Five Bone Chilling Ways to Do Halloween in Illinois

CHICAGO – Grab your costume and get into the Halloween spirit this October with these spooktacular destinations and events in Illinois, sure to send chills down your spine.

Escape Rooms: Try to escape from a room full of zombies in Downers Grove while solving different mind games and physical challenges. In Melrose Park, test your escape skills at Escape the 13^th Floor challenge. In this escape room, select from different Halloween themed rooms and attempt to escape in 60 minutes or less.

Haunted Towns: Alton, Ill. is one of the most haunted small towns in America. Experience spirits at Alton’s most haunted house, McPike Mansion, or take an Alton Hauntings tour for possible ghost sightings at the First Unitarian Church and Enos Sanitarium. In Decatur, Ill., explore lost burial grounds and haunted theaters in downstate Illinois’ longest running haunted ghost tour.

Halloween Parades: Celebrate at Illinois’ largest Halloween parade in Galena. Every year, thousands of visitors come to historic Main Street to watch the two-hour parade. Afterwards, spend the night at the historic Jail Hill Inn. This former county jail is now a luxurious Bed and Breakfast. City dwellers shouldn’t miss the 21^st Annual Northalsted Halloween Parade in Chicago’s Boystown neighborhood on Halloween night.

Experience heart pumping haunted attractions at Six Flags Fright Fest in Gurnee during the entire month of October. Wind your way through total darkness and scare zones, as ghouls and zombies take over the park. For intense thrills, ride the Skyscreamer of Doom or Haunted Shawshbuckler where angry spirits ride along with you.  

Haunted Houses: Test your fear factor at Realm of Terror haunted house in Round Lake Beach. Navigate through rooms filled with gruesome props and monsters making this the “most terrifying” haunted house in Illinois. For a Halloween experience like no other, visit Statesville Haunted Prison & City of the Dead in Lockport, Ill., where you are guaranteed to scream.

Check out these other Halloween events that will scare you straight:

• Nightmare on Chicago Street, save the city of Elgin as it is taken over by zombies
• Illinois’ Trail of Terror, experience festivals, pumpkin patches and wineries across northern Illinois
• Torment at Twelve Hundred haunted house, near the Quad Cities, where horror stories come alive

To plan your next trip to Illinois, visit EnjoyIllinois.com.

###

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism manages industry efforts that result in sustainable and significant economic and quality-of-life benefits for Illinois residents.