Best Halloween Attractions in New England

New England loves all things fall–especially football and Halloween. While I can suggest nothing but your local schools and a Pats game for the former, you get lots of options when it comes to the latter. Since this blog isn't about friendly farmers, I'm going to skip the pumpkin picking and go straight for the scary attractions. The following are my favorite picks for Halloween in New England.

Spooky World

454 Charles Bancroft Hwy

Litchfield, New Hampshire

Admission: Between $35 for general admission and $80 for "Super VIP"

Spooky World is an 80-acre Halloween theme park with a range of attractions. It has all of your Halloween thrills in one place. Visitors also get a carnival experience with a spooky twist, so be ready to play games, have your fortune told and eat fair food.

The Haunted Hayride is one of five major parts of Spooky World. It's a one-mile journey through woods filled with spiders, experiments gone wrong and plenty else to send chills up your spine. It's the newest addition to the park. Brigham Manor is a haunted house with a backstory of murder and evil. The 3D Festival of Fear is a menagerie of misfit carnies. Carnage is a junkyard from hell. Finally, The Colony is a maze filled with the devil's minions.

Salem, Massachusetts

The rest of the year, Salem is a quaint North Shore village in Massachusetts. When Halloween rolls around, Salem's witch-hunt roots attract visitors from all over. While a visit to the town itself is not very scary, there are plenty of ghost tours, shops and haunted houses. Here, you can find horror and history.

Fright at the Fort

Fort Knox

740 Ft Knox Rd.

Prospect, Maine

Admission: Between $5 for kids-$13 for adults

Fright at the Fort lets you walk around historic Fort Knox and get spooked by monsters and ghouls. The atmosphere is the big draw at this attraction. Historic forts aren't exactly known for being bright and cheery.

Nightmare Vermont

105 Pearl St.

Essex Junction, Vermont

Admission: $12 online and $15 at the door

Nightmare Vermont has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve for a haunted attraction. It's a sort of theatrical experience with stage shows and a theme. For example, 2016 will be a haunted carnival. What's interesting is that guests can purchase a "Monster Ward" at the door for $1. This helps the actors know who doesn't like to be bothered. On the other hand, every group gets to bid on who gets to be the "Monster Teaser." This person will be bothered much more than the average guest. In fact, the actors may even tie them up!

Amusement Parks Open For Halloween:

Fright Fest at Six Flags New England

Screemfest at Canobie Lake Park

Haunted Graveyard at Lake Compounce

Captain Fairchild Inn: A Ghost Host

I find this painting actually quite creepy.

Not every haunted tale in New England involves a scary ghost. At least one, coming out of Kennebunkport, Maine, is a bit more hospitable. Visitors to the Captain Fairfield Inn sometimes claim to have seen the ghost of the home's eponymous original owner playing the role of host in his unearthly form.

Captain James Fairfield was a seaman who started a privateering operation during the War of 1812. During one of his voyages, he wrote to his wife Lois to inform her that he was taken prisoner by the British. He was brought to the infamous Dartmoor Prison. In fact, he was there during the April 6, 1815 massacre. He lived to see his release and was back on American soil on July 3, 1815.

Two years earlier, the Captain began construction at a piece of property given to him by Lois' father on the corner of Pleasant and Green Streets in Kennebunkport. By the time he came home from his misadventure, he was able to begin his life there with his wife, sister and brother-in-law. Interestingly, a portrait of Captain Fairchild that was meant to grace the home was lost at sea. It didn't make its way home until after his death from pneumonia at the age of 36. He enjoyed the home, which has been an inn since 1991, for roughly five years.

Today, a copy of the original portrait of Captain Charles Fairfield hangs over the mantle of the inn. Those who sight the ghostly visage of Fairchild are able to make a positive identification based on this replica and the original, which is held in the Brick Store Museum. They say he seems pleased with the current state of the home, though ascribing that much feeling to a fleeting apparition might be a stretch.