Halloween in Vienna: Blood, Brains, and Beethoven

Discover Halloween in Vienna through creepy museums, royal crypts, famous graves, haunting art, classical music, and a surprisingly spooky night out.

Hot take: Halloween is one of the great holidays, but despite typically being an American celebration, many of our cities lack the atmosphere, history, climate, and/or overall creepy vibe that best fits the season. I had always hoped Halloween would catch on elsewhere in the world, especially in Europe, where the cities have all of the above in abundance. It therefore came as a welcome shock when, on a recent autumn trip to Vienna, I discovered the city openly embracing its dark bona fides.

A skull with a crown on a grave in the Capuchin Crypt. Photo by John Sizemore

An Unexpected Start to Halloween in Vienna

​I arrived in Austria two days before Halloween. I decided to ease into Vienna before tackling the city’s ghoulish side by taking an evening cooking class. I joined a group to make apple strudel, a common delicacy in the German-speaking world.

Each of us took on a different job. Some of us cut apples, others cracked eggs, and one person stood by whisking a cinnamon-and-sugar mixture. My job was to roll wads of dough to hold all of our prepared goodies. The recipe called for very thinly stretched slices that I kept thinking would break. I struggled with the technique at first, and I was surprised by how strong the dough was once I reached the desired width.

Once everything came together, the smell of sweet apples filled the air before long, and I took several crunchy bites of our sweet treats.

A slice of the apple strudel made in class. Photo by John Sizemore

I retired for the evening at the Hotel Zur Wiener Staatsoper, an elegant building from 1896 now transformed into a charming boutique hotel whose furnishings evoked a bright opulence that I would come to expect throughout the city. My room was conveniently located near Vienna’s trams, subway stations, and bustling city center, which made for pleasant background noise as I drifted off to sleep on my first night.

Exploring Vienna’s Dark Side on Halloween Eve

​The next morning, Halloween Eve, I began my descent into spooky season in earnest with a visit to the Narrenturm, also known as the “Madhouse Tower.” With a name like that, I knew this had to be good.

Brains and Medical Oddities at the Narrenturm

Dating back to 1784, the circular structure was one of the world’s first asylums. Today, it is a museum on the University of Vienna campus, painting an often grisly picture of pathology and medical practices in the late 18th century.

A path inside spiraled upward to a series of wooden doors that once held the cells, now filled with specimens of different body parts. In the “brain room,” I found a series of jars with wrinkly grey matter submerged in mysterious substances. The scene would have felt right at home in a 1950s mad scientist film. In the hallway, I walked by frames filled with diseased human faces featuring lifeless, hollow expressions.

A jar with a brain in the Narrenturm. Photo by John Sizemore

Coffee and History at Café Landtmann

Naturally, after walking through such intense sights, it was time for lunch. Café Landtmann, open since 1873 and a former hangout of Sigmund Freud, gave me a glimpse into Austrian coffee culture. Sipping espresso, I admired the plush seating, earth tones, and dim lights. Aside from the occasional smartphone or credit card, the interior felt much like what I imagined a century ago, and I enjoyed how such scenery pulled me into the immersive atmosphere.

Coffee culture is still alive and well in Vienna. Photo by Peter Rigaud courtesy of Wien Tourismus

Coffins and Burial Customs at Vienna’s Funeral Museum

​Next up was the Funeral Museum located on the grounds of the Vienna Central Cemetery. Housed in a fittingly dark chamber, I encountered caskets, hearses, and other memorabilia from centuries of burial rites. The 1800s marked a time when the fear of being buried alive was commonplace in Vienna. One exhibit had a bell with a long cord, meant as a life-saving alarm in case the interred was still conscious.

I also saw a large blade, which I learned was meant to pierce the heart of the “deceased” to make sure they were actually dead. The bell was prone to false alarms at times due to wandering vermin—I wondered how many times the knife had also made a mistake.

Most disturbing of all was the foldaway coffin. The device had a brass handle which opened a trap door, causing the corpse inside to be dropped abruptly into its intended grave and allowing reuse of the casket.

The foldaway coffin in the Funeral Museum. Photo by John Sizemore

Famous Graves at Vienna Central Cemetery

​I stepped outside into the Central Cemetery and found a delightful contrast of crisp October air, blooms of pink flowers, and shades of red and yellow in the autumn leaves blending beautifully with the setting sun.

While I expected a typical cemetery of simple, uniform stones marking various lifespans, the grounds could have doubled as an art walk.

Each grave had a degree of personality reflecting something about the entombed. Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, and other composers rested beneath grand markers indicative of their musical legacies. One grave, created for one man’s deceased wife, bore a striking depiction of grief within tattered stone.

Johann Strauss Vater’s grave in the Vienna Central Cemetery. Photo by John Sizemore

Hedy Lamarr, the famed actress and inventor, had a unique marker of metal spheres that showed her face when seen from a specific angle. Intriguing sculptures—from formal busts to abstract works—were everywhere, making the cemetery an exercise in discovery as much as contemplation.

