Tag: halloween

Return to Spooky Hollow in Balboa Park!

You know Halloween is coming up when lots of fun spooky events are around the corner! Are you and your kids ready to “Return to Spooky Hollow” in Balboa Park?

“Return to Spooky Hollow” is an original Halloween-inspired children’s puppet show written and directed by Heather Whitney. It’s described as: Come along with Gordy, Squash and Calabaza as they try to top last year’s Spooky Hollow party and meet lots of fun folks along the way. This is an all-ages hybrid shadow and live puppet show with music, songs, and audience shout-outs!

Performances will be at the historic Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in Balboa Park. Shows are on Saturday, October 18: 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM; and on Sunday, October 19: 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 3:00 PM. Each show last about 30 minutes.

Tickets can be purchased here or at the box office shortly before showtime. The box office is located near the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater entrance.

(If you go, make sure to look up and backwards from your seat. You’ll see two of the puppets used by McDonald’s for their classic McDonaldland advertisements!)

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Spooky tombs placed in San Diego park!

Oh my goodness! Why have these old tombs been placed in the southwest corner of San Diego’s Balboa Park? Very spooky!

You’d almost think that Halloween is approaching. Oh, wait. It is less then two months away!

So it isn’t surprising that The Haunted Trail is being set up in its usual Balboa Park location. The annual outdoor “haunted house” attraction is rather large, so putting it all together must take some time.

Imagine walking past those creepy old tombs in the dark of night. Might someone or something pop out unexpectedly?

I’d probably scream.

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share!

Creative Halloween pumpkins at Hard Rock Hotel!

The Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter has an awesome Halloween display inside their lobby!

The hotel’s different departments have each “carved” a pumpkin. Their creative efforts fill a large table, and guests are invited to vote for their favorite. The winning department receives a trophy!

I checked out all the great pumpkins this morning. Some are really scary. Some are pure fun. (I like the pumpkin with a spa facial.)

Here come the photos…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Halloween creeps into San Diego’s Gaslamp!

Should we be frightened? Halloween has crept into San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter!

I took these spooky (and fun) photographs early this morning in dim light, then in the late afternoon as restaurants and bars prepared for a terrifying onslaught of evening partiers.

Trick or treat!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Halloween fun with San Diego Youth Symphony!

This afternoon, the San Diego Youth Symphony took to the stage at Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion, to perform their traditional Halloween concert. And many of the young musicians were in costume!

I noticed cows, Harry Potter, the Riddler, a Super Mario mushroom . . . and two adult conductors who were quite evil-looking!

Spooky pieces played during the fun concert included Valse Diabolique, The Boogie Man Blues, Themes from Harry Potter, Waltz of the Wicked, and Curse of the Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space! Yes, that last one is a thing. I’m not kidding!

I took photos of a few fun costumes before and during the concert…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

An epic Harry Potter display in Balboa Park!

The magical world of Harry Potter has invaded San Diego’s Balboa Park! An incredible, epic display has materialized just in time for Halloween, courtesy of the House of England at the International Cottages!

Check out all these awesome Harry Potter props inside and outside the House of England cottage!

Is that Sirius Black in dog form?

A friendly witch welcomes everybody to the House of England cottage before Halloween.

The four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have banners hanging.

The Sorting Hat is ready to sort you!

Ready for class to begin?

Nagini is on the loose near the Monster Book of Monsters!

Watch out! Voldemort likes unicorn blood.

It’s a mandrake root! Are your earplugs in?

Thank goodness, this Cornish Pixie isn’t loose!

Get some dark magic artifacts at Borgin and Burkes.

Looks like the Goblet of Fire and tiny Patronuses.

Get your Essence of Bat Wings! Full Strength!

Hedwig has brought a letter.

Must be Snape’s class. Pick your poison!

We must be in the Owlery on the top of Hogwarts Castle’s West Tower.

Dark wizards are on the loose!

Ready for a game of Quidditch?

Perhaps you’d like to battle these chess pieces. They don’t seem terribly large.

Books can contain so much magic! (Uh, oh–tell Ron that Scabbers is loose.)

Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, is ready to help Harry.

Gigantic spiders! Are we in the Forbidden Forest? No, just outside, in the rear of the House of England cottage in Balboa Park.

Can you see this Thestral?

WATCH OUT! It’s a Death Eater!!!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Pumpkins launch from San Diego Air and Space Museum!

Lots of pumpkins were chucked off the roof of the San Diego Air and Space Museum today, to the delight of watching children! The event was part of the museum’s annual Halloween-themed Pumpkin Chunkin’ celebration!

Some pumpkins were frozen, some not. Some pumpkins were hollow, some not. Some had parachutes attached, some not. As they were dropped in pairs, curious onlookers could view and compare the results of each toss!

The pumpkin launching was just one family-friendly activity hosted at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. I photographed several of the outdoor drops during my walk through Balboa Park!

Inside the museum, kids (many wearing costumes) could construct a catapult and parachute to launch and safely land candy pumpkins, use 3D pens to make creepy sculptures, and drive robot ghouls!

Did you know October is Kid’s Free Month at the San Diego Air and Space Museum? It is!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

An insane Halloween display in San Diego!

This front yard Halloween display has no equal in San Diego!

A wonderfully insane scene erected beside a sidewalk greets those passing through Serra Mesa. If you’ve driven down Murray Ridge Road, you’ve probably seen it.

This particular front yard has a history of immense displays that are jammed full of characters. The hand made figures are grimly humorous and madly inventive. The popular culture is often referenced, the San Diego Padres are rooted on, and our military is saluted. There’s politics mixed in too with a good helping of sarcasm.

Seeing all the bloody mayhem, one might develop goosebumps, or cringe, or laugh!

I’ve briefly spotted these crazy displays in years past. Because Halloween is approaching, I wanted a close look.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Ghosts on San Diego’s haunted Star of India?

Have you ever had an eerie experience on the Star of India, San Diego’s world-famous tall ship? The old ship does have a long history of ghostly encounters. Are you curious?

Haunted Star Tales is an experience now available at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, in time for Halloween. Several signs posted around Star of India tell how visitors to the historic tall ship have had possible encounters with ghosts from the ship’s past.

For example, people have reported a mysterious cold chill in the boatswain’s locker, just above the chain locker where a death occurred in the year 1909.

And there are those instances when ship caretakers, night watchmen and others have felt a finger in their back when nobody else is present–possibly by the ghost of one John Campbell, a stowaway boy, who, in 1884, working for his passage, fell 100 feet to the ship’s deck.

Wander the decks and darker areas inside 1863 Star of India, oldest active sailing ship in the world, looking for informative signs that tell of possible hauntings. You will find many human stories and so much fascinating history.

Whether you encounter a ghost–who knows?

Souls lost and mysterious sightings… Come aboard and find out for yourself!

The bo’s’un’s locker, where unexplained cold chills have been felt.

The chain locker, where a death occurred.

Visitors come to the ticket taker or volunteer tour guides and ask… Did someone die here?

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Newly planted trees on The Haunted Trail!

Newly planted trees can be spotted in the southwest corner of Balboa Park near Marston Point. By sheer coincidence I spotted them today.

In the late morning I walked from downtown San Diego up to Balboa Park, intending to see if any progress has been made on The Haunted Trail. The “trail” is a very spooky, outdoor, after dark attraction that pops up in time for Halloween.

But look what I discovered! What an interesting contrast! Many young green trees are growing among scary props, including a beat-up car and broken-down old shack.

I asked someone who was preparing other ghoulish props for The Haunted Trail, and he believes the trees were planted earlier this year. I don’t recall seeing them before!

How scary might this “forest” be after dark?

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.