Ghost tours: London
The Necropolis Bus Company (yes, really) offers tours around London's scariest historical sights. Nothing particularly unusual about that, but what distinguishes the Ghost Bus Tours (get it? No? Say it quickly) are the comedians, actors and cabaret performers who bring haunted London to life through a series of stories on board this restored 1966 Routemaster.
Adults £18, children/concessions £12. 0844 567 8666.
Star in a zombie film: Nationwide
Fancy being a zombie for the day? Zombie website terror4fun.com offers listings of UK and international zombie flicks in need of (usually unpaid) extras. The Odinsay Incident, about a government experiment gone awry, starts filming on the Orkney islands next summer. The site also publishes the world's only zombie e-zine, Zombie Time and runs zombie make-up lessons, mass participation zombie apocalypse events, and screenings of zombie films, the next being The Day of the Undead in Leicester's new digital media centre, Phoenix Square, on 28 November (free, 0116-242 2800).
Ghost-sit in a castle: Cumbria
Muncaster Castle, the subject of a long study into the paranormal by Dr Jason Braithwaite of the University of Birmingham, offers overnight accommodation for anyone wanting to conduct their own investigation. After 15 years, Braithwaite could only theorise that unusual magnetic fields might be behind Muncaster's hauntings, which have seen previous guests reporting being touched and hearing faint singing and the crying of infants during their stay.
From £425pn, based on a group of six sharing the haunted Tapestry Room, all inclusive. 01229 717614.
Discover your inner witch: Brecon Beacons
"If you're a cynic of any kind," the website warns, "then no, this isn't for you." Negativity has no place on this spiritual enlightenment break in a farmhouse in the Brecon Beacons national park. The retreat aims to teach some of the original pagan witchcraft skills. You'll learn how to read runes, make a wand and a protective "witch-bottle", dress a sacred altar, and your tarot cards will be read.
£130pp per day, food and accommodation inc. 020-7193 0850, tourdust.com
Join The Ghost Club: London
Founded in 1862 and claiming Charles Dickens, WB Yeats, Siegfried Sassoon and Peter Cushing as former members, London's Ghost Club is the country's oldest and most genteel ghost-hunting organisation. It runs regular investigations into paranormal activities, recording ghostly phenomena at reputedly haunted sites across the UK, and holds discussion groups at the Victory Services Club in London.
Membership £25 per year.
How to survive a zombie apocalypse: Nationwide
Unprepared for the rise of the undead? Then pop along to the How To Survive a Zombie Apocalypse public information show, performed by Lancaster-based tour company After Dark. They're also helping to run Grimmfest, a horror festival in Manchester this weekend which includes Zombie-Aid 2, an attempt at the records for both the largest zombie walk, and the largest Thriller dance.
Spooky sleepover: Essex
After their event at the London Bridge Experience raised £8,488 last year, St John Ambulance is running a sponsored spooky sleepover for over-18s at Eastbury Manor, Barking, on Saturday 21 November. Built on the ruins of Barking Abbey, local legend has it that the gunpowder plot was hatched here. Scary films will be screened all night and paranormal experts will be in attendance to assist with the ghost-hunting. Sleeping bags and mats required.
£35pp registration fee, must pledge to raise minimum £150 for St John Ambulance.
Talk of the devil: London
Why let death get in the way of a good conversation? That's the question posed by the Hendrick's Quarterly Séance in east London this Monday (2 Nov). Hosted by Professor Richard Wiseman, it promises to be an evening of unnerving chat with the great and good from the other side. The surroundings couldn't be more appropriate: Viktor Wynd's Little Shop of Horrors is like no art gallery you've ever seen, with exhibits more likely to be stuffed or pickled than hung ... unless it's by the neck.
6pm (for 7pm séance), 8pm (for 9pm séance), £10. 11 Mare Street, thelasttuesdaysociety.org
Ghostbusting: Lincolnshire
Converted from a former police station and courthouse, the Old Nick Theatre in Gainsborough retains its original cells, complete with Victorian graffiti. It's no surprise that the place is haunted – and reports of sinister shadows moving in the dark abound. UK Shadow Seekers, a paranormal investigation company, will lead you around, instructing you in the use of electromagnetic frequency detectors.
£30pp, 9pm-4am, now booking for early 2010. 0845 123 5073.
World's biggest ghost vigil: York
Last year, on Halloween, nearly 700 people congregated at the York Ghost Festival to search for spectral activity. This year they're aiming to break the world record for a night-time vigil: target, 900 people. Even if the ghastly apparitions fail to materialise, many of these strong souls will then head to calm their nerves (or not) with a pint at The Golden Fleece pub, the scene of a Most Haunted investigation in 2004, which boasts a whole range of spectres, including a phantom dog.
Tonight (31 Oct), free. Rooms at The Golden Fleece from £40pp pn (01904 625171).
