Where History Meets The Haunted
Every country has its ghost stories, but America’s are uniquely woven into the nation’s history: tales of Civil War battlefields, colonial cemeteries, and creaky hotels where guests sometimes check in but never leave. Across the US, certain cities seem to hum with a kind of residual energy, where paranormal investigators, ghost tours, and curious travelers all converge. From Salem’s witch-trial echoes to the restless soldiers of Gettysburg, here are 20 cities that keep the spirit world close.
20. Salem, Massachusetts
Few places in the US are as synonymous with the supernatural as Salem. The infamous 1692 witch trials left an indelible mark, spawning centuries of fascination. Today, visitors can explore the Witch House, the only structure still standing from that period, or join one of Salem’s 20+ nightly ghost tours. Paranormal teams from shows like Ghost Adventures have investigated sites like the Joshua Ward House, known for cold spots and shadow figures. During October, Salem transforms into a mecca for dark tourism, with candlelit graveyard tours and psychic fairs that embrace the city’s spooky heritage while honoring its tragic past.
SalemPuritan, Wikimedia Commons
19. St Louis, Missouri
St Louis has earned its ghostly reputation thanks to its industrial-age mansions and eerie underground tunnels. The Lemp Mansion tops nearly every haunted list; it’s a former brewery family home plagued by multiple suicides and strange occurrences. It’s been featured on Ghost Hunters and continues to draw investigators with claims of phantom footsteps and disembodied voices. The city also offers cemetery tours through Bellefontaine Cemetery, where the elite of the 1800s rest uneasily. Between its tragic family legends and its shadowy architecture, St Louis stands as a cornerstone of Midwestern paranormal history.
18. San Antonio, Texas
The ghosts of the Alamo are as famous as the battle itself. Visitors report spectral soldiers in 19th-century uniforms pacing the grounds at dawn. The Menger Hotel, across from the Alamo, has been called one of the most haunted hotels in America, with claims of Teddy Roosevelt’s ghost recruiting ghostly Rough Riders at the bar. Ghost Adventures and Destination Fear have both filmed here, capturing unexplained orbs and voices. With a mix of historic missions, colonial charm, and countless haunted tours, San Antonio brings Texas-sized chills steeped in real history.
17. Boston, Massachusetts
Boston’s long history stretching back to the Revolutionary War gives it plenty of restless spirits. The Omni Parker House is famous for ghostly knocks and elevator doors that open by themselves, while the Granary Burying Ground offers eerie encounters among colonial tombstones. The Ghosts & Gravestones trolley tour is one of the nation’s oldest organized ghost experiences. Paranormal experts often note the Omni’s repeated cold spots and strange reflections caught on camera. In a city that helped birth a nation, Boston’s ghosts seem determined not to be forgotten.
Author unknown, Wikimedia Commons
16. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is steeped in history and hauntings alike. The Eastern State Penitentiary (where Al Capone reportedly heard ghostly music in his cell) has been featured on Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, and Most Haunted Live. Investigators cite shadow apparitions, whispering voices, and heavy footsteps echoing down abandoned cellblocks. Elsewhere in the city, Independence Hall and City Tavern boast their own ghost stories from the Revolutionary era. Walking tours thread through the city’s colonial core, mixing patriotism with poltergeists.
Adam Jones, Ph.D., Wikimedia Commons
15. Nashville, Tennessee
Known for music and nightlife, Nashville also hums with spectral melodies. The Ryman Auditorium, often called the "Mother Church of Country Music," is rumored to host ghosts of past performers—lights flicker, and faint singing has been recorded late at night. Printer’s Alley and the Union Station Hotel also feature in ghost tours, with reports of ghostly guests never checking out. Paranormal investigators from Haunted Towns have captured unusual electromagnetic spikes in the Ryman’s dressing rooms. Nashville proves that where there’s song and sorrow, hauntings soon follow.
14. San Francisco, California
San Francisco pairs postcard views with persistent hauntings. The infamous Alcatraz Island has produced decades of reports (clanging cell doors, unseen footsteps, and sudden cold spots) documented by Ghost Adventures and other crews. Onshore, the Queen Anne Hotel and the former Atherton Mansion anchor many walking tours through Pacific Heights and Nob Hill. Chinatown’s alleyways and the Presidio’s military cemeteries layer in more stories, while the USS Pampanito and Sutro Baths add maritime and modern-era chills. Fog may hide the skyline, but it rarely hides the ghosts.
Christopher Michel, Wikimedia Commons
13. Sacramento, California
Sacramento’s Gold Rush-era boom left behind restless miners and a network of haunted tunnels beneath Old Sacramento. The Governor’s Mansion and Delta King Riverboat are both considered paranormal hotspots, with guests reporting footsteps, laughter, and moving objects. The city’s underground ghost tours delve into these 19th-century spaces, where tragic accidents and epidemics once struck. Paranormal researchers cite Old Sacramento as a treasure trove for EVP recordings. It’s a city where prosperity and peril walked hand in hand—and sometimes still do.
12. San Diego, California
San Diego’s Whaley House has been dubbed "the most haunted house in America" by the US Commerce Department itself. Once a family home and courthouse, it’s now the centerpiece of nearly every ghost tour in town. Visitors report cold spots, strange aromas, and figures caught on film. The Gaslamp Quarter’s historic hotels (like the Horton Grand) add more layers of ghostly intrigue. Both Ghost Adventures and BuzzFeed Unsolved have captured chilling evidence here, cementing San Diego’s reputation as a sunny city with shadows that never fade.
11. Columbus, Ohio
While Columbus looks modern on the surface, its older districts hide a spooky underbelly. The Ohio State Reformatory (just north in Mansfield) hosts overnight ghost hunts featured on Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State. Closer to downtown, walking tours through German Village and Old Town East explore Victorian-era hauntings tied to fires, disease, and heartbreak. Paranormal experts often describe the city as "quietly haunted", a place where spirits linger in plain sight, if you’re paying attention.