Hedy Lamarr’s grave. Photo by John Sizemore

Experiencing Vienna’s Classical Music Tradition

​I finished Halloween Eve at the Vienna Concert Hall. I had always thought classical music was mostly a thing of the past, and I was surprised to find a thriving symphony culture in the city.

I navigated the lobby, busy with characters donning fancy suits and other formal garb, and made my way upstairs to a narrow hallway leading to my balcony seat. Stepping into the grand hall, I was amazed by the sheer sense of space. A massive chandelier illuminated golden walls and a gathering collection of musicians below. I lost count trying to identify all the instruments—flutes, cellos, timpani, and much more—before a soft note on a violin broke the silence.

The space inside took on new dimensions when this soundscape filled it—string sections in one ear lighting up with percussion in the other—invoking a pleasant hypnotism. I never really understood classical music, and this was one of those situations where I had to be in the right place at the right time to really get it. After the performance, I could see why the genre still endures in this part of the world.​

Musicians inside the Vienna Concert Hall’s golden interior. Photo by John Sizemore

Spending Halloween Day in Vienna

I woke up on Halloween morning and began my day with more time travel at the Sigmund Freud House.

Freud and the Bloody World of Viennese Actionism

The surprisingly large study, with its wooden aesthetic and bookcases filled with thick tomes, created an introspective ambiance.

I followed this with the Viennese Actionism Museum, which showcased a gruesome genre of art that explored societal taboos and often used media involving bodily fluids. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect until I noticed a bright white canvas on arrival adorned with a prominent splotch of crimson blood that covered nearly the entire surface.

Transgressive works were everywhere, such as the satirical “Vietnam Party” showing wounded humans having a celebration, and performance art displaying mutilation with pins and needles. While unsettling to observe, thoughts stirred within about not just the nature of pain, but violence, mortality, and whether or not we’ve really changed as a species.

A bloody painting at the Vienna Actionism Museum. Photo by John Sizemore

A Classic Viennese Schnitzel at Gmoakeller

Nothing like gore to whet the appetite—I next had lunch at Gmoakeller, a restaurant open since 1858 and serving classic Viennese fare. I hadn’t yet had schnitzel in Austria, and this was the place to rectify that. A crispy brown specimen resembling a large chicken tender soon appeared before me, with meaty aromas wafting upwards into delicious bites that fueled the rest of my afternoon.

Descending into the Habsburgs’ Capuchin Crypt

The Habsburg Dynasty ruled Austria for more than six centuries, making for plenty of bodies to occupy the royal Capuchin Crypt. I descended a staircase into a subterranean, dungeon-like enclosure with gloomy stone walls, dim lighting, and rows of haunting coffins stretching across the corridor. The metal caskets, sporting skulls, swords, cherubs, crucifixions, and other macabre imagery, grew in size from modest to borderline hyperbolic according to royal prominence.

A grave with morbid imagery in the Capuchin Crypt. Photo by John Sizemore

Finding the Macabre in Vienna’s Art Museums

I then entered the Albertina Museum and its sizable collection of contemporary art just around the block. The museum, one of Europe’s most prominent print rooms and home to tens of thousands of drawings, was featuring an exhibit on Alfred Kubin. His ghastly black-and-white works, evoking an intangible horror that was pure nightmare fuel, have been aptly described as occupying the “darkroom of the modern soul.”

At the Leopold Museum, several floors of contemporary art and colorful Austrian Art Nouveau awaited. An exhibit on famed Austrian artist Gustav Klimt revealed posters, portraits, and arguably his most famous creation, Death and Life, where a morbid, skeletal apparition shaded in dark hues looks on to a joyful mass of bodies.

Death and Life by Gustav Klimt. Photo by John Sizemore

Halloween Night at Vienna’s “Un-holiest Speakeasy”

I got dinner at The Chapel Bar, also known as Vienna’s “un-holiest speakeasy.” I browsed a menu where shots were listed as the “Seven Deadly Sins” alongside bites displayed under “The Last Supper.” The moody lighting and dark interior, along with the occult vibes and decor, created a haunted-house feel perfect for welcoming Halloween night.

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Why Vienna Is Perfect for Halloween

I enjoyed a sense of temporal displacement in Vienna, but I didn’t quite understand why until I spent Halloween in the city. The antiquated dining halls, the cobblestone alleys, the symphony in the concert hall, and the endless rows of old buildings significantly enhanced the horror ambiance I had been exploring.

Wanting to stay in the moment and take it all in, I wandered the city afterward, watching the increasing numbers of costumed revelers taking to the streets. When I left on All Saints’ Day, I was happy to be proven wrong in my original skepticism that being in Vienna on Halloween would mean being the only person excited about the holiday. With its dark history, creepy museums, and shocking art, Vienna was perfect. Sometimes a trip into the darkness is just what you need to lighten your spirits.

A grave depicting a man’s grief over his deceased wife at the Vienna Central Cemetery. Photo by John Sizemore

If exploring Vienna’s darker side has you ready to discover more of Austria and other parts of Europe, check out our other European travel stories on Wander With Wonder. From historic cities and unforgettable food to art, culture, and unexpected adventures, we have plenty of ideas to inspire your next European journey.

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