Haunted Houses

Many vintage homeowners and tourist attractions like to claim that they’re haunted, but that can be tough to prove. What are the truly scariest haunted places in the United States? Here is our Answer, counting down to #1.

1. The Shanghai Tunnels, Portland, Oregon.
   • Portland was one of the most dangerous ports in the United States during the early 19th century and was the epicenter of an illicit maritime practice known as shanghaiing, which is a form of human trafficking. According to local legend, swindlers preyed upon unsuspecting men in the local saloons, which were often outfitted with trap doors that allowed for a quick escape into a network of underground tunnels. These men were then supposedly held captive, drugged, and eventually transported to the waterfront, where they were sold to ships as unpaid laborers. The tunnels are said to be haunted by the angry spirits of the captive men who died in the dark recesses beneath the city. The practice of kidnapping men to work on ships came to be known as shanghaiing because the ships they were sold to were often headed to East Asia.. Tours in Portland can take visitors down into these spooky subterranean tunnels.
2. Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast, Fall River, Massachusetts.
   • On August 4th, 1892, the bodies of Andrew and Abby Borden were discovered bludgeoned beyond recognition in their home. The main suspect was none other than the youngest of their three daughters, Lizzie. The Borden case was one of America’s first major crimes to occur under the media spotlight, capturing the attention of the entire nation. Despite allegations that Lizzie had financial motives for the murder and growing public scrutiny, she was ultimately acquitted due to a lack of physical evidence. The Borden home has since been converted into a museum and bed-and-breakfast, where guests can see gruesome photos of the crime scene and sleep in one of its advertised haunted rooms.
3. Grove Park Inn, Asheville, North Carolina.
   • After making a fortune selling his Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic to prevent malaria, Edwin Wiley Grove opened this premiere hotel in North Carolina in 1913 to capitalize on the tourist popularity of the town of Asheville. The famous ghostly resident of the inn is The Pink Lady. She is described as being the kind spirit of a young woman who fell to her death from a fifth floor balcony in 1920. She will sometimes appear in a pink ball gown, but most often as a pink mist. The Grove Park Inn is still open to this day, accepting reservations year-round.
4. The White House, Washington, D.C.
   • Obviously this building is famous for housing the most powerful official in the United States, but the White House also has its share of haunting stories. Many presidents, visiting ambassadors, and former staff have described unexplainable sounds and phenomena. World leaders that got spooked during their tenure include Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In fact, it was apparently President Lincoln who appeared before Churchill when he was getting out of a hot bath. The British Bulldog reportedly told the apparition “Good evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage.”
5. Proctor’s Ledge, Salem, Massachusetts.
   • Not immediately recognizable except perhaps by name, Proctor’s Ledge was confirmed to be the actual sight of the executions in the Salem Witch Trials of the late 17th century. Over the years, many accounts of paranormal activity have been documented near Proctor’s Ledge, and in 2017, the site was dedicated as a memorial to the victims on the 325th anniversary of the hangings.
6. The Iroquois Theater, Chicago, Illinois.
   • The location of the deadly Iroquois Theatre fire is infamous. Occuring on December 30th, 1903, just five weeks after the grand opening, the event was the deadliest fire in a theater and the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history, resulting in over 600 deaths. Once the shock and grief of the enormous loss of life wore off, the public was outraged at the obviously false advertising of the theatre’s promotion as “absolutely fireproof”. After numerous regulation failures by management, ultimately nobody was held responsible for the disaster. The lasting impact was a complete overhaul of fire safety systems at theatres throughout Chicago. In 1926, the Oriental Theatre, which is now the modern-day James M. Nederlander Theatre, was built on the ruins of the Iroquois.
7. Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky.
   • Built in 1910 as a hospital to combat tuberculosis, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville was the setting for thousands of deaths - current guesses estimate the total deaths between 8,000 and 63,000. There wasn’t a cure for tuberculosis until streptomycin was invented in 1943, so for 33 years, getting sent to this site was almost certainly a death sentence. They even had a “body chute” that allowed the staff to dump dead bodies by nearby railroad tracks. Possibly the creepiest events were the two suicides that took place at the sanatorium. Taking place less than four years apart, two nurses both committed suicide - in the same room. Nowadays, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a popular tourist attraction for those looking for a good scare.
8. Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa.
   • At first glance, this unassuming white house at the end of a quiet street doesn’t draw much attention. But the site of the infamous Villisca Axe Murders is one of the most gruesome murder scenes to catch the attention of the media. On a warm Summer night in 1912, a stranger broke into the house and viciously killed all six members of the Moore family, and the two Stillinger sisters, who had come over for a sleepover with the Moore kids. The mysterious murderer then apparently set up some sort of ritual after his victims were all dead. He covered the Moore parent’s heads with sheets, and the children’s faces with clothing. He then went through each room to cover all of the mirrors and windows with cloths and towels. And at some point, he took a 2 pound piece of uncooked bacon from the bridge and place it in the living room, along with a keychain. The killer also locked the front door with keys he stole from Mr. Moore, whose brother was the first to discover the bloodied scene. The house is now a tourist destination, offering both daylight tours as well as overnight stays.
9. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, West Virginia.
