After Dark: Creepatorium
Adults-only evening exploring fear science, live music, and a costume contest.
8 haunted experiences in San Francisco and nearby.
The California Academy of Sciences presents SuperNatural, a notable Halloween event for the season. For families seeking a different kind of fright, consider Halloween at the Exploratorium.
Those venturing across the bay may find the USS Hornet Museum's Halloween event appealing. This selection guides you to San Francisco's premier haunted attractions, from science museum spectacles to historic ship scares.
Circus Bella performers and a costume parade for children under 10.
Five themed rooms and 10 DJs for a mega Halloween party
Audience suggestions inspire spooky improvised scenes and earn attendees candy.
San Francisco's longest-running haunted walking tour through historic Pacific Heights.
See all haunted houses, trails, and scare attractions in your area.
Expect both everywhere, plus air horns, confined passages, and floor vibrations. Anyone with photosensitive epilepsy, migraines, asthma, or claustrophobia should read the attraction's sensory warnings, which are usually posted at the ticket page and entrance. Some haunts can flag a route around the worst strobe rooms if you ask staff, and glycol fog bothers some lungs, so pack an inhaler if you use one.
Extreme haunts require signed waivers and may include touching, restraint, isolation from your group, crawling, water, and verbal intensity far beyond a standard haunt. They're 18+ and always publish a consent framework with a safe word that instantly stops the experience. Read the full waiver before booking, go with a friend who's done one, and treat the safe word as zero-shame equipment.
Read the attraction's own scare rating first, then cross-check recent reviews for words like "touch," "extreme," or "family." A haunt that requires a waiver or offers a safe word is high intensity. Ones that advertise lights-on hours or kid matinees sit at the mild end. When a group is split, pick the middle rating and let braver members add an extreme attraction later.