Halloween is the one night of the year when ghosts, witches and pumpkins take over the street, and nothing gets a party going faster than a good riddle. Here are 60+ Halloween riddles with answers: easy ones for kids, groan-worthy Halloween jokes, spooky “what am I” riddles and properly hard riddles for adults.
Every answer is hidden behind a click, so you can read the riddle out loud, let everyone guess, and then reveal the answer.
Contents
- Easy Halloween Riddles for Kids
- Funny Halloween Riddles and Jokes
- Spooky “What Am I?” Halloween Riddles
- Hard Halloween Riddles for Adults
- Tips for a Halloween Riddle Game
- More Riddle Collections
- Frequently Asked Questions
Easy Halloween Riddles for Kids
Short and simple riddles for children from about 5 years. Read them slowly and give a hint if the little ones get stuck.
1. I am round and orange, you carve a face in me and put a candle inside. What am I?
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Answer: A pumpkin (jack-o’-lantern).
2. I fly at night, sleep upside down in the day and live in a cave. What am I?
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Answer: A bat.
3. I wear a pointy hat, fly on a broom and stir a big black pot. Who am I?
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Answer: A witch.
4. I am white, I say “Boo!” and you can see right through me. What am I?
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Answer: A ghost.
5. I have eight legs and I spin a web to catch my dinner. What am I?
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Answer: A spider.
6. Children knock on doors with me and hope I come back full of sweets. What am I?
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Answer: A trick-or-treat bag (or bucket).
7. I am a skeleton’s favourite instrument. What am I?
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Answer: The trom-bone.
8. I am black, I have whiskers and I am the witch’s best friend. What am I?
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Answer: A black cat.
9. I am wrapped from head to toe in bandages. Who am I?
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Answer: A mummy.
10. I have no body inside, just bones that rattle. Who am I?
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Answer: A skeleton.
11. I hoot in the dark and turn my head almost all the way round. What am I?
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Answer: An owl.
12. You put me on so nobody knows who you are. What am I?
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Answer: A mask (or costume).
13. What room does a ghost not need?
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Answer: A living room.
14. What is a ghost’s favourite dessert?
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I-scream (ice cream).
15. Where do baby ghosts go during the day?
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Answer: To day-scare centres.
16. What do you call a witch at the beach?
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Answer: A sand-witch.
17. Why didn’t the skeleton go to the party?
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Answer: He had no body to go with.
18. What kind of tree does a ghost like?
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Answer: A ceme-tree (cemetery).
19. What is a ghost’s favourite game?
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Hide-and-shriek.
20. What do you call a ghost’s true love?
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Answer: His ghoul-friend.
Funny Halloween Riddles and Jokes
These are more joke than riddle, so expect groans. Perfect for school, class parties and the lunch box note.
21. Why don’t skeletons fight each other?
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Answer: They don’t have the guts.
22. What do you call two witches who live together?
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Broom-mates.
23. What do you get when you cross a vampire and a snowman?
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Frostbite.
24. Why did the vampire read the newspaper?
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Answer: He heard it had great circulation.
25. What is a vampire’s favourite fruit?
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Answer: A neck-tarine.
26. Why are graveyards so noisy?
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Answer: Because of all the coffin.
27. What do ghosts put on their cornflakes?
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Boo-berries.
28. What does a panda ghost eat?
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Bam-BOO.
29. What do you call a skeleton who won’t work?
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Lazy bones.
30. Why did the zombie skip school?
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Answer: He felt rotten.
31. What did the pumpkin say to the carving knife?
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Answer: “Cut it out!”
32. How do monsters tell their future?
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Answer: They read their horror-scope.
33. What is a mummy’s favourite type of music?
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Wrap music.
34. Why did the ghost go into the lift?
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Answer: To lift his spirits.
35. What do you call a ghost’s mistake?
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Answer: A boo-boo.
Spooky “What Am I?” Halloween Riddles
Classic riddles in rhyme and description. Read the whole riddle before you answer, the last line usually gives it away.
36. I have a face but no head, a light inside but no bed. On 31 October I sit by your door. What am I?
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Answer: A jack-o’-lantern.
37. I am a house for the dead, made of stone or wood, and I never have visitors who stay for dinner. What am I?
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Answer: A tomb (or coffin).
38. I can be scary or sweet, I come at the door and I end with a treat. What am I?
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Trick-or-treating.
