My daughter and I were leaving Festival Fright Nights at the Winchester Mystery House recently when she asked a very good question.
”Do you think the real ghosts here are upset about all these people pretending to be ghosts?”
I was tempted to say it was clearly an unfair labor issue to bring in imported ghosts when there were surely plenty of domestic ghosts to do the work. Instead, I went into dad mode and pointed out that nearly all the lore about Sarah Winchester and her sprawling 160-room mansion in San Jose was made up to create a more interesting tourist attraction.
The animatronic Gourd Horde entertains guests with Halloween-themed songs during Festival Fright Nights at the Winchester Mystery House, which run Sept. 18 to Nov. 1, 2026. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)
It’s not like that means there aren’t ghosts there. But I think any spirits occupying the halls of the Winchester Mystery House would be delighted by this year’s edition of Festival Fright Nights.
Producer Thirteenth Floor did a good job of not only adding a mist of dread to the main house — carefully working around historic elements — but added lots of extras on the grounds, including special lighting, a fun animatronic “Gourd Horde” that entertains visitors with Halloween-themed songs and more food and beverage areas, including the Winchester Cider Mill near the entrance and a somewhat hidden Seance Society Speakeasy lounge.
The hands-down scariest part remains the Root of All Evil maze through the greenhouse and garden. You’ll never look at plants the same way.
Festival Fright Nights runs through Nov. 1, and you can get more details and tickets at www.festivalfrightnights.com.
ARIA SCARED YET?: Opera San Jose isn’t wasting any time between productions of “Don Giovanni” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” with some of the company’s singers taking part in “Tunnel of Terror,” a free Halloween celebration at San Jose City Hall Plaza on Saturday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. With the illuminated backdrop of the Sonic Runway art piece — the “Tunnel of Terror” itself — Oprea San Jose singers will team up with Children’s Musical Theater San Jose performers to deliver both operatic classics, Halloween favorites and music from “Phantom of the Opera.”
There’ll also be a lowrider display (with trunk-or-treating along Santa Clara Street), plus a night market, roaming street performers and a costume contest.
SAN JOSE RIVER WALK: I hear from people all the time that the Guadalupe River is one of the city’s hidden gems, an underutilized asset that more people should explore. To encourage that, the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and West Coast Community Bank have teamed up for a fun event on Sunday afternoon called “Rhythm Along the River.” And when they say “along the river,” they mean it.
Between noon and 3 p.m., you can check out a kayaking demonstration courtesy of Carl Salas near the West Santa Clara Street Bridge and then walk south to RiverPark Towers at San Carlos Street. San Jose Jazz has recruited musicians to perform along the way, which should add a much cooler soundtrack to your walk than the cars zooming along the streets above.
And depending which end you resurface on, you can always pop over to Little Italy or SPARK Social San Jose for a bite.
WORTH A READ: The traditional first anniversary gift is paper, and that’s perfect for BookSmart, the independent bookstore which is celebrating its first year at Eastridge Center this week. Owners Brad Jones and Cinda Meister want to thank everyone with a birthday party planned for Saturday with cake, balloons, storytimes and visits with children’s book character Spot the Dog, starting at 11 a.m.
To really thank customers, the store is in the midst of an anniversary sale, which started Tuesday and runs through Saturday, offering a buy one, get one half-off deal.
“Independent bookstores are more than just retail spaces,” Jones said. “They’re gathering places — where ideas and stories meet, where kids discover their first favorite book and where neighbors connect.”