With the shadow of All Hallows eve on the horizon here is the definitive list of the best creepy and creative events happening across the capital this Halloween season. From deathly discos 35 stories high to midnight ghost hunts and canine costume parties, there’s something for everyone…and every thing.
Haunted at the Medieval Banquet
Take you seat at a table of horrors for a night of feasting and phantoms at the Haunted Medieval Banquet. Join Henry VIII and fearsome hoard of medieval knights and dancing ghouls as you dine upon plates of smoked meats and fruit pies, and partake of wines and ales. Situated in Tower of London tomb, there’s sure to be more than a few ghosts at this banquet.
There is nothing on this earth more adorable than an animal in fancy-dress, particularly when it’s for a good cause. So pack that delightful pooch into monstrous getup that it will probably attempt to tear off with its bare paws and trick and/or treat it down to The Spaniard’s Inn, Hampstead, for a charity stroll in aid of All Dogs Matter. There will costume prizes for both dogs and owners, so it’s not just your canine companion that needs to bring their A-game.
Hampstead and Highgate are two of the most picturesque areas of London, but behind the lush foliage lurks a dark history. This won’t be your average Halloween pub crawl as you spend the evening in North London’s most haunted drinking establishments on this spooky guided tour. Experience Hampstead Heath in the dark, and hear the tales of murder, scandal and evil goings on that took place. The experience offers a unique way to experience the area’s oldest pubs, and have a drink with the ghosts that haunt these hallowed beer halls.
The Union Chapel’s annual horror-fest returns again. This year’s weekend special will see John Carpenter’s dystopic Escape from New York being shown on Friday 30 Oct accompanied a live, real-time performance of the score by its composer Alan Howarth. Saturday 31 Oct sees Howarth return to stage a further performance of his work from Halloween II-VI set to excerpts from these seminal slasher flicks.
Halloween make-up not really your thing? Do your attempts to turn yourself into a Halloween phantom usually end up looking like you let a crayon-wielding toddler loose on your face? If your Candy Skull is more Explosion-At-The-Candy-Factory then head down to New Cross on 31 October and let Marta transform you into the freakiest, creepiest ghoul on the town. Marta is a qualified professional face-painter who can turn your Halloween dreams into a spooky nightmare.
East London’s M&M Supper club returns with a Halloween special. Martina and Magdelena will be serving delicious Nordic food to beguile and bewitch the senses. With a supernatural menu that includes ‘mauled’ apple cider, pumpkin cannelloni and something called a ‘Bloody Torture Ice Shot’, the evening is set to be one of intrigue where you could leave with new friends or something more…
Spend your Halloween saving the world from a disastrous fate. Join the Lumos Society and race through Shoreditch to seal the portal to the netherworld from which dark shadows have come a-slithering. You will have 66 minutes to get to the portal before the horrors that have already made their way into our world get to you. Compete against other teams, evade the encroaching darkness, solve the puzzles, save reality and enjoy bespoke cocktails in the Member’s Lounge. If you’re a time-racing, world-saving, cocktail-appreciating adventurer, this is the perfect way to spend your spend your Halloween.
Halloween @ Crossbones Garden
Crossbones Garden is a Medieval paupers burial ground in Southward. Every year since 1998, hundreds gather to honour those buried in the graveyard. The evening will include a performance from The Southward Mysteries in memory of the Outcast Dead of Crossbones Graveyard, a Samhain ritual by a crow priestess, poems and songs from the likes of John Constable and Nigel of Bermondsey and a candlelit ceremony at Crossbones with the reading of the names of those interred in its grounds.
Step into a world of covert ops and state surveillance at one of the world’s most notorious prisons – The Tower of London. Directed by award-winning digital theatre company Anagram, the story crosses between contemporary and Elizabethan London, with you, Operative 341, being integral to the story. Phone calls and messages will lead you on an investigative journey around the Tower, and asks the question: in a climate of global insecurity…where is the line between secutiry and oppression? Who watches The Watchers?
Kings Cross’ Drink Shop Do are offering master classes in the art of squash sculpture with their Monday-Thursday pumpkin carving sessions. As well teaching you how to be the Michelangelo of the pumpkin industry, you’ll be furnished with a free Halloween cocktail, because Drink Shop Do know there’s only one thing better than incompetent adults wielding a knife and that’s tipsy incompetent adults wielding a knife. The two-hour sessions run Monday-Thursday from 19-29 Oct at 6.30pm and 8pm and advance booking is required.
Get yourselves up to Sky Garden for their hellraising Halloween extravaganza. Slip into your most gruesome gladrags for a night of dancing and debauchery. All guests are given a “deadly delicious” cocktail from the Sky Pod Bar upon arrival, followed by music and dancing courtesy of 10-piece funk freakers The Soul Jets. From midnight-4am DJ Max will take to the decks to spew out Halloween tunes loud enough to wake to the dead. Get your tickets now.
The London Bridge Experience resurrects its annual fright nights with a unique and terrifying journey into your worst nightmares. The Freaks family are loosed from their shackles to run riot and they’ve got their sights set on adding some new kin to the clan. The London Bridge Experience proudly declares that in 2014 they terrified the living daylights out 140,000 unsuspecting victims in a series of events that saw guests locked in cages, become the targets of armed robbery and get married off to a hick bride. The exact details of what this year could bring remains shrouded in a shadowy underworld, but if you dare venture down to Tooley Street between 24-31 October, you could be unfortunate enough to find out…
As part of the 2015: Year of Mexico in the UK, The British Museum will be ringing in All Hallows Eve with a special evening event of music and performance to celebrate the Mexican Day of the Dead. The event is completely free so just drop in.
All Hallows Eve All Nighter
Join the Regent St. Cinema for 6 hours of fear and Halloween festivities as they guide you through a quintet of iconic horror movies. Featuring the likes of Christine, Tourist Trap, Halloween III, Salem’s Lot and Zombie Flesh Eaters, indie-pop fourpiece Those Unfortunates will be on hand to bust out creepy covers of your favourite tunes from horror films.
An army of ghosthunters will be descending upon Canary Wharf this Halloween to seek out the elusive phantoms of the London Docklands. Hear the dark tales that lurk within the walls of the 200 year old warehouse and about the lives of the men, women and children who lived and worked in Docklands. The tour is two hours and includes a special Halloween night session from midnight to 2am. Refreshment is provided and advance booking is required.