Haunted Places To Visit Before You Die
If you like your scares to be legitimately paranormal check out these haunted places. Behind every haunting is fascinating history and gruesome goings-on. Click through at your own risk.
San Francisco, CA Experience the most haunted prison in America! Night tours enshrouded in fog are definitely not for the faint of heart.
Amityville, NY Murders, demons, bleeding walls, hoof prints in the snow, hoaxes, Hollywood blockbusters ā this house's notorious history has put it at the forefront of all haunted places.
Midlothian, IL With plots dating back to 1830, this cemetery has a long twisted history and reports of blue lights, orbs and mists along with strange anomalies like two-headed ghosts.
Adams, TN In 1817 farmer John Bell and his family were cursed and tormented by the Bell Witch. Many believe that when the witch departed, she fled to the sanctuary of this 450-foot cave.
El Paso, Texas This is the historic resting place of gunslingers, outlaws (like John Wesley Hardin), and soldiers also draws darker elements and has been plagued with satanic worshippers.
Gettysburg, PA In two days of battle in 1863, 50,000 Americans were killed in one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Ghosts of a headless horseman and other cavalry have been seen on the fields as well as all kinds of shrieks, laughter and yelling.
St. Louis, MO Built in the early 1860s as a home for William J. Lemp and his wife, the house has a twisted family history resulting in four macabre suicides and subsequent haunting. It is now a restaurant and inn.
St. Francisville, LA The former Southern plantation which is now a bed-and-breakfast is said to be haunted by Cleo, a former slave who killed two children. In all, ten murders and one suicide have spilled blood on the house.
Long Beach, CA This 1936 ocean liner is now permanently berthed and many areas including the swimming pool and the engine room are rumored to be haunted. Daily paranormal themed tours and haunted mazes are offered.
Villisca, IA In June 1912, the small town in Iowa was the sight of a grisly slaughter: two adults and six children were brutally murdered in their beds with an axe. The crime was never solved and a motive was never established. The house is now a museum to the slain Moore family, and its widely reported to be haunted.
Louisville, KY Opened in 1910 as a hospital for tuberculosis patients, the building would see over 60,000 deaths... some of those were untimely deaths of staff members. The most famous feature is the "death tunnel", an underground pathway used to discreetly remove the dead bodies.
San Jose, CA In 1884, a wealthy widow named Sarah L. Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death 38 years later. The sprawling Victorian mansion is filled with countless unexplained oddities.
Can Ghosts Cause Harm You?
Ghost hunters on TV warn viewers to never try this at home as they enter a haunted place. This builds suspense but in reality, lock downs involve hours of waiting around to catch the slightest noise. But ghosts don't hurt people. Hunters are more often hurt by everyday things like loose floorboards, toxic fumes, electrical fields, and the hysterical run & stumble.
While specialists have video proof of unexplained phenomena, the hard scientific community is not convinced. Science demands repeatability of an event to be considered verifiable.
Psychologists are convinced ours minds are the true cause. The brain is not largely understood and it may be fooling you about paranormal activity, leading to distress, anxiety, and even physical ailments. This is especially true of highly susceptible individuals. Suddenly, something that's supposed to be fun is not.
I've been exploring the paranormal for many years and have done so carefully, reading books, attending seminars, and consulting experts. You must possess an open mind, psychological stability, spiritual sense of self, and most importantly be equally a believer and skeptic. There's no definitive answers... yet.
ā
Further reading:
13 Signs Your Home May Be Haunted
Hauntings may come in many forms. Some are just impressions of past events. Some play on a loop unaffected by anything or anyone else. Others are decidedly more active in trying to communicate. Some common signs are:
ā
-
Electric items turning on/off
-
Objects disappear then reappear or rearrange
-
Feeling of being watched
-
Strange animal behavior
-
Recurring event at the same time every day
-
Cold spots
-
Unexplained smells
-
Sudden emotional bursts, unusual thoughts or dreams
-
Hand or foot prints, or strange handwriting appear
-
Strange noises, whispers, voices or music
-
Shaking
-
Figures, lights, or shadows
-
Being touched, grazed, pushed or held down
ā
Learn more do about hauntings and what to do about them at ThoughtCo's Paranormal Site. You'll find many other ghostly articles of interest in this incredibly thorough site.
A Glossary of the Paranormal Things
If faced with a being of an otherworldly nature, it's important to STOP. DROP everything in your hands. And RUN and do not look back. After you have reached a safe zone, try to decipher the experience and identity your monster.
Banshee – An ethereal female spirit of Irish descent seen as an omen of death; can usually be heard weeping or moaning loudly
ā
Bogeyman - A shapeless entity that inhabits dark places like closets or basements; powered by fear but can be defeated by turning your back to it.
ā
Demon - a malevolent spirit that was not previously human; very dangerous and difficult to extricate; considered fallen angels in biblical text
ā
Doppelganger – from German descent; a ghostly double of a living person is seen as an omen of danger, illness or death; often seen in mirrors, photos and video
ā
Dybbuk - a malicious possessing spirit of Jewish folklore said to be a dislocated soul of a dead person with unfinished business
ā
Ghost – Previously human spirits than linger in a house or near a place of death; can be either intelligent or residual in nature and typically benevolent
ā
Ghoul – Arabic in nature, this shape shifting demon inhabits burial grounds and feasts on freshly laid corpses; very strong and fast.
ā
Goblin – an evil, mischievous and grotesquely disfigured creature lives in caves, hollowed out trees, or abandoned houses; insatiable appetite
ā
Hobgoblin – ugly, small and hairy man-like creatures found inside older houses, often pull troublesome pranks at night and are very hard to get rid of.
ā
Mothman – seen first in West Virginia and described a winged man-like creature with glowing red eyes; appears before disasters with high casualties
Poltergeist – physical disturbances, noises or thrown objects caused by a spirit; now linked to telekinesis and emotional outbursts of girls going through puberty
ā
Shadow People – demonic dark forms that menace or attack people; appear first in peripheral vision; once spotted they can follow you indefinitely
ā
Troll – very short, impish forest creatures are notorious thieves, eat children and small animals, but can be killed if exposed to sunlight.
ā
Vampire – of European lineage, these nocturnal creatures drink blood from living hosts to survive; said to have mind control over weaker creatures; must be invited across a doorway
ā
Wendigo – Native American demon lives in remote wilderness and survives by eating human flesh; practices dark magic and can possess people to do its bidding
ā
Werewolf – a human that turns into a rabid wolf at each full moon; affliction is passed through a bite; must be killed with silver bullet or dagger
ā
Witch – women who gained supernatural powers in a pact with the devil; though immortal, their bodies become warty, grey and extremely weathered with age.
ā
Zombie – reanimated corpses with no emotion or thought; led only by strong instincts and a desire to eat brains; sometimes summoned by voodoo incantations