Families with young children on the hunt for non-frightening Halloween-themed activities or adults who just really love animals and any excuse to dress up: This event is for you. In addition to Happy Hollow’s typical assortment of animal encounters and amusement park rides, visitors are invited to participate in a costume contest, decorate mini-pumpkins and sample Zume Pizza slices. If you have your heart set on a particular activity, plan to arrive early to avoid disappointment, since many of these special activities are only available “while supplies last.”

Howl in the Hollow
Sat, 10am, $11.25+
Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, San Jose

The Satori goth club has been keeping South Bay dance floors weird for 12 years now. The first venue to host the recurring dance night was Club Savoy north of downtown San Jose. From there it moved to the Blank Club and now lives at The Ritz. As the creepiest night of the year draws nigh, this Halloween-themed Satori will feature resident selectors DJ Bit and DJ Owen spinning up plenty of goth and industrial tunes from the likes of Ministry, Joy Division, Skinny Puppy, The Cure, Depeche Mode and more. It’s free before 10pm with an RSVP; $10 after.

Satori Halloween
Fri, 9pm, Free
The Ritz, San Jose

Wielding a skull-topped scepter and decked out in demented makeup, Brian Miller looks very much the part. The ringleader of a gang of killer clowns, he has schooled his motley crew in the art of lurking. They hide behind bushes and around blind corners—waiting for an opportunity to set upon a young victim.

Springing into action, a member of Miller’s posse breaks into a sprint, cackling devilishly, before falling to his knees and skidding several feet on plastic-capped kneepads. A girl screams and runs for cover from the menacing marauder.

Welcome to Jester Town—one of three new “Scare Zones” at Great America’s 10th annual Halloween Haunt. Wedged between the Flight Deck and Patriot roller coasters, the town is populated by a multitude of sinister harlequins, all hell-bent on coaxing a cry from park patrons.

Mentoring young jump-scare artists is just part of what Miller oversees in his role as entertainment production coordinator at Great America. He is also active in the local performing arts community. A theater major with a background in sound design, Miller helped put together creepy audio clips for this year’s Haunt; he has also worked for the San Jose Stage Company, serving as a production manager during the theater organization’s 2015-16 season and as company manager during the 2016-17 season.

His background is typical for many who work on this spooky seasonal event, which park representatives estimate employs upwards of 700 additional workers during late September and all of October. Sean Lee, entertainment manager for Great America, says the park brings on about 400-500 monster actors and 250 behind-the-scenes contractors for the Haunt. This includes local artists, carpenters, sound designers, makeup professionals and, of course, legions of young men and women just itching to jump out at visitors from dark corners and yell “boo.”

Witchy Warning
It’s approaching 7pm on Friday evening, Sept. 22—the Haunt’s opening night—and a hoard of teenagers gathers around the large reflecting pool at Great America. Though the amusement park is not yet open, ticket-takers have let the kids in early so they can catch the commencement ceremony.

As the hour turns, a witch appears on the upper level of the Carousel Columbia. With a couple monkeys in tow, Wizard of Oz style, she explains what the park’s got in store for visitors this year. Her shrill, prerecorded voice plays over the PA system as the actor in the costume pantomimes along.

The witch hypes new visual effects that have been added to The Demon roller coaster and the overhauled Scare Zones—which include Underworld Alley and Feary Tales, in addition to Jester Town. In a surreal moment, the witch makes a veiled reference to Donald Trump: “Confused by the current political climate?” She promises it’s nothing compared with the new, disorienting maze called Chaos House.

Then the demon makes his entrance. Lumbering down a catwalk extending into the pool, he stops and begins his speech. He conjures flames from the water before him—a pretty cool trick—and fire spouts up in hot columns around the edge of the pool. He issues a guttural, ghoulish laugh and the kids are set loose.

Brian Miller gets into character with the help of makeup artist Jenn Majdi. Photo by Greg Ramar.

The Backwoods
It’s midafternoon, a little more than a week before the witch and her demon open the Haunt. Instead of the whoosh of roller coasters, the air above Great America is filled with the clattering of hammers, the buzzing of saws and the various squeals and ominous, eerie tones emanating from the park’s newest, and as-yet-unfinished haunted maze.

