The 30 Best Haunted Houses and Halloween Displays in Phoenix in 2021

With Halloween only days away, the scary season is in full swing around metro Phoenix. Everyone is in the mood to mark the occasion, from residents putting up elaborate decorations and displays on their homes to operators of local haunted houses (both DIY and professional) looking to serve up scares.

You’ll find each included in our annual list of the biggest and best Halloween attractions, haunted houses, and home displays around the Valley. Some spots – including Sanctum of Horror and Terror Nights – are making a return after taking 2020 off for the pandemic. Organizers of each are encouraging masks, social distancing, and other precautions in light of the continued spread of Covid-19’s Delta variant.

Read on, stay safe, and be prepared to be scared.

Happy Haunted Pumpkin Patch

18639 North First Avenue

A collection of more than 100 plastic jack-o’-lanterns light up the front yard of Carl Jimenez’s north Phoenix home. Arranged in a pyramid of sorts, it includes grinning gourds both large and small, as well as one inspired by Pennywise from It, 30 Rock’s Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, and Agatha Harkness from WandaVision. Starting on October 15, you can tune into 92.9 FM on your car radio and hear a 30-minute loop of Halloween music programmed by Jimenez.

Hours and prices: The patch lights up nightly from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Donations are accepted benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona.

Keely Family's Light Show

1851 South Brighton Circle, Mesa

The Keely family of Mesa covers their home with a collection of sparkling and twinking lights and offer synchronized audio-visual displays set to tunes like Rob Zombie’s “Living Dead Girl” and the theme from Ghostbusters. There's also an enormous inflatable dragon and a pirate ship.

Hours and prices: Operates nightly, 6:30 to 11 p.m. Free.

Keif Martin’s Halloween Display

17657 North 42nd Street

A massive graveyard overrun with plants, jack-o’-lanterns, headless figures, strange beats, and other creepy creations graces the front yard of Keif Martin’s north Phoenix home. Most of the decorations were created by Martin for the display, which he calls “Grovers Gardens.”

Hours and prices: You can visit his display for free every night from 6 to 9 p.m. through Halloween.

Kipp Family's Halloween Display

1610 East Hermosa Vista Drive, Mesa

Retired pediatrician David Kipp is known for the illuminated holiday displays that adorn his enormous Mesa home with thousands of lights. Starting the week of Halloween night, though, the display will feature a light show of purples and oranges, as well as glowing pumpkins and elaborate multimedia shows on giant LED screens. Visitors are welcome to view it from the sidewalk or while inside their vehicles, as Kipp is following COVID-19 safety protocols.

Hours and prices: On display, 6 to 9 p.m., from October 25 to 31.

The Nightmare Before Christmas at Halloween

2537 East Amberwood Drive

As its name portends, this family-friendly display outside of an Ahwatukee home features Jack Skellington, Sally, and other characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas. There are also witches, ghosts, talking skeletons, and a choreographed light and animatronics show that takes place hourly.

Hours and prices: Check out the display Friday and Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. through October 31.

Jim Fry's Halloween Display

1850 East Concorda Drive, Tempe

Tempe resident Jim Fry goes all out decorating his Tempe home with a display laid out like an elaborate cemetery. It utilizes elements both whimsical (there are multiple characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas) and frightening (numerous skeletons and ghoulish figures decorate the yard). For 2021, he’s constructed a moving sleigh being driven by Jack Skellington.

Hours and prices: Fry’s display will run nightly, 6 to 10 p.m., from October 13 through Halloween. It's free to check out.

Halloween House of Queen Creek

27213 North Brenner Pass Road, Queen Creek

The deluge of monsoon storms over the summer may have damaged Courtney and Jason Myers’ walk-through haunt on their sprawling rural property, but the couple say it will be open later this month. (According to their Facebook page, they’ve had to rebuild portions of it, though.) It will still feature a multitude of props, dozens of tombstones, and numerous other decorations and characters.

Hours and prices: Runs from 6 to 9 p.m. on October 22, 23, 29, and 30. Admission is free.

Eddie Shriner's Halloween Display

11020 North 79th Avenue, Peoria

A word of warning: If clowns haunt your nightmares, steer clear of Eddie Shriner's display. A vast horde of hundreds of life-sized creatures and frightening figures crowd the exterior of his house, including several dozen freaky-looking harlequins. Some are animatronic. Most are terrifying. So enormous is Shriner’s collection that it stretches from the front of his home, through the garage, and into the backyard. You’ll encounter hundreds of insidious-looking pumpkins, dozens of spooky scarecrows, and such slasher film villains as Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers.