   • This foreboding asylum began construction in 1858 and opened to patients in 1864. The massive, dominating structure was designed by architect Richard Andrews to maximize sunlight and fresh air - he believed that the building could possibly serve as a healing environment. By the 1950s, the facility which was designed for 250 people housed 2,400 patients in horribly crowded conditions. Patients were even physically restrained and often given inhumane treatments, such as electroshock therapy and lobotomies. After more than a century in operation, the facility was forced to close in 1994 due to reforms in national mental health treatment, and the deterioration of the building. Hundreds of patients died during the asylum’s tenure, who many guests and ghost hunters have claimed to see roaming the halls in a spectral form. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in all of North America, and claims to be the second largest in the world after the Kremlin in Moscow.
10. The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado.
    • A single night in this hotel tucked away in Colorado’s mountain wilderness inspired Stephen King’s best-selling novel-turned-horror-film, The Shining. Massachusetts couple F.O. and Flora Stanley opened the isolated resort in 1909 - and supposedly never left. According to modern staff, Mr. Stanley occasionally pops up in photographs, and Mrs. Stanley can be heard playing her Steinway piano in the music room at night. There have also been reports of bags being unpacked, lights turning off and on, and the ghost of a little boy on the second floor. Paranormal experts refer to the Stanley Hotel as one of the most active ghost sites in the United States. To add to the ambiance, guest bedrooms have a TV channel that plays Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining on a 24-hour loop.
11. R.M.S. Queen Mary, Long Beach, California.
    • This retired ocean liner sailed the Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. During her first three years at sea, the Queen Mary carried Hollywood celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, as well as dignitaries such as General Dwight Eisenhower. However, her early days as a cruise vessel were short lived, and in 1939 she was stripped of her luxury amenities and began her second life as the Grey Ghost, a troopship for the Allied Forces throughout the Second World War. Winston Churchill even signed the D-Day Declaration aboard the Queen Mary. After the war ended in 1945, she was restored to her former glory and cruised the Atlantic for over two more decades. On Halloween 1967, the Queen Mary departed on her last cruise, eventually docking in Long Beach, California, her final resting place. The ship is reportedly haunted by the spirits of those who died aboard, such as the young sailor who was crushed to death by a door in the engine room, and a crew member who was murdered in Cabin B340. Although the Queen Mary sails no more, scare fiends can still get a look at this haunted ship, as she serves as both a floating hotel and restaurant on the Pacific Coast.
12. The LaLaurie Mansion, New Orleans, Louisiana.
    • Madame Delphine LaLaurie was an early 19th Century Louisiana socialite known for hosting fancy soirees in her ostentatious Creole mansion in the French Quarter. Her guests would delight in the fine food and champagne, especially if they were unaware of what was taking place just two floors above. When local police responded to a kitchen fire in 1834, they discovered the bodies of several horribly mutilated slaves in the attic. After the public learned of LaLaurie’s grotesque secret, a mob stormed the house, causing her to flee to France. Soon after LaLaurie left New Orleans, people claimed to hear the phantom screams of her victims coming from the house late at night. Although the LeLaurie residence is now privately owned and not offering tours, several French Quarter tours will take visitors past this haunted mansion.
13. Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    • This menacing Gothic-style prison opened in 1829 and became the first in the U.S. to implement solitary confinement. Prisoners languished in the Penitentiary’s stone cells with nearly zero human contact, and they had hoods placed over their heads anytime they were moved. The so-called “Pennsylvania system” was replicated in several other states and in Europe. Al Capone was probably the most famous inmate at Eastern State Penitentiary, having served time in the institution from August 1929 to March 1930, but he had a much cushier arrangement than his fellow prisoners. When the facility closed in 1971, it was believed that the ghosts of the inmates took back the prison. Visitors claim to see their apparitions wandering the corridors and to hear mischievous whispers in abandoned cell blocks.
14. The Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California.
    • The heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company after her husband William passed away in 1881, Sarah Winchester inherited roughly $20 million dollars and asked for the advice of a medium on how to spend it in her grief. Legend says that her husband’s spirit was conjured by the medium, and that he told her to move from Connecticut to California and build a massive home for the spirits of those who had died to Winchester rifles, or else they would haunt her for the rest of her days. Bought in 1884 as a small, unfinished farmhouse, the house was quickly changed with constant expansions, eventually turning the home into a seven-story monstrosity. Many of the alterations proved pointless with hallways or staircases leading to absolutely nothing. The final product of the home had over 160 rooms and 10,000 panes of glass, and has gone down in history as one of the most famous haunted houses in the entire world.
15. The Amityville House, Amityville, New York.
    • Quite possibly the most famous haunted house in the world, the site of the Amityville Horror murders in November of 1974 captured international attention. The eldest child of the DeFeo family, 23-year-old Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr., murdered his entire family in cold blood with a .35 caliber rifle. His two parents and four younger siblings all fell victim to his violence, but the rumors surrounding the events attempt to add a more supernatural context. Not only are the spirits of the slain DeFeo family said to still occupy the house, but many people speculate that the house was already haunted, and that it corrupted Butch into killing his loved ones. The successor residents to the DeFeo family, the Lutzes, lasted in the house for a mere 28 days, but apparently approached DeFeo’s defense attorney William Weber, with the proposition of selling a ghost story that was really a hoax. But the two sons of George and Kathy Lutz have claimed to have run-ins with the paranormal in their short stay in the house.

The response to our “15 Most Haunted Places in America” video was great, so we’re continuing the theme with some of the Most Famous Haunted Places in the entire world. Check out these fascinating locations said to be roamed by spectral visitors.

1. Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England.

   Home to the ghost known as “the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall,” this country house in Norfolk has been the seat of the Townshend family for nearly 400 years. According to legend, the resident apparition is the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole, the sister of Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. On September 19, 1936, Captain Hubert C. Provand took a photo for Country Life magazine that has since become the most famous picture of a supposed ghost in history. According to Provand, he and his assistant were busy taking photographs of the house’s main staircase when a strange, unexplainable mist began forming on the steps. It began to move down the stairs as if it was walking while Provand snapped a few photos.

2. Poveglia Island, Italy.

   This island just to the south of Venice has an extremely dark past, being used as a quarantine station for those suffering from the bubonic plague during several points in history. Of course, it quickly became a place of death as the bodies began to pile up. In fact, so many people died on the island that it turned the soil rotten, and today the soil is comprised of about 50% human ash. The only crops that grows on the island are grapes, which can still thrive in ashy soil. The Italian tourism board prohibits visiting the island, requiring a lengthy application process to obtain approval for setting foot on the death-infested island.

3. Bhangarh Fort, India.

   Located in the Alwar district of Rajasthan, entry to this ominous mountainside fort is restricted after sunset. Legend tells of the beautiful princess Ratnavati, who received many marriage proposals, refusing the advances of a tantrik priest. The priest was well versed in black magic, and after falling in love with the princess, he cast a spell on a bottle of perfume that one of her maids was buying in the village, in order to make her love him. Ratnavati learned of this spell and threw the bottle, which turned into a boulder and crushed the tantrik priest, but not before he put a curse on the princess, her family, and the entire village. The next year, a great battle was fought between the forces of Bhangarh and Ajabgarh, which lead to the death of princess Ratnavati and most of the army. Locals believe that the curse prevents the rebirth of all those who live in the village and fort, leading to the innumerable ghost stories surrounding the fort.

4. Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton-under-Edge, England.

   Built on an ancient pagan burial ground in 1145, this cottage is supposedly haunted by up to twenty ghosts. The current owner, Caroline Humphries, inherited the The Ancient Ram Inn when her father John passed away in 2017. While renovating the property, he discovered small bones and daggers under the earth - which led him to believe that children had been sacrificed to pagan gods there before the structure was built. Paranormal experts have flocked to this site for years, with stories of flying furniture and misty apparitions torturing guests who stay overnight at the inn.

5. Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia.

   This former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula is now an open-air museum that is supposedly populated by the spirits of those who died in captivity. Visitors have claimed to have seen the ghosts of children, as well as hearing church bells ringing at odd times during the day. There’s also the story of the young Private Robert Young, who died in 1840 at the age of 20 by slipping off a small boat into the dark water below. His ghost is said to haunt the area around the jetty. One guest encountered him while staying at the Jetty Cottage; she woke one night and saw a specter in the room that had straight black hair and a ruffled white shirt. Other guests reported seeing the exact same specter in various locations around the jetty.