The entrance is located behind the Gold Striker roller coaster, and the maze’s façade resembles an Appalachian front porch. It’s the kind of setting that would make for a nice, relaxing evening of sipping bourbon in Adirondack chairs, surveying the sweep of the Great Smoky Mountains. Or, it could portend something far more sinister—a la Deliverance. Dubbed the Backwoods, the maze is billed as a “bayou hunting resort and spa” where “people have been disappearing and creatures are lurking in the shadows.”

Upon entering, guests are greeted by a jump-scare concierge and a litany of increasingly creepy clues that something is not right on the bayou. Progressing through a warren of interconnected, swampy cabins, it becomes clearer that werewolves are mixed up in this mess. In each room, different soundtracks help tell the story. And, of course, the cast of actors keep visitors on their toes. On opening night, guests are preoccupied with sniffing out the next boogeyman—as they should be, distracted from the fact that every single element in Backwoods had to be designed and built.

From the front porch, to the individualized soundtracks of each space, down to the strands of yarn and newspaper clippings that crisscross the wall of the conspiracy theory cabin, entertainment manager Lee estimates that nearly two months of full-time work went into creating Backwoods.

The haunted maze has been constructed inside what used to be an IMAX movie theater. Plastic basins have been installed beneath the boardwalks connecting the cabins, so water can be pumped in Pirates of the Caribbean-style. Catherine Lucas, operations supervisor of productions and props for the Halloween Haunt, ticks off the list of things most guests don’t consider, like the time it takes to fabricate all the props, build walls or paint rooms. “The small details of everything,” she says. “Where things go. How it’s secured down. How many people it actually takes to put it together.”

On opening night, the line for Backwoods is quite long and it’s not immediately clear if guests are listening intently to what the DJ is saying in between the contemporary country hits that play over the loudspeakers.

Those who tune their ears to the DJ will hear him dropping hints here and there that he was bitten by something earlier in the day and that he is starting to feel strangely drawn to the moon. All of this comes courtesy of Evan Fitch and his team—which includes Miller, the part-time jester, who provided the vocal performance for the pre-recorded faux radio spots.

Fitch, supervisor of entertainment and tech services for the Halloween Haunt, explains that Miller’s on-air character helps drive the story of Backwoods. “Once you get into the first cabin, you progress to the next part of the story where he transforms, he goes and he eats the intern and he runs free,” he says.

Creative Creeps
While the build team works to construct the physical spaces guests will move through, and the lighting and sound teams get the atmosphere right, visual artist and longtime Great America contractor Lacey Bryant works to make the mazes feel as though they have been lived in.

Bryant uses stencils to create wallpaper patterns, paints the floors to look like tile or old wooden planks and produces unsettling family portraits. Those plugged in to the local art scene know Bryant well. Late last year Empire Seven Studios in San Jose’s Japantown hosted her solo show “Homeward.” She’s also exhibited in spaces in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Working the Haunt is an ideal job for Bryant, who has helped out with special Halloween events and the park’s annual holiday fair for more than a decade. While many working artists tend bar or wait tables in order to make rent, Bryant counts herself fortunate for the Great America gig.

“This is what I do to pay the bills,” she says. But it’s more than that. In the time she’s spent working the Haunt, Bryant has honed her skills as an artist. “Everything I learn here, I can put into my work.”

That includes time management. Bryant has many of her duties down to a science. She can produce a large creepy painting in about 20 minutes, which is essential with the park’s demanding deadlines.

Perhaps no one on the Halloween Haunt team is as acutely aware of deadline pressures as Jenn Majdi, operations supervisor for makeup. Majdi, who works year-round at the park, says that the demand for makeup is most intense during the fall festival, when she and her team of 32 apply face paint, affix wigs and glue prosthetic latex masks to around 300 actors every night of the event. (Shows run Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights through the end of October.)

The makeup team moves through the entire queue of monsters, freaks, deranged clowns and other ghastly creatures in about three and a half hours. They are able to achieve this level of efficiency each night through practice and a well-defined game plan.

“The artists know and they practice to get their looks down to 20 minutes each,” Majdi says. “And all the artists are given specific assigned characters. And they do those exact same characters at the exact same time every night, so that they can perfect that time frame.”

Jesse Anderson plays one of the monsters on this year’s zombie roster. Speaking with him, it becomes clear that dressing up as a reanimated corpse is more than just a quirky seasonal gig.

The way Anderson tells it, when he was around 8 years old he had a magical Halloween experience. “One year, I don’t know what happened, but everyone just decided to pull out all the stops and just do insane costumes with an amazing amount of detail,” he says. “Just being able to be in the middle of all that—tromping around like a group of monsters who looked like we just crawled out of the TV—was just … there’s nothing like it.”

