Halloween travel is all about letting the spirit get into you, so to speak. You'll find here all kinds of Halloween travel ideas and destinations for doing just that.

Let's start with the witch trials of Salem, MA. Salem is without doubt the premier Halloween travel destination in the US, and October in Salem is a never-ending series of haunted events and ghostly gatherings - all leading up to the countdown for the Oct 31 Halloween Balls and galas.

Half an hour from Boston, Salem is also home to a a bucketload of scary attractions. If you don't want to miss any of the attractions - like the House of Seven Gables, Witch Village, Frankenstein’s Laboratory, Wax Museum, and America's second oldest Cemetery - then book yourself into one of the many haunted tours available.

You won't find any hotels in Salem which don't lay claim to at least one in-house ghostly spirit, but the granddaddy of them all is the historic and very much haunted Hawthorne Hotel.

The Hawthorne's Halloween Ball is the place to be at - where the Crème de la Crème of Salem's witches can be found swapping magic potions and ghostly gossip.

Here's a full list of all the haunted happenings in Salem for Halloween 2009 - www.hauntedhappenings.org/

All said and done, Salem is an excellent place to spend your Halloween weekend - whether you're simply looking for a getaway, a family vacation, fun parties or in search of real live poltergiests.

 One of the main attractions of New Orleans is that there is no shortage of occasions to celebrate, and neither is there any shortage of colorful characters to celebrate said occasion.

All someone needs to do is drop a hat and say it's time to put on the masks and war paint and the taps open up in the French Quarter bars, and the Big Easy sets off on a rocking ride into the wee hours of the night.

And for special occasions like Halloween, Mardi Gras and New Year's Eve - which call for costumes, alcohol and celebration, NOLA parties like there's no tomorrow.

There is nothing remotely like it anywhere else in the US. And neither Katrina nor any other force - man-made or natural - is going to put a cork on this bubbling spirit.

And it makes Halloween all that much more special because there are some really mysterious and spooky hotels in New Orleans, like the newly re-opened Roosevelt Hotel, the Andrew Jackson Hotel, Lafitte Guest House and the Provincial.

At some of these hotels, you'll find Halloween themed packages which include murder mystery parties and haunted weekend stays where ghosts and all manner of apparitions will pop up here and there.

Here's a full list of all events, parties, parades, balls and galas that New Orleans has lined up for Halloween 2009.

There is no Hollywood movie as scary as The Shining, and neither is there a book as scary as Stephen King's Shining - the book which inspired the movie.

And the hotel which inspired the book is the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado (pictured above). Stephen King stayed in room 217 while writing the book.

The hotel now offers ghost tours of the premises, which includes an underground tunnel passage and a visit to aforementioned Room no. 217.

The hotel is scary even in broad daylight, so you can imagine how creepy a place it is after the sun goes down.

And there will be people from all over the world coming down to Estes Park to stay at the Stanley during Halloween - some will be ghostbusters trying to find or bottle a few ghosts, others will be there just to test their courage, and yet others will be there just to see what all the fuss is about.

Whatever the reasons, the fact is that Halloween at the Stanley is a memorable event, to say the least.

If the idea of Halloween at the Stanley sounds appealing, then you might also want to check out this list of America's most haunted hotels.

And of course, Transylvania remains a Halloween favorite - if you're able to afford a trip to Europe. Shown to the right here is the statue of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler aka the original Prince Dracula) in SighiSoara, Romania.

You can experience a 10 day tour through Transylvania, and spend your Halloween in the charming company of Count Dracula.

If you're into it, then the Fetish & Fantasy Halloween Ball 2009 in Las Vegas promises to offer plenty of both, and it's pretty impressive, even for Sin City.

Photo credits (creative commons, via flickr):- Trick or Treat photo by Alaskan Dude. New Orleans Halloween photo by Mr. Gunn. Stanley Hotel photo by lojjic. Dracula statue photo by Husky. Roosevelt Hotel photo by infrogmation.