If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Halloween is falling on a Saturday this year, and Gen Z is apparently looking to make a weekend of it. According to new data from Airbnb, searches for Halloween weekend stays have jumped nearly 45% among Gen Z travelers compared to last year, as younger vacationers look for more elaborate — and occasionally haunted — getaways.
Overall searches for the Oct. 30-Nov. 1 weekend are up nearly 15% year-over-year, while wishlists with Halloween-inspired titles have increased almost 60%. Salem, Mass., perhaps unsurprisingly, ranks as the most popular trending U.S. destination for the holiday. To capitalize on the interest, Airbnb has rounded up 31 properties designed for different Halloween sensibilities, from cozy New England retreats that could double as the setting of “Gilmore Girls” to secluded horror-themed cabins and historic homes with reported paranormal activity.
Some lean into the season with elaborate movie-inspired sets and interactive mysteries; others have histories that are unsettling enough on their own. Among the more unusual options is a former Missouri morgue equipped with ghost-hunting gear, a Nevada mining cabin previously featured on a paranormal reality series and a Big Bear retreat that borrows a particularly memorable bathroom scene from a horror classic. Here are seven stays worth considering for a Halloween weekend away — or a spooky getaway any time of year.
For horror fans who would rather spend Halloween inside a scary movie than watching one, this Big Bear cabin goes all in on the genre. The retro-inspired rental features an elaborate bathroom modeled after a famous horror movie scene, complete with an axe lodged in the door. Ghostly special effects and an interactive escape-room mystery add to the atmosphere, making this one of the more theatrical options on Airbnb’s list.
It’s an especially fitting getaway for fans planning a marathon of classic slasher films. This Missouri property doesn’t have to manufacture much of its Halloween atmosphere. The building previously served as a morgue, funeral home, church and museum, and its current owners have leaned into that unusual history with mortuary-inspired decor.
Guests staying in the loft can also try their hand at paranormal investigation with an included spirit box, electromagnetic field detector and dowsing rods. Whether any ghosts actually turn up is another question, but it’s a considerably more immersive alternative to watching an episode of “Ghost Hunters.” For travelers whose Halloween tastes skew more gothic mystery than slasher film, Philadelphia’s Hewitt offers a suitably dramatic setting. Occupying the 2,500-square-foot third floor of an 1886 Queen Anne Victorian mansion in historic Germantown, the rental comes with period architecture and a hidden east wing accessible through a bookcase door.
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