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What haunts near you?
The field guide to the world’s most haunted places — 414 hauntings across 50 states and 52 countries, with the ghost stories, the real history, how to visit and original field reports.
- 414 hauntings
- 50 states
- 52 countries
- 13 field reports
Original reporting · the field desk
Field reports
FIELD REPORT · MICHIGAN · Nov 4, 2026
A century after Houdini’s death, the séances go on
Harry Houdini died in Detroit on Halloween 1926. What the record says, how his widow ended her séances in 1936, and what happened this year.
FIELD REPORT · SCIENCE · Oct 31, 2026
A new study asks why people feel a ghost in the room
Vanderbilt psychologists surveyed people who sense an unseen presence. What the survey found, what it can’t show, and what earlier research adds.
FIELD REPORT · PENNSYLVANIA · Oct 28, 2026
When Halloween meets history: the debate over ‘fright tourism’
Two researchers ask whether Halloween attractions at old prisons and forts honor the past. Eastern State and Fort Henry show the competing arguments.
FIELD REPORT · NEW YORK · Oct 24, 2026
Is Staten Island New York’s most haunted borough? The record
A tour founder calls Staten Island “wall-to-wall ghosts.” We set her claim beside what the records say about its quarantine, peace house and hospital.
FIELD REPORT · BOOKS · Oct 21, 2026
A historian’s new book reads America’s ghost stories as history
In ‘This Haunted Land,’ Betsy Gaines Quammen visits a buried uranium town, a Spanish fort and a boarding school to ask what ghost stories remember.
ANNIVERSARY · KENTUCKY · Oct 18, 2026
Waverly Hills turns 100: the hospital behind the haunted legend
Louisville’s Waverly Hills Sanatorium opened its Tudor Gothic hospital in October 1926. A century on, its ghost stories often outshine its real history.
RESEARCH · USA · Oct 17, 2026
Who believes in ghosts in 2026? What two new surveys really show
A study links ghost belief to churchgoers who trust science; a YouGov poll finds 45% of Americans think ghosts exist. What the numbers do and don’t mean.Your region · United States
Haunted places near you
Tap your state to see its haunted places, hotspots and ghost stories. The brighter the state, the more there is to explore.
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The USA’s most famous
Apparition
Winchester Mystery House
Sarah Winchester’s sprawling San Jose mansion, famous for stairs to nowhere and a ghost legend that historians say was largely invented after her death. Widely reported
Residual haunting · 1940s
Eastern State Penitentiary
Philadelphia’s Gothic prison pioneered solitary confinement in 1829. Staff, guards and visitors tell of faces, footsteps and whispers in its cellblocks. Widely reported
Demonic case · 1976
The Amityville Horror House
A real 1974 family murder, then the Lutz family’s claims of a demonic haunting – a story that became a bestseller, a film franchise and a famous hoax. Hoax / debunked
Apparition
RMS Queen Mary
The retired Cunard liner moored at Long Beach since 1967, now a hotel whose paranormal tours tell of a drowned girl, a crushed crewman and wartime dead. Widely reported
Apparition
The Stanley Hotel
The 1909 Rocky Mountain resort that inspired Stephen King’s The Shining, where guests report a phantom pianist, a tidy maid and children’s laughter. Widely reported
Poltergeist · 1817
The Bell Witch
From 1817 a talking, invisible “witch” was said to torment the Bell family of Robertson County. America’s best-known ghost story still draws crowds. Widely reported
Shadow figure · 1980s
Waverly Hills Sanatorium
Louisville’s vast 1926 tuberculosis hospital is one of America’s most famous haunted buildings – and its real history is more moving than the myths. Widely reported
Apparition · 1950s
Myrtles Plantation
Billed as America’s most haunted house, this plantation is famous for “Chloe,” an enslaved woman the records show never lived there. One murder is real. Widely reportedScreening room
Documentaries and news reports
29:02
Winchester Mystery House
1963 KPIX Documentary: Mrs. Winchester’s House
1:08
Tower of London
The Ghosts of the Tower of London – Ghost Bear
31:45
Eastern State Penitentiary
Haunting Histories at Eastern State Penitentiary, Part 1
12:48
The Enfield Poltergeist
1977: The ENFIELD POLTERGEIST | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful
19:07
RMS Queen Mary
The Final Voyage of the RMS Queen Mary – 1967
26:39
The Stanley Hotel
Colorado Experience: The Stanley Hotel
Field guide
Haunted places, by kind
58Haunted Hotels & InnsThe Stanley Hotel · Hotel del Coronado · Crescent Hotel
94Haunted Houses & MansionsWinchester Mystery House · The Amityville Horror House · The Enfield Poltergeist
27Haunted Prisons & JailsEastern State Penitentiary · Alcatraz · Ohio State Reformatory
14Haunted Hospitals & AsylumsWaverly Hills Sanatorium · Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (Weston State Hospital) · Poveglia
22Haunted Battlefields & FortsGettysburg Battlefield · The Alamo · Little Bighorn Battlefield
27Haunted Castles & PalacesTower of London · Hampton Court Palace · Bhangarh Fort
9Haunted Ships & LighthousesRMS Queen Mary · Seul Choix Point Lighthouse · Gibraltar Point Lighthouse
32Haunted Cemeteries & ChurchesChase Vault · Westminster Hall and Burying Ground · The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow
39Haunted Theaters, Schools & Public BuildingsRobert the Doll · Edinburgh Vaults · Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon
50Haunted Roads, Bridges & WoodsResurrection Mary · Island of the Dolls · Brown Mountain Lights
22Haunted Towns & Ghost TownsHarpers Ferry · Dudleytown · Di Lee of Deadwood’s Chinatown
What people report
Kinds of haunting
234Apparitions & SpectersWinchester Mystery House · Tower of London · RMS Queen Mary
20PoltergeistsThe Enfield Poltergeist · The Bell Witch · Chase Vault
43Residual HauntingsEastern State Penitentiary · Lizzie Borden House · Gettysburg Battlefield
11Demonic & Possession CasesThe Amityville Horror House · The Conjuring House · Exorcism of Roland Doe
6Shadow People & Dark EntitiesWaverly Hills Sanatorium · Shadow People · Black-Eyed Children
7Phantom Ships, Trains & RoadsResurrection Mary · The Flying Dutchman · The Vanishing Hitchhiker
11Ghost Lights & OrbsBrown Mountain Lights · The Hornet Spooklight · Will-o’-the-Wisp
6Haunted ObjectsAnnabelle the Doll · Robert the Doll · Island of the Dolls
59Folklore Spirits & LegendsLa Llorona · Poveglia · Bhangarh Fort
17Other Paranormal PhenomenaPatience Worth · Doppelgänger · Camp Chesterfield’s Materialization Séances
Beyond the USA
Around the world
317North AmericaWinchester Mystery House · Eastern State Penitentiary · The Amityville Horror House
5Central America & the CaribbeanLa Llorona · Chase Vault · Rose Hall Great House
6South AmericaLa Llorona · Shadow People · Will-o’-the-Wisp
59EuropeTower of London · The Enfield Poltergeist · Borley Rectory
24Asia & the Middle EastBhangarh Fort · Shadow People · The Vanishing Hitchhiker
7AfricaThe Flying Dutchman · The Vanishing Hitchhiker · Castle of Good Hope
17OceaniaThe Flying Dutchman · Port Arthur Historic Site · Shadow People
What is a haunting?
A story a place won’t let go of.
A haunting is a place, or a family, where people keep reporting the unexplained: footsteps on an empty stair, a figure in a window, objects that move on their own. Behind almost every one is real history — a prison, a battlefield, a murder, a grieving widow. Science points to drafts, infrasound, carbon monoxide, sleep paralysis and the power of suggestion; the stories endure anyway. We collect the history, the reports and the explanations, so you can decide — and tell you how to visit.