Hours and prices: On display 7 to 9 p.m., Sunday to Thursday; and 6:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, through Halloween, weather permitting.

Terror in Tolleson

8609 West Preston Lane, Tolleson

Terror in Tolleson is a DIY haunt with a labyrinth of hallways and passages containing different “scare zones” and a variety of obstacles and surprises. Meanwhile, a rogue’s gallery of beastly beings and things that go bump in the night will roam the place trying to scare anyone they encounter.

Hours and prices: Friday and Saturday evenings from 7 to 11 p.m. through October 31. Admission is $10 per person.

Welcome to the Freakshow

1721 West Villa Maria Drive

Step right up, folks, to this macabre north Phoenix display near 19th Avenue and Union Hills Drive that involves a creepy circus and sideshow. Evil clowns, ghoulish surgeons, and other ghastly figures decorate the spooky scene and a makeshift Ferris wheel sits in the center.

Hours and prices: It’s free to view the display, which will be up through Halloween.

UZA MysCreation Haunted Attraction

2935 West Libby Street

MysCreation packs twice the scares into one horrific haunt, as it consists of two differently themed attractions, each with a mix of costumed actors, ghastly props, animatronic effects, and twisted creatures. The first is “Ravbies,” which depicts the aftermath of a zombie outbreak at an underground dance party. (Picture an episode of The Walking Dead starring kandi kids and ravers.) The other is known as “Blood Thirst,” where visitors must escape from a torture chamber located within a den of vampires.

Hours and prices: The haunts will be open from 7 p.m. to midnight, Friday to Sunday, through October 31. General admission is $10 to $15 online, $12 to $17 at the door.

The House of Haunts

8325 East Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale

Like the other members of his family (most notably his younger brother Chris), Steve Birkett has an obsession with Halloween, so much so that the Arizona native transforms the exterior of his split-level Scottsdale residence into a nifty home haunt every October. It boasts a massive thunder and lightning show in the front yard, a Wild West-style abandoned inspired by famed Valley theme park Legend City, and a huge array of glow-in-the-dark gravestones.

Hours and prices: Open nightly, 6:30 to 10 p.m., from October 27 through 31. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. More info can be found here.

Hellbilly Holler

14601 North 40th Way

Hellbilly Holler is a grisly slice of Southern horror in north Phoenix, a homespun haunt that’s equal parts Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Deliverance, and The Hills Have Eyes (with a dash of True Blood). Every Halloween, with the help of her teenage niece, local artist Michaela Nastasia transforms her house into this bizarre display. It features a facade resembling a backwoods cabin, buckets of (fake) severed limbs, banjo-plucking hillbillies, a creepy atmosphere, and other spooky touches.

Hours and prices: Operates nightly, dusk until 10:30 p.m., from October 16 through Halloween. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.

Phoenix Dead Rising

8611 North 30th Drive

Phoenix Dead Rising is located in front of Nick Chryst’s north Phoenix home and features a legion of decorations (including skeletons, zombies, ghouls, and other ghostly figures) adorning the front yard and garage. Shrouded in stage fog and lit with an eerie glow, the display has gotten larger this year with the addition of a bunch of new props.

Hours and prices: On display nightly, dusk until 10 p.m., from October 16 through Halloween, with the fog effects running on weekends.

Skeleton House

23625 North 117th Drive, Sun City

Keep an eye out for the line of skeletons wearing cowboy hats that starts on 117th Drive and leads you to an impressive-looking saloon, hotel, sheriff’s office, and gallows outside a Sun City home. Even more bony figures populate the quaint, Wild West-style set up, which will host an animatronic show on Halloween night.

Hours and prices: On display nightly through October 31. It's free to check out.

Mount Mayhem

1740 East Purdue Avenue

The theme of this year’s edition of Mount Mayhem – a small, family-run haunt in north Phoenix – will be phobias, which Rod Carillo says will include the fear of clowns, dentists, birds, skeletons, insects, or any combination thereof. “Our family has been doing this haunted house for 12 years, and we pick a new theme each year. This time, we thought, ‘Why don't we play on people's fears and anxieties?’” You won’t have to worry as much about exposure to Covid-19, though, as Carillo says Mount Mayhem’s staff and cast will be fully vaccinated, groups will be limited, social distancing will be used, and hand sanitizer will be available upon entry and exit.

Hours and prices: Runs from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on October 22 through 25 and on October 29 through 31. Admission is free but donations are accepted.

Scorpio House

11960 West Melinda Lane, Sun City

Local landlubber Dan Malanowski built a two-story pirate ship crewed by skeletons encompassing the driveway and garage of his Sun City home that’s a sight for any scalawag to behold. Visitors can walk through the various rooms and holds making up the ship or even climb up to the top deck for a bird’s eye view.

