Horror Events in San Antonio: The Complete Guide to Cons, Haunts, and Scares (2026)

Horror Events in San Antonio: The Complete Guide to Cons, Haunts, and Scares (2026)

Photo by Anete Lusina via Pexels

Greater San Antonio runs a real horror calendar, not just a haunted house or two in October. There’s a free horror-celebrity convention at a mall, a downtown-convention-center horror con with genre A-listers, a haunted house season that runs into November, and a homegrown horror film festival — spread across the year instead of stacked into one Halloween weekend.

If you searched for ReaperFest and want to know what else is out there, this is the rundown: what each event actually is, when it runs, what it costs, and how it’s different from the others. San Antonio’s other genre cons (San Japan for anime, Big Texas Comicon’s non-horror side) get their own coverage elsewhere on this site — this guide is horror and haunts only.

San Antonio Horror Events at a Glance

• Free horror-celebrity meet-and-greet: ReaperFest — Rolling Oaks Mall, July 25–26, 2026
• Biggest horror convention (guests, scale): Big Texas Terror / Big Texas Comicon — Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, ran March 6–8, 2026
• Independent horror cinema: San Antonio Horror Film Festival — ran April 4, 2026 (inaugural year)
• Biggest seasonal haunt (included with park admission): Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld San Antonio — Sept. 11–Nov. 1
• Downtown walk-through haunted house: 13th Floor Haunted House — Sept. 13–Nov. 9, 2026
• Free home haunt, Greater SA: Haunted Hill Road — La Vernia, select nights each October
• Want the DFW horror con instead? See our Texas Frightmare Weekend guide or Fantastic Fest in Austin for genre film

ReaperFest: Free Horror Meet-and-Greet at Rolling Oaks Mall

ReaperFest is run by The Reaper’s Collections, a horror collectibles shop with a storefront inside Rolling Oaks Mall — which is also where the event happens. It’s smaller and more casual than a full convention: a guest signing/photo-op event built around a specific horror property rather than a multi-genre vendor floor.

• Dates: July 25–26, 2026
• Venue: Rolling Oaks Mall, 6909 N Loop 1604 E, San Antonio, TX 78247
• Admission: Free entrance
• 2026 theme: “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” — the confirmed guest list includes cast and crew tied to the film: Caitlin Deck, Geno Ponza, Grant Cramer, Harrod Blank, John Allen Nelson, Michael S. Siegel, Mike Martinez, Paul Haley, and Suzanne Snyder.
• Contact: The Reaper’s Collections, (210) 309-9894

Because it’s free and mall-based, ReaperFest doesn’t require the trip-planning a downtown convention-center event does — no badge, no parking garage, no hotel block. Guest lists for these mall-tour events are subject to last-minute changes, so confirm the lineup on the official ReaperFest page or the event’s Facebook listing before you drive out.

Big Texas Terror / Big Texas Comicon: San Antonio’s Big-Guest Horror Convention

Photo by Nietjuh via Pexels

Big Texas Terror runs alongside Big Texas Comicon as two concurrent shows under one roof at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center — the comic/pop-culture side and the horror side sharing a floor, autograph rooms, and panel schedule. It’s the closest thing San Antonio has to a Texas Frightmare Weekend–scale horror con, and 2026 brought a genuinely stacked guest list.

• Dates: March 6–8, 2026 (already passed for 2026 — check bigtexasterror.com for the 2027 announcement)
• Venue: Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 900 E Market St, San Antonio, TX 78205
• Scale: Roughly 2,500 attendees
• 2026 guests: David Howard Thornton (Art the Clown, Terrifier), Doug Bradley (Pinhead, Hellraiser), Linda Blair (The Exorcist), Chris Jericho, plus Terrifier cast members Lauren LaVera, Samantha Scaffidi, Elliott Fullam, and Amelie McLain, along with Jeremy Davies and Miguel Mora from The Black Phone 2 and Sons of Anarchy actors Kim Coates and Mark Boone Junior.
• What’s there: Autograph sessions, photo ops, panels, an Artist Alley, and vendor booths selling horror collectibles alongside the comic-con side’s usual mix.

Big Texas Terror is the pick if what you actually want is a convention-scale event with movie-name guests rather than a mall meet-and-greet. Bringing a costume or prop weapon? Check our cosplay prop rules guide before you pack — Henry B. Gonzalez follows the same convention-center weapon policies as San Antonio’s other major cons.

