Welcome to this month’s round-up of Extraordinary Experiences across all experience sectors and around the globe. 

October is upon us. The leaves are turning, the lattés are spiced and pumpkins are being carved with wacky faces. As you’d imagine, this month’s round-up is heavily focused on Halloween. Events around the globe this year are bigger, bolder and more spine-chilling than ever. At Halloween Haunt Fest in Hertfordshire you can roam around a blood-soaked scare maze where The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface is waiting for his next victim.

In LA, The Cortège exists in the liminal space between performance, ritual, and festival. Featuring puppetry and robotics, it’s a funeral procession with a difference. Across the pond at the Royal Albert Hall, paranormal expert Danny Robins will conduct a live ghost hunt around the building while a pipe organ plays ghostly music. VR fans, meanwhile, can enjoy a fully immersive horror experience set in a haunted house at Zero Latency venues worldwide.

Halloween aside, there are plenty of other extraordinary experiences going on this month, many of which shine a light on cultural icons. In Mexico City, a new museum dedicated to Frida Kahlo has opened where you can get up close to the artist’s first oil painting. In Vegas reggae legend Bob Marley is being celebrated through a multi-stage experience exploring Marley’s influence and impact on the world. Over in London, David Bowie fans can marvel at his Ziggy Stardust costumes, sketches and notebooks at the V&A Storehouse in Stratford. 

As for immersive theatre, a couple of events caught our eye this month. In New York, Room 204 takes the concept of a play out of the theatre and into a Greenwich Village hotel room, with each performance limited to just 10 ticket holders. Also in the Big Apple, asses.masses is an eight-hour, video game-inspired theatre experience where the audience becomes part of the herd, determining the length of the show by their level of engagement and participation. 

18. Radio Tave Cosmic Howl

 

Opens: 31 October 2025 
Location: Houston, US 
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment 

To mark its first birthday, Meow Wolf Houston is throwing the mother of all Halloween parties at Radio Tave. Called Cosmic Howl, for one night only Radio Tave will be turned into a spooky adult-only wonderland filled with costumes, performances, and interdimensional revelry. The night will feature live performances across Radio Tave, including a set by comedic band Swimwear Dept, high-energy beats from DJ Brandon Airlines spinning above the Radio Station, and roaming entertainers transforming the exhibition’s worlds into stages. 

Guests can sip specialty cocktails at Cowboix Hevvven, pull cards with a tarot reader, or join the Cosmic Howl Costume Contest for prizes determined by crowd applause. It’s not only adults having all the fun, as on 19 October Radio Tave will host a ‘not-so-scary’ puppet show for kids, who can run riot trick or treating and take part in a fancy dress contest. “Cosmic Howl is a party made for Houston,” said Meow Wolf Houston’s GM, Aaron Johnson. “It’s about celebrating one year of Radio Tave with the same uniqueness and energy that built it.”

17. The Unnatural History Museum

 

Open now until 26 October 2025 
Location: Singapore 
Experience Sector: Museums  

Fantastic mythical and mechanical creatures take centre stage at the Unnatural History Museum of Singapore, created as part of this year’s Singapore Design Week. The museum has set up shop in the atrium of the National Design Centre and is the brainchild of creative agency Kinetic Singapore, who want to showcase Singapore’s innovative solutions to address its lack of natural resources. It invites visitors to explore some of the nation’s most curious creations and features hybrid flora and robotic fauna, unusual habitats and reimagined landscapes.

Each exhibit is designed to offer fresh perspectives and spark conversation. Among them is a six-metre ‘fossil’ of the Merlion (a mythical half-lion, half-fish creature native to Singapore), robotic swans, nano drones, cyborg cockroaches with thermal cameras, new materials showcased in a geological setting, alternative foods presented in specimen dishes, and landscape paintings with a man-made twist. The showcase is a testament to the creativity that has driven Singapore’s progress. It encourages visitors to reflect on the role design has played in that journey and imagine how it might continue to guide Singapore’s future.

16. Kitchen In The Wild

 

Opens: 17-22 October 2025 
Location: Laikipia, Kenya
Experience Sector: Immersive Dining 

Set against the backdrop of Kenya’s awe-inspiring Laikipia Plateau, Kitchen in the Wild is a culinary trip with a twist for those keen to fully immerse themselves in a country’s food culture. Hosted at the eco-luxury El Karama Lodge, which boasts over 80 mammal and 430 bird species, the experience combines the untamed beauty of Africa with exceptional food crafted by celebrated London-based chef Jackson Boxer; the brains behind Brunswick House, Orasay, and Henri. The five-night retreat includes guided bushwalks and game drives, river fishing, bespoke meals under the stars, and artisan workshops and cooking demonstrations. 

