10 Halloween Specials You Can Watch for Free on YouTube

Are you a sucker for nostalgia? Do you like reliving movies from your childhood? Or do you wish to pass on traditions to the younger generations because past Halloween TV specials were just better than they are today? (Do they even make them anymore?)

Well then, step right up to get your fill! I have scoured YouTube for these # Halloween specials from decades past for all of our enjoyment. Stay spooky!

See also 5 Kids Halloween Movies from the 80s That Still Rock (And One Honorable Mention)

The Halloween That Almost Wasn't

You might know this one under a different name, The Night Dracula Saved The World, which really doesn't describe this half hour Halloween special at all. The plot of the movie is literally the Halloween that almost wasn't (isn't?) because the witch has decided to quit and refuses to ride her broom over the moon, which everyone knows is the only way for Halloween to begin.

It stars Judd Hirsch as Dracula, Mariette Hartley as the Witch, and Henry Gibson as Igor, and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement – Children's Program.

Garfield's Halloween Adventure

Here is another half hour Halloween special from my childhood that has an alternate title, Garfield's Halloween Adventure aka Garfield in Disguise. Garfield and Odie dress up as pirates and go trick or treating. But everyone knows there's magic afoot on Halloween, and the pair learn all too well how spooky it can be. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 1986 and featured songs by Lou Rawls.

Lorenzo Music voices Garfield and Gregg Berger voices Odie.

Halloween Is Grinch Night

I bet you didn't know the Grinch celebrated more than one holiday. Halloween Is Grinch Night aka It's Grinch Night aka Grinch Night is a prequel to the Christmas special How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Boris Karloff had died by the time this one came out, so Hans Conried provided the voice of the Grinch.

Halloween Is Grinch Night won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program in 1978.

Bugs Bunny's Howl-oween Special

This one is a pretty quick watch at only 17 minutes. Fittingly, the villain is frequent Bugs Bunny antagonist Witch Hazel, and the fun sequence of classic cartoons feature the voice talents of Mel Blanc, June Foray, and Bea Benaderet.

The Worst Witch

Based on the book of the same name, The Worst Witch is a 1980s Halloween movie utter perfection in my opinion. It stars a young Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry at his creepiest, and Charlotte Rae playing twin sisters, one of whom has what passes for a Southern accent. And she sings! So does Tim Curry! No one can miss seeing this film at least once.

The Trouble with Miss Switch

Here is another Halloween special made from a children's book of the same name. Classmates Rupert and Amelia discover their new substitute teacher is actually a witch, complete with a talking cat. She's not evil, however. Together, they all must battle against the evil witches.

Janet Waldo voices Miss Switch, Eric Taslitz is Rupert, and Nancy McKeon is Amelia. June Foray (one of the voices of Witch Hazel) is also in this one.

Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit

You may have read this series of books when you were younger. Somehow, I never did, even though my brother gave them to me. Perhaps I found someting particularly spooky about vegetables being mysteriously drained of their juices?

Funnily enough, this one didn't air in October as part of the celebration of Halloween but on January 9, 1982.

Halloween with the New Addams Family

It isn't clear what is "new" about the Addams Family since most of the original TV series' actors reprised their roles. And this time, they're in full color!

The story is a little cheesy with crooks concocting an elaborate plot to steal the Addams family fortune, but it's the Addams family, one of the most wholesome families to ever grace American television.

Once Upon a Midnight Scary

Here is a 3 for 1 Halloween special! Vincent Price narrates "three tales of terror" based on books of the same names, The Ghost Belonged To Me, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and The House With A Clock In Its Walls. It all comes to about 45 minutes, so it isn't as big of a viewing investment as it might seem.

The Wickedest Witch

There sure were a lot of Halloween specials about witches back in the 20th century. In The Wickedest Witch, Avarissa (said wicked witch) seeks to free herself from the underground prison of the Greevils by corrupting a "pure of heart" human.

Avarissa is played by none other than Rue McClanahan of The Golden Girls fame (she played Blanche). It was made by Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF.