Kids are bloodthirsty little creatures at the best of times.

If yours is anything like mine, scarcely a day goes by without a question about death. As for greed for the gruesome, one mum friend says: “Checking the boys’ pockets at the end of a school day is like a Bushtucker Trial there are so many hairy and slimy things in there.”

Love it or loathe it, Halloween is on the horizon. And, as it’s slap-bang in the middle of half-term, it’s time to go to the dark side. But, you can also rejoice because, two months deep into a gloomy autumn, Halloween can be a real highlight, whether you’re pagan or not.

While we haven’t yet gone quite as far as the Americans (if you think we’re silly, check out parentfail.com for hilarious pictures of families in X-rated costumes and masks, and dads scaring the bejesus out of their children), it is now expected that you’ll have to do more than scoop out a pumpkin and plonk it on your doorstep.

Luckily, Oxfordshire – regularly voted one of the most haunted counties in Britain – is jam-packed with ghoulish goings-on.

Bill Spectre has been running acclaimed ghost tours around the county since 2007 (so scary one woman in Burford fainted... on his first go) and testifies that one of the hubs of paranormal activity is Oxford Castle.

“This is where Mary Blandy was hanged in 1752,” murmurs Bill, in his gently booming voice.

“She was jailed for poisoning her father, Francis Blandy, a former mayor of Henley on Thames. And Mary makes her presence felt on my tour many times.

“Reportedly, she liked to creep up behind her lover [William Henry Cranston] on his left-hand side and people often tell me they’ve felt a tap on the shoulder, and sometimes they hear what sounds like her laugh.”

If this makes your skin tingle, rest assured that there’s nothing to be scared of. Bill, a trained actor and equity member who is handy with illusions and props, allows children of all ages to join parents on his regular bumps-in-the-night romps around Oxford, Woodstock and Burford.

“It’s all fun, really – entertainment – and children love to indulge these curiosities.

“Everyone has a story of some spooky thing that’s happened to them, some strange phenomenon that left a mark.

“As for whether I believe in ghosts, I certainly think there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

“The unknown is fascinating, and we all want to know what else there is.”

If that’s not scary enough for you and your brood, pit your nerves against Oxford Castle Unlocked’s new Terror Tuesdays. Every Tuesday until the end of November, visitors are warned “to prepare for genuine horror and flesh-crawling encounters as they feel their way through the real prison hospital into the remains of the subterranean crypt. With 1,000 years of imprisonment, execution and madness behind the walls, there is no corner untouched by evil.” Shudder.

Tonight and tomorrow night (Oct 25 and 26) there are ghost hunts, vigils and paranormal experiments, and tour guides (after a macabre makeover) will lead the eighth annual Ghost Fest, spilling plenty of the old clink’s grisly secrets. There’s family-friendly murder mystery fun all through half-term and a dedicated adult murder mystery evening on November 15. Or, book in for an After Dark dinner in the quarter’s restaurants (every Thursday until end November) or the less scary prospect of Safe Trick or Treating (Saturday, Sunday and next Thursday).

If that drives you to search for a different kind of spirit, head to the Wychwood Brewery in Witney. In among much mischief and mayhem offered up by the legendary Hobgoblin is the Grand Lighting of the Pumpkins on Thursday, 6pm to 9pm.

Families from far and wide are expected to join the “wenches and elves” as the brewery opens its gates for free Halloween fun. Take your carved pumpkins and scary children for a fancy dress competition, ghoulish games, spooky disco, pig roast, magic, owls (in that order), and, of course, a cheeky ruby ale.

Graphic designer turned mumpreneur Natalie Bright will run a Halloween Workshop at Art Haus in the Butler Centre, Wantage.

Since launching summer art classes in a pop-up shop, every Thursday, children aged 18 months to five years can get creative. Alongside the workshop will be a sensory party of disco lights, balloons, bubbles, music and games.

Natalie, who is mum to Charlotte, seven, and Anabelle, two, says that her household loves the fun of Halloween and trick or treating.

“So long as there’s a pumpkin in the window and the adults are there too, it can be fun,” she says. “So long as there’s no Knock-Down Ginger or general hassling of people who aren’t into it and you stay safe, there’s no harm in it.”

Millets Farm Centre, which produces an assortment of remarkably shaped pumpkins, transforms its maize maze into a spooky world of cobwebs and witches from Saturday to November 2.

There is a Ghosts and Goblins Halloween Hunt at Blenheim Palace Pleasure Gardens hedge maze throughout half term, as well as fancy dress arts and crafts with spooky tours of the palace on weekdays.

And, you might prefer them to be into sugar and spice, but Saturday Science Club: Slime Time is likely to tick the boxes of many a grisly youngster. Tomorrow (Saturday, 11am and 2pm) Oxford University Museum of Natural History invites children aged five to eight to muck in with slimy experiments and monster creations.

It’s Howl-o-ween at Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford from Saturday until November 2. This equals a spooky train ride, wolverine talks (2.30pm daily) with the new arrivals, magical pumpkin patch, bats, lizards or the country’s biggest reticulated python (and the cuter animals are also available for visiting, too).

Face your fear of creepy-crawlies at Science Oxford Live’s Halloween Show at The Guildhall Abbey, Abingdon (11am tomorrow). A fun and interactive family science show suitable for six-years-plus, this features tarantulas and snakes tended by Amate Animalia, a rescue organisation for exotic mammals and reptiles (amate-animalia.co.uk.) Or, for the really wild, join Eerie Encounters at Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (October 29-31) from 10am to 4pm. Children can turn into a witch or wizard by making a willow wand and hand-puppet owl and then head out on a Halloween trail around the nature reserve looking for the ingredients to make their potion. Along the way are challenges and fun (spider’s webs and creepy-crawly feely boxes) for refreshingly uncommercial family fun.

And, if nature is your thing but you fancy saving the planet without layering on the winter woolies, head to Regal Cinema in Henley on Thames this Sunday 3pm. Funny feature-length documentary Project Wild Thing revels in the joy and importance of children being outdoors connecting with nature. And it’s truly, truly spellbinding.