Whether it’s spotting a leopard at sunset, sipping an expertly crafted Martini by the campfire, or creating a model inspired by the Big Five, the experience has been designed to help guests feel connected to nature and leave feeling rejuvenated. With plenty of time for relaxation, you can also get stuck into river fishing, go on foraging walks, take part in cocktail masterclasses or laze by the pool with a cocktail in hand. Joining Jackson will be acclaimed chef Valentine Warner, bartender Nick Strangeway, Aardman animator and model maker Jim Parkyn, and botanist Anne Powys, one of Kenya’s foremost experts in East African plants.

15. Halloween At Kenwood House

 

Opens: 17 October until 2 November 2025 
Location: London, UK 
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment  

The genteel environs of Kenwood House in leafy Hampstead Heath are being turned into a spooktacular illuminated trail packed with frights, delights, and immersive surprises, including ghostly encounters, eerie spectacles, and atmospheric installations. Roaming the pastures behind the house, the headless horseman – a ghostly figure on horseback – rides again. Venture deeper into the trail and you’ll come face to face with a highway woman demanding ‘your money or your life!’, and a cackling witch brewing black magic over a bubbling cauldron.

Listen closely and you’ll hear the screams of a lost spirit wailing amid a thunderstorm. The action is set to a bespoke Halloween soundtrack created to enhance the trail’s eerie atmosphere and make the experience fully immersive from the first footstep. Kids are encouraged to come in costume, and dogs are welcome. During the trail you can crawl through the glowing spider’s tunnel swarming with neon spiders; wander through a moonlit graveyard; watch a chilling fire show performed by three spellbinding artists in a ritual of reincarnation; and see the grand façade of Kenwood transformed with spooky projections.

14. Bob Marley Hope Road

 

Open now 
Location: Las Vegas, US  
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions, Music   

The recently launched Bob Marley Hope Road in Las Vegas has proved so popular that its expanding its schedule and adding DJ sets from two of the reggae legend’s granddaughters:  Shacia Päyne Marley and Zuri Marley, as part of the offering. Co-produced by Primary Wave and FiveCurrents, the 75-minute multi-stage experience is now running seven days a week at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, including newly added matinees on Saturday and Sunday, and represents a savvy move in diversifying Marley’s IP profile beyond streaming.

The experience, which includes a daytime and a night-time event, takes fans on a hands-on journey through the music, life and legacy of Bob Marley. The day event takes fans to the vibrant streets of Trench Town, where they can unleash their inner artist in interactive studios and get swept up in the electrifying energy of Marley’s iconic stage performances through immersive installations. At night, visitors can expect an intimate live show that will take audiences on a powerful musical journey through striking visuals, stunning sets and electrifying performances, highlighting Marley’s influence and impact on the world. 

13. Hexmoor

 

Open now 
Location: London, UK  
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions

From the creators of immersive bars Alcotraz, Moonshine Saloon and Avora comes Hexmoor, the world’s first ‘wizarding prison cocktail bar’, which promises a spellbinding blend of immersive theatre, cinematic set design, magical storytelling and killer cocktails. Set inside a hidden prison for rogue sorcerers, visitors don official inmate jumpsuits and are sentenced to a night behind bars, where potion-making is the only way to survive. Expect to encounter powerful witches, shady guards and mischievous prisoners as you explore secret rooms, uncover hidden passageways and discover a portal to a working magic wand shop hidden behind a fireplace. 

The Hexmoor experience is elevated with cocktails that smoke, glow and change colour. Crafted by the prison’s resident ‘hexologists’, drinker beware as they might suppress your magical powers. In the immersive, story-led adventure, guests enter Hexmoor Penitentiary through a secret passageway and are cast as convicted sorcerers and sentenced to a maximum-security prison for magical misconduct, putting them at the heart of the plot. The set design is cinematic, from crumbling stone walls and flickering lanterns to enchanted cells and secret passageways, creating a fully-realised world for inmates to explore.

12. Radiohead X Nosferatu

 

Opens: 2 October 
Location: Nationwide, UK  
Experience Sector: Cinema, Audio Experience 

To whet your appetites for Halloween, a genius new cinema initiative, Silents Synced, is set to launch across the UK this month, pairing legendary silent films with era-defining albums by iconic rock artists. Offering a bold reimagining of cinema and sound, kicking off the programme is F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror masterpiece Nosferatu, presented with the haunting riffs of Radiohead’s Kid A and Amnesiac. An adaptation of Dracula, Nosferatu is a cornerstone of German expressionist cinema. Max Schreck’s portrayal of Count Orlok, a ghastly clawed figure with a leering face, remains one of the most unsettling depictions of vampirism in film.

