The Scariest Places To Visit In All 50 States

Sica Hollow State Park
Sisseton

The Dakota Sioux who used these thick forests as their hunting grounds named the area Sica, meaning “evil.” Rumors of Bigfoot-like creatures roaming the area have persisted over the years, and during the 1970s a number of people mysteriously disappeared here, never to be found — perhaps falling victim to quicksand, or to the deep ravines that suddenly drop hundreds of feet. Campers and nearby residents have reported hearing sounds of drumming and war chants echoing in the trees. Park visitors can walk the Trail of Spirits and see the bogs gushing blood-red water (a result of minerals, or the blood and flesh of Sioux ancestors, depending on your perspective). — M.M.

Tennessee

The Bell Witch Cave
Adams

Every kid in Tennessee grows up scared of the Bell Witch, daring each other at sleepovers to say “I hate the Bell Witch” 100 times in front of the bathroom mirror to summon her malevolent spirit. In the early 19th century, “Kate” the Bell Witch ghost tormented the Bell family in Adams, Tennessee, residing in a cave behind their property. Besides pinching, pulling hair, and taunting their visitors with strange sounds, she repeatedly tried to choke patriarch John Bell. For 12 bucks you can tour the spooky cave, which has been placed on the National Historic Register, and according to the tour guides, visitors have felt sensations of being pushed, touched, or held down by a heavyweight. The famous haunting even spooked Andrew Jackson when he visited: “By the Eternal, I saw nothing, but I heard enough to convince me that I’d rather fight the British than to deal with this torment they call the Bell Witch.” — Chris Chamberlain

Yorktown Memorial Hospital
Yorktown (about 75 miles from San Antonio)

For Texas scares this Halloween, you have options: take a turn through one of the Texas Chainsaw-themed haunted houses in Houston, see the Marfa Lights (they’re aliens, 100%), or have a drink with the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt in the Menger Hotel bar. Or, if you’re really serious, visit Yorktown Memorial Hospital, abandoned since 1988 and one of the most haunted places in Texas. Over 2,000 patients died there, and old beds, gurneys, mirrors, chairs, and other medical equipment are still inside. Visitors have described inexplicable apparitions, whispers, shadowy figures in the hallways, wheelchairs rolling unpushed, and a particularly terrifying talking doll in the nursery that asks, “Do you love me?” So um. Go check it out! The owner allows for regular tours and paranormal investigations. — Keller Powell

Utah

Castle of Chaos
Midvale

Until 1998, the Utah State Mental Hospital in Provo hosted an annual haunted house staffed by actual patients. That was deemed a little insensitive to the mentally ill, and the mantle of creepiest place in Utah for Halloween now resides at the Castle of Chaos in Midvale. The only completely underground haunted attraction in the state, it’s a labyrinth of vampires, zombies, and disorienting fog. It’s also got escape rooms and a live-action theater so you can do more than just wander through hallways. This year Castle of Chaos is selling tickets at $20 a pop and is open every night (except for Tuesday, the vampire day of rest) through November 4th. — M.M.

Vermont

Nightmare Vermont
Essex Junction

Until they find a way to create a haunted Ben & Jerry’s factory, the best place to scare yourself in Vermont this season is this combination haunted house/escape room/live theatrical production unlike anything else in the country. This year’s theme has visitors locked in a trans-dimensional lab, where the mission is to escape before you get hit with nerve gas. There to help (or hinder) you are monsters, zombies, and other frightening folks. The last show of the year is called “Extra Bloody Night,” where patrons leave covered in hemoglobin. It runs only four nights: October 20, 21, 27, and 28 with shows at 7-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 2-6pm on Saturdays. Tickets are $13. — M.M.

