19 Real-Life Spooky Places That'll Make You Sleep With The Lights On After Visiting Them
If you're looking for something spooky to do this Halloween, I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the creepiest haunted places they've ever visited. Here's what they had to say:
Note: Some submissions are from this Reddit thread and this Reddit thread.
1.Savannah, Georgia
"So many old homes from the time it was a colony. There are cemeteries, one in the middle of the Historic District where yellow fever victims were buried.
I lived there for a few years with my dad and loved, loved, loved the spooky times during the fall. There are so many stories that I appreciate much more as an adult. If given the chance, I would leap at the chance to own a house down there again and have a ghostly resident."
2.Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California
3.The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California
"We did a two-hour ghost tour at night but didn't see or 'feel' anything when visiting the different parts of the ship. It was more informative than anything. However, spending the night? Whole different story."
4.Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"Eastern State Penitentiary made me feel very unsettled both times I visited. I went a second time a couple of years later just to see if I got the same vibes."
5.Virginia City, Nevada
"Virginia City, Nevada is considered one of the most haunted places in America. It's an eerie old ghost town where you can feel the air pressure change once you arrive. Every building is haunted to some degree with some quite a bit more than others. In high school, my friends and I had the bright idea of sneaking into an old hotel late at night, and the pictures we got on an old Nokia flip phone still give me goosebumps."
6.Jerome Grand Hotel in Jerome, Arizona
"Hard stop."
7.Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
"My daughter and I love that place, so we went to take a ghost tour for one of our vacations there. Nothing happened, but it was a great time. On the way back to our hotel, I took a wrong turn, and we were driving along one of the roads that follows the battlefields. While I was slowing to look for a place to turn around, a breeze blew onto the road from the left side and there was a kind of vortex that looked like fog. It swirled, my daughter and I saw a pair of legs form, and then it was gone. I wouldn't believe me, either, but we were both there. It was incredible and scary as hell."
8.Jack the Ripper Tour in London, England
"I felt like I had to watch my back all the time."
9.Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Canada
"It's a gorgeous hotel with absolutely spooky stories to tell. I worked there one summer and it made me a believer in ghosts."
10.The Underground Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland
"Not only were some areas so narrow and claustrophobic but I got an oppressive feeling when down there, as though we weren't meant to invade the space. It was unsettling."
11.Sunken Road at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland
"Only place that's ever given me a bad feeling."
12.Dunster Castle in Dunster, United Kingdom
"It's renowned as being haunted. There's a certain spot that feels so bad, that many visitors never get past it. My family didn't, all turned tail and fled, including the dog. I continued but felt oppressive and heavy feelings around me."
13.Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historic State Park in Rice, Virginia
"The Battle of Sailor's Creek was one of the last official battles of the Civil War. While not the bloodiest or most violent, the battle was still significant and as a result, there were a lot of casualties. The site is now a historic park and is incredibly rural. During my teen years, I lived about 10 minutes from there. We used to drive through the area and always got a spooky feeling. There are urban legends about stopping your car on one particular bridge at midnight that said if you waited, your car would turn off.
One night, my friends and I decided to try it. We drove down to the bridge (which was spooky enough without any urban legends) and waited. The car luckily did not turn off, but the temperature dropped significantly suddenly which was super odd. There are other stories of orbs, ghost-like horses roaming the fields, and a TON of apparitions. The Virginia Department of Conservation hosts an Unexplained Occurrences meeting to discuss all the abnormalities. If it is truly haunted or not, I am not sure, but it gives some spooky vibes!"
—Anonymous from Virginia
14.Kensal Green Cemetery in London, England
"I went during my study abroad to complete an assignment and the entire group I was with got this terrible feeling we shouldn't be there. As soon as someone said it out loud, there was a crash of thunder and lightning down the path from us, and it started torrentially downpouring. That's not super unusual in London, but this was different.
As we struggled to find the gate out of the cemetery, I could have sworn I saw a man in a top hat and tails standing outside the Anglican Chapel. When I looked again to confirm, no one was there. We finally made it out, but everyone was absolutely shaken. A decade later, I read and watched Lockwood & Co., and lo and behold, the second book features Kensal Green! Proof that place is absolutely haunted."
—A from California
15.Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia
"The only time I have ever felt anything remotely spooky was on a trip I took with my dad. We visited Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia, which is an old penal colony where prisoners were treated horribly. I made the mistake of letting an employee close the door behind me in one of the solitary confinement cells and felt like something was off and that I wasn't alone. My other family members also felt something and had their own strange experiences. My dad later told me a good friend of his was the last victim of a mass shooting that took place there in the '90s, which made the whole experience feel even darker. I definitely will not be going back."
—Alex from Ottawa, Canada
16.The Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, Kentucky
17.Alcatraz Island in San Francisco, California
"The solitary confinement cells at Alcatraz, which is a pretty creepy place all on its own. But those cells are like the heart of darkness. They open to a windowless hallway, so it's dark leading to dark.
I went in there alone and I swear something evil was squatting in the corner waiting for me to leave my soul unattended. 10/10 for creepy, I will not go back."
"It was so eerie and certain areas of the prison had a very oppressive atmosphere to it. Sometimes it felt as though someone were pressing on my chest. Very uncomfortable feeling."
18.The abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans, Louisana
"I explored the abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans. It was closed for Hurricane Katrina and never opened again. While my friends and I were there we found everything essentially as it was left with computers in the admin office, tickets in the admission booth, and even jars of pickles in the concession stands."
19.The Conjuring House in Burrillville, Rhode Island
"It's a beautiful old house but I will never go back. I had six experiences inside while on the tour. I felt a hand on my back from the little boy who lives in the closet. I smelt something dead in the basement. I saw something in the boiler area that almost made me pass out. I heard something call my name, and rocks started falling from the chimney in the kitchen. I had a white figure beside me in one of the pictures in the library. I tried the ghost rods and they kept pointing to the area where I had been standing by the window in the library. I still am not sure what I saw in that boiler area of the basement but it was so bad my daughter had to pull me through to get out because I could not move. I never believed in anything until this trip. I thought it was all a hoax. It changed my mind."
What's the creepiest haunted place you've ever visited? Share your story in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
