The Williamsburg area is full of all things spooky during the Halloween season, along with plenty of family-friendly fall activities. Here are a few of the scary and not-so-scary events to put on your calendar.
Jamestown Haunted River Cruise
History and legends collide on the waters surrounding Jamestown Island with haunted river cruises taking place all this month.
Guests can experience one-of-a-kind evening cruises along the James River while hearing stories of the spirits that are still said to haunt Jamestown Island. The tour blends history with tales that will leave you staring at the water in horror.
“This is not just another ghost walk,” said Capt. Corey Fenton, owner of Jamestown Discovery, a 28-passenger pontoon boat that offers a variety of river tours throughout the year. “We’re giving people the rare chance to experience Jamestown’s haunted history from the river, where so many untold stories remain.”
Cruises depart from the James City County Marina. Tickets are limited, with reservations required. For more information or to book tickets, visit jamestowndiscovery.com or call 757-253-8687. The tour company also offers an “extreme” ghost boat tour and a murder cruise.
Camp Cardinal Haunted Walking Trail
Camp Cardinal RV Resort is brewing a bone-chilling haunted house experience that mixes fright with festive fun.
The Hayes campground, on the Severn River near Gloucester Point, is offering a haunted walking trail through the woods where visitors encounter a series of themed rooms, including clowns, pirates and spiders, this Halloween season.
Loud music, fog and lighting add to the ambience. And, of course, visitors can expect jump scares.
“We want to have that family friendliness to it, but it’s not for a faint of heart or a 5-year-old. It’s designed for teenagers and adults,” camp manager Corey Lamont said.
The haunted trail runs rain or shine every Saturday in October and on Oct. 31. Admission is $10 per person and includes a hayride and a voucher for the campground’s ice cream shop, RiverMutt Ice Cream. Advance ticket purchases are recommended. For more information, visit campcardinalrvresort.com.
The annual Family Frights takes place Oct. 24 and 25 at Jamestown Settlement, where all kinds of creatures will be wandering around. (Courtesy/Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation)
‘Cry Witch’
“Cry Witch” is a long-running live performance in Colonial Williamsburg. It runs Monday and Friday evenings throughout the fall.
The show is about Grace Sherwood, the center of one of the most famous witchcraft cases in Virginia. In 1706, Sherwood stood trial in Williamsburg, which was then the capital of the Virginia colony. During these performances, the audience serves as the jury as the trial plays out and gets to decide whether Sherwood is innocent or guilty of witchcraft.
Tickets are $19, with shows taking place at 7:30 p.m. at the Capitol. For information, visit colonialwilliamsburg.org/events/evening-program-cry-witch.
Harvest of Horror book signing
Virginia horror writers will gather from noon to 4 p.m. on Oct. 18 at Turn the Page Bookshop at the Williamsburg Outlets.
Authors of scary fiction and nonfiction will be on hand to sign books, provide giveaways and discuss spooky stories from Virginia’s dark corners. Copies of “Dark Corners of the Old Dominion,” a collection of Virginia-set horror stories by local authors, will be available. Proceeds from sales of the book will be donated to the local charity Scares That Care.
Featured authors at the event include Brýn Grover (“Beyond the Pale,” “Jamie’s Closet”); Pamela K. Kinney (“Nowhere Land,” “Virginia’s Haunted Historic Triangle”); Red Lagoe (“Bloodstains By Gaslight,” “In Excess of Dark”); Ryan T. Jenkins (“Come to Daddy” in Split Scream Volume 6); Sidney Williams (“Gnelfs,” “Scars” and “Candy”); and Valerie Williams (“Penfold’s Menu of Magic and Malice,” “The Vanishing Twin”).
Halloween with Heroes
The James City County Police Department will hold its annual Halloween with Heroes event on Oct. 23 at the county Law Enforcement Center, 4600 Opportunity Way.
