Haunted Museum (18+)

Haunted Museum returns to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on Friday, October 16, from 6 PM to 10 PM. It's the museum's annual 18+ Halloween celebration, and the whole night is built around the stranger, spookier side of the natural world. The museum pulls from its own collections for the theme: Fred the Crystal Skull, the American Indian Ghost Pipe Plant, a Gaboon Viper, and a Death's-head Hawkmoth all get a spotlight, paired with local folklore and the supernatural.

The main program runs throughout the evening. Matt Lake, author of Weird Pennsylvania, gives a keynote on cryptids, and Songbird Artistry hosts potion-making. There's a trick-or-treat scavenger hunt that takes you through the museum's specimens, a virtual ghost tour of Pittsburgh led by Haunted Pittsburgh, and spooky photoshoots by Willowghast, LLC. Between those, you can talk with museum scientists about the things on display.

If you want to go deeper, there are a couple of behind-the-scenes tours led by curators and collection managers. The Invertebrate Zoology Collection Tour runs at 6:30 PM and 7:30 PM for an extra $50, and Dr. Jennifer Sheridan leads a tour through the Amphibians and Reptiles collection. Both take you into the "Alcohol House," where the museum keeps its preserved specimens.

Admission is $30, or $25 for Carnegie Museums members, available at the door. The whole thing runs from 6 PM to 10 PM on Friday, October 16, at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue.