State file · MA
Haunted places in Massachusetts
What are the most haunted places in Massachusetts? The best-known are Lizzie Borden House, Howard Street Cemetery and Omni Parker House.
Massachusetts has some of the oldest ghost stories in America, and some of the most famous. Salem, where nineteen people were hanged and one pressed to death in the witch trials of 1692, has turned its darkest year into a month-long Halloween festival. Fall River’s Lizzie Borden House, scene of the 1892 axe murders, now rents out the rooms where the victims died. Boston’s historic hotels, burying grounds and harbour forts all have their resident spirits.
- 3 hauntings
- 12 recorded sightings
- 2 news stories
Haunted places in Massachusetts
Lizzie Borden House
Andrew and Abby Borden were killed in this Fall River house in 1892; Lizzie was tried and acquitted. Today guests sleep in the rooms where they died. Widely reportedHoward Street Cemetery
Giles Corey, pressed to death in 1692 for refusing to plead to witchcraft, is said to walk this Salem graveyard before disasters like the 1914 fire. Local legend
Omni Parker House
Boston’s historic hotel, birthplace of Boston cream pie, is said to be haunted by its founder – and by a room King’s office says never inspired “1408.” Widely reportedThe ghost lore of Massachusetts
The history behind the stories spans four centuries: the Wampanoag and other Native nations whose homelands these were, Puritan settlement and the witch panic, the Revolution, the whaling and mill towns of the nineteenth century and the great fires and disasters that reshaped its cities. Many Massachusetts ghost stories cling to real, documented people – Giles Corey, Andrew and Abby Borden, Harvey Parker – which makes it easier than usual to check where history ends and legend begins.
Ghost hunters head to Salem in October, to Fall River for overnight stays at the Borden house, and to Boston for Freedom Trail ghost tours. Salem’s historic burying grounds are open in daylight; please treat the graves of the 1692 era with respect.
Ghost-hunting hotspots
- Salem
The “Witch City,” with the Witch Trials Memorial, historic burying grounds and dozens of ghost tours during its Haunted Happenings festival.
- Boston’s Freedom Trail
Colonial burying grounds, historic taverns and hotels along a walking route that doubles as a ghost tour.
- Fall River
A former mill city known for the Borden murders, Oak Grove Cemetery and its Historical Society’s trial collection.
- Boston Harbor Islands
Island forts and lighthouses, including Fort Warren on Georges Island and its long-told legend of the Lady in Black.
- The Berkshires
Western Massachusetts mill towns and the Hoosac Tunnel, whose deadly construction left a trail of local legends.
Timeline
- 8 October 1855The Parker House opens Omni Parker House
Harvey D. Parker opens his hotel at School and Tremont streets; the Saturday Club begins meeting there the following year.
- 1867–68Charles Dickens in residence Omni Parker House
Dickens stays at the hotel during his American reading tour and attends the Saturday Club, one of many celebrated guests.
- 1872Andrew Borden buys the house Lizzie Borden House
Borden remodels a two-tenant house on Second Street as a home for his wife Abby and daughters Emma and Lizzie.
- 1884Harvey Parker dies Omni Parker House
The founder dies aged 79. Later staff and guests claim to see him still walking the hotel.
- 4 August 1892Andrew and Abby Borden are killed Lizzie Borden House
Abby is killed upstairs and Andrew downstairs within about 90 minutes. Lizzie Borden is arrested a week later.
- 20 June 1893Lizzie Borden acquitted Lizzie Borden House
After a sensational two-week trial, the jury finds her not guilty. No one else is ever charged.
- 25 June 1914The Great Salem Fire Howard Street Cemetery
A fire destroys 1,376 buildings and leaves some 20,000 people homeless. Local legend later claims Corey’s ghost was seen beforehand.
- 1927The hotel is rebuilt Omni Parker House
The present tower replaces Parker’s original building, though the hotel never closes for good.
- 1992Salem Witch Trials Memorial dedicated Howard Street Cemetery
On the 300th anniversary of the trials, a memorial with a stone bench for each person executed, including Giles Corey, is dedicated in Salem.
- 1996The house opens as a bed and breakfast Lizzie Borden House
The owners restore the house to its 1892 appearance and begin taking overnight guests and tours, and ghost stories soon follow.
- 1999“1408” and the Room 303 legend Omni Parker House
Stephen King publishes “1408”; ghost tours later claim it was inspired by Room 303, which King’s office denies.
- 2021Sold to a ghost-tour company Lizzie Borden House
The house sells for about $2 million to the owner of US Ghost Adventures, who expands its ghost tours and themed events.
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