San Antonio Horror Film Festival: Independent Genre Cinema

The San Antonio Horror Film Festival held its inaugural run in 2026 — a two-day showcase of independent horror shorts and features from around the world, spanning psychological thrillers, supernatural hauntings, and other horror subgenres. It’s a filmmaker- and cinephile-focused event rather than a celebrity-signing con.

• 2026 date: April 4, 2026 (already passed; inaugural year, so watch for a 2027 date announcement)
• Venue: 422 Pereida St, San Antonio, TX
• Format: Juried selection of short and feature-length independent horror films, screened over the event

As a first-year festival, ticketing and scheduling info tends to go up on FilmFreeway and the festival’s Instagram/Eventbrite listings before it hits general search results — worth a follow if you want next year’s dates as soon as they’re posted.

Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld San Antonio: The Big Seasonal Haunt

Howl-O-Scream is SeaWorld San Antonio’s after-dark Halloween transformation — haunted houses and outdoor “terror-tories” built into the park’s existing footprint, running select nights from September through the end of Halloween week. It’s the largest-scale haunted attraction in the metro by sheer footprint, and unlike the standalone haunted houses, it’s bundled into regular park admission.

• Season: Select nights, Sept. 11–Nov. 1 (Fridays–Sundays)
• Cost: Included with park admission — no separate haunt ticket required, though an “Evil Upgrades” priority-access add-on is sold
• What’s there: Multiple haunted houses and outdoor scare zones, themed bars, and live shows on top of the park’s normal attractions
• Audience: Marketed for a mature audience — SeaWorld describes the content as including violence, gore, and blood, which is a departure from the park’s usual family-daytime programming

Confirm exact 2026 nightly dates and any added ticket tiers on SeaWorld’s official Howl-O-Scream page closer to September — haunt lineups and scare-zone themes tend to get finalized over the summer.

13th Floor Haunted House: Downtown Walk-Through Horror

13th Floor is San Antonio’s dedicated year-to-year walk-through haunted house — a single elaborate themed attraction rather than a multi-house park event, built fresh around a new storyline every season. For 2026, that storyline is “Dose of Decay”: a mysterious chemical plague spreading through cracked streets and flooded tunnels, with a deranged in-house chemist running experiments on the infected.

• Season: Sept. 13–Nov. 9, 2026, select nights
• Address: 1203 E. Commerce St., San Antonio, TX 78205
• Tickets: Starting around $19.99; earlier-tier discounted pricing ($13.99–$15.99) tends to sell out first, so buying early is worth it here too
• Age guidance: The venue itself warns the experience may be too intense for children 12 and under

Because it’s a single continuously-redesigned house rather than a sprawling park event, 13th Floor is the better pick if you want one focused, high-production scare experience over a full night of park-hopping.

Haunted Hill Road: Free Home Haunt in La Vernia

Haunted Hill Road is a family-run home haunt about 25 minutes east of downtown San Antonio — the kind of yard-and-garage haunt built by one dedicated household rather than a commercial operator, running since 2008. It’s genuinely free, donation-based, and open for a handful of nights each Halloween season rather than a full multi-weekend run.

• Address: 174 Oak Hill Road, La Vernia, TX 78121
• Season: Seven nights during the Halloween season (dates announced closer to October)
• Admission: Free — donations accepted
• Contact: (830) 386-8155

If you want to round out a Greater San Antonio haunt weekend with a day trip, Scream Hollow Wicked Halloween Park in Smithville sits roughly midway between San Antonio and Austin (about 75–90 minutes from downtown San Antonio) and runs five haunted attractions plus Texas’s only haunted hayride — worth it if you’re already making a longer weekend of it, less so for a single night out.

Getting There: Downtown vs. Suburban Venues

These six events split roughly evenly between downtown San Antonio and the suburbs, which changes how you should plan the trip. Big Texas Terror (Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center) and 13th Floor Haunted House (E. Commerce St.) both sit in the downtown core within walking distance of each other — if you’re making a horror-themed weekend of it, that’s the pairing to book a downtown hotel around. Our San Antonio convention parking guide and convention survival guide both cover downtown garage options and badging logistics that apply directly to Big Texas Terror.

ReaperFest, by contrast, is out at Rolling Oaks Mall on the far North Side near Loop 1604 and Nacogdoches Road — free mall parking, no downtown garage fees, and a completely different traffic pattern than a convention-center weekend. Howl-O-Scream is inside SeaWorld’s own grounds off Ellison Drive on the far West Side, with its own dedicated parking lot included in park admission. Haunted Hill Road, in La Vernia, is the outlier: it’s genuinely outside city limits, about 25 minutes east of downtown via US-87, so treat it as a short drive rather than a same-night pairing with a downtown event.

