When most people think of a quest the first thing that comes to mind for most is the quest for the Holy Grail and the knights of the round table. Some minds might gravitate towards the wonderous, romantic adventures of the knight Galahad the Grail’s ideal hero and his adventures of traveling the lands search high and low for the grail. Others might think of a quest as a scavenger hunt game to be the first person or team to find all the items in a list. And some might think of a quest of a more mundane day to day chores list that they have to get done.
I prefer to think of a quest as an adventure that takes you to new and mysterious places to explore and learn about. Places where you will see the unexpected as well as places you didn’t know existed. Each place you explore you will meet fascinating people that have amazing stories to tell. Not all quest are equal in scope it might be you are on a quest to go see Niagara Falls, The Grand Canyon, The Golden Gate Bridge, or just a friend you have not seen in a very long time. Some quest might have a long list of locations you want to visit and one at a time you check them off while you are on a vacation, sometimes called the bucket list.
Some people seek out relaxation and other seek out thrill when putting a quest together, but have you ever thought of going on a quest to see the scariest places on earth? The planet is chalked full of places with unexplainable anomalies that go from the freaky to the right our scary. The USA is not immune from its share of haunted places that ghost roam the halls and try to scare the unexpecting visitors.
XploreGEO is daring you to come face to face with your fears and take the challenge of going on the XploreGEO quest to seek out the scariest places in America, if you dare. The follow list of 15 haunted places in the XploreGEO scariest places quest which are the scariest prisons, sanitariums, hotels, ghost town and homes that are known for being haunted.
You will find this quest and 100s of other quests in our new XploreGEO app coming early 2023.
Please join our XploreGEO Facebook group to vibe with use and get all the dets on the launch dates of the game/app.
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Let us know about haunted places you have visited in the comments below.
Waverly Hills Sanatorium - Louisville, KY
It opened in 1910 as a two-story hospital to accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients. In the early 1900s, Jefferson County was ravaged by an outbreak of tuberculosis – known as the “White Plague” – which prompted the construction of a new hospital. The hospital closed in 1961, due to the antibiotic drug streptomycin that lowered the need for such a hospital. There were original plans to turn the abandoned hospital into a hotel, but that is no longer the case.
As you can imagine with the brutality, and the number of deaths due to the plague being about one a day, there are many tormented souls that wonder the halls.
Winchester Mystery House - San Jose, CA
The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, that was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester. The house became a tourist attraction nine months after Winchester’s death in 1922.
But what remained is indeed a mystery. Even before her passing, rumors of a “mystery house” being built by an eccentric and wealthy woman swirled. Was she instructed to build this home by a psychic? Was she haunted by the ghosts of those felled by the “Gun that Won the West”? Did construction truly never stop? What motivated a well-educated socialite to cut herself off from the rest of the world and focus almost solely on building the world’s most beautiful, yet bizarre mansion?
The Devil's Tramping Grounds - Bear Creek, NC
The Devil’s Tramping Ground is a camping spot located in a forest near the Harper’s Crossroads area in Bear Creek, North Carolina. It has been the subject of persistent local legends and lore, which frequently allege that the Devil “tramps” and haunts a barren circle of ground in which nothing is supposed to grow.
perhaps the most popular legend about the strip of grass is that if one places anything in the center, no matter how heavy it is, when one comes back the next day, it’s been thrown back out overnight, so the Devil has room to dance, and people say they have witnessed red glowing eyes in the middle of the circle.
Try camping in the middle if you dare.
Robert the Doll Key - Key West, FL
The story of Robert the Doll dates back to the early 1900’s when a young boy named Eugene Robert Otto was given a one-of-a-kind handmade doll by a servant that worked for his parents in his home. Eugene, who everyone called Gene, named the doll Robert and quickly became attached to his new friend.
The home where Eugene lived, now called the Artist’s House, is located at 534 Eaton Street and was built between 1890 and 1898. It was here that Eugene was given Robert The Doll and where a friendship that lasted throughout his lifetime… and beyond was forged. While he seemed like an ordinary cloth doll, it wasn’t long before Robert was involved in strange and somewhat terrifying events. The first hint that something out of the ordinary was happening was one night when Gene, who was only ten years old, awoke to find Robert the Doll sitting at the end of his bed staring at him. Moments later his mother was awakened by his screams for help and the sounds of furniture being overturned in her son’s bedroom. Gene cried for help, begging his mother to rescue him. When she finally was able to wrench the locked door open, she saw poor Gene curled up in fear on his bed, his room in shambles and Robert The Doll sitting at the foot of the bed.
Crescent Hotel - Eureka Springs, AR
America’s most haunted hotel
Perched high above the Victorian Village of Eureka Springs, Arkansas is the 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, a palatial structure and landmark hotel known widely in the Ozark Mountains as the “symbol of hospitality” for the State of Arkansas and brought to life during the Holiday Season.
The most often sighted apparition is a red-haired Irish stonemason, who the staff has dubbed “Michael.” Allegedly, Michael was one of the original masons who worked on the hotel’s building in 1885. However, while working on the roof, he lost his balance, fell to the second-floor area, and was killed. This area now houses Room 218 of the hotel and is said to be the most haunted guestroom.
Eastern State Penitentiary - Philadelphia, PA
Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America’s most notorious lawbreakers, including “Slick Willie” Sutton and “Scarface” Al Capone.
