14 Cities With Spooky Legends That Are Perfect For A Halloween Vacation

For kids, and plenty of adults, Halloween is a time of the year that's less about fear and more about fun. It offers revelers the chance to dress up, recount scary stories, and amass a basket-full of candy. The night is even celebrated in events large and small across the country. In New York, the huge Village Halloween Parade sees thousands take to the streets in elaborate costumes. Halloween Carnaval brings a similar sense of joy, theater, and glamor to the streets of West Hollywood in California, while the Sea Witch Festival promises three days of spooky frivolity at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Around the country, travelers can find fun and festive Halloween destinations that offer more than tricks and treats.

While many observances of Halloween are little more than large-scale parties, some cities really do have a past shrouded in mystery, intrigue, and genuinely unsettling events. These destinations experience paranormal activity, spectral happenings that can't be explained by science. So, if you're looking for a Halloween vacation in a location that embodies the holiday's roots in warding off ghosts, check out one of the spots below. Maybe you'll be blessed with your very own supernatural surprise!

This waterfront city founded in 1670 has a lot going for it, from great dining to an easy ambience evident throughout its streets and alleys. But along with the city's deep history comes a past laden with tales of woe. Ghosts have been spotted throughout the city, with some locations famous for their spiritual awakenings. The supernatural activity is so well-established that tour operators even offer ghost tours on a regular basis. 

At St. Philips Church & Graveyard, believed to be the oldest church in the state, the ghost of a woman who had a stillborn birth sometimes appears at the graveyard, especially to pregnant women. Two more ghosts wander around Dock Street Theatre, a performing arts venue that opened in the 1700s and has suffered through a fire and earthquake. And at White Point Garden, where some 50 pirates were hanged, their spirits continue to roam the garden looking for the people that sent them to the gallows. You might see some of these sights on a ghost tour, or see specters while walking around the chilling passageways of the Old City Jail.

This magnetic city with one of the most stunning skylines in the United States is no stranger to visitors. But in addition to tourists, it's also full of wayward spirits. In the early 1900s, a fire ravaged the Iroquois Theatre, and hundreds died within a structure that was supposed to be fireproof. The dead were piled up in the alley behind the building, and that space has become known as Death Alley. Visitors have heard strange noises and felt sensations of being handled by spirits there. 

Both towers of the Congress Plaza Hotel are frequented by ghosts. The South Tower is home to Peg Leg Johnny, who was killed just behind the hotel, while a young boy's spirit haunts the North Tower (apparently the child was pushed out of the tower by his mother). Al Capone is also believed to have based his operations at the property. 

The neighborhood known as Englewood is where H. H. Holmes, the first serial killer in the US, lived. The site, now home to a post office, is where Murder Castle once sat, and the basement of the structure is the site of unexplained occurrences to this day.

Northwest of Denver, close to Rocky Mountain National Park, the small town of Estes Park may not sound familiar to most. But fans of horror may have a tingling sense as to why the town is a place of infamy. The town's Stanley Hotel was the inspiration for Stephen King's book "The Shining." 

King spent a few nights at the hotel with his wife in the 1970s, and they were placed in Room 217, which was haunted by an employee who had died there. King apparently dreamed up the framework for the book after enduring a nightmare during his stay. Today, the hotel offers ghost tours, which last an hour and wind through the property after dusk. 

The hotel isn't the only thing in this town with a ghoulish past, though. Seven Keys Lodge is allegedly haunted by its former owners, who hang around admiring their property, which was then known as the Baldpate Inn. And a mysterious creature with claws and three toes is said to roam around the trees by the town. It's even believed to have killed a local resident known as Miner Bill.

Synonymous with a seminal chapter of American history, Gettysburg is the name of both a town and a battle that became a landmark moment in the Civil War. The battle was the bloodiest event of the war, and the plains of Gettysburg were littered with bodies of soldiers that perished in battle. Now those plains, a veritable tourist attraction, teem with the ghosts of dead soldiers. 

Travelers that walk among the fields have seen spirits and images or shadows of soldiers, sometimes marching, other times still on horseback, ready to fight. Specific sections such as the Peach Orchard, the Little Round Top, and the Wheatfield are believed to be visited by spirits. 

Other accounts talk of how electronic equipment suddenly stops working in the Triangular Field. For ghost hunters, one site in particular stands out. Devil's Den, a rocky area of giant boulders, used by the Confederate Army as a place to position snipers, is frequented by strange silhouettes, including one soldier with wild, long hair and no shoes. At times, travelers have also heard the noises of war within the rock formation.

