It’s the s p o o k i e s t time of year! And one of my favorite ways to get in the Halloween spirit (other than watching my buddy Charlie Brown get shunned trick or treating with his friends) is to drive around and look at the AMAZING Halloween displays in the area. Here are NINE spooky houses and décor that you just can’t miss!
NOTE: Since I grew up in the Northwest Suburbs, I know many of the scariest spots in that area. If you have others to add from elsewhere in Chicagoland, please comment below so I can check them out and add them to the list! Also, even though this article has a 2015 publish date, I constantly update it!
Northwest Burbs
Super Scary with lights, sounds, and movement (the girl on the swing haunts my dreams, I swear). Good for visiting during the day for those who are more timid…definitely extra spooky at night. 1784 Everett Avenue, Des Plaines.
Scary Forrest Frights is the hit of our neighborhood…and much of Chicagoland. No matter what scares you (clowns, gore, monsters, etc.), this house has it all! 1119 North Forrest Avenue, Arlington Heights.
The light show to end all light shows. This house takes holiday lights to an entirely new level, so be sure to visit once the sun goes down. Bell Plaine and Engel in Park Ridge.
Ahoy, mateys! This gorgeous house always reminded me of a light house every time I drove by. That served as inspiration for their awesome pirate ship Halloween display. A little tricky to find, it is on Sibley overlooking the boulevard street. Put the intersection of Sibley and Ashland in Park Ridge into your GPS and you will find it. Perfect for a day or night visit.
The graveyard. This corner house was my favorite house to visit as a kid. They park a hearse outside on Halloween, have smoke and sound effects, and even serve their candy out of a coffin. Located where Manor Lane turns into Western Avenue, adjacent to North Park in Park Ridge.
North Shore
Wilmette’s gorgeous houses get all decked out for Halloween. The most popular stretch is on Lawndale Street, with the highlight at 208 Lawndale Street in Wilmette.
There are tons of decorated houses and inflatables within the Charlemagne subdivision in Northbrook. Our favorite is on Charlemagne Drive…perfect for a visit any time of day…and watch out for the moving spider!
Southern & Western Burbs
The Thomas Halloween House at 1127 Conan Doyle Drive in Naperville is the talk of the town year after year. Just check out this video and you will know why. But after some disgruntled neighbors got sick and tired of all of the traffic the admirers provided (who donated oover $6,500 to Gigi’s Playhouse) and got an ordinance passed to make the house go dark this year. However, there is a petition circling and an impending board meeting to see if Thomas can light up his house again, a Naperville tradition that impresses Halloween lovers all over the world.
Looking for a free haunted house? Then look no further than the free and ghoulishly decorated Moe’s Graveyard. Real actors roam the yard and house at 6961 West 156th place in Oak Forest. Be sure to visit between dusk and 10 p.m. until Halloween when there are nightly performances. Check out this cool video review from The Horror Tourers.
Looking for other Fall fun, including crafts, activities, and more? Then check this out!
Happy Halloween!
Amanda
6641 N Oconto Edison Park
Awesome tip, will be sure to check it out!
I love how some people go all out for Halloween. We are the Halloween capitol of the US because we have Salem and practically every house there is all done up in October.
That must be so fun!
Oh my gosh I love Halloween! My husband and I always decorate our yard, we had to get more kid friendly now that we have our grandchildren.
I keep reading all of these articles about people fighting about Halloween decor…some feeling it was too scary for kids. It has become very serious business when the real intent should be to just enjoy and have fun!
I love this time of year and seeing all the houses decorated for Halloween. Great post!
Glad you enjoyed it! Happy Halloween!
Oh my gosh these are so cool. I miss living in that area. That graveyard house looks awesome with the boarded up windows.
I just wonder how long it takes them to put up these elaborate displays…and even worse, to take them down!
They really take their decorations seriously, I love it. So much Halloween spirit! Those are really awesome, it would be a waste not to visit and see.
Can you imagine doing all of that work and no one visiting? It would be such a bummer.
OMG!Scary! I loved this idea of decorating the yard. This is really perfect for halloween. Trick or Treat! Haha
Since we do not decorate our house for Halloween (it is just to much work), we like to drive around the neighborhood to see what other houses have come up with. it is really fun.
