Among the best-known events held each year around Halloween time are Keene, N.H.’s Pumpkin Festival (Oct. 25), New York’s Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (Oct. 31), New Orleans’ Voodoo Festival (Oct. 24-26), and the pumpkin-tossing contest in Bridgeville, Del., called Punkin Chunkin (Oct. 31-Nov. 2).
But if none of those are convenient and you’re looking for some spooky fun closer to home, here are 13 of the Haunted House Association’s top picks for haunted houses around the country, chosen from among 2,200 such attractions:

• -The Darkness, St. Louis
• -7 Floors of Hell, Cleveland, Ohio
• -13th Gate Haunted House, Baton Rouge, La.
• -Nightmare on 13th, Salt Lake City, Utah
• -Nightmare on the Bayou, Houston, Texas
• -Cutting Edge, Fort Worth, Texas
• -The Bates Motel, Philadelphia, Pa.
• -Dreamreapers Haunted House, Chicago
• -Erebus Four Story Haunted Attraction, Pontiac, Mich.
• -The Haunted Hotel, San Diego, Calif.
• -Headless Horseman Hayrides and Haunted Houses, Ulster Park, N.Y.
• -Kersey Valley SpookyWoods and Maize Adventure, Greensboro, N.C.
• -NETHERWORLD Haunted House, Atlanta, Ga.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS