A South Boston staple, the Children’s Magical Halloween Castle, took over Fort Independence for a weekend of free fall activities. The annual event has run since the 1980s, drawing 700 people to a “Castle Island Mystery Walk.” This year, attendance reached just under 7,500.

“We have people who are grandparents who are saying, ‘Oh yeah, I was here as a kid,’” said Castle Island Association (CIA) President Patricia Reid.

She explained that the nine-room haunted house has changed slightly over the years, with different volunteers transforming historic gun galleries and barracks into child-friendly Halloween scenes.

Since 2020, the castle has reconfigured the haunted house route, starting with non-scary scenes from Thanksgiving and the “Wizard of Oz,” then ramping up the scares in later rooms deeper in the castle.

“It gets scarier and scarier as you go through. So hopefully the parents will realize, ‘Hey, if your kid’s getting a little uneasy here, you take them out,’” Reid explained. “We’ve actually found that sometimes it’s the parents who want to go through the scary section more than the kids.”

Planning for the Children’s Magical Halloween Castle begins around Labor Day and usually takes until Thanksgiving, when the decorations come down.

The Children’s Magical Halloween Castle is put on to support a lifelong interest in history in the children who visit and to thank the families that have supported the CIA for decades. They also hope that children interested in history will return as adults to donate their time and money toward continued stewardship of the site.

Though most consider Castle Island a summertime location, Reid said she hopes people can realize the historical significance of the fort and Dorchester Heights as integral parts of the local community, city, and country. 

“You might just love Castle Island. You might love history. It’s a beautiful place, especially during the summer. It’s probably one of the coolest, meaning temperature-wise, places in the city,” Reid said.

In the cooler months, Castle Island hosts a sunrise mass every Easter Sunday in partnership with St. Brigid Parish. Castle tours start on Memorial Day and continue through Labor Day, with a reduced schedule through the October holiday weekend. The CIA hosts public flag retirement ceremonies on Flag Day and Veterans Day, with members being invited out on day trips and to National Parks. 

After more than 40 years with the CIA, Reid will step down as an officer and coordinator of the Children’s Magical Halloween Castle.

“Over the years, hundreds of people have volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours and donated their various talents, as well as money, to make the Children’s Magical Halloween Castle as successful as it is.  It takes a team effort to put on this event, and I thank all who have contributed,” she said.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Caught in Southie (@caughtinsouthie)