Each Silents Synced film and music pairing is thoughtfully curated, with albums selected both for their musical resonance and their thematic parallels to the films, which are synced with care, creating emotional and narrative synchronicity that brings new life to century-old classics. Further elements have been added to visually enhance Nosferatu by visual artists André Ouellette of US entertainment production house Rooster Teeth and lighting designer Myles Mangino. Created by Josh Frank, founder of Austin urban drive-in the Blue Starlite, Silents Synced is designed for the indie cinema community. “It’s a new cinema experience that both film obsessives and music fans will find something really unique in,” Mangino says.

11. Museo Casa Kahlo

 

Open now
Location: Mexico City, Mexico 
Experience Sector: Museums 

Frida Kahlo fans listen up – a new museum dedicated to one of Mexico’s most colourful and influential artists opens in Coyoacán, Mexico City, this month, shedding new light on her life and work. Called Museo Casa Kahlo, the museum is located at Casa Roja, a private residence next to the existing Museo Frida Kahlo bought by Kahlo’s parents and handed down to the artist and her sisters. While the original museum, known as Casa Azul, tells the story of Frida’s life as an artist with her muralist husband Diego Rivera, Casa Roja will focus on how Kahlo’s early life and experiences with Mexican culture and politics shaped her as an artist. 

Overseen by museum director Adán García Fajardo, Museo Casa Kahlo will feature personal items including letters, childhood photographs, early sketch pads, dolls, jewellery, clothing, Kahlo’s first oil painting and the only existing mural she created. The development of the museum will be overseen by Fundación Kahlo, a non-profit based in New York established by the Kahlo family. “Frida’s legacy belongs to the world, but it begins here – on this land, in these homes, and in the culture that shaped her. Museo Casa Kahlo will allow us to tell new stories, share family secrets, host new voices, and build a future that honours her spirit,” the artist’s grandniece, Mara Romeo Kahlo, said. 

10. Asses.Masses

 

Opens: 4 October 2025
Location: New York, US  
Experience Sector: Immersive Theatre  

Part video game, part political satire, asses.masses is an interactive theatre experience where the audience takes control. Created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, two of Canada’s most daring conceptual artists and performance makers, this wild, witty production follows a herd of unemployed donkeys trying to get their jobs back. Will the donkeys succeed? The choice is yours. Blending live performance with contemporary and retro gaming aesthetics, this playful and sharp examination of power, resistance, and revolution unfolds over an unforgettable eight-hour communal adventure.

asses.masses invites you to discover the space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us. The performance, which runs for eight hours including four intermissions, features flashing lights, audience participation, crude language and simulated donkey sex, so is recommended for adults only. Participation and active spectatorship is a central part of the show, as attendees are invited to be part of the herd. To get the most out of it it’s best to stay for the duration of the performance, which varies in length depending on audience engagement. Food and is served throughout the experience during each intermission. 

9. Halloween Haunt Fest

 

Opens: 17 October until 1 November 2025
Location: Hertfordshire, UK  
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions 

Buckle up, as the UK’s only Texas Chain Saw Massacre experience is coming to Halloween Haunt Fest in Hertfordshire this month. Based on iconic scenes from the 1974 film, in this scare maze fans of the horror classic will roam around a blood-soaked labyrinth where Leatherface and his family are waiting for their next victims. The venue will also be debuting the first-ever scare maze based on the 2023 British slasher film Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, that will see you join Christopher Robin as he returns to the Hundred Acre Wood, where the characters from his childhood have become something far more sinister.

Visitors will wander through dark forest paths, discover childhood memories as nightmares, and meet bloodthirsty versions of Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and co. Created by award-winning scare attraction designers, Halloween Haunt Fest offers full-throttle, movie-quality scares, atmospheric entertainment and eerie encounters, including an attraction based on the trials of Jane Wenham, Hertfordshire’s last convicted witch, and E.D.E.N, a chilling dystopian scare maze. You can also expect sinister street theatre, street food, a themed bar, live DJs, funfair rides, creepy carnival games at the Phantom Funfair, and photo opps aplenty.

8. K-Pop Demon Hunters At Everland

 

Open now 
Location: Seoul, South Korea   
Experience Sector: Theme Parks 

Everland theme park in Seoul, South Korea, has teamed up with Netflix to create a new themed zone inspired by the record-breaking 2025 film KPop Demon Hunters. The movie, which follows a K-pop girl group called Huntr/x as they fight demons, has become a global phenomenon, and Netflix’s most-watched film ever. Guests at Everland will enjoy an immersive space themed around the film’s vivid universe and its characters, including Rumi, Mira and Zoey from Huntr/x, and the Saja Boys.

