Two Nights of Fear and Fun at Haunted Marietta

How brave are you? Do you love a good scare or are you frightened of demons, ghouls and ghosts that go bump in the night? You can test your courage this Halloween when you head to Haunted Marietta for an evening of spine-tingling fun at the Union Meeting House. Located less than a mile from B.F. Hiestand House, this historic building undergoes a spooky transformation each fall to become a frightening haunted house and vendor market that hosts hundreds of guests looking for a nightmarish good time. You can join in the fun, too... if you dare!

Now in its eighth year, Haunted Marietta will be held for two nights in 2023: Friday, Oct. 27, and Saturday, Oct. 28. Each night from 6-7 p.m., the faint of heart and families with young children are welcome to check out the attraction with lights on and no costumed actors. From 7-9:30 p.m., the lights go out and the evil spirits come out to strike terror into all who dare to enter. In addition to the haunted house, the event also features more than a dozen spooky vendors and several food trucks.

Haunted Marietta is a labor of love for its creative director, Willis Boyles, and his family. Since starting this spooktacular event in their backyard, they've hosted thousands of thrill-seeking guests. A few years back, the Boyles family teamed up with Marietta Restoration Associates, an organization dedicated to preserving the cultural and architectural heritage of Marietta, to take the event to the next level. It takes nearly two months to transform the Union Meeting House into a haunted attraction with terrifying sets, props and special effects, and the results are impressively gruesome.

Admission to Haunted Marietta is free, but donations are accepted and given to the Marietta Restoration Associates to support their work to preserve the Union Meeting House and other community treasures. Built in 1818, the Union Meeting House is Marietta's oldest surviving public building, once serving as a meeting place for most of Marietta’s Protestant churches while they raised funds to build their own meeting places. In a building this old, surely one might expect to find a ghost or two.

If you're brave enough to visit, Haunted Marietta guarantees an evening of fear and fun. If you make it out of the haunted house alive and in one piece, you can return to the safety and comfort of your restful accommodations at B.F. Hiestand House, where we promise there are no ghosts or monsters — or are there?