00:00Across the North East, Halloween offers much more than a night of trick-or-treating.
00:04Families are heading to pumpkin patches, while scare attractions and themed events offer
00:07a different kind of seasonal outing.
00:09And the North East isn't exactly short of spooky tales, from supposedly haunted venues
00:13like the Castle Keep or Chillingham Castle, the most haunted place in the UK by the way,
00:18to the 1650 which trials on Newcastle's town were.
00:20But what though do people in the region really think of Halloween?
00:23Is it a bit of fun for the kids, something truly scary or just a load of old nonsense?
00:27Do you love trick-or-treating or do you turn off your lights and pretend you're not home
00:30when revelers come knocking?
00:32I usually wear out trick-or-treating anyway, so, but I'll put sweets in a dish outside.
00:39For the first person who comes, they take them all, I bet, yeah.
00:41I thought that was...
00:45When I was younger, like, I'd say, like, I didn't really see the point of it, but, like,
00:50I think most concepts of, like, holidays and stuff, when it comes to, like, it's been
00:57like, a lot of Americanised, so I'd see, like, I wasn't fond on it, but I kind of understand
01:04why people do it more, like, as I've grown up, with, like, people, like, sometimes just
01:09find no way to, like, get social.
01:13This is my first time dressing up in years.
01:16And what are we dressing up as?
01:18I'm going...
01:19Have you seen The Walking Dead?
01:20I'm going as a walker zombie from The Walking Dead.
01:23Amazing.
01:23And I'm DIY-ing it, so I'm making it from scratch.
01:26That's the best way, that's the only way to do it.
01:29And yourself?
01:29I'm going as a vampire.
01:31I'm just re-seeing my costume from last year, because nobody...
01:33It was, like, where I lived, so it's not up here, so nobody's seen it, so I might as
01:36well save the money.
01:37Brock's Bush has planted more than 155,000 pumpkins and squash for its 2026 Pumpkin Experience,
01:44with carving, themed photo opportunities, rides and food stores among the attractions.
01:48Elsewhere, Halloween events have included spooky underwater trails at Timeless Aquarium,
01:53family activities at White House Farm near Morpeth, and after-dark entertainment at Beamish
01:57Museum.
01:58For those looking for bigger scares, the region's also got big attractions built around horror mazes
02:02and frightening live experiences.
02:04Amazing now, you've got to decorate the house and have things where you go in the garden
02:10and the spooky things coming up from graves and all sorts.
02:14Erm, I'm thinking, so we're doing a theme on, like, DC and Marvel, so I'm probably going
02:20to go as John Constantine.
02:21Lights off, pretend they're not in.
02:24Cool.
02:24I'm dressing up and I'm going to the door and giving them sweets and seeing how they are.
02:28Because I grew up in a family where we never did anything graveline.
02:31I've never carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:35I've...
02:35Yeah, I've never done anything of the sort.
02:37You've never carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:38I've never carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:39Next year, when we get our houses for uni...
02:41She's making me carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:41She's making me carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:43Making me carved a pumpkin in my life.
02:44I can remember me dad putting his fingers open on a turnip, didn't he?
02:48He tried to do a turnip, but also when we were younger and he nearly chopped his finger
02:51off, didn't he?
02:54Well, it's safe to say that while some people see it as a bit of harmless fun, some take things
02:58a lot more seriously.
