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With carved pumpkins in sight, ghosts and spirits on streets and ubiquitous crazy parties; Halloween is one of the most exciting times to be in the US. Don’t believe us? Check out these top five Halloween events in the US that bring the best (read: spookiest) of Halloween traditions and rituals alive, only with a modern twist:
Image Credits: InSapphoWeTrust
Village Halloween Parade
Established in 1974, the Village Halloween Parade of Manhattan is one of the most popular Halloween events in the US. Happening for 44th time on 31st October 2017, the Village Halloween Parade invites the public participation given that participants are dressed in Halloween costumes. Larger than life puppets, over 50 musicians, dancers and artists will take to the 6th Ave. at Canal Street this year to march on the theme of ‘Cabinet of Curiosities: An Imaginary Menagerie’.
Sleepy Hollow Halloween
The month long celebration of Washington Irving’s legend of Sleepy Hollow in New York, this Halloween celebration is characterised by haunted hayrides, gothic mansions, live music performances, street fairs, parades and, needless to say, the headless horseman. Take the spook to next level by going for an evening lantern tour to the haunted Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, the resting place of Washington Irving and by visiting the crypt of vampire Barnabas Collins. The tour will leave you with elevated adrenaline, provided you escape the clutches of Dracula and the Wicked Witch of the West.
West Hollywood Carnaval
A celebration held at an unprecedented level, West Hollywood Carnaval is the largest Halloween street party in the world. Around 5,00,000 people gather wearing the wackiest and the most creative Halloween costumes for an extravaganza of live music performances, competitions and drink specials. An array of trendy clubs and bars line up the streets and as the Santa Monica Boulevard prepare to host some A-list celebrities. The ‘Queen of the Carnaval’, a big celebrity, culminates the event every year. Rihanna and Queen Latifah have been the notable ‘queens’ of the event in the past.
Festival of the Dead
One of the most entertaining and unusual ways to celebrate Halloween is to be a part of Salem, Massachusetts’ Festival of the Dead. Held throughout October, the festival sees participation of over 5, 00,000 people. Major draws for visitors is the Annual Psychic Fair and Witchcraft Expo where they get an opportunity to interact with psychics, mediums, magicians, voodoo experts, witch doctors and more. Hawthorne hotel’s Salem Witches’ Halloween Ball is the where the festival is culminated with the spooky and ritualistic ‘summon of spirits’ event.
Halloween in New Orleans
There can’t be a better way to celebrate Halloween than at ‘the most haunted city in America’. Believed to be the site of some of most spooky and terrifying Halloween tours, New Orleans is where you can try to contact spirits from the other on a guided tour. After ample chills and thrills, visit the Faubourg Marigny neighbourhood for cooling off at the most happening party in the town. New Orleans’s Halloween Party also gives you a chance to stand up for the LGBT community as the party has emerged as a social-awareness event over the years. With unending supply of alcohol, costume competitions and dance parties at the helm of festivities, Halloween is the best time to visit New Orleans.