6. Burg Wolfsegg, Wolfsegg, Germany.

   The most famous ghost story of Wolfsegg Castle relates to the wife of the man who had it constructed, Ulrich Von Helfenstein. Legend tells of trouble within the couple’s marriage, caused by Ulrich’s military responsibilities that caused him to constantly travel. In his absence, his wife Klara would become bored and lonely at the castle and looked to others to fulfill her needs. Eventually, Klara engaged in an affair, which was later discovered by Ulrich. Legend states that Ulrich had her killed one night in her chamber by local men after discovering her adultery. Ever since her murder, tales began to circulate of a white woman roaming the halls of the castle, especially within Klara’s bedroom. Many believe that this is Klara’s spirit and she is also thought responsible for other bizarre activity, such as causing disturbances in electromagnetic fields, producing strange light anomalies and full-bodied apparition sightings.

7. The Amityville House, Amityville, New York.

   One of the most well-documented haunted houses in the world, the site of the Amityville Horror murders in November of 1974 captured international attention. The eldest child of the DeFeo family, 23-year-old Ronald “Butch” DeFeo, Jr., murdered his entire family in cold blood with a .35 caliber rifle. His two parents and four younger siblings all fell victim to his violence, but the rumors surrounding the events attempt to add a more supernatural context. Not only are the spirits of the slain DeFeo family said to still occupy the house, but many people speculate that the house was already haunted, and that it corrupted Butch into killing his loved ones. The successor residents to the DeFeo family, the Lutzes, lasted in the house for a mere 28 days, but apparently approached DeFeo’s defense attorney William Weber, with the proposition of selling a ghost story that was really a hoax. But the two sons of George and Kathy Lutz have claimed to have run-ins with the paranormal in their short stay in the house.

8. Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada.

   This centuries-old castle on a hill is home to many haunting stories, the most famous of which is that of the white lady who roams the halls of the second floor. Believed to be an early 20th century maid at the castle, she is most commonly seen by modern-day cleaning staff. There have also been reported sightings of Sir Henry Pellatt, who originally commissioned the construction of Casa Loma, as well as his wife Lady Mary Pellatt. According to mediums who claim to have felt their presence, the spirits of the Pellatt couple are not trapped there, instead choosing to return in the afterlife after being ousted from the castle when they couldn’t keep up with its costs.

9. Château de Brissac, Brissac-Quincé, France. (Pronunciation: “bree-SACK kain-see”)

   Built in the 11th century, this castle has been dubbed as the “tallest castle in France”, serving the Counts of Anjou in the first few centuries of its life. The famous spectral resident of the Château is known as the “Green Lady,” who is said to be the ghost of a woman by the name of Charlotte de Brézé, who was the illegitimate daughter of King Charles VII and his mistress, Agnes Sorel. A marriage was arranged between Charlotte and Jacques de Brézé, a nobleman. The politically motivated marriage between two incompatible people led to an affair on Charlotte’s part. On May 31, 1477, after Jacques had returned from a hunting excursion, he was informed of his wife’s affair with one of his huntsmen, Pierre de Lavergne. After catching his wife and her lover red-handed Jacques murdered the both of them in a fit of rage. Apparently Jacques moved out of the chateau shortly afterwards, as he could not stand the moaning of his late wife’s and her lover’s ghosts.

10. The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado.

    A single night in this hotel tucked away in Colorado’s mountain wilderness inspired Stephen King’s best-selling novel-turned-horror-film, The Shining. Massachusetts couple F.O. and Flora Stanley opened the isolated resort in 1909 - and supposedly never left. According to modern staff, Mr. Stanley occasionally pops up in photographs, and Mrs. Stanley can be heard playing her Steinway piano in the music room at night. There have also been reports of bags being unpacked, lights turning off and on, and the ghost of a little boy on the second floor. Paranormal experts refer to the Stanley Hotel as one of the most active ghost sites in the United States. To add to the ambiance, guest bedrooms have a TV channel that plays Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining on a 24-hour loop.

11. The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Calgary, Alberta.

    This majestic hotel in the Banff Valley has welcomed famous guests from British Royalty to Marilyn Monroe. But it might be more well known for the apparent guests who have yet to check out. The most well-known part of the Banff Springs Hotel is the apparently missing Room 873, which is certainly there in the structure of the hotel, but the door has been replaced with brick and drywall. The story goes that a family of three checked into Room 873 years ago. One night the man went crazy and murdered his two loved ones. After the investigations into the murders, hotel management refurbished the room and put it back into service, but it seems the victims never really moved on, torturing guests of the room with screams in the middle of the night and leaving bloody handprints on the walls.

