Say ‘Boo’ to the 13 Most Haunted Places in America
Would you visit, stay overnight, or simply walk by some of America’s most haunted places? Although the United States is a relatively young country, there are a surprising amount of places with a long history of supernatural activity.
From Salem, Massachusetts all the way to sunny California, there are numerous homes, hotels, theaters, abandoned prisons, and battlefields purported as haunted hotbeds in this country. Whether a grisly murder happened at the location or some other heinous act, certain places have developed a notorious reputation for harboring ghosts, spirits, and other paranormal activity.
The following places are considered some of the most haunted in the United States. How many have you visited or seen with your own eyes?
Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California
The Winchester Mystery House once housed Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester and heiress to a huge chunk of his firearms fortune. The superstitious Lady Winchester spent millions of dollars renovating the house, adding bizarre ramps, doors, and passageways that turned the home into a confusing maze.
Whatever really motivated Winchester to fund this architectural curiosity, some say the 24,000-square-foot mansion houses the ghosts of men felled by Winchester guns and rifles. Nearly 12 million people have visited the Winchester Mystery House since 1923 for haunted tours and to walk the most authentic Halloween maze in the United States.
Helen Mirren starred as Sarah Winchester in the 2018 horror movie Winchester.
House of the Seven Gables, Salem, Massachusetts
The House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts is best known as the setting of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel. The original house at the location has connections to the Salem Witch Trials when John Turner Jr. built a secret staircase alongside the fireplace to hide himself and his sisters in case they were accused of witchcraft.
Other hidden rooms were later discovered in the house, which added to its spooky reputation. Visitors have claimed to have seen ghosts, including the specter of a little boy playing near the attic. Now a museum, House of the Seven Gables employees have reported seeing lights and water faucets turning on and off, as well as shadowy silhouettes near the gables.
Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast, Fall River, Massachusetts
The Lizzie Borden House is the site of the unsolved double murder of Andrew and Abby Borden in 1892. Andrew’s daughter, Lizzie, was tried and acquitted of killing her father and stepmother with an axe.
Today, the Lizzie Borden House operates as a bed and breakfast for curiosity seekers. The décor has been replicated to look identical to how it did in 1892, and the original doors and hardware remain intact. The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast offers haunted doors, features artifacts from the murder case, and allows guests to book a room in the historic house of horrors.
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Eastern State Penitentiary was once one of the most expensive and storied prisons on the planet, housing more than 85,000 inmates — including Al Capone and “Slick Willie” Sutton — during its operation between 1892 and 1971. At least two guards and many inmates were murdered during the penitentiary’s operation and many others died of old age and disease, which led to the prison’s reputation of housing ghosts.
Many filmmakers have used the site as a filming location, including Terry Gilliam for the movie 12 Monkeys.
Today, the 10-acre property and its crumbling buildings have been transformed into a Halloween attraction, complete with bars, historic tours, and live entertainment.
Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
The Battle of Gettysburg took place over three days in 1863 and is considered the turning point of the Civil War. More than 50,000 Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives during the bloodiest battle of the war. In the decades since, many claim to have seen the ghosts of soldiers who died during the conflict.
Today, one can walk on the areas in the Gettysburg National Military Park where soldiers fought and died, including Culp’s Hill, the Peach Orchard, Wheatfield, Devil’s Den, Little Round Top, and Cemetery Ridge. Although you’re not guaranteed to see a ghost, you may encounter biting deer ticks, so visit wearing long pants and socks unless you want to risk catching something even scarier than a glimpse of a ghost.
RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, California
The RMS Queen Mary is a retired luxury liner now moored in Long Beach, California. The impressive ship once ferried the likes of Winston Churchill, Greta Garbo, and Clark Gable across the Atlantic during the 1930s. Forty-nine official deaths were recorded on the Queen Mary, including a crew member who got crushed by a watertight door.
Today, more than 150 ghosts are purported to still haunt the Queen Mary, including a woman dressed in all white and children in 1930s garb wandering the pool decks. Visitors who take one of the ship’s haunted tours have seen lights flickering and heard slamming doors, children crying, knocking, and screams.
