Haunted houses and Halloween nights in Sacramento, and where to eat after

Halloween 2026 is a Saturday. Friday, October 30 is a normal work and school day, and Sacramento State plays Kent State at Hornet Stadium that night at 7:30 p.m., with fireworks after. Clocks go back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1, at the end of Halloween night. Sacramento Scream Park is on Auburn Boulevard, Heartstoppers is east of the city in Rancho Cordova, Corbett’s House of Horror is off Interstate 80 outside Davis, and Haunted Forest CA is in the Amador County foothills. The ghost tours are in Old Sacramento. This is the scary half of a night out. The eating half is at the end, downtown.

I write the haunt guides on Mr. Fear, a Halloween site, and I am a guest here. Top of Sacramento asked for the haunted houses. They supplied the tables.

The night, in order

Pick one area for the evening first. Crossing the region between timed tickets does not work. Buy the ticket before the costume. Both big haunts sell online only, Heartstoppers sells no tickets at the door, and Sacramento Scream Park says most nights sell out. Then check the costume rules, because neither allows a full mask: Heartstoppers bans masks and face-hiding makeup, and Scream Park bans full face masks, weapon props and gore makeup. Bring cash for Heartstoppers parking, and bring a layer, because late-October evenings here typically cool into the 40s and 50s. Eat after, not before. Downtown has kitchens open until 10 and 11 p.m. If anyone under 18 is with you inside the City of Sacramento after 10 p.m., stay with them. That is city code, not advice.

The haunted houses

• Sacramento Scream Park, Auburn Boulevard: the former Ultimate Terror, now four haunted houses on one ticket: Gator Gulch, Silverthorn Amusement Park, Greyhaven Hospital and Homecoming Horror. Select nights from September 12 to November 7. On November 6 and 7 only, Lights Out sends each group through with one glowstick. The organizer does not recommend it for children 12 and under, and guests under 16 must be with an adult over 21.
• Heartstoppers Haunts, Rancho Cordova: four haunts linked by one storyline in a three-story building and an outdoor scare zone, plus an hourly stage show. The organizer says to expect 90 to 120 minutes. The FAQ says guests 16 and under must be with an adult in the haunted houses, and anyone visibly intoxicated is turned away along with their party.
• Corbett’s House of Horror Fear Farm, Davis: the Scarecrow Corntrail, Medical Mayhem and CarnEvil, plus Zombie Paintball Attack, where riders shoot paintball guns at zombies from the back of pickup trucks. Posted hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 7 to 11 p.m., from October 2 to October 30, but the page does not print the year, and as posted it is not open on Halloween night. The site says it sells out every night.
• Haunted Forest CA at Mayville Acres, Plymouth: a 45 to 60 minute walk through 30 acres of real forest in Amador County. The operator markets it for adults and teens. The operator page lists September 25 to October 31 and the ticket site lists September 18 to October 31, so read the ticket calendar for individual nights.

With kids

Go in daylight. Halloween Fun Day at Fairytale Town in Land Park is Saturday, October 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with trick-or-treating; the page also says trick-or-treating runs to 3 p.m., so check it. The same day, the free Zombie Bike Parade Festival in Davis runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and ends with a Trick-or-Treat Trail from 3 to 5 p.m. Elk Grove’s free Hallo-Palooza & Trunk-or-Treat is Friday, October 30, from 5 to 8 p.m.. Tricks and Treats at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo runs Saturdays and Sundays from September 19 to November 1 as a daytime event with no scares. For pumpkins, the Elk Grove Giant Pumpkin Festival on October 3 and 4 has free entry and a regatta in giant pumpkins used as canoes, and Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland is free to enter daily until November 15.

Ghost tours

The ghost tours are in Old Sacramento. Sacramento Ghosts from US Ghost Adventures is a one-hour, one-mile lantern walk past the Delta King Hotel and the Sacramento History Museum, meeting at Waterfront Park on Front Street; Visit Sacramento lists nightly departures at sunset all year. The Sacramento History Museum’s Old Sac Paranormal Investigations go inside historic buildings on Thursdays, November 5, 12 and 19, at 7 p.m., with a minimum age of 13. The Old City Cemetery Lantern Tours on October 9, 10, 16 and 17 carry the 2026 theme Didn’t See It Coming. They are sold out, but the organizer says refunds do come back, so check the page.

What is not open this year

Fright Fest is not on Six Flags Discovery Kingdom’s 2026 events calendar, and the park runs daytime Tricks and Treats instead. Cemetarium Haunted House in Citrus Heights has not posted 2026 dates; its schedule page still says it would return in 2026. Dave’s Haunted Corn Maze at Vierra Farms has not posted 2026 nights, though the pumpkin patch opens September 19. The Sacramento Zoo has not posted a 2026 Halloween event.

The full list

Dates, ticket rules, ages and addresses for every one of these, plus the pumpkin farms, Rocky Horror with a shadow cast on Halloween night at the Historic Colonial Theatre, and the Día de los Muertos fiesta at the California Museum, are on my beat, not a restaurant site’s. The full Sacramento haunted house and Halloween events guide on Mr. Fear has all 23 listings checked against each organizer’s own page, with the links to buy.

Where to eat after

Downtown Sacramento starts where Old Sacramento ends, so a ghost tour on Front Street finishes within about a dozen blocks of all three of these. From Auburn Boulevard or Rancho Cordova, it is a drive back into the city. These three are on the Top of Sacramento steakhouse list. The scores are theirs, not mine.