12. Tao Dan Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

    What makes Tao Dan Park a unique entry on this list is the fact that many locals have never heard of any spooky sightings or events at this park in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1. There was apparently a murder in the park in 1989, as a young man was lured there late at night to sell his motorbike. He was ambushed by three men and strangled to death as they robbed him of his wallet and keys, driving the bike away. Thankfully, the three men were all arrested for the crime, but local police claim that the murder never took place in the park. According to stories on the Internet, the ghost of the young motorcycle seller roams the park, looking for his lost lover. However, many locals refute these claims, saying that it is just a marketing tactic to encourage tourists to visit their city.

13. Aokigahara Forest, Japan. (Pronunciation: “oh-kee-guh-HAR-uh”)

    More commonly known as “the Suicide Forest,” Aokigahara Forest has the unfortunate distinction of being the world’s third most popular place to die by suicide. Since the 1950s, Japanese businessmen have wandered in, and at least 500 of them haven’t wandered out, at an increasing rate of between 10 and 30 per year. Japenese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the forest have permeated Aokigahara’s trees, generating paranormal activity and preventing many who enter from escaping the forest’s depths. There’s also the freaky common experience of compasses being rendered useless by the rich deposits of magnetic iron in the area’s volcanic soil. There are signs throughout the forest that discourage suicide and aim to prevent more tragic visits, but unfortunately, the trend of suicides has not slowed down in recent years.

14. Mont St. Michel, Normandy, France.

    The castle of Mont St. Michel stands on an island off the coast of Normandy and was originally a church, supposedly built by the Archangel Michael himself. A garrison was added to the abbey in the 15th century. Today, the massive structure is said to be haunted by the ghost of Louis d’Estouville, who commanded the garrison starting in 1434. A fierce Lord, Louis d’Estouville led the slaughter of two thousand Englishmen during the Hundred Years’ War. According to legend, the sand of the island was red with English blood, and Louis is said to still roam Mont St. Michel, ever its protector.

15. Akershus Festning, Oslo, Norway.

    This medieval castle was constructed in the late 13th Century to protect the Norwegian capital from invasion, but was most famously used as a prison that demanded grueling work from its inhabitants. During World War II, the castle was surrendered without conflict into Nazi control, and was used by the Third Reich to execute people for five years, until the war was over. The famous ghostly resident that guards the castle’s front gates is Malcanisen, which translates very literally to “evil dog”. Legend says that anyone who is approached by the demonic canine is sentenced to a horrible death that occurs sometime in the following three months. There’s also the story of a woman named Mantelgeisten who is often seen within the castle walls, appearing from the darkness wearing a long robe and sporting no facial features.

Technically, all houses are haunted. We are constantly surrounded by spirits or discarnates, as there are more souls on the Other Side than there are on This Side. We only know about discarnates around us if they telepathically project an image and/or presence to those of us who are psychically receptive. Contrary to the distorted psychological conclusions of Sigmund Freud who did not believe in life after death and life before birth: dreams are not created by our brains but are actually telepathic messages - usually symbolically presented - from spirits. Ever have a helpful dream? Thank the spirits for it, not your brain, and know that the location where you had that dream was haunted.

As to holographic imagery and the moving of small objects is concerned, these are manifested not by a single individual but by an astral gestalt or Group Entity. Spiritually average people on the Other Side are too primitive, too weak in The Light, to individually perform telekinesis. If they could then we would have objects floating and moving around us all of the time. The old school solution, which has been done for time immemorial, is to combine their consciousness into a Group Entity or astral gestalt, if only temporarily, in order to manifest a ghost persona to those in the flesh. Group Entity membership can range from dozens, hundreds, even into the thousands. This also explains why the manifestations in so-called haunted houses are sporadic, as they are not being caused by one personality but a combined committee of them, and they all have to agree on each and every act of small-scale telekinesis. Even in a large Group Entity their powers are somewhat limited. Thus, a poltergeist and a Group Entity are one and the same thing. Know that when you witness an object seemingly move by itself or see a ghostly image in a picture, it is not coming from one spirit but a collective of them combined in The Light, typically a yellow-energy Group Entity on the fourth plane in the well-known seven plane paradigm.

Rocky Mountain Point

Answer 2

Rocky Point is now closed. Nightmare on 13th isn't that great but I believe the best is the Haunted Forest. It's not a house but it's great. It's in American Fork.