The Real History Behind 12 of America’s Spookiest Cities

A quick note on the ghosts

Reported hauntings are folklore and personal accounts, and we cannot verify them, so think of them as campfire stories. The dates, numbers and events in the history lines come from the sources we link. Anything labeled legend or lore is a story people tell, not a proven fact.

1New Orleans, Louisiana 👻

Some cities have a few haunted spots. New Orleans has whole neighborhoods of them, with walking tours. Stroll past white tombs stacked shoulder to shoulder, add a little voodoo lore and a lot of humidity, and every shadow starts to look suspicious. Nomad eSIM’s 2026 ranking put it first, with 147 Tripadvisor ghost-tour listings, so you will not be short of company after dark.

The real history: those tombs echo the city’s French and Spanish roots, and 64 Parishes says flooding probably kept them in use. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 opened in 1789 on low ground at the edge of town, and Marie Laveau (1801 to 1881), a voodoo practitioner, is buried there. Bring a little New Orleans home with our seafood gumbo recipe.

2Salem, Massachusetts

Salem’s story is one of the darkest chapters in American history, and the town carries it today, from its museums to its Halloween crowds. Local lore says the ghost of Giles Corey, who died during the trials, appears before disasters. That is a legend, not a documented fact.

The real history: more than 170 people were accused in the Salem witchcraft crisis of 1692 and 1693, according to the Peabody Essex Museum. Nineteen were hanged at Proctor’s Ledge, Giles Corey was pressed to death, and 25 innocent people died in all, including some who died in prison. The Library of Congress places Corey’s death in September 1692. The accusations began in Salem Village, a separate community that is now Danvers, before the crisis spread.

3Savannah, Georgia 🕯️

Savannah looks like a movie set: oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, quiet squares and wrought iron balconies. Then the sun goes down, and all that beauty gets a little eerie. It placed second in the same Nomad eSIM ranking, with 71 Tripadvisor ghost-tour listings. Thinking of a stay? Read about our stay at Savannah’s Cotton Sail Hotel.

The real history: Bonaventure Cemetery sits on the site of Bonaventure Plantation, which was bought for a private cemetery in 1846 and became a public one in 1907, according to the City of Savannah. It covers more than 100 acres on a bluff above the Wilmington River, and the city says visitors have been coming for over 150 years.

4Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Few places feel as heavy as Gettysburg. Ghost tours are a local tradition, and many visitors describe the quiet on the fields at dusk. Whatever you believe, standing on that ground makes you think about the people who were there. Planning a visit? Start with our things to do in Gettysburg guide.

The real history: the three-day battle ran July 1 to 3, 1863, according to the National Park Service. More than 165,000 soldiers fought, and there were more than 51,000 casualties, a count that includes soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing. On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.

5Virginia City, Nevada 🏜️

This old silver town clings to a steep mountainside with wooden sidewalks, saloons and plenty of ghost stories, and it is still a lively community today. It topped Vivint’s 2026 ranking, which scored 74 US cities on things like reported ghost sightings, haunted places and haunted attractions. Virginia City leans in, and the whole place feels like a Western ghost story waiting to happen.

The real history: it all started with a lucky strike. In 1859, prospectors near Virginia City found the Comstock Lode, the first major silver strike in the US, according to the National Park Service. The population of Virginia City and nearby Gold Hill grew from about 4,000 in 1862 to 25,000 in 1874. By 1881 the lode had been exhausted, though mining continued on a smaller scale in the 20th century. The district is a National Historic Landmark.

6Tombstone, Arizona 🤠

A town named Tombstone was never going to be subtle. It took second place in the Vivint ranking, which found the highest concentration of psychics and astrologers among the cities studied. Spend an evening among the wooden storefronts and dusty streets and it is easy to imagine what happened one October afternoon in 1881.

