Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which is apparently all the excuse travelers need to turn the holiday into a full-blown weekend getaway.
According to new data from Airbnb, searches for stays over Halloween weekend are up nearly 15% compared to last year. And travelers aren’t just browsing. Airbnb says wishlists with Halloween-inspired names like “spooky,” “witchy” and “haunted” are up almost 60% year-over-year.
The most popular destination probably won’t surprise you: Salem, Massachusetts. The city famous for the 1692 witch trials is Airbnb’s top trending U.S. destination for Halloween weekend.
I’ve stayed in plenty of Airbnbs over the years and I’m a big fan, especially when traveling with my family. In fact, we’ve returned to the same Airbnb in Italy for the past two summers because we loved it so much.
Hotels obviously have their advantages but when you’re traveling with kids, renting a house or apartment can be a great alternative. You can often get more space for your money, everyone doesn’t have to pile into one hotel room and having a kitchen can save a small fortune on meals. Having a washer and dryer is another huge perk, especially on longer trips with kids. And one of my favorite things about staying in an Airbnb is that you can live more like a local, shopping at neighborhood markets, walking residential streets and getting a feel for a destination that you don’t always get from a hotel.
For Halloween, Airbnb has taken that idea to another level by rounding up 31 properties that fit the season, including famous movie and television homes, gothic estates, cabins in the woods and places that hosts claim may actually be haunted.
One of the coolest is Buffalo Bill’s House in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania, the 1910 Queen Anne Victorian used as Buffalo Bill’s home in the 1991 movie The Silence of the Lambs. According to Airbnb, the original curio cabinet remains and the basement has been transformed into an interactive set.
TV fans might recognize another property in Fayetteville, Georgia. The exterior of the Byers Home was used as the family’s house in Stranger Things, and the current rental leans into its 1980s Hawkins connection.
There’s also a horror-themed cabin in Big Bear Lake, California, with scary-movie-inspired rooms, special effects and even an escape-room mystery. In Kissimmee, Florida, travelers can stay in a Haunted Mansion-inspired home with ghost-themed bedrooms, flickering lights, creaky doors and a dining room designed for a “swinging wake.”
For something a little less terrifying, Airbnb highlighted several cabins surrounded by fall foliage, including an 1850s log cabin overlooking the Mississippi River valley in Wisconsin and a treehouse retreat in the Berkshires.
Then there are the places for travelers who really want to test their nerves.
The Haunted Magnolia Hotel Bed & Breakfast in Seguin, Texas dates to 1850 and includes an unrestored 11-room wing without electricity that is said to be the property’s most haunted section. In Ozark, Missouri, guests can sleep inside a building that once served as a morgue and funeral home. Airbnb says the rental even comes with paranormal investigation equipment, including a spirit box, EMF detector and dowsing rods. No thank you.
There’s also the Parks-Bowman Mansion in New Orleans, where the hosts say a shy girl wearing a yellow dress from the 1890s haunts one of the bedrooms. No thanks. I think I’ll stick with the kitchen and washing machine.
But even if sleeping in a former morgue isn’t your idea of a vacation, the numbers show that Halloween travel is becoming a bigger deal. With the holiday falling on a Saturday this year, travelers can make a weekend out of it without taking much, if any, time off work or school.
If you’re thinking about heading to Salem or another popular Halloween destination, I wouldn’t wait too long to book. When searches are already up nearly 15%, the best and most interesting places are likely to disappear quickly.
And if someone in your family suggests booking the former morgue, you can always volunteer to stay at the hotel down the street.