Anderson imagines that most people on the Haunt cast of performers have a similar story. “Pretty much everyone who does a monster here has a special connection to Halloween, in general,” he says. “So coming in and being able to do that professionally is really a dream—it’s amazing.”

Lacey Bryant uses the experience—and money—she earns from Halloween Haunt to support her work as a full-time artist. Photo by Greg Ramar.

Psycho Swirl
Back in Jester Town on opening night, it’s easy enough to escape the packs of jeering jokers—if one is willing to step into one of Bryant’s new mazes, Chaos House.

Upon entering the room, a thick cloud of stage smoke and strobe lights add to the confusion of the myriad angled mirrors lining the walls. Black and white patterns on the floor add to the confusion and prevent those navigating the maze from easily picking out a clear path. In a few of the rooms within the maze, concentric circles and wavy lines on the ground work in concert with the strobes to make it seem as if the floor is shifting underfoot.

The optical illusion is indeed disorienting. So much so, that the wicked witch’s seemingly over-the-top Trump allusion comes rushing back to mind—along with something Bryant had said just a week prior: “I think Chaos House is just going to blow people out of the water.”

It seems that both she and her friend in the pointy cap were right.

Halloween is the holiday when we become obsessed with the things that scare us. We watch more scary movies. We purchase scary costumes. We visit haunted houses. We put Donald Trump on the national ticket. Basically, we buy all the way in. But what truly frightens us isn’t a foul-mouthed Leprechaun, an anemic girl with a grudge or yet another Mike Myers movie—although a new Austin Powers or Shrek would be terrifying! It’s the mysterious places that never go out of season. Old hotels, shady restaurants and even a few hiking trails top the list of South Bay’s most notorious haunts. We tracked down the stories behind the region’s biggest urban legends. Most of these spots are open to the public, but enter at your own risk.

Agnews
Santa Clara
The Great Earthquake of 1906, and the ensuing fires, decimated San Francisco. But the temblor also rocked the South Bay. The old Agnews State Hospital—originally knowns as “The Great Asylum for the Insane”—collapsed in the quake and more than 100 patients died in the catastrophe. Today, the rebuilt treatment building sits at the center of the historic Sun Microsystems-Agnews complex in Santa Clara. It is recognized by the National Park Service for its architecture and history of pioneering modern mental health practices. Others recognize it as a hotbed for paranormal activity. Also, Green Day recorded their “Basket Case” video here.

China Hole
Morgan Hill
One of the better and more demanding hiking trails in the South Bay, China Hole is a beautiful trail with a dark past. Many of its hikers try and stay as far away as possible from the creek. The story goes that a woman’s ex-lover drowned her here in the 1800s. Her angry spirit reportedly still haunts the creek, taking cheating men who visit the creek along with her.

Claudia’s Garden at Gilroy Gardens
Gilroy
Gilroy Gardens is a fun spot for families, with its beautiful gardens, Ferris wheel and restaurants that sell the town’s eponymous garlic fries. (Take a hike, McDonald’s.) But late at night, the amusement park can be scarier than one might think. Late-night crews have reported seeing the small carousel in Claudia’s Garden turn on and off by itself, and in a more recent report loud drumming was heard coming from one of the stages after the park was closed.

Coyote Creek Trail
Morgan Hill
Coyote Creek is a widely known hiking trail. It’s beautiful but deadly. In 1909, a woman and her child fell victim to what many believed was a mountain lion. Years later, hikers of the trail have felt an uncomfortable presence, almost as if the ghosts of the deceased were trying to tell them something.

Del Mar High School
San Jose
Before the school opened, a boy was reportedly murdered by his best friend on the grounds where the athletics field stands today. Legend has it that every night at 3:15am, screams can be heard coming from the field and sometimes a figure can be seen running up and down the bleachers.

Drawbridge
Fremont
While many South Bay suburbs can feel desolate after dark, there is only one true ghost town in the region. Founded in 1876 as an outpost along the South Pacific Coast Railroad, the town’s original inhabitants manned the two drawbridges at either end of Station Island. Over the ensuing century the railway stop—located between Alviso and Fremont—drew many settlers, but the soggy marshland underneath the once-bustling town has swallowed up the 90 buildings that once stood there. Visitors are not allowed to see Drawbridge these days, though adventure seekers often trespass. The best way to get a legal view is from the Altamont Commuter Express, the Capitol Corridor and the Coast Starlight trains that pass nearby.

