The Most Haunted Cities in the US To Visit

Despite being a relatively young country, the United States holds a great deal of colourful history. What our enduring cities may lack in age, they make up for in bloodshed, conflict, and harrowing events. From East Coast towns filled with colonial specters to Southern cities battered by war, you’ll find cities saturated with ghosts and hauntings all across the U.S., just waiting to be explored by intrepid travellers.

Williamsburg

Haunted Williamsburg – Copyright US Ghost Adventures

While multiple places vie for the title of spookiest city in the storied state of Virginia, many consider Colonial Williamsburg to be the most haunted. A city whose historic legacy is eerily preserved in Colonial Williamsburg, a flurry of ghost stories can be found within its 300-acre expanse of colonial-era buildings and period-authentic shops. 

It’s easy to see how the dead are drawn to this unchanging town, given how history feels ever-present on these cobblestoned streets. While the picturesque buildings and quaint reenactors are charming by day, under the dark cloak of night, Williamsburg takes on a more haunting glow. 

The Peyton Randolf House is a particularly unnerving destination, often deemed one of the most haunted houses in America. One of Williamsburg’s popular ghost tours, Colonial Ghosts, pays a stop to this foreboding haunt, where numerous children perished in odd manners. Here, accounts of hauntings date back to 1824, when the Marquis de Lafayette experienced his own unearthly encounter within its walls. 

Another notable spot included on such haunted tours is the Wythe house, in which a single-shoed phantom is said to haunt the stairs with her uneven gait, along with declaration-signer George Wythe, who was rumored to be poisoned in the home. 

Annapolis

The haunted State Building in Annapolis – Copyright US Ghost Adventures

When it comes to the Old Line State, Annapolis is one of the spookiest cities by far. A port city that weathered wars, sickness, and the traumatic legacy of the slave trade, the echoes of the past continue to ripple in strange ways on its streets.

The brick homes shelter peculiar secrets in this harbor-side city, tied to a history of piracy and patriotism. Within the 200-year-old Middleton Tavern, a pesky spirit called Roland seems unwilling to rest in peace. His 1700s-era apparition is rarely sighted — more frequently, he is found knocking over glasses and acting as an overall nuisance, along with the tavern’s numerous other specters. 

The Maryland Inn is another terrifying locale found on many Annapolis Ghost Tours, bringing the history of America’s Sailing Capital to life in eerie detail. Haunted by the bride of a sea captain who could not live without her beloved, she lingers in her bridal suite, sending shivers down the spines of unsuspecting guests.  

New Orleans

Haunted New Orleans – Copyright US Ghost Adventures

New Orleans stands as a southern city dripping with spine-tingling charm and twisted tales. Wrapped in legends of voodoo and vampires, it persists as one of the most colorful and creepy destinations to be found across the United States.

This soulful city has long been accustomed to death, riddled by disease and buffeted by storms; many a NOLA resident was here one day and gone the next. Instead of shying away from such morbid realities, the residents of the Crescent City embraced them, celebrating their dead in a vibrant fashion. 

A ghost tour of this spellbinding city continues this spooky celebration, honoring iconic figures like New Orleans Voodoo Queen and condemning others, like the villainous Madame LaLaurie, known as one of New Orleans’ most monstrous figures. 

The scene is set perfectly for a nightmare of glorious proportions outside notorious haunts like the dread-inducing LaLaurie Mansion, which held LaLaurie’s torture chamber, or the Beauregard-Keyes House, where Civil War soldiers roam alongside the home’s former residents. 

Savannah

The haunted Davenport House in Savannah – Copyright US Ghost Adventures 

When it comes to America’s most haunted cities, Savannah often tops the charts. With streets lined with sprawling oaks draped with Spanish moss, it towers as an emblem of Southern Gothic. But this city is more than a picture-perfect postcard of all things haunting — it’s also the setting of more ghost stories than you can count. 

While its history of battles and fires is well documented, many of its ghosts can be traced back to something far more mundane. Savannah has seen its share of true crime and conflict, but its most prolific serial killer is so minuscule that it went unnoticed for decades. 

More than 700 yellow fever victims lie in Colonial Park Cemetery, brought to an early grave by this mosquito-borne illness. As recounted by Savannah Terrors, many of this epidemic’s victims now restlessly wander the grounds, occasionally manifesting in shadows and whispers. 

Baltimore 

Haunted Baltimore – Copyright US Ghost Adventures

Baltimore looms as another destination drenched in Gothic atmosphere, heightened by its connection to chilling literary figures like Edgar Allan Poe. But this master of the macabre isn’t the only thing giving Charm City an otherworldly reputation. 

A tumultuous history as an unruly seaport town has made for many noisy ghosts within Baltimore’s former boarding houses and brothels. Fells Point existed as a shipbuilding area in the 18th century, but it also housed Baltimore’s notorious red light district. Many such structures from this era still stand today, and while they hold more modern businesses like bars and boutiques, their ghosts don’t seem to be going anywhere.

Places like the Admiral Fell Inn harbor a history dating to the late 1700s, having seen use as everything from a bordello to a theatre. Its haunted room 413 may be the most talked about, having been the site of a murder some decades ago — but this building carries many tales of phantom phenomena tied to multiple eras, including ghostly revelries in empty rooms.

A haunted tour of Fells Point recounts stories of such eerie encounters and many more, allowing tour goers to experience the horror of Charm City first-hand. Frequent stops include places like Max’s taphouse, where a ghostly lady of the night makes her disdain well known if the patrons downstairs get too rowdy, as well as Rye, a cocktail bar believed to be home to a spectral sailor left shanghaied in the afterlife. 

America’s Most Haunted Cities

Those seeking out phantoms and frights in the States have a variety of cities from which to choose. America is flooded with hair-raising history throughout its time-worn towns and sleepy communities. While some bear nautical heritage, others boast pasts steeped in mystery and murder, each harbouring a unique, haunted legacy waiting to be experienced in the flesh.