2009 Halloween Guide for Detroit, Michigan

The Metro-Detroit area is heralded by many as the Haunted House Capital of the nation. Whether Detroit qualifies for the moniker or not, the area certainly knows how to show folk a spooky, scary time. The Detroit area has every size, type and variety of haunted experience.

Candy and costumes make Halloween a favorite holiday for kids. There are several different types of activities around the Metro Detroit area that are appropriate for kids, from trick-or-treating opportunities to special movie presentations.

Detroit has historic buildings, cemeteries and spooky legends aplenty, but only a couple of enterprising individuals and organizations have made a tour out of them. Haunted happenings can be explored through a walking tour and ghost hunt at Historic Fort Wayne and/or a guided bus tour that visits several haunted sites in and around the Metro-Detroit area.

Whether cut out of a corn field or built with stacks of hay, corn mazes have gotten bigger and more sophisticated. For instance, several of the corn mazes in the Metro Detroit area create a picture when viewed from the air. Corn mazes can be a unique form of entertainment for families during the day and a place of confusing terror at night. Bring a flashlight!

In addition to the traditional costume stores scattered around the Metro-Detroit area, the new trend in retail is the seasonal Halloween store. In fact, there are now several Halloween chains that offer decorations, frights and costumes.

The nation knows of it as a night of arson and mayhem, but Detroiters have more innocent memories of Devil's Night in Detroit. Outside of the arson that played out among the many abandoned buildings in downtown Detroit starting in the 1980s, the night was traditionally filled with pranks and mischief.