For this Halloween scavenger hunt, we scoured this encyclopedic museum for the most haunting works, bloody details and hidden meanings.
Zachary Small is not a vampire — yet.
Oct. 17, 2025
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has long been heralded as a temple of beauty; a labyrinth of marble gods, shimmering Impressionist landscapes and silken kimonos that promises an orderly march of human history. But in October, as the shadows begin pooling against the walls and the hushed footsteps of visitors echo through the halls, another museum reveals itself: a theater of phantoms.
Here are 20 of the scariest artworks — ancient, medieval, modern — that tell a story of saints and sinners, monsters and myths. Follow their trail and the Met Museum starts to feel like a haunted house, where art keeps vigil over humanity’s deepest anxieties. Tap the screaming icon to create a list of your five favorites at the bottom of this page.
In the words of the poet Edgar Allan Poe, “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague.” On this scavenger hunt through the museum, those shadows linger longest in the galleries.
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