Our favorite spooky experiences around D.C.

• Note that advance tickets are highly recommended for all, and prices often vary by weekday/weekend/holiday.

🧟 Markoff's Haunted Forest (Dickerson, Md.): A Halloween institution for more than 30 years, Markoff's has grown from a small town attraction to a massive, mile-long trail and haunted village with bonfires, music, light and scent effects, and of course, "creepy human interaction."

• Be careful not to lose your phone!

🏢 Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston, W.Va.): For the person who's watched every "Ghost Hunters" episode, this 1800s asylum — whose ghastly history dates back to the Civil War — is more than just a Halloween thing (like they say, the dead don't sleep).

• Regular paranormal tours, ghost hunts, and overnight experiences (not a typo) are offered throughout the year.

😱 Field of Screams Maryland (Olney, Md.): This huge haunted campground has everything — zombies, haunted houses, dark woods, and a "Saw"-like slaughter factory for anyone who sleeps too well at night.

👿 Laurel's House of Horror (Laurel, Md.): The biggest haunted "house" in the area is housed in an old movie theater that's rumored to be haunted (judge for yourself on a paranormal tour).

• Groups can also damn themselves to horror movie-themed escape rooms.