Litchfield, NH — Spooky World Presents Nightmare New England is open on select nights through Sunday, November 1, at Mel’s Funway Park, and it has a fifth haunt for 2026: Petrified, a walk through total darkness. General admission is $41.99 to $56.99 depending on the night, before any checkout fee, and every ticket is sold online for a set date and time.
Top image: a still from Spooky World’s Haunted Hayride teaser video. The photos below are from the 2022 gallery on its site.
Petrified, the New Fifth Haunt
Petrified is a haunt that guests walk in total darkness, and it is new for 2026. “In total darkness, your imagination becomes your greatest enemy,” Spooky World’s page for the haunt reads. “Every breath, every whisper, and every unexpected touch will leave you questioning what’s real.”
Spooky World listed four haunts last season, and all four are back: the Haunted Hayride, Nightmare in 3D, Asylum 47 and The Colony.
“Start with Haunted Hayride, then head to Nightmare in 3D, and then you’ll be able to roam throughout the night with more haunt options, midway fun, new bars, attractions,” the home page says of the order for 2026, which it bills as new. The time on a ticket is the time a group starts the hayride.
The Five Haunts
- Petrified (NEW): a walk through total darkness.
- Haunted Hayride: a one-mile ride of about 20 minutes on a trailer through the woods of Litchfield. Its scenes include a spider-infested campground and a snow-covered neighborhood.
- Nightmare in 3D: guests put on 3D glasses at the door and walk through jungle and cloud scenes.
- Asylum 47: an asylum on New Year’s Eve 1947, with actors, animatronic patients and a clock counting down to midnight.
- The Colony: an outdoor trail through the back woods on the banks of the Merrimack River.
2026 Dates and Hours
Spooky World’s season began on September 18 and has these nights left, with the hours of the main ticket booth:
- Sunday, October 11: 6 to 11 p.m.
- Monday, October 12: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
- Thursdays, October 15, 22 and 29: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
- Fridays, October 16, 23 and 30: 6 to 11 p.m.
- Saturdays, October 17, 24 and 31: 5:30 to 11 p.m.
- Sundays, October 18 and 25: 5:30 to 10 p.m.
- Sunday, November 1: Lights Out, the last night, 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Timed tickets come in 15-minute slots. On the ticket calendar the first slot is 7 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, 6 p.m. on Saturdays and on Sundays from October 18, and 6:30 p.m. on October 11 and 12. The haunts stay open 1 to 1.5 hours after the booth closes, according to the site.
“Spooky World turns the sound up and the Lights all off!” the site says of Lights Out, the last night of the season.
My guide to when haunted houses open has opening and closing dates for haunts across the country.
Ticket Prices by Night
Tickets are sold only online, through the ticket seller Showpass, and the price changes with the night. These were the listed prices on October 11, before any fee at checkout:
| Night | General Admission | VIP |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, October 12, and Thursdays | $41.99 | $67.99 |
| Sundays, October 11, 18 and 25 | $44.99 | $69.99 |
| Fridays | $51.99 | $76.99 |
| Saturdays, including Halloween | $56.99 | $86.99 |
| Lights Out, Sunday, November 1 | $56.99 | $86.99 |
- General Admission: one trip through all five haunts.
- VIP: a shorter line at each haunt, a second trip through the haunts, a 2026 bracelet, and unlimited go-karts, mini golf and batting cages at Mel’s Funway Park from 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays and 5 p.m. on other nights. The ticket page lists the Haunted Hayride and Nightmare in 3D twice and “unlimited access through 3 other haunted attractions.” For the second trip, VIP guests swap wristbands at the main ticket booth before it closes.
Groups of 20 or more save $10 to $16 a ticket, military, police and first responders get $8 off with a code the park gives by phone, and a guest with a general admission ticket who visits on their birthday with ID is upgraded to VIP along with one companion. Spooky World gives no refunds, and Showpass exchanges a ticket only for one of equal or higher value.
The Monster Midway and Mel’s Funway Park
The Monster Midway is the food, bar and games area at Spooky World, and it is open to people who do not buy a haunt ticket.
- Food and drink: concessions, a beer garden and the Pumpkin Bar for guests 21 and over.
- Games: axe throwing, carnival games, a mechanical bull and zombie paintball.
- Also on the midway: fire pits, photo spots, psychic readings and a gift shop.
Mel’s Funway Park, the go-kart, mini golf and batting cage park where Spooky World is held, keeps those three open on Spooky World nights until 30 minutes after the ticket booth closes, and the go-karts run only when the weather allows.
Before You Go
- Check-in: at least 30 minutes before the ticket time, at the Arcade Building next to the go-kart track before 6 p.m. and at the main ticket booth after 6 p.m.
- Time: the FAQ says to plan 90 minutes to two hours for the haunts.
- Weather: Spooky World runs in the rain and gives out free ponchos while they last. Severe-weather notices go on its site and Facebook page after 2 p.m.
- Parking: free. The FAQ gives 430 Charles Bancroft Highway, a corn field lot, as the entrance closest to the ticket booth.
- Costumes: allowed on Halloween night only, the calendar page says, with no weapons or props. Masks and full-face makeup are not allowed on any night.
- Ages: no age limit. The FAQ leaves the call to parents and warns of blood, gore and characters that may frighten children.
- Touch, shocks and strobes: characters may jump on the hayride trailer and may touch riders, and they do not touch guests in the other four haunts. The FAQ says there is an attraction where guests may be shocked by electricity, and signs mark the attractions with strobe lights.
- Accessibility: the hayride is not wheelchair accessible, and guests who can climb a small set of stairs with crutches or a cane can ride. The indoor haunts have wooden floors, and the paths between haunts are wood chips, dirt and grass.
- Photos: none inside the haunts, and no video or live streaming.
35 Years, From Berlin, Massachusetts, to Litchfield
Spooky World opened in 1991 in Berlin, Massachusetts, and is marking its 35th anniversary this season. It moved to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro seven years later, spent time at Boston’s Bayside Expo Center and at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, New Hampshire, and joined Nightmare New England in Litchfield in the fall of 2009, according to the park’s history page. The mile-long Haunted Hayride dates to 2015 and Asylum 47 to 2021.
Spooky World’s site, which names Mike Accomando and Wayne Caulfield as the owners, calls the park New England’s largest haunted attraction, on more than 80 acres. Elsewhere in New England, Fright Fest at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts, runs through November 1 and is in my Fright Fest guide.
Event Details
Spooky World Presents Nightmare New England runs on select nights through Sunday, November 1, 2026, at Mel’s Funway Park, 454 Charles Bancroft Highway, Litchfield, New Hampshire, which the park puts at five minutes from Manchester and 45 minutes north of Boston. Tickets and the calendar are on Spooky World’s site.