The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado
The Stanley Hotel is the inspiration for the haunted Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining. The 1997 TV miniseries The Shining was filmed at the Stanley.
After the publication of The Shining, the Stanley Hotel developed a reputation for paranormal activity and has been featured on shows such as Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. Today, the Stanley Hotel embraces its haunted history and even offers guests the opportunity to stay in “spirited” rooms, including the much-requested Stephen King Suite 217.
LaLaurie Mansion, New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans socialite Madame Delphine LaLaurie purportedly tortured and murdered numerous enslaved African Americans at her mansion on Royal Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. After rescuers responded to a fire at the LaLaurie mansion in 1834, they discovered bound slaves showing evidence of prolonged torture in her attic. Madame LaLaurie fled to Paris and a mob sacked her mansion.
The LaLaurie mansion was rebuilt in 1838 and still stands today in the French Quarter, where ghost tours pass by and boast that it is one of the most haunted houses in America. At one point, Nicolas Cage owned the mansion, but the current owner no longer allows visitors to venture inside the property.
Kathy Bates memorably played Madame LaLaurie on American Horror Story: Coven, which was filmed in New Orleans.
Villisca Axe-Murder House, Villisca, Iowa
The horrific axe murders of eight people — six members of the Moore family and two guests — occurred in June 1912 at an unassuming house in Villisca, Iowa. Although a traveling preacher named Reverend George Kelly confessed to the crimes, he later recanted. He was arrested and tried for the murders, but was acquitted.
The Villisca Axe-Murder House has been featured on TV shows such as Ghost Adventures, Scariest Places on Earth, and Most Terrifying Places in America. Today, you can take a tour of this haunted house of horrors and even stay overnight if you dare.
Bird Cage Theatre, Tombstone, Arizona
The Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona is a notorious, bullet-riddled watering hole where Old West miners drank, played cards, paid women for their company, and fired guns. The Bird Cage Poker Table, where the longest poker game ever was played continuously from 1881 to 1889, is still intact at the establishment.
Today, visitors and employees of the Bird Cage Theatre have reported seeing the ghosts of men in cowboy hats and ladies of the night inside. The establishment hosts ghost tours and has been featured on TV shows such as Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Ghost Lab, and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.
Amityville Horror House, Amityville, Long Island, New York
In 1974, Ronald DeFeo Jr. allegedly heard voices and went room to room at his family’s home at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York, where he killed his parents, two brothers, and two sisters with a rifle. A year later, the Lutz family moved into the home, whose terrifying demonic experience became the basis of The Amityville Horror novel and movie franchise.
Although six people unquestionably lost their lives in the Long Island home in 1974, whether or not the Lutz family was really terrorized by supernatural shenanigans remains open for debate. None of the subsequent owners of the house, the address of which was changed to 108 Ocean Avenue, have reported experiencing a piglike creature with red eyes, oozing slime, or a demonic voice telling them to “get out.” One owner even changed the house’s trademark triangular attic windows to deter lookie-loos.
Cecil Hotel, Los Angeles, California
The notorious Cecil Hotel located in Downtown Los Angeles near Skid Row has been the site of numerous murders, suicides, and other tragic deaths since its opening in 1924. The serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, committed several of his murders while staying as a guest in the Cecil Hotel. In 2013, the body of tourist Elisa Lam was found inside the closed water tank on the roof of the hotel after security footage showed her acting erratically, as if someone or something were following her.
Today, the Cecil Hotel no longer operates as a traditional hotel and has been partially converted into affordable housing. The haunted building and its spooky history are the inspiration for the Hotel Cortez in American Horror Story: Hotel.
Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California
The Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, California is a historic landmark and was one of the largest beach resorts in the world when it opened in 1888. Numerous presidents and celebrities have stayed at the hotel, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum, who did most of his writing on the property and based Emerald City on the wooden Victorian beach resort.
In 1892, a guest named Kate Morgan was found on the exterior steps of the property with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Her ghost is said to haunt guest room 302, where guests report lights flickering off and on, strange voices, doors slamming shut, and abrupt changes in temperature. Morgan’s ghost has also been spotted in the hotel’s hallways and along the seashore.