39. The more of me there is, the less you see. What am I?
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Darkness.
40. I come out at night without being called and I am lost in the day without being stolen. What am I?
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Answer: The stars.
41. I can be cracked, made, told and played. On Halloween I am usually bad. What am I?
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Answer: A joke.
42. I have a neck but no head, two arms but no hands. I hang in your wardrobe until Halloween. What am I?
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Answer: A costume shirt (any shirt).
43. I sleep all day in a box and only come out after dark. What am I?
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Answer: A vampire.
44. I howl at the full moon and grow fur when it rises. What am I?
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Answer: A werewolf.
45. I am made of sugar and I am shaped like a triangle with three colours. What am I?
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Candy corn.
46. I can fill a room but take up no space. Turn me off and the monsters come out. What am I?
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Light.
47. I have a bark but no bite, I stand in the graveyard all night. What am I?
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Answer: A tree.
48. I am stitched together from many parts and brought to life by lightning. Who am I?
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Frankenstein’s monster.
49. You can hear me but not see me, and I won’t speak unless spoken to. What am I?
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Answer: An echo in a haunted hall.
Hard Halloween Riddles for Adults
These need a bit of lateral thinking. Great for teenagers, office parties and grown-up Halloween nights.
50. A man was found dead in a field with an unopened package next to him. There were no footprints around him. How did he die?
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Answer: His parachute (the package) did not open.
51. What can you hold in your right hand but never in your left hand?
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Answer: Your left hand (or left elbow).
52. A woman shoots her husband, holds him under water for five minutes, then hangs him. Ten minutes later they go out to dinner. How?
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Answer: She is a photographer: she shot a photo, developed it and hung it up to dry.
53. I am taken from a mine and shut in a wooden case, from which I am never released, yet I am used by almost everyone. What am I?
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Pencil lead (graphite).
54. The person who makes it sells it. The person who buys it never uses it. The person who uses it never knows. What is it?
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Answer: A coffin.
55. What gets wetter the more it dries?
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Answer: A towel.
56. A ghost walks into a room with three doors. Behind one is a fire, behind one a hungry lion that has not eaten for three years, behind one a murderer with a gun. Which door is safest?
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Answer: The lion: after three years without food it is dead.
57. What has roots that nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes and yet never grows?
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Answer: A mountain.
58. Alive without breath, as cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking. What am I?
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Answer: A fish (Tolkien’s famous riddle).
59. What disappears as soon as you say its name?
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Silence.
60. Two fathers and two sons went trick-or-treating and got three bags. Each got one bag. How?
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Answer: They were grandfather, father and son – only three people.
61. I have cities but no houses, forests but no trees and water but no fish. What am I?
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Answer: A map.
62. What is always coming but never arrives?
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Tomorrow.
63. A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed three nights and left on Friday. How?
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Answer: His horse is called Friday.
64. What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a bed but never sleeps?
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Answer: A river.
Tips for a Halloween Riddle Game
- Riddle hunt: hide riddles around the house; each answer points to the next hiding place (pumpkin, broom, black cat toy).
- Trick-or-treat rule: sweets only for children who answer a riddle at the door.
- Team quiz: split into ghosts vs. witches, one point per correct answer, a bonus for the funniest wrong answer.
- Print them: copy your favourites onto orange paper and use them as place cards or in goodie bags.
More Riddle Collections
- 1000+ Easy Riddles with Answers – for kids and adults
- 500+ Hard Riddles for Kids – when the easy ones are too easy
- The Hardest Riddles in the World – for brave adults
- 100+ Christmas Riddles – for the next holiday
- Diwali Riddles with Answers – festival riddles for the whole family
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good Halloween riddle for kids?
“I am round and orange, you carve a face in me and put a candle inside. What am I?” The answer is a pumpkin. Short riddles about pumpkins, bats, ghosts and witches work best for young children.
What are some hard Halloween riddles for adults?
Try “The person who makes it sells it, the person who buys it never uses it, the person who uses it never knows. What is it?” (a coffin) or the parachute riddle above.
How do you play a Halloween riddle game?
Read a riddle aloud, give everyone 30 seconds to guess, then reveal the answer. You can play in teams, use riddles in a treasure hunt or ask a riddle before giving out treats.
When is Halloween?
Halloween is celebrated every year on 31 October, the evening before All Saints’ Day.