Halloween In South Carolina: A MapQuest Guide

From zombie parades and costume contests to haunted houses and hayrides (to haunted anything!), the Halloween season casts its spell and awakens our inner ghouls and goblins. As part of FrightQuest -- a MapQuest series on spooky destinations and activities -- here are three options to celebrate Halloween in South Carolina that are sure to be a scream.
— Shellie Braeuner

Halloween In The Swamp

In October, Cypress Gardens turns its natural park into Halloween in the Swamp. Families with young children can explore the lighted Pumpkin Trail and then make their way to the game room, where they can enjoy Halloween stories and toasted marshmallows around a roaring campfire. More daring teens and adults are rowed through the South Carolina swamps in a boat, where they will actively avoid thieves, murderers and live alligators. After surviving the boat ride, guests can walk along a haunted trail and hear ghost stories around the campfire.

3030 Cypress Gardens Road, Moncks Corner, SC 29461 | Get Directions

Boo At The Zoo

The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina, is home to one of the largest family-friendly Halloween parties in the Palmetto State. During the last two weekends in October, the zoo converts from giraffes and gorillas to ghosts and goblins with Boo at the Zoo, an event that gives children a safe place to trick-or-treat in Halloween costumes. Also, zoo employees bring out snakes, centipedes and other creepy crawlies for a yucky meet and greet. Adults are encouraged to dress up with their children, as well. However, the zoo asks that all costumes be child and family friendly.

500 Wildlife Parkway, Columbia, SC 29210 | Get Directions

Kreepy Hollow

Kreepy Hollow offers a full night of fright because this haunted attraction includes a two-story haunted house and graveyard. According to the local paper, The Item, visitors can enjoy both a 2-mile haunted hayride and Kreeper’s Bus Ride, a 1-mile trip with an evil bus driver. Children are welcome, but visitors are encouraged to understand their own and their families' limits because the attraction has violent themes and images. Costumes are not encouraged, and masks of any kind are not allowed.

1155 Joe Dority Road, Bishopville, SC 29010 | Get Directions

Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo and Garden celebrates Boo at the Zoo.

Did we miss a Halloween event in South Carolina? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

Want other great Halloween-season ideas? Check out FrightQuest and our coverage in North Carolina, Georgia and Atlanta.

Interested in more stories about South Carolina? Go to Patch and scroll the list of states to get great local coverage of your neighborhood.