Spooky Halloween Events Taking Place Across Scotland

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Have a spooky time at Floors Castle in the Scottish Borders where the whole family can get involved in exploring the colourful, autumnal castle gardens and woodlands in search of hidden pumpkins. Once you’ve followed the trail, warm up with a tasty hot chocolate and treat at the Terrace Café.

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This spooky festival sees the town centre of Paisley  transformed into an immersive experience. Featuring street theatre, art installations and spectacular light displays, it’s a seasonal highlight that never fails to enchant kids and adults alike. 

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Head over to Edinburgh Zoo and experience a variety of family-friendly spooky events at Halloween! 

Enjoy guided tours from the discovery rangers where you can learn lots of weird and wonderful facts. Families can also join in themed arts & crafts activities as well as learn about how the keepers take good care of all the critters in the zoo.

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Visit Glasgow Botanic Gardens during spooky season to see the popular GlasGLOW event! Step back in time to when dinosaurs roamed the land with illuminations, lights, gourmet street food, GLOW bar and, of course, Marshmallowland.

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Take a trip to the historic Craigmillar Castle to see how many pumpkins you can find! Come in costume and experience the magic of the castle at Halloween, complete with a Master of the Owls and mysterious tales, riddles and songs. 

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Britain’s oldest inhabited house is the perfect backdrop for an afternoon of family-friendly Halloween fun. Tots and kids of all ages will love Halloween at Traquair with ghost stories in the woods, tarot readings, magic shows, a treasure hunt in Traquair Maze, spell casting at a wizards and witches workshop and more. 

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With colourful costumes depicting characters from ancient folklore, fire, musical and street theatre performances, the Samhuinn Fire Festival usually unfolds on top of Edinburgh’s Calton Hill and is a feast for the senses. The Celtic festival, run by the Beltane Fire Society, harks back to the traditions of Samhuinn (Gaelic for Samhain) – the pagan celebration of the end of the harvest season and arrival of winter.

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Mercat Tours have a variety of chilling ghost tours for the spookiest time of the year. Make a creepy descent to Edinburgh’s most haunted vaults on the Halloween Underground tour, or walk through Edinburgh’s Old Town after dark while hearing harrowing tales of the vagabonds, witches and other dastardly figures who met their fate at Edinburgh’s Gallows on the Doomed, Dead and Buried tour. Or maybe you’re brave enough for an evening of folklore on the Ghosts & Gouls offering?

For (brave) adults only, the tours take you on a spine-tingling journey through the most macabre chapters of Edinburgh’s past, to spots where horrific misdeeds were committed and ghostly presences abound. In short, dare to be scared!

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Are you ready to descend into Edinburgh’s dark past on one of The Real Mary King’s Close’s private tours? Discover The Close’s former residents as you wander the shadowy streets of this subterranean world which holds some of the city’s darkest secrets. And meet an insidious character which used to strike terror into people’s hearts at their very sight. The tours accommodate up to 18 people.

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This isn’t your normal ghost tour. Wandering the streets and lanes of historic St Andrews, you can get a real sense of the past taking you by the hand. Just pray it’s not something else taking you by the hand when you take a night-time walking tour! Starting in Church Square, behind Holy Trinity Church, you can explore the dark streets with St Andrews Ghost Tours. Hear tales of folklore, ghosts and witches based on the local bestselling book Ghosts of St Andrews by Richard Falconer.

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Take a gruesome ghost train-style ride this Halloween at the Edinburgh Dungeon and watch with glee as creepy tableaux are brought to life with special effects and costumed actors embodying characters from Scotland’s most horrifying events and creepiest legends.

Every October, the dungeon unveils special seasonal shows which delve into particularly dastardly episodes from Scotland’s dark history. Filled with plenty of jumps, scares and other gory surprises which will have your shrieking, the Edinburgh Dungeon always offers a silly, theatrical romp this Halloween season.

Pre-booking is essential for all guests. Children under 15 years must be accompanied by an adult; not suitable for children under eight.