Key Findings

• There are over 11,000 places believed to be haunted by ghosts in the U.S.
• 20% of all haunted sites in America are educational establishments, 11% are schools, an additional 9% are colleges and universities
• Only 1 in 10 sites reported to be haunted are residential houses
• Kentucky is the spookiest state with 79 haunted sites per million residents
• Among big cities, the concentration of haunted sites is hellishly high in Savannah, GA, with 15 haunted sites per 100,000 people
• Of small towns, Mackinac Island, MI is by far the most haunted with 3,347 haunted locations per 100,000 people
• Haunted sites are said to be equally haunted by men and women, 14% for both
• Almost 11% of the spirit-possessed are described as a girl, only 8% mention a boy

Who among us hasn’t grown up hearing about a house or abandoned building on the edge of town being haunted? Stories are told of tragic events having taken place there, rumors of hearing footsteps or sounds of sobbing, and even claims of seeing ghosts. Sound familiar? 

In this article, we’re not going to debate the existence of ghosts or paranormal activity, nor are we going to dispute people’s accounts of witnessing something otherworldly. 

Instead, we’re simply going to tally up all the haunted houses, buildings, and structures in America by claim, note where they’re located, and list which states and cities in the U.S. can be decreed the spookiest.

Scary Schools and Horrifying Homes: Most Common Haunted Sites in the US

While it’s difficult to put our finger on the exact number of haunted houses in the United States, according to Shadowlands Haunted Places Index, a website known for their freakishly extensive catalog of the spooky sites, we were able to confidently tally 11,418 haunted locations. Of course, there are likely many more haunted claims throughout American history, but only those which have gained enough status to become a documented myth were counted.

What kinds of buildings are haunted? Bizarrely enough, topping the list of specific locations are schools, hosting more than one in ten haunted claims. 

Perhaps this is because it’s during our school years that we’re most open to paranormal experiences. Another possible reason is that stories of horrible things happening to children are the ones that are most likely to be remembered in our collective psyche.

Either way, 11% of all haunted buildings in America are schools. And that figure jumps up to 20% if you include colleges and universities!

Meanwhile, plain old houses make up 10% of the reportedly haunted sites in the U.S, a percentage you’d expect to be higher, given how common a trope in horror movies they are. 

“Kentucky hosts an astonishing 79 haunted houses per 1 million people.”

Yet that’s still more than the most obvious places to be besieged by spirits; cemeteries and graveyards only account for 8% of all haunted sites we found.

In addition to these types of haunted sites, around 6% are hotels, 3% are bridges, and 2% are hospitals. The rest can only be described as “places”: certain street corners, stretches of highway, specific trees in a park, and more.

Spooky States: Where Haunted Houses Are Most Prolific

All things being equal, we’d expect that the biggest states population-wise or area-wise would have the most haunted sites, and to a large extent, that in fact appears to be the case.

States with the highest number of haunted houses are almost all the biggest states in the U.S., but there are a few curious exceptions. Namely, these are Kentucky, Indiana, and Massachusetts—all states which are far from being the most populous, yet all comfortably make the top 10.

But the real question is: which states have the most haunted buildings per capita? Excluding states where the tally of spirit-possessed structures is under 100, Kentucky is the runaway winner; Kentucky hosts an astonishing 79 haunted houses per 1 million people.

Other states in the top 10 all have between 47 and 54 haunted sites per 1 million people, many of which are in the Midwest, including Nebraska (54), Indiana (52), Iowa (52), Michigan (51), and Missouri (47).

Creepy Cities and Tormented Towns: Places With Most Haunted Sites per Capita

By sheer number of haunted houses, the biggest cities are ahead of everyone else, but not by a huge margin.

Los Angeles has 61 such sites (most in the country), while New York has 59. But elsewhere in the top 10, we find cities much smaller, many of them haunting Texas. All cities at the top of our list have at least 30 sites reportedly visited by spirits.

“Topping the torrid table of the most haunted towns is Mackinac Island, MI. Its excruciatingly high ratio of 16 haunted sites per 478 people makes it the most haunted small town in America…”

How about cities where the number of haunted houses per capita is the highest? Here, it seemed a little unfair to compare small towns to big cities, so we decided to split the ranking in two.

Among cities with a population of 100,000 or more, the most haunted city is Savannah, GA, with 15 sites per 100,000 people. This old city in Georgia is home to the famous “Factor’s Walk”—a row of redbrick houses where cotton traders met and bargained in the days of the high cotton trade, now purportedly visited by spirits from the days of tumultuous past.

Pittsburgh, PA is standing right behind it with 13 haunted sites per 100,000 people. With tales that feature a former tuberculosis sanatorium to another with an abandoned tunnel, this industrial city in Pennsylvania boasts many stories that can send shivers down your spine.

One city that stands out from the top 10 is Honolulu, HI. Typically thought of as a tropical paradise, this city actually carries its own share of horror stories. Among them is a rumor about a man-eating ghost in the Honolulu district of Kaimuki. Chilling stuff.

Topping the torrid table of the most haunted towns is Mackinac Island, MI. Its excruciatingly high ratio of 16 haunted sites per 478 people makes it the most haunted small town in America according to the data, with 3,347 qualifying locations per 10,000 people (or 3 per 100).

Regionally, across the top 10 most haunted small towns, most are on the East Coast. Curiously, two of them are sites of some of the famous Civil War battles: Gettysburg, PA, and Williamsburg, VA. Another historical entry on the list is St. Augustine in Florida, widely regarded as one of the oldest cities in the United States.

Equally Men and Women, but More Girls Than Boys: Who Haunts America’s Haunted Houses?

It appears that haunting a house is an equal opportunity affair. The word “man” is mentioned in descriptions of nearly as many haunted sites as the word “woman”—about 1,600. This means spirits of men and women (as opposed to any other age, identity, or entity) account for roughly 28% of all the ghosting going around.

With children, it’s a little trickier. About 8% of locations troubled by ghosts mention children or a child. However, if we get specific, 11% refer to a girl, while only 5% mention a boy.

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So, there you have it. It turns out schools are more likely to be haunted than homes, Kentucky is the spookiest state, and Savannah, GA is the spookiest metropolitan city. Meanwhile, men and women are equally likely to linger around as ghosts, while girls do outnumber boys in the haunting department. 

Sources and Methodology

The data on haunted sites, their locations, and descriptions were taken from Shadowlands Haunted Places Index. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau was used to produce estimates of the number of haunted sites per 100,000 people.

Illustrations by Heather Vaughan