Over the past several weeks, people around the world have been celebrating the season of Halloween—dressing up, taking part in parades and festivals, hosting parties, and braving trips through haunted houses (and at least one haunted car wash). Collected below are photos that capture some of these scary (and fun) pre-Halloween festivities in Wales, Japan, India, Romania, Spain, Ireland, Thailand, the United States, and elsewhere.

To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here.