How to Pick the Right San Antonio Horror Event

• You want big-name horror talent and don’t mind paying for it: Big Texas Terror is the only one of these with A-list genre guests (Doug Bradley, Linda Blair, the Terrifier cast) — but it’s a March event, so plan a year ahead.
• You want something free and low-commitment: ReaperFest (mall, free entry) or Haunted Hill Road (free home haunt) both cost nothing but your gas.
• You want the classic October haunted-house experience: 13th Floor for a single focused walk-through, or Howl-O-Scream if you’d rather turn it into a full park night with rides in between scares.
• You’re a horror film fan first, con-goer second: The San Antonio Horror Film Festival is built for you — watch for its 2027 dates rather than expecting an every-month cadence.

Timing matters more here than with most Texas fan conventions: San Antonio’s horror calendar isn’t clustered around Halloween the way you’d expect. Big Texas Terror runs in March, the film festival ran in April, ReaperFest runs in July, and only the haunted houses (Howl-O-Scream, 13th Floor, Haunted Hill Road) actually happen in the fall. If you’re looking specifically for October scares, the haunts are your target — if you want the celebrity-guest convention experience, that’s a spring trip.

Budget is the other variable worth planning around. Three of the six — ReaperFest, Haunted Hill Road, and Howl-O-Scream (bundled into park admission you’re likely already paying) — cost nothing extra to attend. 13th Floor starts around $20 for a single night. Big Texas Terror is the only one that runs like a traditional paid convention with day-badge or weekend-badge pricing plus separate autograph and photo-op fees for individual guests, which is standard for conventions built around movie-name talent but adds up fast if you’re chasing more than one or two signatures.

FAQ

What is ReaperFest in San Antonio?

ReaperFest is a free horror-celebrity meet-and-greet event run by The Reaper’s Collections at Rolling Oaks Mall in San Antonio. The 2026 edition (July 25–26) is themed around Killer Klowns from Outer Space, with nine confirmed cast and crew guests.

Is there a horror convention in San Antonio?

Yes — Big Texas Terror runs alongside Big Texas Comicon at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, typically in March, and is the largest horror-specific convention in the city, with guests like Doug Bradley, Linda Blair, and the cast of Terrifier.

When do San Antonio’s haunted houses open for the season?

Most run from mid-September through early November. Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld runs Sept. 11–Nov. 1, and 13th Floor Haunted House runs Sept. 13–Nov. 9, 2026. Haunted Hill Road, a free home haunt in nearby La Vernia, typically opens for select nights in October.

How much does it cost to visit San Antonio’s Halloween haunted houses?

It varies by venue. Howl-O-Scream is included with regular SeaWorld park admission. 13th Floor Haunted House tickets start around $19.99. Haunted Hill Road is free, donation-based. ReaperFest, the horror con at Rolling Oaks Mall, is also free to enter.

Is Big Texas Terror the same as Texas Frightmare Weekend?

No — they’re separate events in different cities. Big Texas Terror runs in San Antonio at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. Texas Frightmare Weekend runs in Fort Worth/DFW and is one of the longest-running horror conventions in the state. See our Texas Frightmare Weekend guide for that event specifically.

Are San Antonio’s horror events kid-friendly?

Not generally. Howl-O-Scream and 13th Floor Haunted House both market themselves toward mature audiences and warn that content may be too intense for children 12 and under. ReaperFest and Big Texas Terror, as autograph/photo conventions, are lower-intensity but still centered on R-rated horror properties.

Final Scream

San Antonio’s horror scene doesn’t peak in one October weekend the way a lot of cities’ does — it’s a free mall event in July, a big-guest convention in March, an indie film festival in spring, and a run of haunted houses from September into November. Pick based on what you actually want (celebrity guests, a scare, or just a free afternoon) rather than assuming everything clusters around Halloween, and double-check dates on each event’s official site before you drive out — mall-tour cons and first-year festivals are the most likely to shift.

Image credit: Jack-o-lanterns photo by Anete Lusina via Pexels. Jack-o-lantern mask photo by Nietjuh via Pexels. Sourced as category-relevant stock images. Verify current dates, pricing, and guest lineups at each event’s official site before you go.