Our Halloween Castle of Muskogee 2023 Adventure
We’ve been counting the days until Spooky Month since the mercury first crested the 100 mark this summer. It’s objectively the best month — spooky decorations, cooler weather but not the kind that requires a coat, awesome costumes, horror movies, pumpkin patches, candy, oh my! But for our family, the best part of every Spooky Month is heading down to the Castle of Muskogee to spend an evening enjoying the ultimate Halloween adventure.
With a long list of ever-evolving attractions and a dreamy Halloween village full of sights, sounds, tasty treats, and adorable shops, the Castle is hands down the best way to kick off the Halloween season. After years of chills, thrills, and delicious meals, I feel like we’ve finally cracked the ultimate Castleton Halloween adventure formula. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Prep work
We’ve been to the Castle many times, but this is the first year we truly planned ahead, and it paid off. Before heading out, we looked over a list of all of the attractions to line up what we wanted to check out because with a party of five, things can get pretty chaotic in the moment.
Since it’s 45 minutes from our house to the Castle and the sun would be going down after we got there, we checked the weather report. Turns out it would be unseasonably warm for our visit, so we also loaded up our Bag of Holding with a handful of water bottles. I also packed a couple of extra phone battery packs and threw in a pair of emergency shoes in case my feet didn’t like the vibe after a few hours of walking.
I forgot to download the map of Castleton before heading out, but no worries — I quickly snapped a pic of the map hanging out just inside the entrance as we arrived. Parking at the Castle is free, but if you’re say, driving a fancy car, you can pay a few bucks extra to park up next to the venue. Since we got there earlyish, arriving around 5:50 (the gates open at 5:30), we were easily able to park within a few rows of the Castle.
2. Dressing up
You don’t have to wear a costume to the Castle, but many people do, and it seems like the number of people who wear some kind of costume gets higher each year. As a family that uses literally any excuse to wear cosplay, we of course had to dress up. But as much time as we’ve spent dreaming of Spooky Month, none of us have actually finished putting together our “real” costumes for the year yet. Luckily, we have an entire closet in our house dedicated to emergency costumes because you never know when you’re suddenly going to need to dress up as a pirate or bust out the unicorn onesie.
No, those weren’t just examples.
It’s impressive how quickly my family can scramble when it’s go time and there are costumes involved. Within minutes flat, Lucy had pulled together something witchy, Noah had broken out his vampire smoking jacket, and Arthur had taken a page from the Starfleet bridge code PADD. I grabbed a corset and piled my hair as high as humanly possible and stuck a feather in it like an 18th-century courtesan, and Justin went for a chef’s coat.
3. Mingling with monsters and a wicked fun dance party
If you’re traveling from Tulsa, it’s absolutely worth leaving town a little early and show up before six. That’s because many of the characters you’ll see working around the Castle all evening will start to converge around the Castle square near the Crown Inn Pub and mingle amongst the Castle visitors. We were paid a visit from a rather convincing Captain Jack Sparrow who, whilst lovingly clutching his jar of dirt, gave Starfleet Captain Arthur some Captain to Captain advice, and a cheery, bell-covered elf who told us a strange tale that more than subtly implied his elf friends may have eaten some humans — TLDR, if an elf invites you to a cookout, probably best to decline.
Shortly after all the various ghouls, haunts, and creatures had finally converged on the square, they were suddenly overtaken by the Michael Jacksonian urge to break out in a monster dance to kick off the festivities. After their delightful little flash mob, they invited some humans to join them in the “Time Warp,” which of course I did because after all, it’s just a jump to the left, and then a step to the right.
Especially if you’ve got kids with you, I definitely recommend making it out to the dance party. It’s family-friendly and a ton of fun, and if doing the “Cha Cha Slide” with a bunch of spooky Victorian apparitions doesn’t get you into a celebrating spirit, I don’t know what will.
4. Domus Horrificus and Casa Morte
It was still bright outside when the dance party ended, so we made a beeline to the Castle to get in line for the two attractions housed inside of it. Both of these are on the scarier end of the skull rating system, but as children of Gen-Xers, our kids have been desensitized to cartoon violence for years. In other words, I’m not a good person to tell you if it’s too scary for your crew.
Sidebar to the Castle employees: A couple of years back when one of our kids was probably definitely too young to go in these things but we took them in anyway, I scary-proofed the whole thing by telling the child in question that the people inside were actors and wanted them to have a really fun time. TLDR, if you saw a young teen enthusiastically telling you what a great job you’re doing, it’s because my method worked a little too well and that imprinted as their haunted house go-to response.
When I say these two attractions have become ridiculously good over the past few years, I am not exaggerating. Both events have been reconfigured and expanded. I would say our family isn’t usually affected by jumpscares, but the clever way the Domus jumpscares were executed this year just hit different — there was a much more psychological element to them that made the whole thing more impactful.
The Domus will take you up and down some stairs and can be a little on the dark side, so be warned if anyone in your group has trouble with steps.
But if this year’s Domus was awesome, the Casa Morte was brilliant. Entrance to the Morte was routed around back, a solid move since in past years the lines for both could get pretty cramped. I also think it broke up the crowd some so the wait for both was reduced.
The entire thing was medically themed, and the decision to theme the entire attraction under unified storytelling decidedly elevated the attraction. Fair warning if body horror or medical phobia is an issue for anyone in your crew. But as my horror-loving son pointed out, while some of the attraction is kind of graphic, it’s done in an over-the-top way that feels scary fun rather than a nightmare fuelish way, which is probably why the Morte has a four-skull instead of five-skull rating.
Non-spoiler spoiler: There’s a scene at the beginning of this attraction that’s so fun, creative, and just generally well done that our whole party was beside ourselves with glee over it.
