Five Of The Scariest American Haunted Places

It’s October, and we’re close to Halloween. Every year thousands of people make the trip to their favorite haunted house attractions. For a weekend adventure or a day trip, it’s a good time to get scared, but what about those places that have been known for scaring people for years? Let’s take a look at what kinds of places are known for their ghostly pasts and still send chills down our spines today.

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Like something from a classic horror movie, the insane asylum inspires fear and tension in us all. The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is infamous because it was home to many mental patients that died during the Civil War.

This takes the imagination down a dark road that includes the screams of soldiers crying in agony as they endured torturous and sadistic methods of trying to cure people who were mentally disturbed. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

If you’re in Virginia and have the time to go sightseeing, check out the asylum at 71 Asylum Dr. Weston, WV 26452.

Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa

On Sunday, June 9th, 2012 as the history goes, Josiah Moore and his wife Sara took their four kids Herman, Katherine, Boyd, and Paul to a children’s day service at the Presbyterian church. They had in tow, the Stillinger children, Lena and Ina, two kids that had wanted to spend the night with the Moore children.

Sometime after midnight, a killer, or killers picked obtained an Axe, entered the residence of Josiah and Sara Moore, and bludgeoned them all to death. It wasn’t until after around 7:30 am on the morning of June 10th, that an elderly woman living nearby, became worried that everything seemed quiet and deserted.

After visiting this one, it’s hard not to come away from it convinced that something happened there and something still is there, haunting the old house. It’s an easy-to-find sight in Southwestern Iowa and a lot of fun to spend the night if you dare.

It’s believed that ghosts are spirits holding on to this plane, because of unresolved business or something about their deaths being unsolved. The murder of an entire family and two children that were guests brings to mind thoughts of some fiend chopping up a man, his wife, and his kids.

You can find the murder house at 508 E 2nd, Villisca IA 50864

Ohio State Reformatory

Just the word reformatory brings to mind horror stories and invokes evil imagery of children being tortured until they’re scared straight. The history of abuses in places during the bygone eras is well-documented. Ohio State’s infamous Mansfield Reformatory is one of the most haunted places in the country.

It’s reported to feel as though it is covered in a layer of grime that will never be removable and past visitors claimed to see little ghosts and feel the cold and shrill feeling of the dead.

If you’re sightseeing in Ohio this Halloween, check it out at 100 Reformatory Rd, Mansfield, OH 44905.

The Stanley Hotel

If you’re looking for something famous, even notorious, this hotel is believed to be the place where Stephen King was spooked by something and inspired to write The Shining.

With appearances in The Shining and Doctor Sleep, even those that haven’t seen the movie but have visited report finding it hard to sleep. Creaky and strange sounds in the night praying on the imagination. If you’re in the mood for a big adventure and are going to Colorado, consider testing your fate.

333 E Wonderview Ave, Estes Park, CO 80417

Amityville House

One of the creepiest movies ever made is about the famed Amityville Horror House. The DeFeo family was the victim of a mass murder in 1974 while in the house. A year later, the Lutz family bought the home. After crazy experiences with the supernatural, the Lutz family left in under a month.

Their story became the inspiration for the 1977 book Amityville Horror, which chilled audiences on the big screen in 1979. If you haven’t seen the movie, or read the book, you should check them out and if you’re in New York, anywhere near Amityville, drive by and see what you might feel.