Affordable Fun on the Farm:  Family Pass for 4 to Pumpkin Fest 2013 with Kettle Corn & Lemonade to Siegel’s Cottonwood Farm in Crest Hill.

Admission for Two and Two Small Pumpkins for $11 at Susanna Farms in Lake Villa.

Bring your family to enjoy Locktoberfest — a month-long celebration of autumn in Lockwood Park in Rockford that features a different fall theme each weekend. Admission is free to each October weekend session, but pay $12 ($20 value) and get 40 activity passes to use on wagon rides, pumpkin picking, s’mores by the bonfire and more.

The Four Themes are: Pumpkins, Apples, Scarecrows and Costume Party.

Pay $9 for ticket and parking to Screams in the Park Haunted House at MB Financial Park in Rosemont (dates through November).  Based on the horrific true story of Dr. H.H. Holmes, widely considered to be America’s first serial killer (and whose crimes are chronicled in the best-selling book The Devil in the White City), this eerie Halloween adventure takes visitors back to 1895 Chicago, when Holmes was kidnapping, torturing and killing victims while masquerading as a doctor and caring husband. The sprawling house that police discovered to be the scene of his ghastly crimes came to be known as the Murder Castle, and was filled with secret passages, vats of acid for disposing of the dismembered bodies, and other horrors.  Screams in the Park puts you right back at the scene of the crime, where the Dexter-like Dr. Holmes just may be lurking.

This beautiful and recently renovated Batavia beach offers plenty of summertime swimming — but come autumn, Hall Quarry transforms into a real haunt:
• $8 ($16 value) for two entries to the Haunted Quarry event, scheduled on select dates
• Take your friends on a spooky walk through the haunted attraction
• Recommended for ages 10 and older

This is the same price as last year (good!), they’ve increased the rooms from 35 to 60 (good!!) plus added 10 more “creatures.”  $14 for one ticket to the Massacre Haunted House and Fear Factory 3D with $5 in arcade play.  This Naperville mainstay has the only 3D haunted attraction in the area and features 60 rooms, 15,000 square feet of pure terror and more than 50 creatures of the night lurking in the corners ready to meet, greet and eat you.  Limit ten tickets per person; ten additional as gifts.

Dare to be scared as you find your way through this spine-chilling haunted house adventure. Open since 1975, this eerie Chicagoland favorite haunts roughly 20,000 people each Halloween season. Test your tolerance for terror at Haunted Trails Family Amusement Park:

• $29 ($58 value) for entry for two to the haunted house + two attractions and 20 game tokens each
• $55 ($116 value) for entry for four to the haunted house + two attractions and 20 game tokens each
• $79 ($174 value) for entry for six to the haunted house + two attractions and 20 game tokens each

Admission for one to Odyssey Fun Farm.  With admission, guests receive a wristband, which provides access to farm attractions such as a pumpkin patch, hayrides, corn mazes and inflatable bounce houses along with indoor ride attractions. Zipline rides and pony rides are available for an additional fee.  Pumpkins are also available for sale.