Topping out the list of “most haunted places in America” you will find spooky destinations like The Sultan’s Palace in New Orleans, Bell Witch Farm in Tennessee and the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. You’re probably thinking, “That doesn’t sound like a lot of ghosts.” Well, get your ghost hunting kits ready because there are plenty more places to go if you want to get the living daylights scared out of you.
The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado
This is a massive Georgian style hotel nestled at the base of the Colorado Rockies. It’s been around since 1909 and boosts the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and the Emperor of Japan as early guests. It’s still a great place to stay if you consider staying in a house of horrors. Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration. What has been reported are guests hearing the piano being played late at night when nowhere is there. And there have been multiple sightings of the ghost of F.O. Stanley wandering around the billiards room. Apparently, Stephen King spent one night at the Stanley and that was all it took for him to come up with the idea for The Shining. Check please.
Gettysburg Battlefield, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
As most ghost hunters will tell you, ghosts are often the disembodied spirits of the dead who were tragically killed on a particular spot. These spirits feel compelled to stick around because they’re not quite sure they’re dead. The Gettysburg Battlefield is where 10,000 men lost their lives. For any folks who stick around at night, there are multiple reports of Union and Confederate apparitions.
The Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio
Boys will be boys. However, when boys will be criminals, then they need a place to be jailed. This gothic structure was built in 1896 to hold juvenile and young-adult offenders. By 1990, the place was shut by a federal order decrying inhumane conditions. Today, the place is open for tours and plenty of folks claim to hear whispers through the cellblocks and seeing specters of former inmates. Chills.
Lincoln Theater, Decatur, Illinois
This theater has been around since 1916 and it seems like the ghosts have been around just as long. One is called, Red. Apparently, this is the ghost of a stagehand who fell from the catwalks and died. There have also been sightings of phantom audience members, sounds of footsteps on the stage when no one is there and various cold spots. They still have shows there. Would you go?
Myrtles Plantation, St. Francisville, Louisiana
It goes without saying that you should never ever never build a home on the site of an ancient Indian burial ground. Apparently, they didn’t know those rules back in 1796 when this mansion was built. Well, it didn’t take long for ten murders to be committed within the mansion over the years. Ten. You would think after two people would stop living there. Among the “fun things” to experience are handprints on mirrors, the same piano chord being played over and over again plus all those objects that keep moving on their own. Then there are the ghosts of former slave Chloe and the two children she poisoned with a birthday cake. Yikes!
Have you ever stayed in a haunted house or hotel?
