Mapped: The Spookiest Place Name in Every State

In the autumn of 1864, the residents of a newly emerging town in western Montana, known until then as “Last Chance Gulch,” met to decide what the town’s permanent name should be. Given that the town meeting took place the day before Halloween, at least one of the suggested names thrown into the mix was “Pumpkinville.”

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you feel about it), that suggestion wasn’t taken up. The town supposedly went on to be named after the Minnesota town from which one of the locals had moved: Helena.

Had the name Pumpkinville stuck, though, there’s a good chance it would have made it onto this list of some of America’s spookiest place names, chosen by the Mental Floss staff. 

1. The Spookiest Place Name in Every State, Mapped
2. Alabama // Spooky Hollow Road
3. Alaska // Deadman Lake
4. Arizona // Skull Mesa
5. Arkansas // Witcherville
6. California // Styx
7. Cannibal Plateau // Colorado
8. Connecticut // Satan’s Kingdom State Park
9. Delaware // Slaughter Beach
10. Florida // Coffins Patch
11. Georgia // Slaughter Mountain
12. Hawaii // Devastation Trail
13. Idaho // Bone
14. Illinois // Bloody Gulch Road
15. Indiana // Gnaw Bone
16. Iowa // Spirit Lake
17. Kansas // Hell Creek
18. Kentucky // Hell for Certain
19. Louisiana // Transylvania
20. Maine // Massacre Pond
21. Maryland // Grave Run
22. Massachusetts // Bloody Pond
23. Michigan // Hell
24. Minnesota // Castle Danger
25. Mississippi // Shivers
26. Missouri // Devils Elbow
27. Montana // Deadman Gulch
28. Nebraska // Blood Creek
29. Nevada // Devils Hole
30. New Hampshire // Bloody Point
31. New Jersey // Ghost Lake
32. New Mexico // Burned Death Wash
33. New York // Execution Rocks
34. North Carolina // Devil’s Courthouse
35. North Dakota // Knife River
36. Ohio // Gore Orphanage Road
37. Oklahoma // Dead Women Crossing
38. Oregon // Murderers Creek
39. Pennsylvania // Devil’s Den
40. Rhode Island // Smallpox Trail
41. South Carolina // Gravedigger Road
42. South Dakota // Punished Woman’s Lake
43. Tennessee // Skullbone
44. Dead Man’s Pass // Texas
45. Utah // Goblin Valley State Park
46. Vermont // Popple Dungeon Road
47. Virginia // Bloody Run Creek
48. Washington // Mount Terror
49. West Virginia // Maggoty Run
50. Wisconsin // Witches Gulch
51. Wyoming // Death Canyon

The Spookiest Place Name in Every State, Mapped

Alabama // Spooky Hollow Road

Despite its name, this short single-track road running down to the shore of Lake Martin near Montgomery, in central Alabama, is actually very picturesque. 

Alaska // Deadman Lake

Deadman Creek flows into Deadman Lake at the foot of Deadman Mountain in central Alaska, not far from the tiny town of Cantwell. If that sounds like overkill (no pun intended), then it’s worth noting they’re no means alone: Alaska is full of geographical “dead men,” including another two Deadman Lakes, and two more Deadman Creeks. At least one of those creeks (and its lake) is named for a local prospector who was apparently found dead in its waters, suggesting the same may well be true of all the others.

Arizona // Skull Mesa

Skull Mesa is part of a popular hiking route in Arizona’s Maricopa County, and one of a number of similarly spooky names in the area. In fact, its name might be connected to that of nearby Skeleton Cave (in the aptly named Superstition Mountains), which is named for the Yavapai victims of a battle in 1872 whose remains were left in the cave for many years afterward. 

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Arkansas // Witcherville

Witcherville took its name from local postmaster Williams James Witcher, who founded a farm there in 1850. There might not have been any witches involved in the town’s founding, but by odd coincidence, the town’s original name was Salem.

California // Styx

The remote hamlet of Styx in southern California, when the Santa Fe railroad was constructed in the area in the early 1920s, was named in honor of the river in the ancient Greek underworld.

Cannibal Plateau // Colorado

Colorado’s Cannibal Plateau was named after an infamous 1874 event in which prospector Alfred Packer ate five companions he may or may not have also murdered during a trip into the mountains amid a brutal winter. (Packer told several versions of the story about how he came to eat his fellow travelers, and it’s unclear which one is true.) 

Connecticut // Satan’s Kingdom State Park

Satan’s Kingdom was supposedly named because engineering work on the New Haven and Northampton Railroad in the mid-1800s proved especially difficult there. 

Delaware // Slaughter Beach

Quite how Slaughter Beach earned its name is unclear. Various theories claim the name alludes to everything from a violent massacre in the area to the tendency of large numbers of horseshoe crabs to perish when they come on shore to spawn. 

Florida // Coffins Patch

Coffins Patch is the name of a reef and marine sanctuary off the far southern tip of Florida, within the Florida Keys. Although the name’s origins are unclear, it has been suggested it was originally known as “Collins Patch,” not “Coffins,” and so was perhaps named in honor of some local figure.