Grandview Restaurant
San Jose
Overlooking the South Bay, high up in the foothills along Mt. Hamilton Road, the Grandview Restaurant treats patrons to good food, tasty libations, live music and an epic vista of Silicon Valley. It’s also rumored that one guest returns more frequently than any other—the ghost of a young girl, gazing out at the hazy yellow glow of San Jose. People have tried to approach her in the past, but she vanishes before they can get close enough to grab her. Also, lights have been known to flicker erratically and turn on all by themselves.

Great America
Santa Clara
No, we’re not talking about the amusement park’s annual Halloween Haunt, in which costumed staffers chase and ambush paid visitors. The ghosts who haunt Great America in Santa Clara trace back to the tragic deaths of people killed on the rides and the man who froze to death in the Roast Beef Shop’s walk-in freezer. A man’s ghost has reportedly flickered into view on security cameras by the Big Arcade and Drop Zone. Throughout the park, visitors have also reported inexplicable cold spots, taps on the shoulder and whispers of disembodied voices.

Hicks Road
San Jose
This dark myth is a golden oldie. The eerie Hicks Road in San Jose passes through a wild area of the county, thus making it a prime backdrop for a pervasive urban legend. It is said that albinos, or sometimes witches or recluses, angrily chase trespassers who wander (or deliberately joyride) through their territory.

Joaquin Murrieta
Fremont
Depending on your point of view, Joaquin Murrieta was either a heroic Robin Hood-like figure or a ruthless bandit. Though facts are hard to come by, Murietta was a Mexican national drawn to Northern California during the Gold Rush. Legend has it that he was driven from his lucrative claim by white men who raped his wife. After that, he became an outlaw, specializing in doling out vigilante justice. The Legend of Zorro may have been influenced by the tales surrounding Murrieta’s life and maybe—just maybe—his cabeza remains buried in a glass jar somewhere in the foothills between San Jose and Fremont. Happy head-hunting!

Lexington and Alma
Los Gatos
Once important rail stops for loggers in the Santa Cruz Mountains, the towns of Lexington and Alma boasted stage stops, saloons, hotels and general stores. The remains of the once-bustling way station have long since been submerged beneath a murky reservoir. The underwater ghost towns just off of Highway 17 by Los Gatos were largely abandoned and demolished to make way for the James J. Lenihan dam built in 1950. When the water level falls low enough, remnants can be seen of roads and occasionally the specters of long-dead denizens.

Marsh Road
San Jose
It’s become almost a rite of passage for Milpitas high school kids to seek out the ghost of murder victim Marcy Conrad, who was killed by her boyfriend on Marsh Road. Unlike the back stories of most urban legends, this murder was real and well-documented. The area of Marsh Road where the ghost is said to roam has long been closed off by law enforcement, so leave the Mystery Machine at home.

Mystery Spot
Santa Cruz
Folks from all over the country are familiar with this quirky tourist trap in the Santa Cruz Mountains, thanks to its iconic bumper stickers. Tour guides are happy to explain how gravitational and magnetic anomalies are at play. While inside the the wonky cabin—which is tilted at a severe angle at the top of a steep hill—balls appear to roll uphill. Standing outside the structure, people seem to grow and shrink before your very eyes. Scientists at Berkeley have explained these phenomena away as optical illusions, but people remain convinced that something supernatural is afoot among the towering redwoods. Yeah, believe what you want.

Old Gilroy Hotel
Gilroy
Back before it was used as a city building, the Gilroy Hotel was a safe haven for travelers going back and forth to the Bay Area. It housed families and lonesome strangers, some more sinister than others. According to a report, two ghosts, a little girl and an older woman haunt the building. One night a man came in and killed them during their stay, leaving their souls trapped in the old hotel forever. Some say that they have seen the little girl looking out the window, while another patron reportedly had his neck touched by a passing spirit.

Peninsula School
Menlo park
Before it became an elite private academy, Menlo Park’s Peninsula School housed happy newlyweds James and Carmelita Coleman. The much-older Mr. Coleman built the gleaming white mansion in 1880 as a gift for his new bride. But their honeymoon bliss was cut short by a stray bullet that fatally struck the newly minted Mrs. Coleman on a trip to San Francisco. Her bereaved husband sold the mansion and never returned. But his young bride’s spirit stayed in the house he made for her.

