For the past two Halloweens, Denton has gone big. Giant inflatable tentacles burst out of our historic buildings. Plastic pumpkins hang in the trees. The Ghostbusters move into our Fire Department. In fact, our town is so Halloween-hyped that entire parks are transformed into displays that'd put most haunted houses to shame.
It's our city's push for tourism: we want to be the Halloween Capital of Texas. (And can you blame us? We sure as hell aren't enticing anyone to visit for Christmas.)
With Halloween being the second largest market for holiday spending, Denton has thrown serious money at this vision. In 2025 the city budgeted a quarter of a million dollars to support Halloween events, with the city expanding its programming to include more than 200 events across the month of October. The return on investment? 140,000 tourists visited Denton during the month of October, bringing in $15 million in sales tax revenue.
For the past two years, Denton Halloween has had a theme. Year 1 was a standard "Halloween Town" aesthetic: pumpkins, ghosts, and classic Halloween villains. Year 2 leaned into "Mad Scientist" territory, with laboratory-themed installations and green-tinted lighting.
This year's horror hints at something more local, and the monster might have been hiding under our noses this whole time...
The Teaser
The video opens with a documentary-style investigation into a forgotten piece of Denton history: a time capsule buried in 1992 that was supposed to be opened in 2012 β but never was. Or was it?
Photo Credit: @DentonHalloween
The teaser is presented as a true-crime mystery, complete with concerned residents, shadowy officials, and a reporter digging for the truth. It features appearances from several familiar Denton faces: city workers, local figures, and even a cameo from local musician Eric Michener β better known as Fishboy.
Fishboy's 2021 album Waitsgiving fictionalizes the story of the time capsule, complete with an elaborate heist and a walking concert around the Square. The city's interim director of communications and marketing confirmed to the Denton Record-Chronicle that the cameo was a nod to Waitsgiving for "those in the know." It's the kind of inside joke that makes Denton Halloween feel like it's not just for tourists, it's for locals too.
The video is mysterious, local, and a lot of fun β exactly what we've come to expect from Denton Halloween.
The True Story Behind the Legend
You see, the story about the time capsule isn't just a horror story β it's a reference to a real event.
On September 12, 1992, the First State Bank of Denton buried a time capsule on the Square, sealing it with a brass plaque and a promise to open it in 2012.
Photo Credit: City of Denton
When September 12, 2012 rolled around 20 years later, the city had completely forgotten to open the capsule. But local musician Glen Farris didn't forget. He posted a photo of the plaque on Facebook with the caption: "Denton, we have a problem. We had 20 years to plan for this day."
That night, he created a Facebook event called "See You At the Capsule," inviting people to gather at the plaque at 12:01 AM to toast the city's collective failure. About 40 people showed up, including City Council Member Kevin Roden, who gave a speech.
A week later, the City of Denton finally dug up the time capsule and returned it to Wells Fargo. On October 16, Wells Fargo staff opened it. And after all that waiting and all that effort, the contents were underwhelming: a deposit slip, some marketing materials, and a few promotional items from First State Bank.
The truth of the story is, the city DID open the capsule in 2012. This teaser is just the city's retelling β a dramatized version of the story, reimagined into a supernatural mystery.
Later, Fishboy (Eric Michener) immortalized the story in his 2021 album Waitsgiving, which fictionalizes an elaborate heist to dig up the time capsule. He performs the album as a walking concert around the Square every year, keeping the story and mystery alive.
Denton residents chalk up the time capsule disaster as a funny civic failure. Now, the city has their revenge: they've made it this year's monster.
The Tentacles: A Warning?
This isn't the first time Denton has seen tentacles. For the last two Halloweens, giant inflatable tentacles have burst from the windows of the original City Hall building on the Square. They've become a signature part of Denton Halloween's aesthetic β playful, creepy, and impossible to ignore.
...But what if they weren't just decorations?
Maybe they were a warning.
Not to put on my tinfoil hat, but... does anyone else remember the mad scientist being located at City Hall West last year? If I recall correctly, that location was used for his lab.
Photo Credit: City of Denton
Final Thoughts
There's only 4 months, 12 days, and 15 hours left until Halloween. (But who's counting?) The Denton Halloween Instagram has been completely wiped, and we're ready for whatever surprises they have planned for us this year.
We reached out to the City of Denton and Denton Halloween organizers for comment. We doubt they'll tell us anything β but we're journalists, so we can't help but ask.
We'll update this article as more information is revealed.