Festivities will begin with a sensory-friendly hour from 5-6 p.m., followed by the main event from 6-8 p.m. Children and families can connect with local law enforcement in a festive, relaxed environment. Guests are encouraged to come in costume and enjoy candy, fun activities and public safety-themed experiences.
For questions, contact the Community Services Unit at 757-253-1800.
Family Frights at Jamestown Settlement
This annual Halloween-theme night takes place Oct. 24 and 25 throughout the grounds of the Jamestown Settlement museum.
The event, described as “fantastical without the fright,” features trick-or-treating, crafts, games, music, haunted houses and spooky ships — “perfect for little ghosts and ghouls to have a frightfully fun adventure without getting too scared.” Be on the look out for faeries, pixies and nymphs in the woods along with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood, King Neptune and even Peter Rabbit.
The festivities run each night from 6-9 p.m. Admission is $12 per child ages 4-12 and $7 for ages 13 and old. Children 3 and under are free. Each party must include at least one adult over 19. Tickets are available online only and must be purchased in advance at jyfmuseums.org/familyfrights. The event usually sells out.
A woman dressed as a statue blends into her surroundings in Busch Gardens’ Italy area during Howl-O-Scream. (Kim O’Brien Root/The Virginia Gazette)
Walking ghost tours
There’s no shortage of haunted walking tours that take place throughout Williamsburg and Yorktown all throughout the year. Here are some to consider:
The Ghost Tour bills itself as the “original” ghost tour in Williamsburg and in Yorktown. There are basic ghost tours, extreme tours and various other themed tours, including the “Lingering Spirits” tour at the Williamsburg Winery and a Boos and Booz Haunted Pub Crawl in October in Colonial Williamsburg. theghosttour.com
Colonial Ghosts calls itself Williamsburg’s most haunted ghost tour. Tours walk through the historic area of Williamsburg and William & Mary. The tour company also offers the “Ultimate Dead of Night Ghost Tour” that starts at 10 p.m. colonialghosts.com
Haunted Williamsburg, the official ghost tour of Colonial Williamsburg, is the only tour that goes inside historic buildings. Suitable for ages 8 and older. colonialwilliamsburg.org/events/evening-program-haunted-williamsburg
Spooks & Legends offers a variety of ghost tours, including an interactive tour that lets visitors do some ghost hunting of their own with paranormal gear such as EMF meters and dousing rods. EMF meters are available to rent with any tour. spooksandlegends.com
Yorktown Ghost Walks offers candlelight ghost tours along the riverfront as well as ghost-hunting experiences with a paranormal investigator. yorktownghostwalks.com
U.S. Ghost Adventures offers the “Curse of Cornwallis: Bayonets & Banshees” ghost tour in Yorktown, visiting supposedly haunted places such as Cornwallis’s Cave and the Nelson House, a house that played a role at the end of the Revolutionary War. usghostadventures.com
Howl-O-Scream
Who can forget Busch Gardens’ Howl-O-Scream? The amusement park’s annual Halloween event opened last month and continues select nights until Nov. 2. Every evening at 6 p.m. when the park is open, the music turns spooky, fog seeps out over the pathways and eery sounds and sights fill the park.
This year there are five haunted houses, six “terror-tories,” where guests encounter costumed figures, and four seasonal shows, including Monster Stomp in the Globe Theatre and Skeletones In Your Closet on the stage in the Festhaus.
And for the kids, Busch Gardens offers its Halloween Spooktacular in the park’s Sesame Street area. On Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., kids can wear costumes and enjoy rides, a hay maze, trick-or-treating, Sesame Street-themed shows and a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt.
For a schedule and prices, visit buschgardens.com/williamsburg.
Have a Halloween event to share? Let us know and we’ll add it online.
Kim O’Brien Root, kimberly.root@virginiamedia.com
https://www.dailypress.com/2025/10/10/where-to-get-your-boos-on-in-the-historic-triangle/
