5 Most Haunted Places to Visit on Vacation

Dwindling daylight and cooler temperatures make autumn an intriguing time to set off on a spooky trip —before or after Halloween. Whether through mysterious folklore or paranormal sightings, these five top haunted places offer alluring histories and a dose of fright for ghost enthusiasts and doubters alike.

Haunted Places in the U.S.

The Haunted Town: Salem, Massachusetts

●      Drive 15 miles northeast of Boston Logan International Airport.

Salem might just be the most haunted town in the United States. Home to the infamous colony of Puritans that executed 19 people for suspected witchcraft in 1692, Salem remains a portal into the captivating and sordid story of one of the nation’s earliest settlements.

Visit the Joshua Ward House, Salem’s most famous haunted spot, which sits atop the foundation of witch-hunting Sheriff George Corwin’s house. The sheriff conducted much of his brutal torture in his basement, where he used unusually cruel methods of interrogation and punishment on the accused. It is said that Corwin’s ghost, along with those of his victims, haunts the halls of the house, causing mischief and fright. Book a Salem ghost tour to many of the town’s most haunted places — including the Joshua Ward House, a haunted cemetery and Old Salem Prison — through the Salem Wax Museum. Tours are held daily in July, August and October and cost $15 per person.

Salem fully embraces its witchy history in October, with live performances at the House of the Seven Gables. Folks dressed as witches fill the town’s streets. Stores sell witch paraphernalia if you want to try your hand at casting a spell. Year-round, travelers can visit the Salem Witch Museum for an in-depth look at the hysteria surrounding the village’s witch trials.

For the bravest among us: Book a hotel room in Salem at the haunted Hawthorne Hotel, where guests have reported feeling phantom hands, seeing a spectral lady roaming the halls and hearing a crying baby who cannot be soothed.

The Haunted Prison: Eastern State Penitentiary — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Drive 10 miles northeast from Philadelphia International Airport.

With its crumbling walls and winding hallways, the Eastern State Penitentiary — which housed notorious criminals like mobster Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton — certainly feels haunted. Staff and guests have long corroborated this inkling with reports of shadows, apparitions and a gripping, negative energy in the abandoned cells at this former prison in the heart of Philadelphia.

Eastern State’s 142-year history is grim, to say the least. Opened in 1829 with the intention of rehabilitating wrongdoers before their re-entry into society, Eastern State quickly devolved into a place of corruption and terror. Staff were known to employ harsh punishments for the most minor offenses. Today, tour guides year-round recount the horros of murder, suicide, madness, torture and disease that make it easy to imagine that troubled souls still roam the corridors at this haunted penitentiary.

For the bravest among us: Every fall, Eastern State takes advantage of its spooky reputation and hosts an interactive haunted house called Terror Behind the Walls. This haunted attraction, which publications like Forbes, The New York Times and the Travel Channel have rated as one of the nation’s top frightening Halloween attractions , includes Hollywood-scale sets, a fright-inducing plotline and scary characters like a lunatic dentist and a zombie SWAT team member.

The Haunted Asylum: Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum — Weston, West Virginia

• Drive about 140 miles south from Pittsburgh International Airport.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is a seriously creepy historical landmark located an easy day-drive from Pittsburgh. Just the outdated name bears a foreboding reference to its dark past. Throughout its history, patients suffered nightmarish conditions and questionable methods of treatment before the facility was shut down in 1994. Built as a sanctuary for 250 patients afflicted with psychiatric illnesses, the asylum became so crowded that it held 2,600 people at its peak. No one knows all that happened under its roof, but apparitions, unexplained noises and strange shadows suggest that the spirits of those who lived there might have unfinished business in our realm. The attraction offers history- and paranormal-themed tours all year.

For the bravest among us: If touring the crumbling corridors isn’t creepy enough for you, visitors can book a private ghost hunt, where a guide in nurse’s garb leads a private investigation of the lunatic asylum’s darkest corners.

The Haunted City: New Orleans, Louisiana

• Drive 15 miles east from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

Of several rumored haunted destinations in New Orleans, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is among the oldest and most notorious. More than 700 crumbling tombs make this eerie space feel like a city of the dead. Buried there is voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, a prominent Creole woman of the early 19th century whose practice of occult magic has earned her a legacy that continues to inspire art and culture. Hear more ghost stories during a guided ghost tour of the cemetery for $2. Remember to check tour time options in advance.

For those seeking another scary place to visit, look no further than the Mortuary Haunted House. Each October, New Orleanians and tourists alike flock to this opulent 1872 grand Victorian mansion, which once housed a funeral home, to experience one of the best haunted houses in the country.

For the bravest among us: Jean Lafitte’s Old Absinthe House — where General Andrew Jackson met the outlaw pirate Lafitte to discuss plans for a forthcoming British attack in the War of 1812 — is notorious for ghost sightings, including apparitions of Jackson himself. If you dare, enjoy a drink in this dark, 200-year-old tavern full of history and suspicious shadows.

Haunted Places in the rest of the World

The Haunted Mansion: Rose Hall — Montego Bay, Jamaica

• Drive about 8 miles east from Sangster International Airport.

Set atop a bluff with expansive ocean views, Rose Hall mansion in Montego Bay, Jamaica, is noted for the legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall. According to folklore, Annie Palmer, whose husband owned the mansion, murdered him in the night while living there in the 19th century. Mystery, murder and curses followed her throughout her life: Her two subsequent husbands died suddenly, as did her parents. Annie is said to appear as a white witch, roaming the halls of her splendid mansion.

Tours of the Rose Hall great (and haunted) house and its gardens, located an easy drive from many of the resorts on the island’s north coast, provide an excellent afternoon or evening adventure for travelers. And whether fact or fiction, the legend of the White Witch of the Rose Hall mansion offers a fascinating look at what the life of the European bourgeoisie was like hundreds of years ago on this Caribbean island.

For the bravest among us: Rose Hall offers night tours for $25 that focus on the Annie Palmer legend: supposed locations of underground tunnels, bloodstains, hauntings and murders. The property also holds séances to conjure Annie’s spirit.