The zone will feature mission-based games and interactive photo spots inspired by Huntr/x and the Saja Boys, as well as themed dining at K-Food, character interactions, and exclusive merchandise. “This collaboration with Netflix will be a special project that allows guests to experience the world of KPop Demon Hunters with all five senses. We expect Everland to serve as a cultural hub, introducing Korean culture to both local and international visitors,” an Everland spokesperson said.

7. Haunted

 

Opens: 3 October 2025
Location: Worldwide  
Experience Sector: VR, Immersive Entertainment

Melbourne-based immersive entertainment developer Zero Latency VR has launched its first fully immersive horror experience, which opens at Zero Latency venues worldwide on 3 October. Called Haunted, it’s a “heart-pounding, white-knuckle, group-based thrill ride”, according to its creators, offering a ticket to your own 360° immersive VR horror movie; a world where the fear is primal, visceral, and unforgettable. Set in a mysterious house that seems to live and breathe, Haunted offers players an intense, cinematic horror experience. Featuring wireless gameplay, 5K visuals and responsive spatial audio, the game places up to eight players inside a psychologically unsettling narrative where survival isn’t guaranteed. 

Built with a focus on environmental storytelling and emotional intensity, Haunted invites players to explore a space where shadows move, rooms distort and the house itself becomes the enemy. Group dynamics are tested as players are drawn apart, guided by whispers and a presence that always seems one step ahead. “Haunted is a deeply immersive, sensory-rich story designed to stay with players long after they leave the arena. It taps into fear in unexpected ways. Sometimes it’s loud and chaotic. Sometimes it’s quiet and intimate. Either way, participants come out of it a little shaken,” said Tim Ruse, CEO of Zero Latency VR. 

6. David Bowie Centre

 

Open now 
Location: London, UK    
Experience Sector: Museums 

Luckily for us, David Bowie was a hoarder who kept everything associated with his career, amassing over 90,000 personal items over the course of his lifetime, which he kept in a private archive in the US before donating the lot to the V&A. Making the most of the honour, the museum’s curators have launched the David Bowie Centre at the V&A Storehouse in Stratford, East London, where fans are at liberty to roam the archive. Housed on the second floor, the centre includes a small exhibition of intriguing Bowie memorabilia, such as the Earthling frock coat from the singer’s Ziggy Stardust days, sketches and notebooks.

The exhibition is littered with Post-it notes featuring Bowie’s signature scrawl, many of which are about unrealised projects. A video wall plays promo clips with the sound on and the items in the display cases will be continually updated to keep the exhibition fresh and ever-evolving. Look out for the guest-curated displays by collaborator Nile Rodgers and indie band The Last Dinner Party. While the majority of the archive is filed away, super fans can request to view up to five items at a time via the storehouse’s Order an Object service that you can book online ahead of your visit. The service is free and open to anyone interested in Bowie’s life and legacy. The centre is open daily and is free but ticketed. Booking online is advised.

5. Room 204

 

Open now until 13 November 2025 
Location: New York, US  
Experience Sector: Immersive Theatre 

Set in a Walker Hotel room in Greenwich Village, Room 204 reimagines what immersive theatre can be. Offering a powerful and brutal portrait of a love affair in all its turbulent glory and destruction, the play is performed so up close and personal the actors are practically in the audience’s laps. Channelling the voyeuristic intimacy of a Sleep No More production, Room 204 stars Anjelica Fellini of The French Dispatch and Dennis Flanagan of Ozark in a loose adaptation of William Gibson’s romantic drama Two for the Seesaw for an audience of 10. 

Directed by Becca Mozo, with associate and movement direction by Sleep No More alumnus Taylor Massa, it’s the first offering from the  Zusammen Theatre Project, a female-led collective dedicated to transforming unexpected spaces into stages while collaborating with small businesses and offering small, affordable productions. With just 10 attendees allowed into the room, each performance gives theatregoers a front-row seat to the action. With its intimate setting and format, audiences aren’t passive observers; they’re active participants. 