Quimby Road Jogger
San Jose
Never drive along Quimby Road at midnight. Why, you ask? You may just run into one of San Jose’s most notorious ghost figures, the Quimby Road Jogger. Some have driven to Quimby Road just so they could get a good look at the ghost-runner. Don’t try and run alongside him though—he’s known to disappear into the hills once spotted.

Rengstorff House
Mountain View
German immigrant Henry Rengstorff, an early settler of what would later become the town of Mountain View, built the “R House” in 1867. The 16-room mansion, with its elaborate furnishings and widow’s walk garden, remained in the family until 1959. But subsequent occupants never settled for long, claiming to be chased away by the supernatural presence of a mournful young woman. When the house later fell into disrepair, her lonely apparition scared away squatters. Since the Rengstorff House became a museum, its resident spirit has grown more tolerant of visitors. Guests say they sometimes hear her weep or see her colorless face peer from the window of an upstairs bedroom.

Santa Clara University Mansion
Santa Clara
The Santa Clara, SCU’s student paper, has confirmed that the university sits on the site of several Native American burial grounds. However, that still doesn’t explain the ghosts of Jesuit monks that are rumored to wander near the bell tower of the mission after dark.

Santa Teresa County Park
San Jose
There are several versions of the campfire story that involves the small pond in Santa Teresa Springs, but they all end the same way—a girl named Dottie is pulled under the water by a giant hand. Sometimes there is a sub-plot involving Dottie being angry at her parents and somehow mustering up the physical strength to hang them from the rafters in the nearby barn.

Sprig Trail
Gilroy
Now a popular hiking destination, Mount Madonna’s Sprig Trail is also popular with undead spirits. Henry Miller, one of the most prosperous cattle farmers of the Gold Rush era, had a summer home at Mount Madonna County Park that he shared with his daughter, Sarah. At age 8, Sarah Miller tragically died in a horseriding accident. To this day, hikers and campers have seen the little girl roaming around the ruins of her father’s mansion, as well as outside along the trail. She is identified by either the frilly white dress she wears, or is seen with the horse that ultimately killed her. Some campers have awoken in the morning to find small foot and hoof prints around their tent. People leaving the park have also reported seeing Sarah trying to hitch a ride on the side of the road or even sitting in the backseat of their cars.

Toys “R” Us
Sunnyvale
The spirit that haunts Sunnyvale’s Toys “R” Us lost his leg and his life nearly a century before the store broke ground along East El Camino Real in the 1970s. In one telling, a poor minister named Johnny Johnson was chopping wood while agonizing over unrequited love. The woman he secretly adored had married a wealthy lawyer far above Johnny’s station. In the throes of heartbreak, he swung the axe right onto his leg and slowly died in a puddle of blood and tears. Since Toys “R” Us erected its big-box shop over the scene of poor Johnny’s tragic demise, he’s said to stalk the aisles, flinging merchandise off the shelves and turning faucets on and off.

White Witch
Fremont
In the Niles Canyon foothills, a winding two-lane road that connects Fremont to Livermore and Pleasanton is said to be home to the White Witch. Many say she is the ghost of a teen who was killed in a car accident on the way to prom. Most tellings follow the archetypal “vanishing hitchhiker” urban legend. A young girl, dressed in all white, will ask solitary drivers for a ride to San Francisco but vanish while being transported across the bay. Others claim to have seen this spectre while walking along the railroad tracks cutting through the canyon.

Winchester Mystery House
San Jose
When gun magnate William Winchester died in 1881, he left his widow $20 million and the curse of being haunted by the ghosts of all the people killed by his eponymous line of rifles. Sarah Winchester tried to outrun them at a psychic’s behest, moving from New Haven, Conn., to San Jose, where she bought an old farmhouse and turned it into a rambling mansion. The Victorian-style home has 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 47 fireplaces, 40 staircases, 13 bathrooms and nine kitchens—built, it is said, in an effort to protect its owner from the gun-slain spirits. Preservationists recently discovered yet another room, which Sarah sealed after the 1906 earthquake, to trap the ghosts she thought caused the quake. Since her death in 1922, it’s said that Sarah’s ghost haunts the labyrinth house of mystery.

