Pokemon GO October 2021 - Halloween revealed!

If this October's Pokmone GO Community Day wasn't ghostly enough for you, this week's launch into Halloween should provide the necessary scares. As is generally the case, Pokemon GO's most exciting month is the first month they ever revealed an event: October! This month's Halloween-themed antics play out on October 12 with Gastly Spotlight Hour, then from October 15th forward – it's going to be spooky to the max!

First, Gastly Spotlight Hour should be the best time to grab all the Ghost-type Pokemon you can handle. This mini-event will take place on Tuesday, October 12, starting at 6PM local time. This Spotlight Hour lasts – you guessed it – one hour, and will deliver "twice the Stardust for catching Pokemon."

Every Wednesday of the week this month we'll see a Raid Hour at 6PM. On the 13th we'll see Altered Forme Giratina appearing in large numbers. That same Pokemon will be featured during the October 20th Raid Hour. The most exciting Raid Hour of the month comes on October 27, 2021, where the featured Pokemon will be Darkrai with exclusive move Sludge Bomb!

SHINY Darkrai with this exclusive move will also be appearing from Friday, October 22 at 10AM all the way to November 5, 2021 at 10AM local time. This is the sort of situation where Niantic says "If you're lucky, you might encounter a Shiny one!" – which means there's a PRETTY good chance that'll happen.

Niantic said the same thing about Shiny Altered Forme Giratina, appearing in raids from October 12 to October 22, 2021. The only super monster boss of the non-Mega Raids this month that will NOT be Shiny is Genesect!

Courtesy of the latest image release from Niantic (as seen above), Pokemon GO Halloween 2021 will feature Punkaboo, released in Pokemon GO for the first time! This Pokemon evolves into Gourgeist – and both of these Pokemon look like pumpkins!

As previously leaked and reported, another Pumpkin-like Pokemon (or more tree-like, as it were), that'll appear at this Halloween event is Phantump! This is also the debut of this Pokemon in Pokemon GO. This Pokemon evolves into Trevenant!

Several Event Pokemon (with fancy Halloween costumes) will appear during the Halloween event's full span. This includes a fancy hat Pikachu, Fancy Hat Drifblim, and fancy hat Piplup! As it's been in the most recent years of events, these fancy dress-up Pokemon will not be able to evolve.

These fancy Pokemon and the first appearances of the Pokemon Phantump, Trevenant, Punkaboo, and Gourgeist will will begin to appear on Friday, October 15, 2021. They'll continue to appear all the way until October 31, 2021 – and likely a few hours beyond the end of said day, depending on where you live!

On October 19th we'll get a 6PM Spotlight Hour for Gothita. That event will deliver 2x XP for catching Pokemon. The last Spotlight Hour of the month is the absolute worst: Murkrow! Starting at 6PM on October 26th, you'll also get 2x XP for evolving Pokemon.