Baton Rouge Halloween and New Orleans Halloween Fun

Baton Rouge Halloween, Haunted Houses, and Halloween Fun

Article By: Family Travel Forum Staff

Start weaving your ghost tales now so you’re all set for a spooky Baton Rouge Halloween weekend break. Baton Rouge is the perfect budget getaway with your family, when compared to New Orleans. Kids and teens who want a scary haunted house, a real haunted house, a haunted house tour and some gret Cajun’ cooking will find it in Baton Rouge.

A spooky surgeon operates on a fat man on a table at the 13th Gate haunted house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Photo c. Haunted America.
A Baton Rouge Halloween nightmare comes true at 13th Gate, one of Louisiana’s top haunted houses. Photo c. Haunted America.

Located less than an hour’s drive from New Orleans, it offers more than just haunted house stories. (New Orleans has its fair share of scares, too.) Baton Rouge Halloween season means hayrides and pumpkin picking for little ones, plus museums, leaf peeking, corn mazes and more.

For more haunted house options across the country, visit our Haunted House and Halloween Weekend Breaks Directory Page.

Whoever heard of the 13th Gate in Baton Rouge?

Scary creature is looking at a green crystal ball at 13th Gate, a haunted house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We can tell your future is a scary one at 13th Gate, a top Baton Rouge Halloween attraction. Photo c. Haunted America

Go for the big Baton Rouge Halloween attraction — the famously scary, haunted The 13th Gate. This 40,000-square-foot scream-arena is highly rated by Hauntworld.com. What makes it special is Louisiana’s active movie industry, which brings 100 actors, many skilled crew people, and a dozen trained special effects makeup artists to work on each year’s production.

Expect detailed and realistic frights at more than a dozen — you guessed it! — 13 different themed areas. Another thing that makes the 13th Gate so much fun is its swamp-like setting. Savor the feeling that hungry alligators are following you around the house’s darkened corridors. The house decor, horror film worthy, is lots of fun, too. Look for a mix of animatronic creatures and live animals. Think about Jack the Ripper prowling fog-filled streets, grave robbers, creepy clowns, zombie crypts and more.

It’s recommended for teens and older; open most Thursday to Sunday nights from late September to early November.

No alligators, right? Right? Did anyone hear an answer?? Don’t forget midway tickets for the Carnevil and the Haunted Selfie Museum. If you dare, pause to listen to live music or let yourself into one of five escape rooms. You’ll never experience a Baton Rouge Halloween the same way again.

Baton Rouge Animal Attractions for Little Ones

Brightly lit house decorated with lights and hundreds of pumpkins for Halloween.
Louisiana families take Halloween seriously!

A Baton Rouge Halloween also offers less creepy animal experiences that are easy on the pocketbook. They will also save the sanity of your little ones.

The Global Wildlife Center in Folsom is worthwhile day of Halloween fun. Observe the zoo’s reticulated giraffes, zebras, camels, bison and other exotic animals on a Safari Wagon Tour. The tours allow every member of the family, no matter how big or small, to enjoy the beauty of animals on a special 75-minute adventure across 900 acres of wildlife preserve.

Can you really pack anything else into that weekend of Halloween in Louisiana fun? The Baton Rouge Boo at the Zoo highlights more than 1,800 animals. Wear your best costumes, come ready for face painting, animal encounters, and treat stations. Check out the mini pumpkin patch in a not scary “haunted habitat”. Boo at the Zoo runs for the last two weekends each October.

More to be Less Afraid of in Baton Rouge

Spooky looking bridge at sunset leads to Baton Rouge.
While blood red sunsets take over Louisiana during autumn, you still have to cross this bridge to celebrate a Baton Rouge Halloween!

Baton Rouge is a cultural Southern city with style and a vibe like no other, not to mention boasting a rich historical background.

Explore that history aboard the USS Kidd, a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer known as the “Pirate of the Pacific.” The restored ship serves as a memorial to those who fought in the war. The nominal admission fee is worthwhile. The ship also hosts overnight group tour visits for anyone interested in sleeping in a sailor’s bunk, with a ghost sailor that is.

Looking for Baton Rouge Louisiana hotels?

A New Orleans Detour for a Haunted Halloween

Any family who has dodged the party crowds on Bourbon Street knows New Orleans — fondly known as “The Most Haunted City in America” — is terrifying year round. Locals accept that their above-ground cemeteries, eerie voodoo shrines and Spanish moss-covered homes are full of previous occupants. Costumes in storage since Mardi Gras come out again for Halloween. There’s a big, fund-raising LGBTQ+ Costume Parade on Bourbon Street. The city boasts dozens of big and small events to mark the Halloween holiday.

With so many spooky things to see, we’ve picked out the New Orleans Ghosts, Vampires, Witches and Voodoo Walking Tour” to keep everyone on their toes during this fall season. In two hours, a living guide will expose tour-goers to the French Quarter’s most haunted houses and sites of depravity. There’s only a quick refresh break so bring snacks, especially if the kids in your group tend to get fidgety.

It’s football season, so of course, your crowd might want to watch a game at LSU where the living Bengal tiger mascot, Mike the Tiger, paces the grounds year round. Louisiana folks take their tailgating seriously. When you have a stadium seating more than 100,000 fans — plus thousands cooking jambalaya in the lot — you can believe that this crowd’s enthusiasm has registered on the Richter Scale!

And if that sounds too frightening, head to the Lousiana Children’s Museum. Their autumn and Halloween week events will thrill your toddlers.

Make a weekend getaway of it, go for an adult Oktoberfest, and find a great deal on a Baton Rouge Louisiana hotels. Ready to get spooked? Scare us with your favorite Baton Rouge Halloween activity.

For more haunted house thrills around the country, visit our Haunted House and Halloween Weekend Breaks Directory.

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