Vancouver’s Best Halloween Events 2011

Halloween has Easter’s candy, Christmas’s magic, novelty drinks and leprechauns. It’s all the things St. Patrick’s Day should be but isn’t. No wonder people adore it and worship at its temples, meaning not just fetish night at the club, but also:

The Dunbar Haunted House (Oct. 14-31), a spook gallery and fundraiser, this year relocates to a 6,000-square-foot warehouse at the foot of Oak. The theme, Barbaric BC, is a kind of “inverted travel brochure,” says organizer Brad Leith, of provincial icons turned on their heads. Dunbarhauntedhouse.com

The Secret Soul Walk (Oct. 30) guides thousands of hopefuls—with help from stilt walkers, shadow puppeteers, musicians, and zombies—on the journey from darkness to light. Publicdreams.org

The Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tour (Oct. 7-31) is two hours of hosted commentary through Vancouver’s dark past, including the Vancouver Police Museum morgue. Vancouvertrolley.com

Fright Nights at the PNE (Oct. 14-31) has five haunted houses, including the return of 3D Car-N-Evil and Monsters of Schlock. Pne.ca/frightnights

Supernatural Noir (Oct. 28-Nov. 5, except Monday), a production that merges the film noir genre with opera, receives its full-length premiere in what promises to be a mysterious, darkly funny, musical debut. Fugue.biz