Close to Sedona and due north of Phoenix, Jerome is a peaceful town set by the Jerome State Historic Park. And yet, it's a place where spirits wander freely, especially around the Jerome Grand Hotel. The building began its life as the United Verde Hospital, and as is the norm with such facilities, it was filled with the infirm and dying. Many of its patients were miners who were in town to work the land, or what lay beneath it. Mining dried up in the town in the 1950s, the businesses began to suffer, and the once grand, state-of-the-art hospital sat empty. 

The local mining company, scared of the hospital being vandalized, employed caretakers to watch the empty hospital, but one of them died by suicide in 1980. The building was eventually sold and became a luxe hotel, but ghost sightings continue. There are reports of ghost doctors, hospital staff (and even a cat) wandering around the hotel, as if they were still working at the hospital. And some guests claim to hear sounds like labored breathing and wheezing, holdovers from the patients that had tuberculosis at the hospital.

The Big Easy likes to call itself one of the most haunted cities in the United States. That's not surprising, given how places all over the city are populated with supernatural beings. The Old Absinthe House bar is more than two centuries old, and doors randomly open and close, while former patrons haunt the place. They include the voodoo figure Marie Laveau and army general Andrew Jackson. Actors and audience members from the past haunt Le Petit Theatre, including a performer called Caroline who died in the 1930s when she fell over a guard-rail. 

The novelist William Faulkner completed his first novel in what is today known at Faulkner House Books. Some shoppers claim to see him still at his desk, furiously writing away. The former pastor of St. Louis Cathedral in the 1700s sometimes wanders quietly around the aisles of the church, with his head bowed as if in deference to God. And then there are the swirling myths around vampires living in the city, a strong enough belief that a New Orleans Vampire Association was set up.

This town and barrier island sitting just off the coast of South Carolina draws sun-seekers and vacationers looking for some easy rest and relaxation. What they might not be prepared for, though, is the paranormal activity that's been reported there. Much of the fanfare surrounds a mysterious apparition known as the Grey Man. Locals believe that when the Grey Man appears, it's bad news for the island, because it signifies that a hurricane is about to strike. The spirit is usually seen wandering along the beach in gray clothes. Sometimes he speaks, other times he just appears and then suddenly disappears. The Grey Man has also been spotted at the Pelican Inn, one of several ghosts at the property. 

The spirits of two dogs, one of whom drowned while trying to save a boy struggling in the ocean, drift around the halls and corridors of the inn, while guests have also seen a woman dressed in a checked gown. At the cemetery of All Saints Episcopal Church, a woman named Alice is buried. She suffered from a broken heart when her family disapproved of the man she fell in love with, and today, tourists visiting her grave sometimes feel a tugging sensation on their wedding ring.

Portland, the largest city in Oregon, grew as a thriving port on the Willamette River. Today, Portland continues to grow, not just as a bustling economic hub, but also as a stepping stone to Oregon's great outdoors (like this stunning, budget-friendly beach in the Pacific Northwest). That said, it's also a popular spot for ghosts. One of the most famous spots to see paranormal activity is in the Shanghai Tunnels. Built in the 1800s under the heart of the city, they allowed businesses to quickly shuttle goods in from the river's boats. 

The tunnels once teemed with people, and travelers who visit them today claim to hear soft voices, or feel like they are having their clothes tugged. Ghosts also haunt the Crystal Ballroom, which has hosted musical performers of many different genres for more than a century. Thudding footsteps and loud shrieks are sometimes heard when a show is over. Elsewhere, the sounds of a woman crying or people deep in argument are commonplace mysteries at Lone Fir Cemetery, a graveyard where more than 25,000 people have been buried over the centuries.

A town famous for its witch trials in the late 17th century shouldn't be a surprising addition to any list of spooky cities in the U.S. In 1692, 19 individuals were accused and found guilty of using undetectable powers to make their victims sick. All were hanged. Now, ghosts roam in Salem, and visitors can locate the spots where they have been seen. The Witch Dungeon is where the accused were kept before their sham trials, and even today it's a chilling spot. 

The ghost of one victim, Giles Corey, is said to frequent the area around where he was pressed to death by heavy rocks. And anyone looking to interact with the spirit of Bridget Bishop, the first witch to be found guilty, should loiter around the Lyceum Restaurant. It sits on the land where her home once stood. Salem also has other lore attached to mystery. Harry Houdini, the great escape artist, once performed an amazing feat at the police station, for example.

