Halloween is more than a week away, but Hogansville is getting a head start on the spooky doings with a haunted house while West Point hosts a downtown ghost walk.

Events in LaGrange also are on tap next weekend.

The haunted house, in the unused Royal Theater portion of City Hall in downtown Hogansville, will be open from 7 to 10 p.m. today and Saturday, and 6 to 10 p.m. Oct. 30 and 31.

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and younger, with proceeds benefiting the Downtown Development Authority. Designers of the haunted house say it’s so scary that it’s not for small children.

West Point is promising its own scares on a ghost walk tour of downtown from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday. For $5 a person, those on the tour can find out what a river serpent, Confederate ghost and local sightings of UFOs have in common.

Tours start at the West Point Depot and Museum and are recommended for all ages.

Organizers say the ghost walks are nighttime tours of downtown West Point with a Halloween twist, featuring local legends, myths, unsolved mysteries and even some paranormal experiences that have been reported in some of the historic buildings. Tours begin at 7 p.m. and will depart from the depot about every 10 minutes. The walk itself lasts about 50 minutes and a tour bus is available for those unable or not inclined to walk the downtown tour. The final tour of the evening will depart at 8:30 p.m. As a bonus treat, local storyteller Paul Clapp will be inside the depot, with accounts of urban legends and tales of UFOs as seen in the area.

Another tour night is planned for Oct. 31.

Halloween weekend will bring familiar and new events to LaGrange. An old tradition will be new again for young LaGrange trick-or-treaters with two historic LaGrange homes offering treats to costumed children on Halloween.

Trick-or-treaters will be greeted at the doors of Bellevue at 204 Ben Hill St. and Hills and Dales Estate at 1916 Hills and Dales Drive, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

Hills and Dales’ late owners, Fuller E. Jr. and Alice Callaway always welcomed children with candy on Halloween, and the tradition has continued with the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation, which runs the estate museum today. Bellevue, built in the 1850s by U.S. Sen. Benjamin Harvey Hill, has long been open for tours, but is giving away Halloween treats at the door this year for the first time, courtesy of the LaGrange Woman’s Club, which maintains the house.

DASH for LaGrange Inc. will sponsor a Halloween project from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 31 at Doc Spears/The Gathering Place at 610-612 Jefferson St. DASH will provide the supplies and instruction for children to create Halloween costumes and bags. There also will be games and candy.

Downtown trick-or-treating once again will coincide with the United Way of West Georgia Chili Cook-off, an annual event that highlights the United Way’s 29 member agencies with booths and information on Lafayette Square. Residents can sample chili from the agencies and vote for their favorite from 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 31 on Lafayette Square in downtown LaGrange. Cost is $2 per person and benefits the local United Way.

Trick-or-treating this year will include a pet costume contest, along with regular events for children.

Children may trick-or-treat at businesses and participate in the annual costume contest from 1 to 5 p.m. Oct. 31 in downtown LaGrange. The schedule includes a children’s carnival from 1 to 5 p.m. hosted by LaGrange College; a pet costume contest at 2:30 p.m.; and registration from 2 to 2:45 p.m. for the children’s costume contest at 3 p.m.

West Point will have its traditional downtown activities Oct. 31. A fall festival, with hot dogs, games, a chili cookoff, scarecrow judging, zumba demonstration, hay rides and humane society pet costume contest will be from noon to 3 p.m. at J. Smith Lanier Park downtown. Attendance is free, but it’ll cost $1 games and food. A few merchants may be open for trick-or-treaters.