Hours and prices: It’s free to check out, matey, and on display nightly through Halloween.

Scary Christmas House

4431 West Escuda Drive, Glendale

Bob Spacy Jr. created this massive display on his two-story Glendale home in tribute to The Nightmare Before Christmas, and, like its source material, it's popular from October through December. It boasts his handmade versions of the props, elements, and cast from the movie, as well as 100,000 lights. During the scary season, Spacy adds more Halloween-oriented decorations. This year, he’s built 15 to 20 new elements, including the Spiral Hill and Oogie Boogie’s Lair.

Hours and prices: Runs 6 to 10 p.m., Sunday to Thursday; 6 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Admission is free.

House of Fear

13837 North 181st Avenue, Surprise

Surprise couple Russ Dehlinger and Blanca Real have moved their popular DIY haunted house to a new and bigger location, promising it will pack as many thrills as in years past. You'll find more than just ghouls and goblins inside its various displays, which include areas like "Scary Snow White and the Killer Dwarves” and “Alice in Horrorland.” There will also be portions inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean and Avatar.

Hours and prices: Open from 6 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturdays; and 6 to 9 p.m., Sundays, through October 31. Admission is free.

Terror Nights Haunted House

511 East La Donna Drive, Tempe

After running a yard display last Halloween, the owners of this popular DIY home haunt are bringing back its original setup as a walk-through experience. Areas like "The Boogeyman Room," "Maniac's Revenge," "Dining Room of the Dead" will all return. (They'll also debut a new scene they're called “Bathroom of Screams.") There's also a good chance you'll cross paths with a Michael Myers look-alike or Annabelle from The Conjuring.

Hours and prices: Terror Nights will be open from 7 to 10 p.m., October 28 to 30. Admission is free, but donations are accepted. Nonperishable food items will also be collected for local charities.

HallowsEvolve

12905 North 147th Drive, Surprise

Like Stranger Things? You’ll love this sprawling haunt on the far reaches of the west Valley that’s filled with references to all three seasons of the hit Netflix show. There are mannequins dressed like Mike Wheeler and other characters, a mockup of the alphabet wall, numerous boxes of Eggo waffles, and displays for Starcourt Mall and Scoops Ahoy.

Hours and prices: You can check out the display every night until Halloween and walk through the haunt from 6 to 10 p.m. on October 29 to 31. Admission is free, but donations of canned or nonperishable food items are encouraged.

Haunted Manor

37868 North Bonnie Lane, San Tan Valley

Every day is Halloween for Brandon and Alina McCaslin, which is why the interior of their three-bedroom San Tan Valley residence is decorated with skeletons and life-sized statues of freaky creatures year-round. Many of these props have decorated the annual haunted house the couple has run at their home since 2015, though they opted to do a yard display last year due to the pandemic.

Their haunted house is back and bigger than ever this year with tons of new props (including some built by professional builders) and a grisly theme called “Sinister Swine Butcher Shop.” Multiple rooms involve blood-soaked scenes with tons of realistic-looking prop body parts, animatronics, and various characters looking for some fresh meat.

Hours and prices: Saturdays from 6 to 9:30 p.m. through Halloween. It’s free, but donations are appreciated.

AZ Field of Screams

5726 North 75th Avenue

If it feels like you’re being stalked by someone — or something — while wandering through the “haunted corn maze” at Glendale’s Tolmachoff Farms, it’s only because that’s exactly what’s happening. Patrons walk a darkened, mile-long dirt path winding through a disorienting five-acre field and encounter numerous twists, turns, and frights along the way, as well as fiendish creatures like chainsaw-wielding freaks, evil clowns, and demonic creatures that lurk in the shadows and will pop out suddenly. In other words, expect jump scares galore. A friendlier maze with zero frights is also offered.

Hours and prices: Operates from 7 to 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, through October 30, and on Halloween night. Admission is $25 for just the haunted maze or $30 for both.

AZ Beetlehouse

1423 East Earll Drive

Karen Lennon and Matthew Wiley’s amazing Beetlejuice-themed display at their central Phoenix home pays tribute to Tim Burton’s 1988 fantasy comedy film and some of its most memorable scenes. There’s a full-sized mockup of fictional strip club Dante's Inferno Room, an enormous sandworm (which stretches across their front lawn), and the grave Beetlejuice emerges from after being summoned from the netherworld. This year, the couple improved the lighting, expanded the graveyard, and added mannequins dressed like characters from the flick, like Adam and Barbara Maitland in their ghoulish disguises and the Magician’s Assistant (a.k.a. the ill-fated female from the afterlife waiting room scene who was sawed in half).

