All this month, Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society has set the rooms of the William Root House for a Victorian funeral. Visitors can see mourning jewelry woven from human hair, a period death mask and a restored 19th-century embalming table. The exhibit is called Victorian Funeral, and it runs October 1 through October 31, 2026.
It's one of the darker things on Marietta's October calendar. It's not the scariest, and it's far from the gentlest. From the scarecrows on Glover Park to a midnight Rocky Horror screening on the Square, Marietta's 2026 Halloween events cover nearly every scare level. With the dates and times below, a household can pick the step that fits a toddler, a teenager or a group of adults with a babysitter booked.
The clearest example comes from Cobb County. The Cobb County Haunted House at Jim R. Miller Park and Event Center, 2245 Callaway Road SW, has guests walk a maze of scary scenes that runs "from the abandoned nursery to the crypt below." Admission is $5 per person, bought on-site.
On Wednesday, October 28, the county runs an all-inclusive night for guests with disabilities. Guests pick one of three sessions based on their sensory, access and comfort needs:
The county says the lighting and scare levels change promptly at the listed times.
That Wednesday schedule packs the whole month into five hours. The night moves through three stages, first the lights go off and then the scares begin, and people can leave whenever they've had enough. The rest of Marietta's October 2026 works the same way, spread across three weeks and a handful of venues.
General admission runs Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, October 25, then Wednesday, October 28 through Friday, October 30, from 5 to 10 p.m. each night. On Halloween itself, Saturday, October 31, it stays open until 11 p.m.
The mildest step falls on Saturday, October 17, and it's a full day. The City of Marietta's HarvestFest and Scarecrows In The Square fills Glover Park, 50 N Park Square NE, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The program includes an arts-and-crafts show, Touch-A-Truck, the Scarecrows in the Square display, costume and pie-eating contests, Cornerback's Coop and the Halloween Happenings Kids Festival.
The same Saturday is also the Marietta History Center's monthly Pop-In for Family Fun, and October's theme is "Haunted History." The museum's galleries are free from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with activities and crafts from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event flyer asks kids to wear their costumes. The History Center says every 2026 Pop-In is free thanks to its sponsor, Cauthorn, Sanders, & Schmidt. The Pop-In page warns that the schedule can change without notice, so check it the week of.
With both on the same Saturday, one costume can last through two events. A Touch-A-Truck morning and a free museum craft both sit at the gentle end. Neither one tries to frighten anyone.
For families who want a stranger kind of mild, the Cobb County Water System runs its Trick or Treatment sPOOky Tour on Friday, October 16 and Saturday, October 17, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. It takes place at the R.L. Sutton Water Reclamation Facility in Smyrna. The tour includes a walk through the facility, candy and educational activities, and registration is required.
The next step up is where the calendar gets crowded. On Saturday, October 24, three events overlap in almost the same evening hours:
Event | Hours | Cost | Scare level |
|---|---|---|---|
Cobb PARKS Fall Festival of Fun, Jim R. Miller Park | 5 to 9 p.m. | Free admission and parking | Hay rides, petting zoo, magic shows |
William Root House Flashlight Tours | 5 to 9 p.m. | $10 advance, $15 at the door | A mourning-draped 1850s house by flashlight |
Cobb County Haunted House, Jim R. Miller Park | 5 to 10 p.m. | $5 on-site | Performers, darkness, the crypt |
The two Jim R. Miller Park events sit on the same grounds, so a mixed-age group can split up there. The Fall Festival of Fun offers costumes, entertainment, hay rides, a petting zoo, magic shows and vendors, all with free admission and free parking. Older kids can buy a $5 haunted house ticket without anyone leaving the park.
The Root House Flashlight Tours scare people in a different way. The tours are self-guided, run Friday, October 23 and Saturday, October 24 from 5 to 9 p.m., and lead visitors through the funeral-arranged rooms by flashlight. Mr. Tombstone's Coffee Emporium will be on-site with coffee, hot chocolate, cold brew and skull cakes. Nobody jumps out at you. What's unsettling is that the artifacts are real. A death mask and an embalming table in a historic house hit differently than a costumed actor does.
Cobb Landmarks says after-hours space is "extremely limited" and strongly recommends buying ahead. Tickets and directions are at roothousemuseum.com/funeral, or by phone at 770-426-4982. Daytime visits to the exhibit through October 31 are included with standard museum admission. That makes a weekday afternoon a quieter way to see the same rooms. This year's most intense Root House event has already happened. The VIP Midnight Wake on October 9 was a candlelit, $50 event for ages 12 and up.
The top of the scale sits back on the Square, and the start times creep later as Halloween gets closer.
It starts this week. Strandemonium: A Halloween Spectacular is Tuesday, October 13, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, 117 N Park Square. Tickets are $19, and the performers are Strand Academy students. Details are on the Visit Marietta event page.
Halloween week moves the Strand into its movie lineup. Cobb County's fall festivities roundup lists Halloween on Thursday, October 29 at 7 p.m. and Rocky Horror Picture Show on Friday, October 30 at 8 p.m. and again at midnight. The roundup doesn't list ticket prices, so check the theater before you go.
Halloween night itself falls on a Saturday this year. Glover Park Brewery at 65 Atlanta Street SE is holding a 21+ Halloween Party in its upstairs Grand Salon, with a costume contest and a DJ. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the party runs from 9 p.m. to midnight. At the time of writing, the Eventbrite listing showed a 2-for-1 deal with tickets starting at $4.78.
Halloween is also the Cobb County Haunted House's longest night, open until 11 p.m. On October 31, one household can split with no overlap in age limits. Teens head to Callaway Road for the haunted house while adults in costume head to the Grand Salon.
We found no 2026 listing for organized trick-or-treating on Marietta Square. Visit Marietta's Halloween roundup described trick-or-treating at Glover Park Brewery and candy at Marietta Square Market, but that article dates to October 2021. It doesn't confirm that either event is coming back this year. We also found no dated 2026 Halloween-week listing for the Marietta City Cemetery walking tours, or for Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
Halloween week is still more than a week away, and businesses on the Square sometimes post plans late. For now, families looking for a Square event that welcomes young kids in costume have one dated option, HarvestFest and the History Center Pop-In on October 17. Two weeks later, on October 31, the Square's only confirmed event is the Grand Salon party, and it's 21 and up.
We live on this calendar too, and we're sorting out our own costumes and Saturday nights this month. If you're thinking about a move and want to know how a street feels on HarvestFest morning or Halloween night, The Carlson Orange Team is happy to talk it through. Talk to Your Real Estate Family.
