Nothing is spookier than Halloween. So when you’re planning for the big event, you want it to be truly spectacular. From candy stores, to local legends, costumed bar events, and haunted spots, the Green Mountain State knows how to do All Hallows Eve right. Here’s how to make the most out of your Halloween in Vermont!
When you are talking candy stores in Vermont, you have got to check out Middlebury Sweets. Name Yankee Magazines “Best of New England” in 2016, Vermont's largest candy store has over 1,300 different candy items in stock, including handmade chocolates, gummies, hard rock candy, old-fashioned penny candies, sugar-free candy, panned candy and more. How about over 72 flavors of Jelly Belly beans, 21 different color M&M's, and vintage PEZ dispensers?
Welcome to Higher Ground’s Dark Circus Masquerade Ball. Prepare to be startled, dazzled, and mystified by the fellow guests in costume! Have your fortune told! Win the prize for best costume. Tempt fate with the spinning wheel of death, meet all your favorite circus characters, and delight in some live musical performances. And dance all night long.
Dead North is the Vermont Corn Maze’s alter ego. As the story goes, Dead North is the remnant of a once thriving town and the home of the “Slaughter Brothers.” This history sets the stage for this year’s haunt, which will include a short ride hayride and then a mile walk of terror through a haunted cornfield and buildings with animatronics. The live residents of Dead North are sure to make an appearance as well.
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If you are looking for a Halloween costume, there is no better place to go than Halloween City. Get hero/heroine costumes, children’s costumes, tweens costumes, adult his and her costumes, holiday props, and more. Whether you will transform your home into a haunted den or throwing a kid-friendly Halloween party, Halloween City has got it all.
Located in Stowe, Vermont, Gold Brook Bridge is the site of a ghost named Emily. There are many myths of how Emily died on the bridge, but the most popular one was that Emily was supposed to elope with her boyfriend. After a horrible fight with her parents, she was to meet her lover at the bridge so they could run away together. But when he didn't show, she hung herself from the rafters in despair. There are also a handful of accounts where people have reported scratch marks appearing on vehicles, hearing strange noises, and witnessing a white apparition.
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Thea Lewis, a published author of the paranormal, has been called Vermont’s Queen of Halloween, and she will lead you on a macabre adventure, scaring up Burlington’s history of madmen, murderers, shipwrecks, railroad tragedies, and other ghostly tales. Since 2002, Lewis has led every tour, and her flair for the theatrical sells every performance.
John Hubbard was a prominent businessman in Montpelier in the mid to late 1800s who died suddenly at the age of 53. Considered in his day to be greedy and bitter John's grave is now, according to legend, one of the most haunted spots in Vermont. Black Agnes guards John’s grave gripped in the throes of grief. As legend would have it, if you sit on the dark figure’s lap, you will have three strokes of bad luck.
Located at the foothills of Glastenbury Mountain, just outside of Bennington there is a supposed hotspot for UFO activity, Bigfoot sightings, and strange lights and sounds, Glastenbury was reportedly built on land that Native Americans in the area regarded as "cursed." Though this did not stop modern industrialism, and soon Glastenbury had become a bustling logging town that sported a posh hotel and an electric trolley. Now a ghost town, no less than 10 people have mysteriously gone missing since the time of its incorporation and never been found.
The University of Vermont is not only the largest place of higher education in Vermont, but it is also haunted. Over the years UVM has purchased many properties and converted them into campus buildings. The Counseling Center, for example, was once Captain John Nabb’s house, and he reported still walks the floors, occasionally knocking over buckets or slamming doors and windows. John E. Booth once owned the Public Relations, and his dark shadow has been reported on more than one occasion.
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Once recognized as the Vermont Asylum for the Insane, the Brattleboro Retreat remains a respite for patients suffering from mental health disorders. Most structures were built between 1838 and 1938, including the granite Retreat Tower, a Gothic-style 65-foot-high outlook over the retreat and town, it made the perfect dramatic scene for one’s final chapter. And, as legend has it many patients plummeted to their deaths there. At dusk, it is said the silhouette of a ghostly figure can be seen jumping off the tower ramparts but never coming down.
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