Georgia // Slaughter Mountain

The name of Georgia’s Slaughter Mountain, and that of nearby Slaughter Creek, supposedly alludes to a battle between the Cherokee and Creek peoples over territory. 

Hawaii // Devastation Trail

Before the eruption of Kīlauea Iki in Hawaii in 1959, the area through which the aptly named Devastation Trail now runs was covered in lush forest. The volcano obliterated much of the surrounding vegetation, leaving the trail running through an ashy and rocky wasteland. 

Idaho // Bone

The fact that Bone, Idaho, stands in Bonneville County might lead you to think the two names are connected, and Bone might properly be the French bonne, meaning “good.” In fact, the village’s name has a far more straightforward history: It was founded by local trader Orlin Bone in 1910. 

Illinois // Bloody Gulch Road

Bloody Gulch Road, in Dixon, Illinois, has an appropriately bloody story behind it. According to the tale, in 1885, a teenage Bible salesman named Frank Thiel was found buried in a shallow grave off the roadside there, having had his throat slashed so violently his head was almost cut from his body. 

Indiana // Gnaw Bone

One version of the story behind this name claims it alludes to an inebriated Civil War soldier who was left on the roadside by his companions as he drunkenly gnawed on a bone. 

Iowa // Spirit Lake

The city of Spirit Lake is named after the actual Spirit Lake to the north of the town, whose name comes from the Dakota Sioux people: They know the lake as Minnewaukon, or the “lake of the spirit.” 

Kansas // Hell Creek

Hell Creek is a small stream that flows into Wilson Lake northwest of Wichita, Kansas. According to local plainsman and pioneer James R. Mead, the creek was “appropriately named from some experiences of my self and hunters in buffalo days.”  

Kentucky // Hell for Certain

No one is entirely sure why the town of Hell for Certain—and the creek of the same name on which it stands—is called what it’s called. But local folklore will have you believe it was a visitor to the town who, when asked what it was like on his return home, described it as “hell for certain.” 

Louisiana // Transylvania

Count Dracula’s castle was located in Transylvania in Europe’s Carpathian Mountains—but no matter where it’s located, the name Transylvania literally means “beyond the woods.” That’s what led to a heavily forested area of the northeastern U.S. being named “Transylvania Colony” in the 1700s, and it was there that a university was later founded in 1780. In the early 1800s, an alumnus of “Transy” University named W.L. Richards purchased a swath of land in Louisiana and named it Transylvania in honor of his alma mater.

Maine // Massacre Pond

Massacre Pond in Scarborough, Maine, was apparently named for a mass grave of troops from Black Point garrison that was dug nearby following a battle in 1703. 

Maryland // Grave Run

Grave Run is the name of a short creek in northern Maryland that flows into the considerably more pleasantly named Prettyboy Reservoir, close to the Pennsylvania border. It seems likely that the grave in the name is a Native American one. 

Massachusetts // Bloody Pond

Named in honor of a brutal battle, Bloody Pond lies just inland from Cape Cod Bay in coastal Massachusetts.

Michigan // Hell

Hell is one of the best-known bizarre place names in the United States, and popular legend will tell you that its founder once exclaimed, “You can name it Hell for all I care!” and the name stuck. A more inventive (and likely) theory, however, claims the name is German in origin, and simply means “bright.” 

Minnesota // Castle Danger

The tiny town of Castle Danger on Minnesota’s Lake Superior shoreline is said to take its name from a boat, the Castle, that ran aground nearby. 

Mississippi // Shivers

As unlikely as it may sound, the town of Shivers, Mississippi, is apparently named after Evan C. Shivers, who applied to run a post office in the area in 1886. 

Missouri // Devils Elbow

Devils Elbow is said to be named after a notorious bend in the Big Piney River, which is so sharp that careless loggers in the area could see their timbers logjammed. 

Montana // Deadman Gulch

Montana’s ominously named Deadman Gulch supposedly takes its name from an incident in the 1880s, when a Native American man was murdered by a trapper for coming back to his isolated cabin after he and his companions been asked to leave. He eventually deposited the body in the gulch.   

Nebraska // Blood Creek

Blood Creek, Nebraska, may once have been a “Bloody Creek” that was ironically named by local pioneer Robert Harvey after a bloodless encounter with Native Americans in the late 19th century. 

Nevada // Devils Hole

The Devils Hole is the entirely appropriate name given to a deep cave and geothermic pool located in the Nevada stretches of Death Valley. 

New Hampshire // Bloody Point

New Hampshire’s Bloody Point is said to have taken its name from either a local Native American massacre or a bloodless disagreement in the 1600s. 

New Jersey // Ghost Lake

As if a haunted lake that supposedly produces mysterious columns of mist was not spooky enough, New Jersey’s Ghost Lake can be easily accessed from the nearby Shades of Death Road. 

New Mexico // Burned Death Wash

There are a few places named “burned” (either in English or Spanish) scattered across New Mexico, many of which take their names from notable wildfires that struck the area in the past. Whether that was the case for the even more ominously named Burned Death Wash—a small stream or “wash” in New Mexico’s McKinley County—is unclear. 

