Room Escape Artist

Spooky season is here!

We asked the REA Contributors what escape rooms and other immersive experiences across North America they recommend you check out this month.

We’ll start with our escape room recommendations and then at the end of this list, we’ll share some celebrated Halloween immersive experiences.

Escape Rooms

Haunting at Haruka High

• Omescape Sunnyvale
• Sunnyvale, California
• REA Review
• Recommended by Emily Hall

The Haunting at Haruka High is a thrilling exploration of an abandoned girls’ school in Japan where something terrible happened many years ago. With solid puzzles, strong story, and an evocatively creepy set, this is a great option for those who want to scratch the haunted house itch while escaping.

The Weeping Witch

• Cross Roads Escape Games
• Anaheim, California
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Matthew Stein

The Weeping Witch is quite possibly the world’s best horror escape room by square footage. In this terrifically terrifying cinematic experience, Cross Roads Escape Games struck a rare balance between creative scares and top-notch gameplay, thoughtfully alternating between modes so you’ll never be pestered while puzzling. For horror movie fans, Cross Roads’ The Hex Room also provides a less scary but equally spooky experience with a unique format.

The Seed of Hope

• The Sanctuary Escape
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Cindi S.

In The Seed of Hope, you explore a spooky, abandoned orphanage where an entire team of paranormal investigators mysteriously disappeared, one by one. An immersive set with eerie noises and special effects work together to create haunting atmosphere. Combined with a tragic backstory – and a ghost or two – it’s a fun way to get into the Halloween spirit!

The Cabin Trilogy

• Escape Hour Austin
• Austin, Texas
• REA Review for The Cabin: Chapter 1
• REA Review for The Cabin: Chapter 2
• REA Review for The Cabin: Chapter 3 (review coming soon)
• Recommended by Sarah Mendez

Escape Hour’s The Cabin rooms are the purest mix of puzzling and haunted house that you’ll find in all of Texas. We pondered, we screamed, we laughed, we ran… and we sent all our friends back to do the same.

Hide & Seek

• The Escape Warehouse
• Ponchatoula, Louisiana
• REA Review
• Recommended by David Spira

This creepy haunted-house vibe is perfect for your Halloween adventure. The Escape Warehouse minded the details in the set, giving this game a real sense of place. And while this escape room isn’t terrifying, they up the intensity in the final moments for a thrilling finale.

The Final Evaluation

• Escape Game Knoxville
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• REA Review coming soon!
• Recommended by Emily Hall

The Final Evaluation is a high-quality addition to the “spooky asylum” genre that is sometimes scary and always creepy. You are patients subjected to a series of tests to determine your readiness to leave the hospital. And if things were that straightforward, this wouldn’t be in the Halloween guide. The puzzles are high-quality across the board; hopefully you can solve them with all of the hairs on your arms standing on end.

Dark Lullaby

• Escape Artist Greenville
• Greenville, South Carolina
• REA Review 🔒
• Dark Lullaby is part of The Chimera Corp Saga, but the other games in the saga have different, non-Halloween vibes.
• Recommended by Cindi S.

A dark, spooky experience themed around creepy nightmares and things that go bump in the night. With an immersive set, actors that blend perfectly with the story, and a few well-timed jump scares, Dark Lullaby is a great choice for those looking for some Halloween chills.

Nevermore

• Nocturne Adventures
• Hickory, North Carolina
• REA Review coming soon!
• Recommended by Peter Gwinn

Nevermore spins a surprisingly moving story based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. It was deliciously spooky as we moved through an (almost) empty house solving puzzles to retrieve artifacts from the life of the recently departed Lenore. The set and music were terrific and immersive. Most of the puzzles were constructed around tangible objects in a way that was really satisfying on both a physical and thematic level.

Ripper

• Nocturne Adventures
• Hickory, North Carolina
• REA Review coming soon!
• Recommended by Richard Burns

Ripper is a charming take on the classic serial killer trope. Executed with a lot of heart and run from the basement of the owners’ home, this is a thrilling game with a lot of action and fun puzzling. It plays well with smaller groups.

Cornstalkers: Lost in the Maize

• The Escape Ventures
• Orlando, Florida
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Cindi S.

Are you a wannabe influencer looking for the perfect fall activity? What could be more fun than a Fall Fair, complete with carnival games and a corn maze? Don’t worry about those other influencers who disappeared, or the pesky rumors about a crazy menace. Cornstalkers: Lost in the Maize offers a large, immersive set to explore, entertaining characters, and a spooky story filled with local lore. So make your way to The Escape Ventures for just the right mix of fun, seasonal puzzles and creepy, yet approachable, horror.

