From the storied cemetery in Sleepy Hollow to Headless Horseman Hayrides in Ulster Park and points north, Halloween-themed tourist attractions lure hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Hudson Valley each autumn. Arguably the most spectacular annual spook show is the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze held at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson in Westchester County. Growing from modest roots as a local celebration in 2005, it now runs from mid-September to mid-November and features more than 7,000 carved pumpkins, artfully arranged into whimsical assemblages with a variety of themes. A major fundraising engine for the not-for-profit organization Historic Hudson Valley, the Blaze takes 30 to 45 minutes to walk through at a leisurely pace.

Remarkably, all the pumpkin-carving that goes into

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