Halloween in York is Saturday 31 October, the last night of Ghost Week: free ghost hunts, Hallowscream for 16s and over, and adults-only ghost evenings.

Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October 2026, the last Saturday of York’s Ghost Week, which runs from Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November over the same days as October half term. The free events are the Ghost Merchants’ hunts and trails; the paid ones split cleanly by age, with Hallowscream at York Maze for 16s and over and a run of adults-only ghost evenings in the city’s historic houses on the 30th and 31st. Everything below is from the organisers’ own pages, read on 4 October.

The quick answer

  • Halloween: Saturday 31 October. Ghost Week VII runs 24 October to 1 November (York Ghost Merchants).
  • Free: the Little York Ghost Hunt, Monday 26 to Wednesday 28 October, 6pm to 8pm only, and the 70 sculptures of Ghosts in the Gardens until 1 November.
  • Scariest: Hallowscream at York Maze, selected nights 9 October to 1 November, strictly 16+. Under-16s have Hallowtween, the daytime version, 24 to 31 October.
  • On the night itself: an organ concert in the Minster at 7.30pm, £10 to £20, or an adults-only ghost evening at Barley Hall, Treasurer’s House or the Mansion House.
  • Is it on this year? Yes. Every event on this page has published 2026 dates; two have already sold out, listed below.

Ghost Week, the heart of it

Ghost Week is run by the York Ghost Merchants, the makers of the small ceramic ghosts sold from their shop on the Shambles. This is the seventh, and the programme is on their Ghost Week page. The main parts:

  • The Little York Ghost Hunt, Monday 26 to Wednesday 28 October, 6pm to 8pm only. 250 little ghosts are hidden each evening on the streets around York Minster, including 30 rare glow-in-the-dark Willo Ghosts. It is free, open to all ages and needs no ticket; it is seek and keep, one ghost per person. The organisers are blunt that “there are now far more people taking part than there are Ghosts to find”. Children need an adult, the ghosts are not for under-3s, and the Greys Court courtyard and Minster Refectory gardens are out of bounds. Route maps come from the Ghost Merchants’ shops and partner venues from mid-October.
  • The Seed Ghost Search, all week. 400 tiny 15mm ghosts hidden at any hour inside the streets on the Ghost Week map. Free, but not for young children.
  • The Silvertooth Trail, all week. A free trail pack, one per person aged 12 and over, collected from The Hatch beside The Dispensary in St Anthony’s Garden, 10am to 4pm. Five stamps or brass-plaque rubbings let you buy the Mr Silvertooth Ghost for £30. Packs are limited each day, and nothing is redeemed after 4pm on Sunday 1 November.
  • The Black Box Ghost Sale, Monday 26 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 4pm, in the Drawing Room of the Mansion House, St Helen’s Square. “Poppy”, an edition of 2,000 made with the Burleigh pottery, £70, one per customer, sold to over-12s only. There is a lift.
  • The Ghost Merchants Auction, Sunday 25 October, 6pm, Bedern Hall. Tickets were free, released on Eventbrite on 8 September, capacity 100, 18+.

The partner programme fills the rest of the week. Two family picks: Haunted Hall: Ghost Hunters! at Barley Hall, 2 Coffee Yard, 24 to 31 October, 45-minute tours at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm for ages 6 and up, £15.50 a child and £5.50 an adult, one adult per child; and Sine Dominis at Fairfax House, Castlegate, a Georgian clue hunt from 24 October to 1 November, £9.50 adults and free for 16 and under, with candlelit evening sessions on 26, 28 and 30 October from 5pm to 7.30pm at £15, or £6 for 16 and under. Both details are from the Ghost Week programme. Two of the partner events, the Thin Ice Press after-dark evening and its printing workshop, are already sold out.

Separately from Ghost Week, York BID’s Ghosts in the Gardens trail has 70 wire-mesh ghosts in 32 places, from Museum Gardens to the station, free until Sunday 1 November (York BID). They then move into Museum Gardens for the ticketed Ghosts After Dark, 4 to 8 November.

The scare attractions

Hallowscream at York Maze, Elvington Lane, YO19 5LT, is the big one: five haunted houses and over 100 actors on selected nights from Friday 9 October to Sunday 1 November. Gates open at 6.30pm, the last intake is 8pm with last admission at 9pm, and the scare houses close at 11pm. It is strictly 16+: nobody under 16 gets in, even with an adult, and anyone who looks under 21 needs photo ID. Tickets are online only, never on the gate, and prices vary by night, plus a £2 per person booking fee. Weeknights are cheaper; the organiser says midweek saves up to £20 a head, and that popular nights usually sell out in advance. It also warns of scammers reselling tickets they do not have (Hallowscream: dates and times).

Hallowtween, the daytime version for children, is at the same site from Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 October, closed Monday 26 and Tuesday 27. Entry is in 30-minute slots from 12.30pm, last entry 3pm, and the site closes at 5.30pm. Prices vary by date, plus £3 per transaction, online only (Hallowtween).

The York Dungeon has a new Halloween show, Mother Shipton, about the Knaresborough prophetess, from 10 October to 1 November, included in admission. For children too young for the Dungeon itself, its Little Peasants Walking Tour runs 24 to 31 October at 11.30am, 1pm, 3pm and 4.30pm: £9.95 an adult, £7.95 a child, under-3s free, booked ahead (The York Dungeon: Halloween events).

Halloween night for adults

Saturday 31 October has more on in the evening than any other night of the week:

  • The Concert That Must Not Be Named, 7.30pm to 8.45pm, York Minster Nave. Harry Potter film music, Bach’s Toccata in D minor and other Halloween favourites on the Grand Organ. £10 to £20 (York Minster).
  • Haunted Hall: Dark Tales, Barley Hall, Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October, 7pm and 8.30pm. One hour, 18+, £20 (Ghost Week programme).
  • Deadtime Stories for Adults, Treasurer’s House, Minster Yard, Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October, 6.30pm and 7.30pm. Candlelit, 18+, £20, booked through the National Trust (Ghost Week programme).
  • Remember, Remember, York Mansion House, Thursday 29 to Saturday 31 October, 7.30pm, doors 7pm. Margaret Clitherow and Guy Fawkes, played as ghosts, in the low-lit house. 15+, £25 including an interval drink (Ghost Week programme).
  • Russell Howard is at York Barbican at 3.30pm and 7.30pm (York Barbican).

Earlier in the week, Halloween in Concert at York Barbican on Tuesday 27 October, 7.30pm, is a family show of Halloween hits with a prize for the best costume (York Barbican).

Already sold out

  • Trick or Treat at Murton Park, 29 and 30 October (Murton Park). The daytime Halloween programme there, 24 October to 1 November, is not marked sold out.
  • The Printing House After Dark and the Heritage Printing Workshop at Thin Ice Press, 28 October.

Getting there and parking

Ghost Week happens inside the walls, almost all of it on foot, and the Little Ghost Hunt is mostly in pedestrian streets; the organisers ask for care with traffic on High Petergate and Goodramgate. York Maze is outside the city on Elvington Lane, with free parking for Hallowscream. For city car parks and prices see parking in York, and for closures and rail works that week see roadworks and travel. Our October half term page has the daytime family programme, and what’s on in York has everything else that week.

Still to come

  • The printable Little York Ghost Hunt map and the Ghost Week events map, due on the Ghost Week page from mid-October.
  • The auction catalogue, and the absentee-bid lots, in October.
  • A full Silvertooth Trail page, promised for late October.

We will add these as they are published.

Sources