The High Country Haint List.

Pumpkin Painting Contest. Ashe County Public Library, West Jefferson. Drop-off Oct. 1–24. Paint a pumpkin at home and bring it in. The library puts every entry on display upstairs, snaps a Polaroid of each one and hands out superlative awards. All ages. Pick yours up any time before Nov. 7.

Spooky clay classes. Lost Province Arts, Historic Lansing School. Saturdays at noon or 2 p.m., $40 each. Ninety minutes of hand-building with Callum Conklin, glazing included. Make ghosts (Oct. 3 or Oct. 24), pumpkins (Oct. 3 or Oct. 10), Halloween dishes (Oct. 17) or a bat for the wall (Oct. 24). Firing takes three to four weeks, so book an early class if you want your ghost on the porch by Halloween.

Ghost Train at Tweetsie Railroad. Tweetsie Railroad, Blowing Rock. Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 25 through Oct. 31, from 7:30 p.m. A nighttime ride on the Ghost Train, then the Haunted House, the Freaky Forest and trick-or-treating on Main Street. Tickets are sold by night and train time, so buy ahead. The scariest stretches are best for 8 and up.

Hitchcocktober. Appalachian Theatre, Boone. 6 p.m., free. Three Hitchcock pictures on the big screen. Shadow of a Doubt on Tue. Oct. 6, North by Northwest on Thu. Oct. 8 and Notorious on Tue. Oct. 13. Don't skip the first one. A small-town girl starts to suspect her charming Uncle Charlie is the Merry Widow killer, and Hitchcock called it his favorite of his own films. No previews, so the reel rolls right at 6. Get there early for popcorn.

Maximum Overdrive. Appalachian Theatre, Boone. Wed. Oct. 7, 6 p.m. Free. Stephen King's one and only turn in the director's chair, shot down east in Wilmington. Earth drifts through a comet's tail, the trucks wake up homicidal and AC/DC scores the carnage. Rated R. Gloriously dumb.

Slime Time. Ashe County Public Library, West Jefferson. Thu. Oct. 8, 4–5 p.m. Kids 5 to 12 cook up creepy slime and a pumpkin that throws up. Messy on purpose.

Haunted Bike Race. Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain. Fri. Oct. 9, 6–9 p.m. Beech Mountain's haunted night ride. Full details still coming. Parks & Rec is at 828-387-3003.

Family Fall Flannel Fest. Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain. Sat. Oct. 10, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. A hayride through the turning leaves, games for every age, roasted corn and an old-fashioned apple press squeezing out cider while you watch. Wear the flannel.

Shrunken Head Pastry class. Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain. Fri. Oct. 16, 5:30–7 p.m. Learn to make shrunken heads out of spiced apples. RSVP ahead.

Valle Country Fair. Valle Crucis. Sat. Oct. 17, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Free. A church bazaar that outgrew the church, set down in the valley at peak leaf. Handmade crafts, home cooking and mountain music all day. Go early and beat the crowd. Plenty of parking next door.

Cider on the Mountain. Appalachian Mountain Brewery & Cidery, Boone. Sat. Oct. 17, noon–10 p.m. Free to get in, all ages. Not spooky, just peak apple season. Mountain music until 6, AMB's ciders plus guest pours from Botanist & Barrel and Wicked Weed, apple pizzas and apple games. A $15 sampling card gets you a commemorative glass. Make it the daytime leg of Rocky Horror night.

Local Lore & Funeral Customs. Museum of Ashe County History, West Jefferson. Sat. Oct. 17. Ashe County ghost stories and the old Appalachian ways of burying the dead.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, with shadowcast. Appalachian Theatre, Boone. Sat. Oct. 17 at 8 p.m., a late show at 11, and Sun. Oct. 18 at 8 p.m. The cult classic on the big screen with a live cast acting it out down front, put on by App State's Alpha Psi Omega theatre society. Virgin games. Dress up. Tim Curry died Aug. 25 at 80, which makes this year's showings a wake as much as a party. Cheer Frank-N-Furter's entrance like you mean it. Then go find The Worst Witch), a 1986 British TV movie where Curry turns up as the Grand Wizard in an enormous cape and sings "Anything Can Happen on Halloween" in front of green-screen effects that look homemade. A young Fairuza Balk plays the witch. Our pick of the whole list.

Hocus Pocus. Appalachian Theatre, Boone. Tue. Oct. 20, 6 p.m. The Sanderson sisters, back on the big screen. Disney opened it in the middle of July 1993, it flopped, and years of Halloween reruns on TV made it a classic anyway. We love it, no irony. The 2022 sequel had its moments. It's not this.

Halloween Pickleball Paddle Battle. Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain. Fri. Oct. 23, 5–8 p.m. Open to all. Prizes on the line.

Dancing Anyways Halloween dance party. Parallel Brewing and Wine Bar, Boone. Fri. Oct. 23, 6–10 p.m. A women-only dance night with spooky visuals, a costume contest and a set that swings from indie and throwbacks to hip-hop, EDM and trap. $10 at the door, $15 with a raffle entry.

The Hitchcock Radio Hour. Ensemble Stage, Historic Banner Elk School. Fri. Oct. 23 and Sat. Oct. 24, 7 p.m. A 1940s live radio broadcast restaged with the sound effects made by hand in front of you. On the bill this year are "Mark of a Beast" and "Cask of Amontillado."

Super Tots JamBOOree. Ashe County Public Library, West Jefferson. Thu. Oct. 29, 10:30–11:30 a.m. Halloween games and pumpkins-and-ghosts play for the littlest ones, birth to 5.

Haunted Trail & Halloween Event. Buckeye Recreation Center, Beech Mountain. Fri. Oct. 30, 5–8:30 p.m. Free. This year's haunted trail theme is Jailbreak, with Trail or Treat trick-or-treating along the paved walkway and games on the lawn.

Dogtoberfest at Brewin' Good Pint Night. Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Boone. Fri. Oct. 30, 5–8 p.m. Pints for PARTNERS! Canines, and the rescue is throwing a Dogtoberfest with dog-and-owner costumes. Dress the dog. Dress yourself.

A Rockabilly Horror Throwdown. Lost Province Center for the Cultural Arts, Lansing. Fri. Oct. 30, doors at 7 p.m. Rockabilly from Winston-Salem's The Tremors, hard-driving old-time from the Crooked Road Ramblers, a costume contest and a horror scream contest. $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Blowing Rock Halloween Festival. Memorial Park, Blowing Rock. All day. Free. Downtown trick-or-treating, hayrides, carnival games and the Monster March.

Spookley's Trick-or-Treat Tours. Apple Hill Farm, Banner Elk. Every half hour, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. A storybook trick-or-treat walk past the farm animals, reading Spookley the Square Pumpkin as you go. $17 for trick-or-treaters, $15 without candy, $3 for infants. Book ahead.

Boone Boo! King Street, Boone. 5–7:30 p.m. Trick-or-treating at downtown shops, a Halloween playlist piped down King Street and giant inflatables lining the sidewalks.

Banner Elk Trunk or Treat. Historic Banner Elk School. 5–7 p.m. Local businesses and neighbors deck out their trunks and hand out candy. Costumes for kids and grown-ups alike.

SouthEnd Costume Contest. SouthEnd Brewing, Boone. 7 p.m. The first bar to put Halloween night on the calendar. That's all they've posted so far. Show up in costume and find out the rest.

Frights and Pints. Beech Mountain, 8:30 p.m. Free. The mountain's first-ever walking ghost tour, leaving from the public lot at 101 Bark Park Way. Local lore and strange happenings from Beech Mountain's past.