Western Washington is a big haunted house region, with lots of creative, quirky, imaginative people behind the scenes cooking up some truly frightening experiences for you (if you're brave enough to enter.)
This list is all you need: Seattle-Tacoma Haunted Houses for 2021. Here you'll find the spooky spots you're seeking, from Mill Creek to Seattle to Tacoma to Buckley.
Here in Seattle, a big favorite every year is the Georgetown Morgue haunted house. The big plus of this one: it really is a former mortuary, built in 1928, and even their website is a little scary. New this year: The Dark Maze, and Five Minute Escape Games. Eek.
In the South Sound, head to Lacey for a visit to My Morbid Mind, a haunted house that's been in business for 17 years. This 5000-square-foot fright-fest promises "many new rooms, new props, animatronics and pneumatics, and special effects."
I'm going to guess that if you've got kids in your family, you've spend some time at Wild Waves in Federal Way. This time of year, you might want to take the kiddos there for Fright Fest. They go all out, with a big, scary maze to explore, as well as the more kid-friendly Booville, which is what they call “scare-free” -- it's got "pint-sized fun including arts and crafts, Xakary the Magician, a hay maze, safe trick-or-treating, a costume contest, and games."
And during the day on Saturdays and Sundays, Wild Waves Fright Fest screens family-friendly "Hallo-Movies. Here's the schedule:
Casper (1995) | 10.9.2021
Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) | 10.10.2021
Hocus Pocus (1993) | 10.16.2021
The Addams Family (2021) | 10.17.2021
Maleficent (2014) | 10.23.2021
Hotel Transylvania 3 | 10.24.2021
Monster House (2006) | 10.30.2021
Coco (2017) | 10.31.2021
(Two daytime showings each day on a bright LED screen - showtimes at 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm.)
In the other direction, in Mill Creek, one of the area's other more family-friendly spots (meaning less blood and terror) has traditionally been the Mill Creek Haunted Hollow. The latest from them is that they're not operating right now. Not sure if that's going to change before the end of this Halloween season, but I can see how it might be an issue with the neighbors because this is a residential operation -- it's actually somebody's house, in a residential neighborhood.So they'll be missed, especially because, like Wild Waves, they promise, "no blood or gore, no shocking props to jump out at you when you least expect it."
Let's hope they can get that going again. You'll notice on the list at the top of the page that several haunted houses have opted to take a break this year, as they no doubt did last year, too, because of you-know-what. So check ahead if you plan on visiting any of these spots, not only to make sure they're open, but to double-check their mask and vaccination policies, and let me know if you've got a favorite in your neck of the woods that's not on the list: john@thesoundseattle.com.
Have fun out there!