Hours and prices: On display nightly, dusk to 11 p.m. It’s free to check out.

The Hunt AZ Zombie Assault

6940 West Broken Ear Rd, Chandler

Want to play an IRL version of the zombie mode from Call of Duty: Black Ops II? Get your itchy trigger fingers and head to the southeast Valley and take up arms against the undead at this themed paintball range. Patrons hop aboard military-style flatbed trucks and trailers and are transported through areas where they can unleash kill-shots aplenty on wave after wave of zombies.

Hours and prices: Open from 6 to 9 p.m., Friday to Sunday, through November 7. Admission is $25 per person or $40 for admission plus a fast pass.

Haunted Graveyard

8414 East Valley Vista Drive, Scottsdale

Scottsdale’s Haunted Graveyard encompasses the front yard, garage, backyard, and other portions of the Chris Birkett's four-bedroom home and goes beyond the pale far and far beyond most DIY displays. A graveyard with animatronic headstones, singing pumpkins, and a fire-breathing dragon occupy the front yard. The garage houses a cramped, claustrophobia-inducing maze through a decrepit mansion. Along the side of the house are haunted mine tunnels leading to a spooky scene around Birkett’s backyard pool. Plan to arrive early in the evening, since this DIY attraction is popular and lines are common.

Hours and prices: Open nightly, 6:30 to 10 p.m., from October 27 through 31. Admission is $5.

Sanctum of Horror

6555 East Southern Avenue, Mesa

Sanctum of Horror has returned for 2021 and its M.O. is the same as ever: scaring the crap out of its patrons. Located in the parking lot of Superstition Springs Mall, the Halloween attraction features two separate themed haunts and plenty of thrills and chills. “The Breach” involves an abandoned military bunker where a series of experiments have gone awry, while “Sanctum of Horror” is set inside the blood-soaked home of an escaped mental patient named Lenore seeking revenge against those who wronged her.

Hours and prices: Open 7 to 11 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, and 7 to 10 p.m., Sundays, through October 24. They'll then start operating at 7 p.m. nightly through Halloween. Tickets are $25 for general admission to both haunts, $35 for admission plus a fast pass.

13th Floor Haunted House

2814 West Bell Road

North Phoenix’s 13th Floor Haunted House is one of the biggest Halloween attractions in the Valley and offers three different haunts within its 6,500-square-foot location, each with a different theme. To wit: “Bad Blood” places you into an urban battle between zombies and vampires, “Asylum” takes place in a mental ward, and “The Dollmaker” features creepy Victorian-era playthings inside an abandoned home. There’s also an interactive experience called “Phobia,” which takes place in complete darkness and involves navigating a maze and various physical obstacles while using touch and other senses to escape. (It's available as an $8 add-on to any ticket.)

Hours and prices: Operates nightly through Halloween, except October 11, 12, 13, 18, and 19. Hours vary. Admission is $27.99 to $32.99 in advance. Fast passes are an additional $10 while skip-the-line passes are $20 more. Masks are strongly encouraged whenever social distancing isn’t possible.

Scarizona Scaregrounds

1901 North Alma School Road, Mesa

A trilogy of terrifying experiences awaits at the haunts making up Mesa’s Scarizona Scaregrounds. At “Slayer’s Slaughter House,” you can encounter a gore-filled abattoir occupied by a serial killer or wander through total darkness inside “Epic Fear.” If you’ve still got some adrenaline left, “Startled Darkness” offers confined spaces, snakes, spiders, and other things going bump in the night. According to Scarizona’s website, a variety of “bonus experiences” will also be included.

Hours and prices: Opens at 6:30 p.m. October 8 to 9, 15 to 17, 21 to 24, and 27 to 31. Closing times vary per night. Tickets are $39.95 per person and will only be sold for scheduled arrival times taking place every 15 minutes. Discounts for multiple people are available, but groups will be limited to eight or fewer.

Fear Farm

6801 North 99th Avenue, Glendale

The Valley’s largest haunted attraction may have moved to a new home in Glendale earlier this year, but still spans multiple acres and is populated by more costumed fiends than a Spirit Halloween store. Like its original location, the new Fear Farm will have four themed haunts – “Dead End Slaughter,” the post-apocalyptic “Nuketown,” “Dead In the Water,” and “Sinister Circus” – as well as a giant haunted corn maze, and an expanded midway area with vendors and concessions.

Hours and prices: Operates nightly through Halloween, except October 11, 12, 13, 18, and 19. Hours vary. Admission is $27.99 to $32.99 in advance. Fast passes are an additional $10 while skip-the-line passes are $20 more.