New York // Execution Rocks

According to legend, this tiny isolated outcrop in Long Island Sound—now home to a notable lighthouse—was used by British troops during the Revolutionary War. They’d chain prisoners to its rocks so they would be drowned by the incoming tide. 

North Carolina // Devil’s Courthouse

Devil’s Courthouse is the name given to a 5700-foot-tall mountain in the Appalachians of western North Carolina. The name alludes to a monstrous creature from local lore that supposedly made its lair in a cave on the mountainside. 

North Dakota // Knife River

A tributary of the Missouri, North Dakota’s Knife River is said to get its name from the flint found naturally in the rocks nearby. 

Ohio // Gore Orphanage Road

Easily one of the creepiest names on this list (and the subject of so many unsettling local stories that it eventually inspired a horror movie), the truth behind Gore Orphanage Road is a little more mundane than you might expect. The gore in question is probably nothing more than an old name for a patch of land. But the orphanage was very real—and although grim local tales of what went on there have become mired in rumor and horror fiction, it seems the Gore Orphanage was not a nice place to be. 

Oklahoma // Dead Women Crossing

Also known as Dead Woman’s Crossing, this tiny community in rural Oklahoma is named after a notorious local mystery. In 1905, a young woman named Katie DeWitt James vanished from the town with her infant daughter, and was last seen boarding a buggy with another woman named Fannie Norton. DeWitt James’s body was found beside the nearby river several weeks later; Norton claimed not to be involved in her murder, but later took poison and died herself. DeWitt’s murder was never solved, and it’s said her ghost haunts the road. 

Oregon // Murderers Creek

This isolated creek in rural central Oregon is said to be named after the murder of a group of prospectors there in the 1860s. 

Pennsylvania // Devil’s Den

The Devil’s Den is a rocky, boulder-topped hill that became a notorious fighting ground during the Battle of Gettysburg. Its name predates the battle, however, and is said to derive from a tale from local folklore that claimed the boulders atop the hill were once home to an immense snake called “The Devil.” 

Rhode Island // Smallpox Trail

In 1845, an outbreak of smallpox struck the town of Richmond, Rhode Island. The event supposedly led to the road on which local councilman Ezekiel Phillips lived to be named after it, since he was the first person to present with the disease. 

South Carolina // Gravedigger Road

When a man named Bobby Keisler decided to build his own home in Red Bank, South Carolina, in the 1980s, he had to dig out a new road leading up to it—and chose to name it after his profession.

South Dakota // Punished Woman’s Lake

Punished Woman Lake in northeast South Dakota takes its name from a local Sioux legend, in which a young woman, We-Wa-Ke, defied her father’s orders to marry the old clan chief and fled with her young warrior lover instead. When the pair of runaways were later captured and brought back to camp on a hillside overlooking the lake, the chief stabbed the young warrior to death and shot an arrow into We-Wa-Ke’s heart. The pair were buried on the hillside, overlooking the lake that was ultimately named after We-Wa-Ke. 

Tennessee // Skullbone

This tiny town in western Tennessee has a notoriously violent past. It’s said to have taken its name from a style of bare-knuckle boxing once practiced there in which all blows had to be confined to the “skull-bone” or head. 

Dead Man’s Pass // Texas

This notorious canyon on the trade road between San Antonio and El Paso in Val Verde, Texas, is so named because it saw the demise of many local travelers and traders—from highwaymen and robberies and from wild animals. 

Utah // Goblin Valley State Park

Utah’s Goblin Valley was named after the peculiar and supposedly goblin-like natural rock formations that can be found there. 

Vermont // Popple Dungeon Road

The popple in this name isn’t for the 1980s kids’ toys or TV show—it’s a local name for poplar trees. The dungeon, meanwhile, supposedly doesn’t refer to a dank prison cell but is instead meant to describe the rather foreboding feeling of walking beneath dark and low-hanging tree boughs. 

Virginia // Bloody Run Creek

The name of this small creek in rural Virginia is said to refer to the fact that there was such intense hand-to-hand fighting here during the Civil War that the creek’s waters ran red with blood. 

Washington // Mount Terror

Washington’s Mount Terror was named on account of its remoteness, steepness, height, and difficulty in climbing—and it’s just one of a number in the state that could have made this list. Elsewhere in Washington, you’ll find Desolation Peak, Mount Misery, Damnation Peak, Mount Horrible, Mount Despair, and Angry Mountain, as well as a Poison Lake, Victim Island, Crying Lady Rock, and a formation on Mount Rainier known rather ominously as Disappointment Cleaver. 

West Virginia // Maggoty Run

This small stream in rural West Virginia is may be named for the enormous number of gnats that breed in its waters.

Wisconsin // Witches Gulch

Witches Gulch is an extraordinary slot canyon carved into the sandstone of rural Wisconsin over thousands of years. It got its name because of the magical and mystical appearance of the rock. 

Wyoming // Death Canyon

The name of Death Canyon in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park supposedly refers to the mysterious disappearance of one of the members of an 1899 survey party who wandered into the canyon and was never seen again.