Looking for a unique Halloween Night idea? Or are you looking for a way to spend the All Saints’ and All Souls’ weekend outdoors, surrounded by the scents of the mountains? Etna is always at your disposal with its landscapes, its authentic products, its many tourist routes. On special occasions, Etna also becomes the setting for unique moments. For example, on Halloween night or during the holidays… often with mild temperatures… in early November, there’s no shortage of opportunities for great experiences. We suggest places to visit between October 31st and November 2nd: if you’re not familiar with the area, however, always travel with authorized guides who shall help you learn about the history and traditions associated with those specific places.
Abandoned Shelters at Night
If you’re adventurous and not afraid of the unexpected, you can organize a beautiful and terrifying Halloween Night on Mount Etna. Where? At the abandoned shelters. There are several on the volcano, some of them are ancient and therefore showing that typical worn stone appearance, with open, frameless windows and grass growing inside. Avoid lighting fires; instead, bring camping lights, colorful flashlights, or battery-powered light bulbs to place in pumpkins! And, of course, lots of sweets and a good book of horror stories!
The Rifugio Conti shelter might be ideal. A 20-minute walk from the Clan dei Ragazzi resort (on the road up to Brunek), the route isn’t particularly difficult, but some sections are uphill and could be a bit tiring. The shelter’s ruins lend themselves to ghost stories and mysteries.
Another ruin worth exploring is the one along the trail from Piano del Vescovo to Acquarocca degli Zappini. Along a flat, easy path, near the so-called Villaggio di Via Messina, there are some abandoned, dilapidated houses, perfect for a “ghostly” night.
If you don’t want to go too far, just a few steps from the large parking lot of the Ragabo Refuge, in the Ragabo-Brunek pine forest, stand the ruins of the Mareneve Village. It’s a group of wooden huts shaped like “Teepees,” which have long since fallen into disuse. Their proximity to the Mareneve road makes them comfortable, accessible, and… easy to abandon in case of “strange presences” or a sudden fright!
Ghost Trees
Ghost trees are called like this because their bleached trunks stand out against the blue sky during the day and against the
dark sky at night. When eruptions threaten the woods and lava approaches the trees, they often catch fire from the enormous heat emanating from the magma. But if this doesn’t happen, the tree will still die, suffocated by the heat. It will dry out almost immediately. This “shock” causes the trunk to bleach, and when the branches and leaves also fall, it will remain there, naked and white… like a ghost, indeed.
In order to find the ghost trees, you need to go to the sites of the most significant eruptions: Piano Provenzana, for example, or along the Brunek pine forest trail, or to Val Calanna along the 1992 lava flows, or along the lava flow that nearly destroyed Rifugio Sapienza.
If weather permits, visit these ghost trees on All Saints’ Day, November 1st, perhaps planning a picnic or a walk through the surrounding woods filled with splendid red leaves.
The “Mount of the Dead”
If you want to celebrate November 2nd, the All Souls’ Day, in front of a haunting natural monument… you can’t help but go to Monte dei Morti (Mount of the Dead).
This rock formation consists of a series of “rope lavas” that have piled up on top of each other, creating incredible shapes. Seen from afar, it looks like a pile of charred human bodies, as if someone had condemned to the stake and burned dozens of prisoners (photo here: https://www.etnanatura.it/paginasentiero.php?nome=Monte_dei_Morti ). As you get closer, however, you breathe a sigh of relief. Those twisted bodies are only memories of lumps of lava that have now become cold, black rock.
Will you like to reach Monte dei Morti? Then, start from the Brunek pine forest and follow the trail for 10 km, with significant elevation changes, for a walking time that can exceed an hour in often difficult conditions (on rocky, treeless paths). Along the trail, you also find the Grotta dei Lamponi (Raspberry Cave). Monte dei Morti can also be reached from Piano Provenzana (a 40-minute walk to Timparossa and another 40 minutes to reach the place) with a slightly less difficult route.
In both cases, the hiking is NOT recommended for untrained people, children, or the elderly. You really need to be in good physical shape. (PHOTO BY GRAZIA MUSUMECI)