KY Town Transforms Into a ‘Halloweentown’ One Day Each Year

I have a favorite Halloween movie like I have a favorite Christmas movie. Now, you're probably thinking, "Well, we just watch horror movies throughout the Halloween season."

I get that, but this one is different because it ISN'T scary and I enjoy it in the same way anyone would a favorite Christmas flick. It's Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, a 1993 masterpiece way ahead of its time. That animation, in fact, so defied categorizing at the 1994 Oscars that it was nominated in the VISUAL EFFECTS category. Today it would be an odds-on favorite in the Animated Feature group.

The setting of A Nightmare Before Christmas? That would be Halloweentown. And while you enjoy it every fall (or holiday season, I guess), you have an opportunity to VISIT Halloweentown each year in Cynthiana KY in Harrison County, which becomes "KYs own little Salem." It happens September 30th, a day they call "Witches Day Out."

If you never looked into it, and you're a big Halloween fan, you really need to check out Cynthiana KY, and, it seems, NOT just on Witches Day Out. This town of just a little more than 6,400 LOVES this time of year.

They even grow SKELETONS there, for heaven's sake.

But you know what? Before I knew anything about Cynthiana's Witches Day Out, I had a hunch the city loved horror. For starters, it's the hometown of Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead. And THAT is the reason they have this phenomenal mural downtown:

Huh. I didn't see Mater when I was in Cynthiana. Is it worth a trip to return? Of course it is. Cynthiana is a charming small town, and if you know anything about what I've written in the past, you know I'm a big fan of Kentucky's small towns.

And if I can't make it to Witches Day Out on September 30th, those murals will always be there, and so will, apparently, a love for all things spooky, creepy, and otherworldly.

In other words, my kinda people.