10. Portsmouth, New Hampshire
As one of New England’s oldest ports, Portsmouth has centuries of maritime lore and ghost stories. The Haunted Portsmouth tour winds past centuries-old taverns and graveyards where sailors and settlers are said to linger. The Strawbery Banke Museum and Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse are both hotbeds for paranormal activity, with recurring EVPs and light anomalies captured by local investigators. With cobblestone streets, salt air, and centuries of seafaring tragedy, Portsmouth’s hauntings carry both beauty and melancholy.
Chip Griffin from Bow, NH, USA, Wikimedia Commons
9. Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington’s haunted history flows along the Cape Fear River, where ghost ships and lost souls are said to drift. The Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington, one of the oldest continuous ghost tours in the US, leads visitors past historic homes, jails, and inns alive with paranormal reports. TV investigators have filmed inside the old Cotton Exchange and Latimer House Museum, where spectral shadows and sudden temperature drops are common. Wilmington’s blend of antebellum charm and eerie legends makes it a must-stop for southern ghost seekers.
State Archives of North Carolina Raleigh, NC, Wikimedia Commons
8. Galveston, Texas
Galveston’s beauty masks its tragic past. After the devastating 1900 hurricane, locals began reporting apparitions of storm victims wandering the beaches. The Hotel Galvez, dubbed "The Queen of the Gulf," has been investigated by Ghost Lab and Most Terrifying Places in America, both confirming unexplained phenomena. Tours along the Strand historic district recount fires, shipwrecks, and spectral sea captains. Galveston’s ghosts are woven into its identity, a living memorial to the city’s resilience and sorrow.
7. St Augustine, Florida
America’s oldest city is also one of its most haunted. The 17th-century Castillo de San Marcos still echoes with cannon fire and footsteps from unseen soldiers. The St Augustine Lighthouse (featured on Ghost Hunters) is infamous for shadow figures and children’s laughter captured on tape. Dozens of tours explore its ancient cobblestone streets, often ending at the Huguenot Cemetery. With Spanish colonial architecture and centuries of tales, St Augustine stands as a timeless haunt for believers and skeptics alike.
Jack E. Boucher Historic American Buildings Survey, Wikimedia Commons
6. Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis blends colonial elegance with enduring mystery. The William Paca House and Maryland State House are known for unexplained lights and eerie whispers. The city’s Haunted Harbor tours trace back to the 1700s, recounting stories of sailors lost at sea who still knock on old tavern doors. Paranormal investigators report strong EMF readings along Fleet Street and Dock Square. Annapolis’s maritime legacy ensures that the past is always near—sometimes closer than visitors realize.
Upstateherd, Wikimedia Commons
5. Chicago, Illinois
Chicago’s skyline hides a history of hauntings. The Congress Plaza Hotel is infamous for phantom guests, while the alley behind the former Iroquois Theatre (known as Death Alley) carries echoes of the 1903 fire. Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, a favorite of investigators on Ghost Adventures and local teams, has produced some of the Midwest’s most compelling apparition photographs. Hull House, the site of persistent urban legends, rounds out many walking tours. From lakefront fog to Gilded Age tragedy, Chicago delivers big-city chills with historical depth.
ajay_suresh, Wikimedia Commons
4. Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston’s Old City Jail, Dock Street Theatre, and Battery Carriage House are among the most storied haunted sites in the South. Ghost Hunters and Kindred Spirits have both investigated here, capturing chilling EVPs and thermal images of shadowy figures. The city’s cobblestone streets and wrought-iron balconies conceal centuries of heartbreak, from fires to plague to war. Dozens of nightly tours guide visitors through graveyards where colonial spirits supposedly walk. In Charleston, history doesn’t just live, it lingers.
Ellen Stipo, Wikimedia Commons
3. New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans might be the only city where hauntings feel like part of the local culture. From the LaLaurie Mansion’s grisly past to the ghostly revelers said to roam the Bourbon Orleans Hotel, the French Quarter overflows with paranormal tales. Ghost Adventures filmed a chilling episode here, claiming the LaLaurie House radiated dark energy. Countless tours explore the Quarter’s haunted corners, including stops at St Louis Cemetery No. 1 and the tomb of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. In New Orleans, the line between the living and the dead feels delightfully blurred.
Reading Tom, Wikimedia Commons
2. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Gettysburg’s haunted reputation is unrivaled. As the site of the Civil War’s bloodiest battle, the town saw over 50,000 casualties, and many believe their spirits remain. The Jennie Wade House, Sachs Covered Bridge, and Devil’s Den are staples of ghost tours and Ghost Adventures episodes. Visitors often hear cannon fire and phantom cries across the misty fields. Paranormal experts like Mark Nesbitt and Amy Bruni call Gettysburg “a supernatural epicenter,” citing the sheer volume of recorded evidence. Standing on those hallowed grounds, it’s hard not to feel history (and the afterlife) closing in around you.
1. Savannah, Georgia
Often called “America’s Most Haunted City,” Savannah is drenched in Southern Gothic charm. The Sorrel-Weed House, Moon River Brewing Company, and Marshall House Hotel are all staples of Ghost Adventures and Most Haunted Places in America. With more than 30 ghost tours running nightly, visitors can choose from haunted pub crawls to cemetery strolls under moss-draped oaks. Paranormal investigators cite an unusually high rate of EMF activity in the city’s historic district. Savannah’s tragic beauty fueled by war, disease, and lost love makes it one of the most atmospheric haunted destinations on Earth.
Daniel Mayer, Wikimedia Commons
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