Top 10 Most Haunted Places in the United States

While it may be harder to find people who outright admit they are afraid of ghosts, if you took them to an old, creepy, and spacious haunted house, they would eventually lose the facade and admit they are human, too.

Haunted hotels, houses, hospitals, and other buildings with a long history of unsolved mysteries or highly questionable events that can be corroborated with real news stories add a lot to the scare-factor, but it isn’t always required.

The architecture alone can have very intimidating and overwhelming elements that make you feel powerless or lost. These are our picks for the 10 most haunted places in the USA.

Most Haunted Places in America

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1: Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, West Virginia

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, West Virginia
Flickr/lwpkommunikacio

Ah, the classic insane asylum, a place that is frightening regardless of age or structure. This infamous mental hospital was home to a number of mental patients who passed away during the Civil War, which adds to the imagination of horrifying screams of soldiers who were crying in pain from losing their minds due to the highly torturous methods of curing the mentally disturbed. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum really is one of the most haunted places in the USA.

Address: 71 Asylum Dr, Weston, WV 26452

2: Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa

Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa
Villisca Axe Murder House is one of the most haunted houses in America | Flickr/jingerelle

Ghosts haunt houses that they cannot leave due to some unresolved or unsolved part of their death. In this instance, it’s the murders of an entire family in Iowa. No one knows what happened or why they were murdered, but just the thought of some fiend chopping up a man, his wife, and children with an axe are enough to strike fear into visitor’s hearts.

Address: 508 E 2nd St, Villisca, IA 50864

Website: www.villiscaiowa.com

3: Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio

Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio
Flickr/rain0975

Ohio State Reformatory is another one of the most haunted places in the USA. The name “reformatory” already sounds highly suspect. This is where little boys were sent to be “reformed” or rather punished heavily until they were scared straight, essentially. This creepy castle of horrors feels as though it is covered in a layer of grime that will never be removed, and the tales of little ghosts add to that cold shiver of dread.

Address: 100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905

Website: www.mrps.org

4: Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Eastern State Penitentiary is the most haunted prison in the USA | Flickr/Sakeeb Sabakka

Prisons are made to scare you; that’s the entire purpose of the Criminal Punishment system. The thought of going to jail is supposed to be the deterrent of crime, but we know most crimes are undeserved of the type of inhumane conditions found in prisons like Eastern State in Philadelphia. This is one of the haunted places in America that will give you nightmares for weeks.

Address: 2027 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19130

Website: www.easternstate.org

Also Read: Top 25 Attractions & Things To Do in Philadelphia

5: Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado
Flickr/sean hobson

Another on our list of the most haunted places in America is the Stanley hotel. A luxury hotel, now that sounds like a pleasant place, right? Well, this one was home to Stephen King’s masterfully creepy movie The Shining. Even for those who haven’t seen the movie, its interior and creaky sounds play on the mind enough to prevent you from ever falling asleep. Redrum, anyone?

Address: 333 E Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517

Website: www.stanleyhotel.com

Also Read: Top 10 Haunted Houses in the USA

6: Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California
Flickr/Julie Markee

This is a bit of an unorthodox haunted house, both in terms of architecture and backstory. Legend has it that the house is flooded with the ghosts of those who have died under the Winchester family name, including Winchester’s own life. It is also said that the construction workers who helped build the massive property also reside here to prevent anyone else from living there.

Address: 525 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose, CA 95128

Website: www.winchestermysteryhouse.com

7: West Virginia State Penitentiary, Moundsville, West Virginia

West Virginia State Penitentiary, Moundsville, West Virginia

Adding to the list of vehemently abusive and bloody prisons, Moundsville was a major contributor to prisoner deaths via torture and murders, as well as the State’s own liberal usage of electric chair executions. If there were any place that has ghosts roaming the grounds to frighten visitors, it would be in Moundsville. This is absolutely one of the scariest places in the United States.

Address: 818 Jefferson Ave, Moundsville, WV 26041

Website: www.wvpentours.com

8: Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky

Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky
Flickr/lwpkommunikacio

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is considered one of the most haunted places in Kentucky. This eerie home of horrors of the past is a relic of modern medicine’s ugly and downright ignorant history. This building housed tens of thousands of tuberculosis patients, many of them small children, who were trapped in a never-ending torture experiment. Nothing but howling and screaming filled these walls during operation, which adds to the cold whistling of its current empty shell today.

Address: 4400 Paralee Ln, Louisville, KY 40272

Website: www.therealwaverlyhills.com

9: Bell Witch Cave, Adams, Tennessee

Bell Witch Cave, Adams, Tennessee
Wikimedia/Www78

Caves are the perfect home for a wandering spirit, and the Bell Witch Cave has been labeled by many as the most haunted place in America. This cave is home to a haunting resident who once terrified the Bells, who owned a farm nearby. No one knows why this ghost had such a problem with the family, but any tourist who passes through and explores the cave do not last more than a few minutes before the darkness proves too much.

Address: 430 Keysburg Rd, Adams, TN 37010

Website: www.bellwitchcave.com

10: The Marshall House, Savannah, Georgia

The Marshall House, Savannah, Georgia
The Marshall House Hotel is one of the spookiest places in America

Last, but not least, is a hotel that tops all haunted house lists every year in the United States. This old hotel also suffers from pre-war era hexes and old tales of lost soldiers who wander the halls of the building. The staff that works there are of especially thick skin, but that does not mean they are immune to the eeriness that looms over the hotel; they often witness shapes, sounds, and temperature changes that keep them on edge. The Marshall House Hotel is considered to be one of the most haunted hotels not only in Georgia but in the entire United States.

Address: 123 E Broughton St, Savannah, GA 31401

Website: www.marshallhouse.com

Also Read: Top 10 Haunted Houses in the USA

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