Yoshihiro Uchida Hall
San Jose
It’s well-known that San Jose State University (SJSU) was used as a processing site for Japanese internees during WWII. Students and staff have long claimed to hear faint human crying and voices coming from this building, named after SJSU alum and judo coach whose parents and siblings were registered in the building before being sent to camps in the Imperial Valley.

All Hallows’ eve falls on a Monday this year, but that doesn’t mean the parties are packing it in. Check out this list of haunted houses, masquerade balls, costume contests and Dia de Los Muertos celebrations.

Rockin’ Halloween Parties at The Quarter Note
Oct 27-29
Three nights of wild costumes, live music, dancing and spooky drink specials. Costume Contest with $100 in cash and prizes.
1214 Apollo Way, Sunnyvale

Winchester Mystery House Candlelight Tours
Oct 28-31
New to the Winchester tours are the limited-edition candlelight voyages. These spooky journeys go through 110 rooms of the world-famous—and supposedly haunted—mansion. Nighttime tours are offered only on Friday the 13th and select nights in October. Tickets sell out fast, especially for Halloween.
525 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose

Broofest: A Nightmare on Alma Street
Oct. 28-29
Get freaky at Municipal Stadium this Halloween. Slurp 80-plus sudsy potions from regional breweries, feast on devilish dishes, show off your best scream at the photo booth, dress up for a costume contest, bob for apples, hunt for hidden treats, decorate pumpkins and more.
588 E Alma ave, San Jose

Scene! @ The Ritz featuring Rex Goliath
Oct 28
Show!Time Productions will host their second annual Scene! @ The Ritz Halloween Party. Four local indie bands perform: Containher, Mothers Worry, Silent Pictures, and the indomitable Rex Goliath. Enjoy $1 PBRs till 10pm.
400 S First St, San Jose

Hip Hop Halloween at Back Bar SoFA
Kicking it old school, Back Bar will have Yukmouth from the The Luniz performing the Saturday before Halloween, while the connected Club Miami will feature Fulanito.
418 South Market St, San Jose

Halloween party at The Oxford
Oct. 28, 29 & 31
Celebrate Halloween with live music Friday and Saturday. Specialty cocktails designed to thrill and shock the palate go along with an Instagram contest, where a special prize will be awarded to the most imaginative post using London walls as a backdrop. On Halloween night guests can get select cocktails for half off from 5-10pm.
195 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale

Halloween Parties AT Britannia Arms
Oct. 29 & 31
Britannia Arms has two San Jose locations, and they’re throwing multiple parties. On the Saturday before Halloween, Almaden Brit will have a live DJ, drink specials and a costume party with cash prizes. Two nights later, Downtown Brit’s bash will have DJ Raheem on the turntables, drink specials and $500 in costume prizes.
5027 Almaden Expy, San Jose
173 W Santa Clara St, San Jose

Halloween at Woodhams Lounge
Oct 29
Woodhams Sports Lounge gets a spooky makeover just in time for Halloween. There will be a potluck, karaoke, a cash prize costume contest and drink specials including $2 shots. 4475 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara

Halloween Dance Extravaganza at davids
Oct 29
Burn off those candy calories at David’s Restaurant Halloween Extravaganza. Complimentary appetizers will be served as partiers dance to today’s hits with DJ Rawk. Dress to impress because there will be prizes for the best costumes.
5151 Stars and Stripes Dr, Santa Clara

Halloween Party at Jack Rose
Oct 29
Take a step back in time, dress up and enjoy classic drinks at Jack Rose’s Halloween party. Best costume will win a $300 cash prize and DJ Dinero will spin live all night. $10 cover charge.
18840 Saratoga-Los Gatos Rd, Los Gatos

Halloween Dance Party at Steamer’s Grillhouse
Oct 29
Steamer’s Grillhouse in Los Gatos has held an annual Halloween party 25 years running. Once again the party will provide great drinks, live music and dancing.
31 University Ave, Los Gatos

Drop Dead Sexy at Charley’s LG
Oct 29
Charley’s LG was awarded Best Place to Dance in Silicon Valley for four years running, and this Halloween should be no different. The weekend will be packed with amazing costumes, and a live performance by DJ Jose Melendez of Wild 94.9.
15 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos

Día de los Muertos at the San Jose Museum of Art
Oct 29
The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates Día de los Muertos with live folkloric dances, cultural arts and crafts and other family friendly activities. There will also be an altar-building demonstration to celebrate the lives of those who’ve passed away. Admission is free and the event runs 11am-5pm.
110 S Market St, San Jose