Kudos to the people who put the time and effort for this. Awesome work of art indeed!
This is exactly why I love the holidays. Just so much fun!! I love the spiders on the house one, the most! I so want to do that!
I love it, too! Such a great display day or night and not too spooky.
I really love this idea! The Decoration was amazing i love Spooky places.
Gosh those are some really wild and spooky sites you have listed. So cool!!!!!
They really go all out with their decorations. My favorite would be the yard with lots of zombies.
“Dead & Breakfast” – too cute! What a neat and spooky place to go! If I’m ever in the area around October, I’ll definitely be checking it out! thank you!
I just can’t get over how absolutely creative people can be. Love it.
Ummm the guts and gore..not sure I could make it through…LOL I think it’s awesome how people get so creative thought. Really cool!
The graphic stuff is a bit much for me too…but the light show is amazing (and PG for my little guys!).
These are so cool! I love decorating our yard, and I’ve noticed a lot more people are starting decorate, too.
The house at 1784. Evertt avenue in Des plaines, is truly awsome, def worth the drive, you have to get out and look all around and up & down the house to see everything..and the owner is very nice also..
Free is nice. 😉 Everything looks great too.
What fun these all are. I love the Dead and Breakfast sign. Makes one think twice before turning out the light.
I love the sign, too!
I love it when people go all out for the holidays. We had this house in our neighborhood that my kids didn’t want to drive by when they were little because they thought it was too scary, now they love it.
I was never big on Halloween decorations. I prefer harvest type over the scary ones. But it is fun to look at what everyone is doing. 🙂
I am such a wimp! The blood and guts would have me up all night! I bet the kids love it though and I need to get my butt in gear and get my house decorated. Thanks for the fun pics!
I prefer the spooky spiders and light displays too! #scardeycat
WOW Chicago has Halloween game! I dont think we have anything like that around here.
And it just keeps getting better and better each year!
How spooky and cool. I did not even know that people were really this invested in Halloween. Certainly not anyone that I know.
I’m so envious of everyone’s Halloween activities in their areas. We don’t have anything around here. I guess I need to plan to travel to Chicagoland next year so the kids can get in on all of the spooky house fun. They’s love those decorations too (me too, me too).
Thankfully living in a big city we have a ton of fun to choose from.
Had to giggle at the Dead and Breakfast sign- clever! I’m not one for spooky Halloweeny things, but I’m sure these houses and lawns sure entertain passing vehicles!
I thought it was creative too. And their display is so classy without any gore, which I prefer. Halloween can be a little too spooky for me!
Wow, what amazing lawn decorations! Some of those look too scary for my kids. My kids love the big inflatables lol. We don’t really go all out, but some of these houses look so festive!
My boys are OBSESSED with the pirate ship and the house with the big spiders. So fun!
Oh how fun!! We’ve got some pretty neat houses in our neighborhood. When I was growing up I don’t remember it being such a thing to decorate for Halloween, now its as big of a thing as Christmas is. I think its kinda fun, but don’t like when things get a bit too graphic for my small kiddos.
We stick to the houses with the fun lights…no blood and/or gore for my boys.
Wow! These are some serious Halloween decorations. No one around here goes all out like that. Most people just decorate their front porches a little bit.
It just gets better and better each year, too!
I love that so many people decorate for Halloween. Driving around to find them is just as fun as looking for Christmas lights.
WOW they went all out! I love the big black cat!
Every one seems to be in the Halloween spirit here. It would really be fun and spooky to be around Chicagoland.
My poor dog gets totally freaked out every time we go on a walk…I think she prefers the Christmas lights.
So fun. I wish someone did this around here, I think my kids would go nuts. They love this kind of thing. We love halloween.
I[‘m so in love with the crows and the tomb stones! Halloween is my favorite time of the year!
This is such an awesome post! I always love seeing people’s creativity when it comes to decorating for the holidays! Hopefully we can see something similar to this post closer to Christmas too!
Oooo so many awesome decorations!! Where I live in NY no one decorates and it’s so sad. Where I lived in FL… Omg total awesomeness just like your Chicago pics!
This is such an great post! This gave me (and my hubby) some great ideas for this year. Thanks again and hope to see a similar post around the Christmas season as well.
I have a very popular list of updated homes every holiday season. Be sure to check it out!