Virginia

Bacon’s Castle
Surry

There’s no shortage of spooky and sinister places to visit in Virginia — after all, old battlefields are some of the most haunted grounds anywhere. But if it’s a haunted house you’re after, Bacon’s Castle, built in 1685, is the oldest brick home in the country and the last Jacobean building left standing. And like most very old, very creepy mansions, it’s haunted as hell. People have reported encountering disembodied voices and wails, floating heads, books flying off shelves, rockers a’rocking, and unwanted visitors being pushed around. In addition to regular tours through December, the castle is hosting Historic Haunt Nights on October 14 and 28 where you can take a candle-lit ghost hunt with the Center for Paranormal Research and Investigation in tow. — K.P.

Washington

Northern State Mental Hospital
Sedro-Woolley

The abandoned remains of this old farm, once home to as many as 2,700 mental patients, is one of the creepiest places in Washington. The self-sustaining asylum ran from 1912 to 1973 and had a lumber mill, a library, a greenhouse, a bakery, canning facilities, and other amenities. Now it’s essentially a ghost town. Remnants of the buildings are said to be haunted by patients who died during trans-orbital lobotomies. Some buildings are still in use and off-limits, but you can view the shells of others and an adjacent cemetery at any time. The isolated compound is a short distance off Highway 20 — the perfect spot for a late-night Halloween walkabout. — M.M.

Washington, DC

Congressional Cemetery
1801 E St SE

Capitol Hill’s Congressional Cemetery dates all the way back before the Civil War and serves as the final resting site for tons of government honchos, including a vice president, supreme court justice, six cabinet members, 19 senators, and 71 representatives. The first director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, and Marine Corp Band Director John Philip Sousa are also on the premises. You can visit the cemetery during its 9 to 5 business hours, or better yet attend a spooky “Soul Stroll.” The guided tours are offered at twilight and 110 pmon the weekends before Halloween, and VIP ticket holders get to drink in a Prohibition-style speakeasy that’s popping up in the cemetery’s main vault. — T.E.

West Virginia

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum
Weston

Formerly the Weston State Hospital, this massive gothic asylum served West Virginia’s mentally ill from 1864 to 1994. Though designed for 250 people, it once housed 2,400. That kind of overcrowding made for some truly miserable souls, many of whom are still purported to haunt the hospital, and every ghost hunting TV show you can think has at some point paid this place a visit. Paranormal tours of the main building are offered at all hours, but for the hands-down spookiest Halloween activity in West Virginia, do an overnight ghost hunt. You’ll arrive at 11:30pm, stay ‘till 6 in the morning, and spend the whole night roaming the halls. Overnight tours are available on October 27, 28, and 31. — M.M.

Wisconsin

The Pfister Hotel
Milwaukee

When a bunch of tough-guy pro baseball players refuses to stay in a hotel, there’s probably something weird afoot. The Pfister is among of Milwaukee’s finest hotels, which is why many visiting sports teams put their players up here. It also happens to be among the most haunted hotels in the world, and so many MLB players have complained about ghostly encounters — strange knocking and pounding noises, TVs turning on and off, their belongings inexplicably moved — that many now refuse to stay there. Even B-list celeb Joey Lawrence has a Pfister ghost story. So in the words of former MLB player Michael Young, “Oh, fuck that place.” Of course, you can book yourself a room and hope for apparitions, but if you just want to visit, you won’t look odd sipping on a Bloody Mary in the Lobby Lounge. — L.M.

Wyoming Frontier Prison
Rawlins

Wyoming’s first state penitentiary was about as miserable as you’d expect a stone prison on a cold, whistling prairie to be. It didn’t have adequate heat for nearly 50 years, and no hot water until 1966. It did have something called the “punishment pole,” to which ill-behaving prisoners were handcuffed and whipped with rubber hoses. It’s been closed since 1981, but guided tours allow you to get up close and personal with the Death House, which housed inmates on death row, the gas chamber, and offices that still have old furniture. October is the best time to visit when the prison hosts midnight tours in the days leading up to Halloween. — M.M.

If you’re a complete fright fiend, check out our other guides to find the Best Haunted Houses in Atlanta, Denver, Houston, New Orleans and Virginia and the Most Haunted Places in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.