Halloween in the Hudson Valley: Ghost Stories and Events
The Hudson Valley does Halloween well. It’s the setting for one of America’s most famous ghost stories, and as the nights grow shorter, there’s plenty to draw you out after dark: haunted hayrides, old-fashioned ghost shows and trails lit by thousands of pumpkins.
The Headless Horseman’s old stamping ground
On an autumn night in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane rides home alone after a party. He has spent the evening listening to ghost stories, and the road through the woods has begun to play on his nerves. Then he notices another rider keeping pace with him. When Ichabod finally gets a clear look, he sees that the stranger has no head.
Irving published the story in 1820, setting it among the Dutch communities around Tarrytown. He leaves us with a missing schoolteacher, a riderless horse and a smashed pumpkin, but never quite confirms what happened on that road. That makes it all the more fun to hear Irving’s Legend performed in Sleepy Hollow, close to where he set it on October weekends in Sleepy Hollow country. There are other ways to spend an evening nearby, including The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson, where thousands of carved pumpkins light an outdoor trail.
Tarrytown has ghost stories beyond Irving’s. At the Tarrytown Music Hall, built in 1885, staff and visitors have reported unexplained sounds and other strange activity. Its 45-minute ghost tour explores the theater’s history and the stories that have gathered around it. You can decide what you make of them.
Ghosts made by hand in New Paltz
Long before a film could put a ghost on screen, a painted glass slide and a projector could make one appear before an audience. In the late 18th century, the Parisian showman Étienne-Gaspard Robertson used a projector that moved on tracks, making his apparitions seem to grow as they approached.
On October 17, performers Dawn Elliott and Joel Schlemowitz bring a recreation of his Fantasmagorie to Historic Huguenot Street. They’ve built a working projector and painted their own slides, with scenes including a haunted graveyard and Medusa. It’s a chance to see exactly how a ghost show worked before cinema.
Other goings on this Halloween
Selected nights through October 31 · Ulster Park
Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Attractions runs through Halloween night. Dates vary, and the regular evening attractions are intended to be scary.
October 9-November 1 · Bethel
Peace, Love & Pumpkins fills the trails at Bethel Woods with illuminated carvings. October 30 is its separate Friday Night Fright; October 31 brings trick-or-treating along the trail.
October 24 · Wappingers Falls
Stony Kill’s Spooktacular adds another Halloween outing to the calendar.
October 31 · New Paltz
Historic Huguenot Street has free trick-or-treating among its old houses from 3:30 to 5:30pm.
