Guide to Local Halloween Events in the Atlanta Area

The air is getting crisp, and the leaves are beginning to turn. The stores are filled with skeletons and pumpkins already. It's time to think about Halloween.

Here in metro Atlanta, most parents still let their children trick or treat, although only in groups and mostly only to people they know. Apart from the candy-gathering, though, there are lots of activities going on for children and adults.

Stone Mountain Park is offering lots of family fun with their annual Pumpkin Festival, for instance, with activities that include a scarecrow show, pumpkin bowling, and that old-fashioned favorite, a pumpkin pie eating contest. Eating never goes out of style. The festival is free with park admission, which is eight dollars a car, and it happens every weekend in October. The park also hosts the Tour of Southern Ghosts, with six professional storytellers spinning tales in the perfect setting. The tour wonders around the grounds of the pre-Civil War mansion on the park grounds. This event is NOT free with park admission; tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden is also having a scarecrow show, and I hear that some of them are charming, some are bizarre, and some are downright scarey. This is a free show with admission to the garden, and it happens every day in October except Mondays.

A non-scarey thing to do for Halloween in the Roswell/Alpharetta area is to take one of the Chattahoochee Nature Center's Halloween Hikes. These night-time hikes are well-lighted, and kids will love getting their faces painted with nature symbols and meeting costumed characters dressed as animals, drops of water, or other elements of nature. The cost for these hikes is $6 per person. There is no charge for children under 2, but you'll probably have to carry them.

But, aside from candy, the real purpose of Halloween is to get scared, right? And there are plenty of places to get scared around here. One of the very best, and most recommended for teenagers and adults, is Netherworld Haunted House. This attraction is not for anyone with a weak heart or who doesn't really want to be terrified. Professional makeup and special effects artists work here, and many of the performers have been scaring the wits out of people for years. This year, for Netherworld's tenth anniversary, there are three scarey locations..Cursed, Shock-o-rama. and the Freak Pit. I am a chicken, and I admit it, but I know many of the people who work at Netherworld and I still can't make it through the whole thing. The price of tickets starts at $15 for Cursed and peaks at $25 for all three attractions.

If you want to have a little more control over your fear, the Dunwoody Nature Center in the Dunwoody/Sandy Springs section of Metro Atlanta offers kids a chance to choose how scared they want to be at the Haunted Clubhouse. There are different tours with varying fear factors. Kids also get a chance to play games and win prizes. For non-members, this event costs $4 for children and $6 for adults; members get a $1 discount.

There are other haunted houses scattered around the area, horror film festivals, and many more activities.

As an alternative for those who don't appreciate the horror factor, many of the churches sponsor Autumn Festivals.

Some of the churches also sponsor what I consider to be the most bizarre, twisted Halloween experience of all: Hell Houses. These "scare you straight" extravaganzas are intended to set sinners on the path to righteousness and reassure the saved that what they are missing really is that bad. I can't tell you where they are, because I don't want to know. But check the Atlanta newspapers close to Halloween or listen to the local radio stations and you will be able to find them.