4. Scarefest At Alton Towers

 

Open now until 2 November 2025 
Location: Stoke-on-Trent, UK
Experience Sector: Scare Attractions 

Back bigger and more chilling than ever this year, the latest incarnation of Scarefest at Alton Towers includes two new eerie attractions: a scare maze called Edge of the Forest and the Dark Hollow scare zone. You’ll find the maze in the venue’s dark forest, where a forgotten cottage stands as the last remnant of a forgotten time. The live action attraction focuses on a lurking presence known as the ‘Leshwall’, which twists the trees and plays tricks on the mind. Expect twisting vines and a forest that shifts with your every step. 

Dark Hollow, meanwhile, is a free-flowing outdoor scare zone that will immerse visitors into the expanding world of TH13TEEN; the UK’s first vertical freefall drop coaster. Look out for a chilling presence in the forest who is waiting to draw you deeper into the darkness. Popular attractions like Altonville Mine Tours, Burial Ground and the Compound scare maze will be returning to this year’s Scarefest alongside a family-friendly attraction called Amigos in the Afterlife and the Trick O’ Treat Town with Haribo & Maoam to sweeten things up. 

3. Museum Of Infinite Realities

 

Opens: 3 October 2025 
Location: Paris, France
Experience Sector: Themed Attractions, Immersive Entertainment 

Having already blazed a trail in Belgium, the Museum of Infinite Realities (MOIR) will be making its hotly anticipated debut in Paris this month. Taking visitors on an interactive journey, inside you can enter a dreamlike playground of challenges, holograms, illusions, and art where every move you make and decision you take shapes your individual adventure. Guided by an avatar who analyses your actions in real time, one of the main attractions allows you to discover the colour and character of your aura and learn deeper insights into who you are as a person, appearing as a holographic display at the end of the experience.

Blurring the lines between reality and the imagination, the museum is spread across 10 immersive rooms, including one where you can find out your spirit animal. Every choice made along the way helps to shape your aura and reflect who you are. Designed in the ‘choose your own adventure’ vein, its creators hope you’ll leave feeling more connected and inspired. The ultimate goal is self-exploration and for visitors to leave with a deeper understanding of themselves. Expect interactive challenges, clever games, and mind-bending encounters brought to life by cutting-edge technology, mesmerising soundscapes, and incredible visuals.

2. The Cortège

 

Open now until 19 October 2025 
Location: Los Angeles, US
Experience Sector: Immersive Entertainment 

Existing in the liminal space between performance, ritual, and festival, The Cortège is a first-of-its-kind production. Taking place at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, it’s the brainchild of creative studio Visomnia and was produced in partnership with Brilliant Work. Headed up by participatory artist Jeff Hull of The Latitude Society, The Cortège, which features a cast of eight dancers and six ensemble members, unfolds at dusk, beginning with an open-air food market and live musical prelude. As twilight descends, audiences embark on a sonic voyage that revives the lost arts of mythic pageantry through choreographed movement, archetypal costuming, drone apparitions, puppetry and robotics. 

At the end everyone is invited to join the procession and gather for shared tea and ambient sounds in the Afterlife Tent. In an era defined by disconnection, The Cortège offers a rare space for solace, celebration, renewal, and both collective and individual grief. During the performance, a musical score is played through wireless headsets and features original music by El Búho, Boreta and tracks by Air, Andrew Bird, Beautiful Chorus and Freedom Fighters, while the prelude features a live ensemble band performing on hang drums, cellos and woodwinds. Inspired by Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, The Cortège speaks through archetypal symbols, sounds, and movement rather than narrative dialogue.

1. Fright Night At The Royal Albert Hall

 

Opens: 30 October 2025 
Location: London, UK
Experience Sector: Music, Scare Attraction 

If you’re in the market for a night of supernatural thrills on Halloween eve with the UK’s go-to ghost guy, Danny Robins, then look no further than London’s Royal Albert Hall. Lucky ticket holders can join the paranormal expert as he investigates the venue’s haunted history on stage in a production co-written and directed by Will Brenton in association with Wish Films. During the event you’ll witness a live ghost hunt around the 153-year-old building projected onto HD screens, and experience a performance that pays homage to the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Memorial Service séance that took place at the Royal Albert Hall back in 1930, which drew 10,000 attendees a week after the death of the Sherlock Holmes author.

Blending musical performance with paranormal storytelling, the experience will be brought to life by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, conducted by Eímear Noone. Accompanied by the scariest pieces in music history, some of which will be performed on the hall’s own pipe organ, expect smoke, flashing lights, black outs, loud noises and jump scares. Best known for his Battersea Poltergeist podcast, Robins will run riot around the venue’s backstage corridors and hidden spaces in search of spooky apparitions, with ghost sightings and spooky goings on having been reported during recent performances at the RAH by Gary Barlow and Michael Bolton. Fright night promises to entertain and terrify in equal measure.