HomeStoriesA spooky date night in Adelaide
Date night
A spooky date night in Adelaide
Dinner and a film gives you two hours of sitting side by side in silence, followed by a conversation about where to park. There are better options.
The useful thing about a slightly frightening night out is that it does the work for you. You do not have to generate conversation afterwards, because you both have something to say. Whether you enjoyed it or hated it, you will be talking on the way home, which is more than most dates manage.
Why unsettling beats pleasant
Shared arousal, in the psychological sense of heightened alertness rather than anything else, is well documented as a bonding mechanism. It is why people go to horror films together and why fairground rides have survived a century of better entertainment. You do not need to take the research too seriously to notice that it works.
The practical version: a date where something happens is better than a date where nothing happens. Anything that gives you both a reaction to compare is doing its job.
The Adelaide options
A ghost show in the CBD
Declaring our interest again. HAUNTED runs every Thursday, 8pm to 9pm, at The Lost Dice on King William Street. Kevin Kopfstein works through his collection of haunted relics, tells you where each one came from, and the room does the rest.
It suits a date for specific reasons. It is exactly one hour, so it does not swallow the whole evening. It is in the middle of the city, so you can go somewhere afterwards without a drive. There is no gore and nothing jumps out, so nobody has a genuinely bad time. And it is unusual enough that it counts as an actual plan rather than a default.
A ghost tour
The Adelaide Gaol runs evening ghost tours and paranormal investigations, and there are dark history tours of Z Ward at the old Glenside asylum and of West Terrace Cemetery. These are longer, colder and more physical than a show, which some people will consider a feature. Most run Friday and Saturday. Check dates and minimum ages directly with the operator.
Close-up magic
If you want the strange without the sinister, Adelaide Magic Theatre runs close-up magic in the city. Watching someone fail to work out how a trick was done, at close range, is a reliably good time.
Fringe season
During Adelaide Fringe in February and March the supernatural end of the programme fills right up, including Kevin's own HAUNTED 2.0: The Witching Hour. If you are planning a date in that window you will have far more to choose from, and far more competition for tickets.
How to organise it so it actually works
- Book the meal deal $74 per person covers the show, a burger or pizza, a drink and the board games. One booking, no logistics
- Arrive by 7pm Eat first. Arriving at 7:55 for an 8pm show is not a date, it is a commute
- Check first Some people genuinely do not want to be frightened. Ask before you surprise them
- Leave the second half open The show ends at 9pm in the middle of the CBD. Do not over-plan past that
One honest warning
This is not a soft, comic, wink-at-the-audience kind of spooky. It is designed to leave people uneasy, and it does. If your date has told you they do not like this sort of thing, believe them and pick something else. If they have told you nothing frightens them, book immediately.