4 Spooky Literary Trips To Take This Halloween
From Salem to New Orleans
By Kathleen Harris
If you’re looking for something to do this Halloween season that sends a shiver down your (bookish) spine, take a trip to one of these spooky destinations that have inspired favorite, fright-inducing writers, like Stephen King and Edgar Allen Poe. From walking tours to cemetery visits, these literary haunts will do just that….haunt. Readers, beware.
The Shining’s The Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado
Imagine exiting the elevator on your hotel room floor and seeing two blood-streaked twins patiently waiting for you at the end of the hallway. Then they begin riding their tricycles toward you. While that exact spooky scenario may not happen on a stay at The Stanley Hotel, the real-life location inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining, the property does offer a tour inspired by the book, where you learn more about King and visit the Shining Suite.
If you want to fully immerse yourself in all things The Shining, next head west to the Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood, Oregon, which the film crew used for the exterior shot of the hotel in the movie. As you drive up the windy road to the base of the mountain, you’ll experience the same thrill–or fear– that characters did.
2. Anne Rice’s Vampires
Garden District, New Orleans
Want to join vampires skulking around the Garden District in New Orleans? Step into the pages of Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire, which is packed with local details and flavor. The Unofficial Anne Rice Walking Tour takes you to her childhood homes and to the settings of much of her work. For a nighttime thrill, try the New Orleans Vampire tour, which hits haunted streets and filming locations for the book’s adaptive movie and series.
3. Edgar Allen Poe’s Death Tour
Baltimore, Maryland
One of the spookiest writers of all time, Poe wrote such classics as “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” from his Baltimore, Maryland home (fun fact: Poe was the inspiration for the Baltimore NFL team name The Ravens!). The Edgar Allen Poe Death Bus Tour allows you to step into the poet’s shoes, including a visit to his home, the place of his death (next to the gutter), and his grave. If this limited-availability tour is not an option, take in one of Baltimore’s spooky ghost tours, like the Fells Point Ghost Tour, which includes a stop at The Horse, the historic tavern that claims to be the last sighting of Poe before his mysterious death.
4. Arthur Miller’s Witch Trials
Salem, Massachusetts
We’d be remiss to not include Salem on a list of spooky literary destinations–the setting of English-teacher-favorite The Crucible by Arthur Miller and the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Salem claims to be the place to celebrate Halloween, and there is no shortage of things to do, from a reenactment of Salem Witch Trial to a walking tour of the Dark History of Salem.
While in Massachusetts, you can visit The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, which offers ghost tours for both adults and kids (be sure to read The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton first).Their description says it all: “It starts with the sounds—creaking floors and slamming doors, fading footsteps down empty halls—a feeling of being watched, tingling taps on the shoulders, spectral shapes crouched in corners or gathered in front of fireplaces long gone cold.” Then, round out your road trip with a visit to Mount Auburn Cemetery, the setting for the climactic scene in Sanda Miller’s Wednesdays at One.
Posted October 20, 2023