5. Snack attack
After our adventures inside the Castle, it was getting close to dinnertime and we needed some fuel. Going to the Castle is like going to the fair: you have to try some of the food. You’ll find plenty of options scattered around the grounds.
For a protein fix, we grabbed some bacon-wrapped fried chicken poppers with fries at Bob’s Place near the peacock coop, which also happens to be the spot where you can nab a $3 tea or lemonade if you’re thirsty and budget-conscious. We also shared some spiral-fried potatoes and funnel cake fries during the course of the evening. And before the night was over, we picked up a bag of freshly-made kettle corn, which is one of the best snack investments you can make at the Castle.
6. Trail of Blood
With it fully dark outside, we mosied over to the Trail of Blood. For the first few years of this event’s life, the line was one of the worst at the Castle, but they made an innovation this year that drastically changed the wait by funneling guests along two parallel paths through the attraction. It was the first time I’ve been through this attraction where we didn’t find ourselves bumping into the group in front of or behind us, so big kudos to whoever came up with this.
With the Trail of Blood, you’re actually transported by bus to the attraction. When you get where you’re going, there’s a little bar, some restrooms, and a seating area that’s all fairly set back from the rest of Castleton, and it makes a great secret meetup spot if you’re looking to connect with a large group.
The Trail of Blood is a walk-through attraction, and it’s a great place to get that “wandering through the autumn woods” aesthetic, ghouls aside. There were plenty of fun, old-school scares on this attraction, but there was one moment that stood out as one of our favorites at the Castle this year. I won’t spoil it except to say that like some of those well-executed Domus scares, the feat was pulled off by leaning into guests’ psychological fears, and we were honestly kind of blown away by how well it worked. Easily it was the genuinely most frightening moment in our evening at the Castle, so Bravo.
7. Jester’s Revenge
After realizing this was our new favorite attraction last year, we were all extremely excited for the Jester’s Revenge. And if I’m being honest, I think all but one of us could have gone through this a few times in a row without it losing appeal.
This attraction uses 3D neon-colored paint and 3D glasses to create a funhouse experience that is bizarre, surreal, and borderline hallucinogenic. If you’re coulrophobic, this is not the event for you because much of it is literally wall-to-wall clowns. But if you love that sort of thing, this is hands-down the best event at the Castle.
When Jester’s Revenge opened, the spinning room that had previously been used in other attractions migrated to this new carnivalesque spot and got a colorful 3D paint upgrade. It’s hard to describe how absolutely nuts it is to walk across, but if it doesn’t give you crippling vertigo, you’ll probably love it like we do. This attraction also got a freaky upgrade this year with some flooring that is, for lack of a better description, activated — you’ll see what I mean. Let’s just say I don’t think I’ve ever seen my normally rather Stoic husband react so dramatically. It was hilarious and amazing and had me doing my best Tinky-Winky, “Again, again!!!”
8. Haunted Hayride
No trip to the Castle would be complete without a turn on the Haunted Hayride. This is the one event where there is generally a fairly long wait. But the line is located in the jousting arena adjacent to a whole bunch of food vendors and a couple of privies, and the way it’s set up, it’s easy to jump in and out of.
The hayride did seem to be slightly shortened this year, which I would attribute to the Castle’s efforts to make the lines move faster. But I will say I really miss riding through the dragon, and I’d love to see it make a comeback next year. Still, there’s little more Halloween aesthetic than hayriding through a spooky wooded trail on a cool(ish) autumn evening under the stars.
Pro tip: Bring something to lay across the hay before you sit down like a light jacket or flannel shirt, particularly if you’re wearing shorts or leggings.
9. Strolling through Castleton
After the hayride, we decided to spend some time checking out the shops and various entertainments hanging out around Castleton. One of the things I have always loved about the Castle’s Halloween village is that if you aren’t into the scary stuff, you could truly come out just to enjoy the ambience and have a perfectly magical evening. The estate is decked out in Halloween lights and decor, and the Halloween shopping options put Spirit Halloween stores to shame.
There’s also a storytelling spot where kid-friendly Goosebumps-level scary stories are told, a petting zoo full of adorable friends, and a Zombie paintball event that looked pretty fun. We also noticed a couple of escape rooms and camel rides, so there’s a lot to do that we didn’t have time to check out.
10. The Torture Chamber and Catacombs
Although we always enjoy the Enchanted Train — a “train” ride through a magical landscape full of Halloween inflatables, and the Ultimate Maze, we decided to round out our evening back at the Castle this year. It’s kind of cheesy and lo-fi, but there’s just something about wrapping things up with the Castle’s self-guided museum of medieval torture that keeps us coming back year after year. Each torture implement is sectioned off and includes a document outlining exactly how they were used, and my slightly macabre kids always get a kick out of reading them out loud. Thanks, Addams Family.
Planning Your Castle Adventure
Our family did the scary route, but you could honestly have a blast without breaking the PG barrier easily here.
Here are my recommendations:
- If you’re going scary and you only visit three or four attractions, make them the Domus Horrificus, Casa Morte, Jester’s Revenge, and Trail of Blood.
- If you’re just interested in hanging out but don’t want to do scary, plan to dance with the monsters, stroll around the grounds, shoot some zombie paintball, check out the hayride, and go shopping.
- If you’re traveling with younger kids, watch the monster dance, go on the hayride, and be sure to check out the petting zoo and Enchanted Train.
The Castle is open at 5:30 each Friday and Saturday through October 28th. Gates close at 10, but you can still enjoy the haunts and shops for some time after they do. Happy Spooky Month, and have a boo-tiful week in your frightening little nebula!