Pins & Needles

• The Exit Games FL
• Clearwater, Florida
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by David Spira

Pins & Needles is an intense game, but not one that immediately gives off spooky season vibes. Play through to the final scenes to really understand why this one belongs on the list.

Chesapeake Bay Butcher

• Colonial Escape Room
• Williamsburg, Virginia
• REA Review
• Recommended by Lisa Spira

When we casually booked Chesapeake Bay Butcher during a trip to Williamsburg, we had no idea that we were walking into a legitimately terrifying escape room. We were continually moving through the space, never getting comfortable, and always peering over our shoulders. This serial killer theming will get you perfectly in the mood for spooky season.

Fall Harvest

• 13th Hour Escape Room
• Wharton, New Jersey
• REA Review🔒
• Recommended by Lisa Spira

13th Hour Escape Room builds puzzle-driven gameplay in grim, spooky settings. With Fall Harvest, they dialed the scale up to 11, with huge set-based reveals and mind-boggling transformation, all of which were relevant to the gameplay. Fall Harvest was ominous, but not terrifying. It only drifted into horror aesthetics in the late-game, where a more gruesome turn showcased 13th Hour Escape Room’s roots in the haunted house industry.

The Grand Parlor

• 13th Hour Escape Rooms
• Wharton, New Jersey
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Lisa Spira

The best time to visit 13th Hour is during October when the actors are in season. For the entire month, the Hayden family roams the farm, popping in and out of the experiences. While 13th Hour has newer games than this one, which we also recommend, The Grand Parlor is the capstone of their Hayden Family series. Get a bigger group of friends together to solve, laugh, jump, and even dance in this delightfully creepy adventure.

St-Onge Case

• Immersia
• Boisbriand, Québec, Canada
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Jacky Chang

Even though it’s been years since you escaped from the serial killer who murdered your friends, you’re still struggling to recover from the ordeal. When your fellow survivor Alex calls you to a secret facility to take justice into your own hands, it seems like an opportunity to finally put the incident behind you. The St-Onge Case is a tense, sometimes gory, atmospheric escape room that is both a fantastic sequel to the original Weekend at the Shack and a strong standalone experience in its own right.

The Forgotten Cathedral

• Escaparium
• Laval, Québec, Canada
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Brett Kuehner

The Forgotten Cathedral has a realistically spooky environment with a set that rivals the best haunted houses, and with a story that adds multiple layers to the exploration of an abandoned cathedral. Truly cinematic moments (plus a couple of scares) provide solid supernatural fun.

D.J. Death

• The Gate Escape
• Leominster, Massachusetts
• REA Review
• Recommended by Matthew Stein

Years ago, D.J. Death started as a Halloween popup, but it was so popular that it became a permanent fixture at The Gate Escape. While you can play this spooky puzzlefest year round, there’s still no better time than Halloween. True to The Gate Escape’s signature style, expect a bounty of creative puzzles, groovy vibes, and high-energy fun.

Immersive Experiences

CLAWS

• Candle House Collective
• REA Review 🔒
• Recommended by Chuck Kaplan-Smith

In the age of texting and social media, few things are as terrifying a getting a phone call. But what if true evil lurked somewhere on the other line? That’s the conceit of Candle House Collective’s “telephonic thriller” CLAWS. At its best, CLAWS guided me through a labyrinth of tension, anxiety, empathy, regret, and fear. I felt like the unwitting protagonist in a horror movie.

Where Dark Things Dwell

• Secret City Adventures
• Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• REA Review
• Recommended by Peih-Gee Law

You arrive at an eerie historic village where, along with sixty other players, you must put a stop to the evil cultists. You accomplish this by exploring the village, collecting and solving puzzles at different locations. All the while, silent figures in faceless masks lurk in the shadows, and you must banish them with your light. This is a puzzle-forward experience with actors and a lightly creepy atmosphere that takes place after dark.

Delusion

• Los Angeles, California
• REPOD S2E8 The Cinematic Delusions of Jon Braver
• Recommended by Tammy McLeod

An immersive horror theater experience. There is a new story every year, but the sets, costumes, and effects have always been top notch. Attendees are guided through the show in a small groups, with the occasional chance for one-on-ones. The focus was very much on the story and the tension, not gore or violence, though there was the occasional jump scare. The show has built a tradition of drawing repeat visitors excited to see what fresh surprises await.

🔒 Golden Lock Award-winning experience