The Battle of the Alamo was a watershed moment in the war between Mexico and America. It took place in San Antonio, Texas (which incidentally has the highest number of free things to do in America), specifically at the Spanish Mission that gave the battle its name. Hundreds on both sides died during the battle, and this chapter in U.S. history is often referred to as a powerful example of resistance against a superior force. Some soldiers allegedly linger at the Alamo in spectral form, hanging around the buildings. Visitors also speak about the ghost of a young child who walks around the area all alone. 

Children come into the spotlight again at another spooky site in San Antonio. The train tracks at Shane and Villamain roads were the site of a disaster in the 1930s or 40s. A school bus reportedly got stuck on the tracks, and the children and driver died when the bus was hit by train. According to one source, drivers that leave their car on the tracks will feel it being pushed forward by the spirits of the children. Weird sounds, smells, and happenings are also said to take place at the Emily Morgan Hotel, a Gothic building that was once a hospital.

There are so many ghosts attached to this city that Savannah has regular ghost tours. These range from walking tours led by a guide wearing a full kilt, to others that utilize trolleys to shuttle guests around the city. Savannah, in fact, likes to consider itself the most haunted city in the country. A few spots stand out as centers of paranormal activity. The Kehoe House is a bed and breakfast that regularly welcomes tourists, but in earlier years it was a funeral home as well as a family house where two children are said to have perished. Guests of the lodge claim to have seen ghost kids during a stay. 

At the 17Hundred90 Inn & Restaurant, diners might come across the spirits of a young servant, a cook who was a slave, and a disgruntled woman, all of whom lived or worked on the site. The sound of saucepans clanging in the kitchen is a sure sign that spirits are at play. Faucets that suddenly gush water are among the oddities experienced at the Marshall House, a hotel that was a hospital in the past.The Hamilton-Turner Inn, which gained global recognition in the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," is home to ghost kids laughing and visions of a man seated on the roof, cigar firmly clamped in his mouth.

A literary work put Sleepy Hollow on the spooky map. The town became famous with Washington Irving's short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," a tale about a schoolteacher who believes ghost stories and is chased out of town by what he sees as a headless horseman. One of the great draws of Sleepy Hollow are the tours of its cemetery. Trips that occur in the daytime last a couple of hours, taking in the graves, tombs, and mausoleums of people like businessmen Andrew Carnegie and William Rockefeller. 

Tours in the evening, lit by kerosene lamps, take the experience up a notch and add a creepy quotient to the excursion. Elsewhere, the town is also known for some strange happenings, from taverns where ghosts appear out of the blue to mysterious spectral ships sailing along the Hudson River. There's even a somber woman, clad in all white, said to wander along the tops of cliffs while shrieking.

In the heart of Virginia, the city of Staunton has become a center of paranormal events. Some of these might be linked to the Civil War in the 18th century, which touched this part of the country. At the town's Mary Baldwin University, a handful of ghosts relentlessly pick on students. They've been accused of moving mirrors and pictures or turning them upside down. In some cases, students have reported feeling suffocated by spirits while asleep. Some pupils even claimed to have seen the ghost of the actress Tallulah Bankhead wandering up and down the campus. 

Ghosts also abound at the Blackburn Inn, which began its life in 1828 as a hospital for the mentally ill and later became a prison. The building has been a hotel for less than a decade, and guests have reported hearing moaning sounds, lights going on and off, and windows unlocking without warning. The city's train station was rebuilt after a large fire set during the Civil War and later a train derailment. People that perished in these events, including an opera singer, walk the platforms and between tracks. Other occurrences like muffled voices and eerie shadows also make visitors' hair stand on end.

If you're looking for history that reaches far, far back into the past, St. Augustine is a great place to start. The city was founded in 1565, and holds the honor of being the oldest non-Native American settlement in the United States. A great destination for families, it was first populated during the Spanish Colonial period (some of that architecture persists) and named after a Spanish feast. All those centuries of life, and death, reflect in the spirit world there. 

At the St. Augustine Lighthouse, the views are striking — at least once you've climbed the 219 steps to the top. But your footsteps might not be the only ones you hear: thuds sometimes heard here are attributed to children who drowned when the structure was under construction. You can hear all about this, and other ghastly tales, during a Dark of the Moon Tour at the lighthouse, when a glow stick is the only source of illumination. 

Nighttime is another great time to visit the Old Jail Museum, believed to be the most haunted building in St. Augustine. That might be on account of the hangings and unexplained deaths that occurred there from the late 1800s to the 1950s. A couple of lodging options are also known for their ghostly guests. Casa de Suenos was once a funeral home where objects in rooms now get mysteriously moved, while St. Francis Inn is the spot to witness spirits swishing around the rooms and pictures being rearranged by invisible forces.