New Halloween albums from Midnight Syndicate, LVCRFT, Yo Gabba Gabba, Sam Haynes and The Killer Sounds of Halloween series are out for 2026, from a folk-horror score to a 16-song collection for kids. Two come from composers who score haunted attractions: Midnight Syndicate, whose music has played in haunted houses for nearly 30 years, and LVCRFT, which writes the music for the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor.
Note: I may earn a commission if you buy through some links in this article.
Midnight Syndicate: Plankett’s Grove
Plankett’s Grove, an 18-track instrumental album, came out August 20 on CD and streaming. Composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka set it in rural folk-horror country, near the town of Illswich and the grove that gives the album its name. Goszka said they kept the town “very much active and alive, although not without its own share of dark secrets.”
Midnight Syndicate has made music for haunted houses since 1997, and its music has played at Halloween Horror Nights, Cedar Point’s HalloWeekends and Busch Gardens. In 2003 the duo also made the first official soundtrack for Dungeons & Dragons. The full story, with the fans’ part in choosing folk horror, is in my Plankett’s Grove article.
LVCRFT: Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories
Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories came out October 1: 27 tracks and 59 minutes set up as a late-night horror broadcast, with songs, skits and trailers for movies nobody can watch yet. Roger L. Jackson, the voice of Ghostface, hosts between the songs. Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp, Freddy and Nancy from A Nightmare on Elm Street, share “Scream For Halloween,” and Bruce Campbell has a track named after him.
LVCRFT is a Halloween music group started in 2019 by three pop songwriters and producers, and its song “Skeleton Sam” is the first song heard in the present-day part of Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2. All of its music is licensable, so haunts, home haunts and Halloween events can use the new songs. It also scored four mazes at the Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor this year, and three haunt-industry names are on the album: Amy Hollaman, Jon Cooke and Monte Revolta. Who they are and what they do on it is in my LVCRFT album story.
The Spooky Halloween Sounds of Yo Gabba Gabba!
Yo Gabba Gabba! makes children’s music, and its series on Apple TV+ is Yo Gabba GabbaLand!. Its Halloween album came out September 25: 16 songs in 24 minutes. It collects Yo Gabba Gabba’s Halloween songs, among them “Halloween Party,” “Trick Or Treat” and “Too Much Candy,” and ends with a remix that runs four of them together. Guest artists are on five tracks:
- “It’s Halloween” with I Monster
- “Halloween at the House of Spooks” with Shiny Toy Guns
- “Everyone Is Happy” with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
- “Biz’s Beat of the Day – Halloween” with Biz Markie
- “Friends Can Make You Smile” with Mariachi El Bronx
The album is on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Tidal.
Sam Haynes: The Midnight Show
The Midnight Show, out September 28, is Sam Haynes’ 2026 Halloween album, and he has made one every year since 2012. It has 15 tracks of gothic synth, techno and industrial. His Bandcamp page names The Cramps, Depeche Mode, Siouxsie and The Prodigy as influences. Maxy B sings “It’s Halloween” and “Halloween Dance,” Cleopatra the Alchemist wrote the lyrics for “Covered in Flies” and sings it, and Gary Bennett plays all the guitar.
The digital album is $3 or more on Bandcamp, and signed limited CDs are $8.50 and $9.
The Killer Sounds of Halloween Rises from the Grave
The fifth Killer Sounds of Halloween album came out October 13, with 13 original songs from 13 fake bands and “creepy holiday ephemera” in between. Sean Keller wrote every song and produced it with Folsom Marshall Keller. The 19 tracks include “I Wanna Marry Vincent Price,” the “Transylvania High theme song” and “Sherman & Cohen’s Wine Cooler Halloween Ad.”
The cover puts the series on a tombstone dated 2019 to 2024, with a ghoul climbing out of the grave. The album is $6.66 on Bandcamp.
Where to Get Them
- Plankett’s Grove: streaming, on CD from Midnight Syndicate’s store, and on CD on Amazon.
- Skeleton Sam’s Deadtime Stories: streaming, from LVCRFT’s album page.
- The Spooky Halloween Sounds of Yo Gabba Gabba!: streaming, from the album’s link page.
- The Midnight Show: digital or CD on Sam Haynes’ Bandcamp.
- The Killer Sounds of Halloween Rises from the Grave: on Sean Keller’s Bandcamp.
