The Most (and Least) Haunted States in the U.S. — and More Spooky Destinations

These destinations will send a shiver down your spine

With Halloween just around the corner, there’s no better time for a hair-raising road trip.

SmokyMountains.com, the website for the national park, has put together a list of the United States’ most haunted locations. Using information like the reviews and interest around a state’s spooky spots, haunted houses, and halloween stores (and the sheer number of locations across the state), the site was able to measure the country’s scariest locales.

California and Utah were tied for first place when it came to ranking the most haunted states.

California ranked first in number of Spirit Halloween stores with a grand total of 172 and second in number of haunted houses. California is also home to the most haunted location in the U.S. Alcatraz, the famous island-prison outside of San Francisco, garnered over 2 million search results on Google – the most of any of the haunted spots the website analyzed.

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While Utah’s number of haunted houses and Halloween stores pales in comparison to California's, its most haunted location, Union Station, has well over a million search results. The search queries generally surround just how haunted the space is, with many “stories of the woman and children who roam about this old railroad station.”

Some states weren’t perceived as so scary, with low interest surrounding the destinations’ haunts.

Alaska may send a shiver down your spine for its climate, but the northernmost state was deemed the least spooky across the U.S. due to the lack of search interest in Begich Towers, the state's most haunted location, and meager offering of only four Spirit Halloween stores. Still, the website found even less of the seasonal store in South Dakota with only two locations across the state.

In addition to looking at individual states, the website also compiled lists of the most haunted locations by category, like haunted hospitals or haunted schools.

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Said to be “haunted by a lady in white, haunting footsteps and stompings at night, as well as whispers of a female voice,” the University of New Hampshire is the country’s haunted university.

St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield, Wisconsin. was determined to be the most haunted hospital, with the spirit of a man in a black robe said to be inhabiting the west wing.

The Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas takes the cake for most haunted hotel, for its talks of the owner’s spirit lingering in the boiler room.

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