Spooky Shows for Kids
A spooky show does something a Halloween movie can't: it lasts all October. These are series for kids and tweens that bring ghosts, witches and monsters without the nightmares, plus a few for older kids that are properly creepy. Most are animated, and every note gives a starting age.
After Gravity Falls, which suits nearly everyone, the list runs roughly from youngest to oldest. Vampirina is for preschoolers and has no scares at all. The original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is the perfect first mystery because every monster is a person in a mask. By Courage the Cowardly Dog and Are You Afraid of the Dark? the scares are real, and Lockwood & Co., Wednesday and the 2023 Goosebumps are for twelve or thirteen and up.
If you want something you can finish, Over the Garden Wall is ten short episodes, done in an evening. Stranger Things is the show older siblings will push for; it's rated TV-14 and far more intense than anything here, so it isn't on this list. For films, see Halloween Movies for Little Kids and Halloween Movies for Tweens and Teens.
Gravity Falls
Series · 2012The best show here for a mixed-age family. Twins spend a summer with their con-man great-uncle in an Oregon town full of gnomes, ghosts and hidden codes. Two seasons tell a complete story with a real ending, and it's funny enough that parents end up watching ahead on their own.
Vampirina
Series · 2017For preschoolers: a young vampire's family moves from Transylvania to Pennsylvania and opens a bed-and-breakfast for ghouls. Songs, friendly ghosts and gentle lessons about fitting in, with nothing scary at all. Short episodes, and a good series to pair with the specials on our little-kids list.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
Series · 1969The original 1969 cartoon, and still the best first mystery show: every monster turns out to be a person in a mask, which is exactly the reassurance a nervous six-year-old needs. The formula never changes, which kids find comforting, and episodes are short enough to stop anywhere.
Hilda
Series · 2018Less spooky than eerie: a fearless blue-haired girl explores a Nordic-style city ringed by trolls, giants, ghosts and spirits, all drawn in a lovely flat style. A few episodes have real atmosphere, but Hilda's curiosity always beats her fear, which is a nice thing to model. Ideal from about six.
The Ghost and Molly McGee
Series · 2021An upbeat girl and the grumpy ghost who tried to curse her and ended up stuck with her instead. It's a sitcom first and a ghost story second, with songs, warm family stuff and some middle-school bullying worth talking about, which suits six to ten. It ran two seasons and got a proper finale.
Halloween Baking Championship
Series · 2015The unscripted pick: bakers race the clock to make cakes and desserts on a spooky theme each week, from haunted houses to monsters. Scary only in the icing, and it reliably makes kids want to bake. It has run every fall since 2015, and an episode or two is good company while carving pumpkins.
The Owl House
Series · 2020A human teenager stumbles into a demon realm and becomes apprentice to a rule-breaking witch. It starts goofy and grows darker, with a villain who abuses the boy he raised, a companion creature's death and some creepy body horror in later episodes. Luz's romance with another girl, Amity, is one of its best-loved threads. Best from about nine.
Over the Garden Wall
Series · 2014Two brothers lost in a strange autumn forest, in ten short episodes that add up to under two hours. Funny, melancholy and a little unsettling, with a village of pumpkin people and something called the Beast in the woods. The best thing to watch on a cold October evening, from about eight.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
Series · 2010The Scooby show for kids who've outgrown the original: one long mystery across two seasons, with darker monsters, a cursed town and real plot twists. Some episodes are genuinely creepy, and the gang's crushes get plenty of screen time. Nine and up, and adults who grew up on Scooby will enjoy it too.
Courage the Cowardly Dog
Series · 1999A frightened pink dog protects his elderly owners from the monsters, curses and strangers that keep turning up at their farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere, though Eustace, the husband, belittles him constantly. It's a comedy, but the imagery is surreal and grotesque, and some episodes, like the one with King Ramses, scared a generation of kids. Ten and up.
Dead End: Paranormal Park
Series · 2022Two teenagers working the haunted house at a celebrity's theme park end up fighting demons, with help from Barney's dog, who is possessed by one of them. Funny, warm and properly spooky at times, with possession storylines. Its lead is a trans boy, and the show treats that matter-of-factly. Good from ten.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Series · 1992The 1990s campfire anthology: a group of kids called the Midnight Society take turns telling ghost stories, one per episode. Some are corny now and some still land, especially the one with Zeebo the clown, and several involve the ghosts of children who died. Episodes stand alone, so you can pick a few. Nine and up.
Lockwood & Co.
Series · 2023For teenagers, thirteen and up. In this version of London, ghosts are real and only young people can see them, so teenagers run the agencies that fight them, with rapiers. Expect real jump scares, young agents killed on the job, and frequent swearing, including the odd f-word. Only one season was made, and it leaves threads hanging.
Wednesday
Series · 2022The oldest pick here, and the one most tweens already want to watch: a murder mystery at a school for outcasts, with Wednesday Addams deadpanning through it. The TV-14 is for violence, often bloody, and expect bullying, a student killed in episode one and, in season two, a main character losing both parents. Twelve and up is about right.
Goosebumps (2023)
Series · 2023Not the 1990s show: a darker, serialized take on the books, made for teens. Season one follows five high schoolers tied to a teenager who died in a 1993 fire, with bullying, a father's suicide and teen drinking in the mix; season two, with David Schwimmer, is a separate mystery about teenagers who vanished in 1994. Twelve and up.
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Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.