THE HISTORY
The Story Of This Bar
The Haunt is a year-round Halloween bar at the corner of Alaska Avenue and Delor Street in St. Louis. This is not a seasonal pop-up dressed for October. Horror art, old beer lights, skulls, witches, ghouls and handmade oddities are part of the tavern every day of the year.
A neighborhood bar inside a house of horrors
The room mixes South City tavern culture with a full collection of macabre art. Vintage Busch, Budweiser, Bud Light and Stag signs glow above skull displays, coffin cases, gargoyles, bats and creatures tucked into nearly every corner. The details reward a slow look: a fish skeleton in a gargoyle’s mouth, a coffin-shaped cooler, a handwritten shot wheel and a backbar washed in red neon.
The dark look and the welcoming room
The decorations are meant to be unsettling. The atmosphere is not. The Haunt has become known as a friendly, inclusive neighborhood tavern where regulars gather at the bar, shoot pool, play darts and share the room with people who came across town specifically to see St. Louis’s year-round Halloween bar. That contrast is the real identity of the place: a room full of monsters that still feels welcoming.
The House of Voodoo
During spooky season, the covered patio behind the bar becomes The House of Voodoo, a seasonal haunted attraction built directly into The Haunt’s backyard. The Witch Doctor, custom scenery and walk-through experience extend the tavern’s year-round identity beyond the barroom during October.
More than October
The Haunt’s calendar has included karaoke, community fundraisers, neighborhood gatherings, macabre art and oddities events, the Bizarre Bazaar and A Very Scary Christmas. Events and schedules change, but the theme stays put. Even on an ordinary night, the pool table, jukebox, inexpensive drinks and familiar faces keep the place grounded as a working neighborhood tavern rather than a themed attraction.
Why The Haunt matters
The Haunt matters because its character is specific and unmistakable. The horror collection is not a decorative layer hiding a generic bar. It has grown into the language of the place, while the regulars and bartenders keep it connected to the neighborhood around it. The result is one of South St. Louis’s most distinctive taverns: spooky all year, welcoming when you walk through the door, and impossible to confuse with anywhere else.
