The walking dead Vienna style: Ghost Run

The zombies, fictional undead beings created through the reanimation of a corpse, play an important role in the popular culture, especially since the heyday of the series “The walking dead”. These spirits in the state of decay are supposed to lump and roam around the earth, looking for the fresh blood with the sole goal to torment the living. However, if you find yourself in Vienna on the 30th of October, don’t act surprised if you see some zombies running, because you came on the day of the Ghost Run.

Run Vienna, run

Vienna is the city where the culture of jogging and running is very dominant. People use every opportunity and every occasion to put their running shoes on and hit the road, or trim track. The most famous and the biggest run is “Vienna City Marathon (VCM)”, held traditionally since 1984. More than 40,000 runners from more than 120 nations run by Vienna's most beautiful sights. Besides the prominent VCM, there is a Vienna Run Cup, consisting of 21 different runs held throughout the year. There is a run dedicated to charity causes; there are the Fairness run and the run that promotes animal rights. However, the most unique and definitely the most creepy one is the Vienna Ghost Run, which deserves its own chapter.

Running through Halloween

“Mens sana in corpore sano”, the Latin phrase meaning "a healthy mind in a healthy body" is hardly applied if we are talking about the rotting zombies.  Although the healthy life style is promoted in and by the city of Vienna, the Ghost Run found itself on the calendar of the city runs.

Every year, on the eve before Halloween, hundreds of zombies, vampires, witches, and other scary characters occupy the streets of the city and perform at the Vienna Ghost Run. The only prerequisite to take part in this run is to be disguised. However, even if you don’t come wearing your best Halloween dress, for a small fee, the promoter will lend you a costume or draw a mask on your face.  The Ghost Run is a charity race and all funds that are raised are going for kids with pulmonary conditions.  Since 2015, hundreds of disguised runners arrive at the Prater Main Avenue at 6 pm and run together over a distance of about five kilometres. The after-show party starts at 7 pm and takes place in the Liliputbahn tent at the main station of Liliputbahn, a famous light railway, circling around the amusement park Prater.

With the Ghost Run, Vienna dives in the Halloween atmosphere the day before anyone else. If you are sick and tired of slow and boring zombies, or flying witches, come to Vienna on the 30th of October and experience something different - the infamous creatures running.

Vienna Ghost Run

Prater Hauptallee, Hauptallee, 1020 Wien, Austria