10 Most Haunted States in America, Ranked by Scare-Level

While many still enjoy childhood Halloween favorites like dressing up, eating candy, and binging Disney’s best supernatural movies, others look for a bit more bite in their celebrations during spooky season. This can result in trips to horror theme parks and haunted houses, but the most extreme scares might actually be a part of the day-to-day life of your hometown.

We might have the highest global population in history, but the dead vastly outnumber us, and they always will. With that in mind, ChicksX compiled data on the number of cemeteries in each state, documented and indexed haunted locations, documented ghost sightings and encounters, and pulled Google searches on hauntings to determine each state’s haunt level.

The 10 states listed below have the highest rankings on that index, with haunted histories including the ghosts of soldiers still marching at military sites and some of the most hair-raising cemeteries and haunted houses in the country.

The Spookiest States in America

While you’ve likely heard about Southern cities like New Orleans or Savannah being famously haunted, the data shows that your odds of having a spiritual encounter are actually highest in the Northeast, with two out of the top five states coming from this region.

However, with a scattering of other highly haunted states popping up all over the country, the chances are good that you can visit one of the top 10 without having to travel too far. See the full list:

Horror guru Stephen King has set many of his most famous works in Maine, and it seems like he has a good reason for it! Maine has the highest number of ghost sightings per 100,000 residents in the country, and it has plenty of haunted locales to check out. From Mount Hope Cemetery to Fort Knox, it seems like the spirits can’t resist coming out to scare residents and tourists alike, meaning you’re more likely to have an unplanned ghostly encounter there than anywhere else.

Meanwhile, Wyoming is a great state for haunting tourism if you know what you’re looking for. It has the highest number of documented and indexed haunted locations, including alleged sightings of spiritual soldiers still marching at Fort Caspar and former guests and owners popping up at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne and the Irma Hotel in Cody.

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While the number of haunted locations and ghostly encounters might be lower in some of the other states listed, that doesn’t mean they are less exciting. West Virginia has the highest number of cemeteries per capita of 100,000 in the country, which provides plenty of opportunities for a moonlit cemetery stroll. Plus, Alaskans asked Google “How to get rid of ghosts” so frequently, it was the fifth most popular monthly search for the state!

But Take This Data With a Grain (or Circle) of Salt

While this information can give you an idea of where to go (or avoid) when considering your likelihood of encountering a ghost, it has some flaws that should be kept in mind.

Per this data, the five least haunted states include Minnesota, New York, California, New Jersey, and Florida. Notably, three of these states are also in the top five for population in the country. On the other hand, the above-listed “scariest” states include the five least-populated states in the country and are all in the bottom 50%.

This has a major impact on how we perceive the data, because all five categories are determined by comparing the number of sightings, locations, cemeteries, and searches to the states’ population. So while rural New Englanders might be more likely to have a spiritual encounter than those in New York and California, that doesn’t necessarily mean there are more ghosts—just that the ones that are present have fewer people to choose from when deciding who to haunt.