Everyone loves to feel alive, adrenaline coursing through their veins. Some prefer extreme sports while others are more likely to read a book or play a scary video game. Those who are adventurous enough but still like to travel and experience things in person, might want to travel to some really scary places and test their luck and fortitude. Haunted places, while unlikely to exist, can still scare people because ideas and thoughts are often scarier than reality. If you plan on traveling to the United States and are willing to expose yourself to fear and excitement, try visiting these places.
The Stanley Hotel – Colorado
Located in Estes Park, Colorado, the Stanley Hotel is a lovely building overlooking hills and woods. How can a lovely, Georgian hotel be scary? Well, if you’ve watched The Shining, a famous movie from 1980, starring Jack Nicholson, then you will most likely find yourself reliving some of the scenes when walking through the hotel. If you take a night walk through some of its hallways, you might even hear “Here’s Johnny”!
The Shanghai Tunnels – Oregon
Not all stories have to do with ghosts, but this one is considered a ghost story and a terrible history lesson. The Shanghai Tunnels are located in Portland, Oregon. During the early 19th century, it is said that pirates and swindlers waited for men in taverns and saloons to get drunk enough in order to push them through trapdoors into a network of tunnels. They would be overpowered and drugged and later sold as slaves or rather, unpaid labor. The term was called shanghaiing because the ships with slaves were most likely headed to eastern Asia.
Some say that while walking these tunnels, you can hear the ghosts of the men sentenced to slavery for no apparent reason, who died in the tunnels.
Eastern State Penitentiary – Philadelphia
The Eastern State Penitentiary was opened in 1839 and worked until 1971. It was the first of its kind to use solitary confinement. No windows, no human contact, gloomy and cold cells were all that the prisoners experienced. Some perished there, and it is said that the ghosts of prisoners who died there can often be seen traveling the prison, laughing and plotting. The penitentiary is a museum now, open to tourists. The fall season tour is extremely scary, though, so if you are feeling brave, contact your ghost curator and arrange a visit.
Trans-Allegheny Mental Asylum – West Virginia
There is nothing like a mental asylum which screams of haunted and scary. The Trans-Allegheny Mental Asylum was opened in 1864 and worked up until 1994 when it was closed due to various changes in mental health treatment as well as the building’s deteriorating state. What helps solidify the story is that over hundreds of patients died there, most of whom were treated inhumanely. There were simply too many patients for a building which was designed for a number 10 times smaller than that of the patients they housed. Most say you can hear the screams when you walk the crumbling halls, especially after dark.
William Kehoe’s House – Georgia
Located in Savannah, Georgia, William Kehoe’s house is now a bed and breakfast. It used to be the Kehoe family home, but tragedy struck. The mansion is said to be haunted by spirits of children, some of which died in a chimney, after getting stuck there while playing, others who also died under mysterious circumstances. They are said to touch and kiss you while you are sleeping.
The US is full of scary places to visit and stories which will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Where will you go next?
