Waterford celebrates Halloween in style... says Rachel Beresford

SPOOKTACULAR Waterford marks 1,111 years as Ireland's oldest city with 11 ways to celebrate spooky season

- Rachel Beresford

This Halloween, as Waterford marks an extraordinary 1,111 years as Ireland's oldest city, the streets, ruins, gardens, and mountains will stir with ancient whispers, ghostly figures, and chilling tales.

Samhain, the Celtic festival of the dead, returns to its rightful home in the Déise, where legend and reality merge under shadow and flame.

And Visit Waterford has created a list of the top 11 things to do while in the Déise this Samhain, so you don't miss out...

From October 25 to November 2, the city and county will transform into a realm of eerie enchantment, offering visitors a chance to wander through haunted history, confront forgotten spirits, and uncover the darker side of Waterford's rich past.

At the City’s Samhain Festival (October 25 to 27), the Samhain Fire & Shadows procession will set the tone with torchlight, puppetry, and the haunting tale of An Dearg Dua, Waterford’s infamous female vampire who has stalked local lore for centuries.

The parade begins at the Irish Wake Museum, moving through Cathedral Square in a spectral pageant of fire and music, conjuring the mysteries of the veil between worlds. Alongside the parade, expect tarot readings, ghostly storytelling, candlelit concerts, and the blood-pumping Monster Mosh that rattles the city with gothic sounds until midnight.

For three days, the Samhain Festival will take over Waterford's historic streets, squares, and quays. As dusk falls, the city becomes an open-air theatre of shadows with fire dancers, roaming spectres, and haunting light installations illuminating the Viking Triangle and Cultural Quarter.

Market stalls brim with seasonal fare, fortune tellers invite the curious to glimpse their fate, and musicians keep the night alive with rhythms that echo into the dark. It is a carnival of the strange and spectral, where families, thrill-seekers, and lovers of folklore all find their place in Irelands oldest city.