Halloween in the UK has long outgrown its reputation as a borrowed American (or European) import. Its roots here are ancient, drawn from the Celtic festival of Samhain, celebrated for the lighting of bonfires to ward off wandering spirits as summer gave way to winter. From Scotland’s guisers to England’s “souling” traditions, the festival’s spirit of disguise and remembrance lingers on in candlelit trails, ghost tours and of course, the more modern immersive experiences.
In the present day, Britain’s castles, theme parks and manor houses reawaken each October with a potent mix of history, folklore and performance, offering every kind of thrill, from child-friendly trails to genuinely terrifying nights of horror. These events demonstrate the full breadth of the UK’s approach to the season, some steeped in storytelling and myth, others unflinchingly theatrical in their approach to marking the occasion of one of the world’s most ever-growingly popular holidays.