The real history: Ed Schieffelin’s silver discovery in 1877 led to the boomtown, according to its National Historic Landmark nomination. The nomination estimates the population at 6,000 in 1881 and perhaps 10,000 at its peak, which it describes as the largest town in the territory. The famous gunfight took place on October 26, 1881.

7Eureka Springs, Arkansas

This Ozarks town of steep streets and Victorian buildings ranked third in the Vivint ranking, and its best-known address is the Crescent Hotel, often described as one of the most haunted hotels in America. That is a reputation, not an official ranking, and honestly the real history is strange enough on its own. Looking for more places to stay with a reputation? See our haunted hotels.

The real history: the Crescent Hotel opened to the public on May 1, 1886, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. It later served as Crescent College, a girls’ boarding school, from 1908 to 1924 (it reopened from 1929 to 1933). Then came the twist: Norman Baker bought it in 1937 and opened a health resort for cancer patients in 1938. He was convicted of mail fraud in 1940, and the hospital closed. The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

8Estes Park, Colorado 🔦

Snow, mountains, a grand old hotel and a long, empty hallway: it is easy to see why the Stanley Hotel inspired Stephen King’s novel The Shining. King and his wife stayed there in 1974, according to the Colorado Encyclopedia. Estes Park placed seventh in the Vivint ranking, and the hotel leans into its haunted reputation with ghost tours and paranormal-themed packages. Reports of piano music in empty rooms and footsteps in the halls are local lore.

The real history: the hotel was designed and funded by Freelan Oscar Stanley and opened on June 22, 1909, according to the Colorado Encyclopedia. Stanley was known for the Stanley Steamer car, History Colorado notes, and the property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

9Austin, Texas 🎸

Keep Austin weird, and apparently haunted. It ranked eighth overall in the Vivint study and had the highest total of reported ghost sightings in its data, with 115. Those are unverified reports counted in the index, so treat them as fun numbers, not proof. One of the city’s best known haunted stops is the Driskill Hotel, a grand 19th century hotel downtown that opened in 1886.

10Deadwood, South Dakota 🃏

Deadwood is pure Old West: gold, gamblers and one famously unlucky poker player. Wild Bill Hickok is the town’s best known resident, and he and Calamity Jane are buried side by side at Mount Moriah Cemetery, also called Boot Hill. Restless spirits fit right in with a town that has burned and flooded and bounced back every time.

The real history: Deadwood was created in 1875 during the Black Hills gold rush and laid out on August 26, 1876, according to its National Historic Landmark nomination, and by the spring of 1876 it catered to some 7,000 miners. Then came August 2, 1876. The City of Deadwood says Hickok was shot from behind by Jack McCall during a card game at Nutall & Mann’s No. 10 Saloon. He was first buried in the town’s first cemetery and moved to Mount Moriah in 1879. A fire in 1879 destroyed the entire business section, and floods in May 1883 destroyed 150 buildings.

11Weston, West Virginia

Weston is home to a vast former psychiatric hospital that now draws visitors who love haunted history. Weston placed tenth in the Vivint ranking. Many of the stories told there are about people who lived through very hard times, so it is worth visiting with respect for the real people behind the legends.

The real history: construction of the hospital, historically called the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, was under way by the end of 1858, according to the West Virginia Encyclopedia. Its main building, designed by Richard S. Andrews of Baltimore, is two-tenths of a mile long and sits on 269 acres. The first patients arrived on October 22, 1864, and the hospital closed in May 1994. The main building became a National Historic Landmark in 1990.

12Sleepy Hollow, New York 🎃

Here is a town that liked its ghost story so much that it renamed itself after it. Washington Irving’s 1820 tale of the Headless Horseman has been scaring readers for two centuries, and every October the Hudson Valley leans into the legend with lanterns, pumpkins and spooky events.

The real history: the village of North Tarrytown became Sleepy Hollow in December 1996 to recognize the importance of Irving’s story in American literature, according to the Congressional Record. Irving’s former home, Sunnyside, is nearby in Irvington, according to the Hudson River Valley Greenway.

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