth Dungeon and the 4D Blackout. A unique set of chills and thrills await, offering up plenty of options for haunted house aficionados. After Halloween, Factory of Terror will open for one more “Extreme Fears” weekend in November which actors can touch you—waivers required, safe words provided.

120 Pearl St., Fall River, 774-415-0153, factoryofterror.com.

Fear Town Haunted House

Outdoor | 60 mile drive Southwest of Boston

Fear Town is, according to its social media, more like a creepy county fair than one centralized walk-through attraction. Held at the Seekonk Speedway near the Rhode Island line, the mostly outdoor destination advertises three haunted houses for a combined total of “over 45 minutes of fear,” plus a midway of food concessions and horror-themed carnival games. Casket Ring Toss, anyone?

1710 Fall River Ave., Seekonk, 508-296-0661, fear-town.com.

13th World Fright Park

Outdoor | 70-75 mile drive West of Boston

A Bay State spinoff from the 13th World haunted trail in Cumberland, Rhode Island, this Massachusetts fright park has its own haunted trail (something called Moonlight Mayhem), plus two additional attractions: Hellfire House, a “twisted maze of darkness, fog, and fire”; and Alone, a haunted experience done solo.

1701 Park St, Palmer, 508-298-8653, 13thworld.com

DementedFX’s mascot, Bone Crusher. / Courtesy DementedFX

DementedFX Haunted House

Indoor | 90 miles West of Boston

This Holyoke creepshow comes highly recommended by the sorts of folks who take the horror-tourism circuit seriously: a Scare Factor reviewer called DementedFX one of “my personal top three favorite haunts in New England”; the Hauntfinder General named it the best Haunted House in Massachusetts for 2023. Located off Interstate 391, DementedFX promises immersion, disorientation, and special effects, all under the storyline pretense of trying to rescue a scientist from a ghastly laboratory of experiments gone wrong. Need some liquid courage before that harrowing challenge? Two on-site bars will be happy to help. 

530 Main St., Holyoke, dementedfx.com

Photo courtesy of Six Flags New England Fright Fest

Fright Fest at Six Flags New England

Indoor + Outdoor | 100 miles West of Boston

Every fall, Six Flags morphs into Fright Fest. During the day, you can get classic scares on their rides, but it’s at night when the real ghouls come out to play. Watch out for the creepy creatures that wander the park’s Scare Zones, looking to strike terror into visitors. Demons dance at a stage show called “The Awakening”; meanwhile, over at Terror Tales in the Wicked Woods, scary-tale characters and masked madmen take demented pleasure revving chainsaws in your general direction.

Route 159, 1623 Main St., Agawam, 413-786-9300, sixflags.com/newengland.

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT

A set from the First Parish Haunted House. / Courtesy First Parish Haunted House

First Parish Haunted House in Bedford

Indoor | October 13 + 14, 2023 | 21 miles Northwest of Boston

We love to see it: This Bedford community’s approach to Halloween is more Mary Shelley than Eli Roth. So while you won’t find blood or gore at this walk-through, you will find three floors of short performances staged among the 204-year-old church’s rooms. Past years’ scenes have included Doctor Frankenstein’s Laboratory, something called the Bedford School of Alchemy, and a Spanish Flu-themed spectacle. The 2023 flier riffs on The Twilight Zone, so expect something loosely like a living Rod Serling anthology. 

75 Great Rd., Bedford, HauntedBedford.org

Alden Haunted House

Indoor | October 20 + 21, 2023 | 35 miles Southeast of Boston

The former residence of Mayflower voyager John Alden, Duxbury’s Alden House officially becomes haunted for one weekend a year. For this annual event, visitors go on guided tours and hear about the house’s supernatural history—make sure to look out for historical spirits. But the night’s not all scares: The evening’s itinerary features such family-friendly fare as face painting and dance parties.

Alden House Museum, 105 Alden St., Duxbury, 781-934-9092, alden.org/haunted-house.

Frightful Friday Ghost Stories at Gore Place

Indoor | Fridays, October 13, 20, and 27, 2023, 6:30 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.

The 1806 mansion of former US Senator Christopher Gore is the backdrop to spine-chilling stories Friday nights during the Halloween season. The Federal-style estate sets the stage for haunted tales, and visitors get the opportunity to see the mansion’s elegant rooms and furnishings.

Gore Place, 52 Gore St., Waltham, 781-894-2798, goreplace.org.

Ghost Tours at the Mount

Indoor | Fridays in October, plus 10/28, 10/29 and 10/31

The Mount, a century-old residence in the hills of the Berkshires, has the Ghost Hunters seal of approval. So it must be haunted, right? The house, previously the residence of Edith Wharton, an author renowned for her ghost stories, has its own fair share of reported hauntings. Sounds, shadows, and odd sensations follow visitors as they tour the servants’ quarters, stables, and formal rooms—all supposed breeding grounds for paranormal activity. Amusingly, the Mount also hosts spectacular weddings, so maybe the ghosts stay on their best behavior for love.

The Mount, 2 Plunkett St., Lenox, 413-551-5111, edithwharton.org.


BONUS
Beyond Massachusetts

Canobie Lake Park Screeemfest

Screeemfest it’s called, and scream you will. This Halloween season, Canobie Lake Park isn’t offering just thrills, but also chills—mwahahaha! In addition to haunted houses and rides, they’re also putting on live spooky shows and a nightly tribute to Freddie Mercury.

Canobie Lake Park, 85 N. Policy St., Salem, New Hampshire, 603-893-3506, canobie.com.

Spooky World Presents: Nightmare New England

45 minutes North of Boston

Spooky World offers something for nearly every thrill seeker. There’s the obligatory Haunted Hayride. There’s Asylum 47, a time-traveling sanatarium of unpredictable lunatics. And there’s Nightmare in 3D, kind of neon-blacklit walk-through with jump scares and hairpin turns. And if you dare to enter the New Hampshire woods, you can explore the Colony, the Granite State’s answer to Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Decompress over communal fire pits, drink beer from a giant pumpkin, or throw an axe because, hey, everybody’s doing it.

454 Charles Bancroft Hwy., Litchfield, New Hampshire, 603-424-7999, nightmarenewengland.com.

Lake Compounce Phantom Fall Fest

Starting in late September, Lake Compounce Amusement Park transforms into a nightmare world. Visitors can go on some of Lake Compounce’s classic rides or opt for such spooky attractions as the blacklit scary-tale mALICE in Wonderland: 3D or bayou ghosttown Spirits of the Swamp. Don’t pick the pumpkins from the evil pumpkin patch, though—they bite!

Lake Compounce, 186 Enterprise Dr., Bristol, Connecticut, 860-583-3300, lakecompounce.com.

With additional reporting by Lindsey Paradis, Sam Peters