The Ritz 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Contest
Oct 29
Throw on your best costume for a chance to win $1,000 in prize money. DJ Basura will be hand spinning ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and favorites from today.
400 S First St, San Jose

Scary-oke at Goosetown
Oct 29
Warm up those vocal cords and prepare to karaoke the night away at Goosetown Cocktail Lounge.
1071 Lincoln Ave, San Jose

Halloween Party at Saddle Rack
Oct 29
Live music will be performed by The County Cougars and Diablo Road, and there will be $2,500 offered in cash prizes, so come dressed to impress—scary or cute accepted. The night will also be hosted by KSFO DJ Katie Green.
42011 Boscell Rd, Fremont

Halloween Party at East Coast Alice
Oct 29
A truly spook-tacular Halloween Party features live music by Ric Hines of One Country. Enjoy tasty treats and creepy cocktail specials throughout the night. There will be door prizes and a costume contest. Winner of best costume gets two tickets to see YES perform at City National Civic.
14560 Big Basin Way, Saratoga

Lynda Mortensen’s Bay Area Tributes Halloween Party
Oct 29
Check out live music at Club Fox in Redwood City, featuring Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, a ZZ Top tribute band and Joyride, a tribute to The Cars. An AC/DC tribute band will also play all the hits.
2209 Broadway St, Redwood City

Trick or Treat Costume Party at The GlassHouse
Oct 29
Spooky appetizers and specialty cocktails will be available at one of San Jose’s premiere event venues.
2 S Market St, San Jose

Halloween Rock ‘n’ Blues Bash
Oct 29
Every year at Blinky’s Can’t Say, costumed partygoers let loose for a night of drinking, dancing and live music. The event includes a costume contest for cash and prizes.
1031 Monroe St, Santa Clara

Halloween Party/Costume Contest at Court’s Lounge
Oct 29 & 31
Two Halloween parties and costume contests will take place, with a $200 costume contest winner named each night at 10pm.
2425 Bascom Ave, Campbell

7th Annual Día de Los Muertos
Oct 29 & Nov 5
One of San Jose’s premier Day of the Dead events, Día de Los Muertos at Calvary Cemetery is a cultural and spiritual celebration that honors deceased ancestors.
2650 Madden Ave, San Jose

La Ultima Parada
Oct 30
La Ultima Parada returns this year with traditional dances and musical performances to honor the living and the dead. There will be a “camposanto,” where visitors can honor iconic Latino artists and entertainers.
1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose

Great America Halloween Haunt
California’s Great America transforms into the fright fest Halloween Haunt. In addition to the regular roller coasters and rides, Halloween Haunt features eight horror-filled mazes, three spooky live shows and three “scare zones” between the attractions. It’s a little intense, so Halloween Haunt is not recommended for children under 13 and and the faint of heart.
4701 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara

Jacobs Farm Pumpkin Patch
Martial Cottle Park will have a pumpkin patch, corn maze and family fun. Open seven days a week, 10am-7pm.
5283 Snell Ave, San Jose

Dead Time Dreams
The Dead Time Dreams haunted house returns with “Grimm Fairy Tales” and “Fear-o-Phobia,” where imagination and fear becomes reality. Open Thursday through Sunday.
2501 Tully Rd, San Jose

Well, Halloween is over, and if you’re anything like us, Sunday wasn’t enough time to fully recover from the weekend’s festivities. Whether you’re hungover from sugar, drinks or sugary drinks, we’re happy to provide you with a quick break from the grind. Check out these photos captured by intrepid Metro photog, Greg Ramar, as he braved the creeps and cooks on an epic Halloween pub crawl from Hollister, through Los Gatos and Campbell, and on to San Jose.

Studio 8 was packed on Friday with partiers ready to kick off the Halloween festivities at the club’s Vamps and Tramps party, featuring adult film star Isis Taylor.

Photos by Metro photographer CJ Storm.

San Pedro Square newcomer SP2 Communal Bar + Restaurant kicked off the early Halloween party with “Exotica” on Saturday.

Metro photographer Darrell Nance was there to catch the party.

It was “Night of the Living Dead” downtown as the San Jose Zombie Crawl was resurrected for a pre-Halloween party. As usual, the zombies were more thirsty for beer than blood as they made their way through the downtown bars.

Metro photographer Alex Stover braved hordes of the undead to capture these photos.