The prison, which closed in 1971, is considered by several sources to be one of the most haunted places in America. It has been featured on the Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures and Most Haunted Live, Syfy’s Ghost Hunters and MTV’s Fear. Dozens of paranormal researchers visit every year and report that it’s a hub of otherworldly activity. Perhaps most convincingly, there are the stories of eerie experiences by visitors, staff, guards and inmates that have corroborated each other since the 1940s.
Emily's Bridge - Gold Brook Covered Bridge - Stowe, VT
Gold Brook Covered Bridge, also known as Stowe Hollow Bridge or Emily’s Bridge, is a small wooden covered bridge in the town of Stowe, Lamoille County, Vermont, carrying Covered Bridge Road over Gold Brook.
The Gold Brook Bridge in Stowe is popularly known as Emily’s Bridge and people come from all over because of supernatural activity that supposedly takes place there. The legend goes that there was a young woman sometime between 1849-1949 named Emily who was jilted by a lover, and so she then died at the site of this bridge and haunts it to this day. There are lights or people see apparitions or they hear sounds. The story seems to have sprung up in the late 1960s or early ’70s.
Hotel Monte Vista - Flagstaff, AZ
Towering above the corners of Aspen and San Francisco Streets, The Hotel Monte Vista stands just off historic Route 66 as a true touchstone for all of Flagstaff and her citizens. With the mountains and nearby canyon countries, Hotel Monte Vista was built in 1927 and is a centerpiece of the historic downtown district. It contains 73 rooms and suites on three floors. Many famous people have spent the night at the Hotel Monte Vista, including Hollywood actors and actresses: John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Anthony Hopkins, Esther Williams, and Barbara Stanwyck.
Room 305 has a longtime guest who checked in, but never checked out: An old woman who stayed in the hotel for years used to sit in a rocking chair by the window. After she died, the chair allegedly began moving by itself and staff has reported seeing the woman’s ghostly apparition sitting there.
John Wayne. He was staying in room 210 when he heard a knock at the door and a call of “room service.” When he opened the door, no one was there.
Wayne reported the ghost to staff on more than one occasion. Believed to be a phantom bellboy, he has also been spotted by staff roaming the halls.
- The ghost of a bank robber who died in the lounge is believed to greet guests and staff with a “Good morning!” from beyond the grave.
- Room 306 is said to be haunted by the spirits of prostitutes who were murdered and tossed to the street below.
- Room 220 is rumored to be the afterlife home of a person know as the Meat Man, a boarder from the 1980s who hung raw meat from his chandelier. Legend has it he died in the room and, after someone had cleaned it, a staffer walked in to find the sheets scattered and the TV on. The TV still acts of its own accord.
Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast - Fall River, MA
Lizzie Borden with an axe gave her mother forty wacks, when she saw what she had done gave her father forty one.
The Lizzie Borden House is notorious for being the home of Lizzie Borden and her family, and it is the location of the 1892 unsolved double murder of Lizzie’s father and stepmother Andrew and Abby Borden.[1] It is located on 230 Second Street in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts.
Stay the night, and take a huanted tour if you dare.
The Stanley Hotel - Estes Park, CO
REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM.
The Stanley Hotel is a 140-room Colonial Revival hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, United States, about five miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was built by Freelan Oscar Stanley, Co-founder of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, and opened on July 4, 1909, as a resort for upper-class Easterners and a health retreat for sufferers of pulmonary tuberculosis.
The Stanley Hotel inspired the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King‘s 1977 bestselling novel The Shining and its 1980 film adaptation, and was a filming location for the related 1997 TV miniseries.
The Overlook Hotel Stephen King created for The Shining may have been fictional, but his interpretations of horror’s most haunted hotel room was not. Room 217, as well as the Stanley Hotel’s reputation as a whole, continues to frighten, not just in the land of television, movies, and literature, but in the real world.
Queen Mary - Long Beach, CA
Housed in an iconic 1936 ocean liner moored at Long Beach, this ornate floating hotel is 26 miles from Downtown Los Angeles.
The Queen Mary, a ship that was converted into a hotel and permanently docked in Long Beach, California, is as stately as they come. But don’t let its lush appearance fool you; it also happens to be one of the most haunted hotels in America.
Just one story
Stateroom B340
This stateroom was a problem long before the Queen Mary opened as a hotel. In 1948, a British third-class passenger, Walter J. Adamson, passed away in the room, and the details of his death are unknown. Later, in 1966, a woman staying in the room reported that she was woken up when the bed covers were pulled off of her and she saw a man standing at the foot of her bed. She screamed and rang for the steward, but the man apparently vanished into thin air.
The Bell Witch Cave - Adams, TN
The Bell Witch Cave is a karst cave located in Adams, Tennessee, near where the Bell Farm once stood. The cave is approximately 490 feet (150 m) long. The cave is privately owned, and tours are given during the summer months and in October.
This cave has been associated with the haunting of the Bell Witch, a period during which the Bell family was allegedly haunted by an entity now referred to as the “Bell Witch.” The cave is located on property once owned by the Bell family. Many believe that when the witch departed the family, she fled to the sanctuary of this cave.
In the particular legend in which the cave is featured, young Betsy Bell and some of her friends had gone to explore the cave. While they were there, one of the boys crawled into a hole and became stuck. A voice cried out, “I’ll get him out!” The boy felt hands grasping his feet, and he was pulled out of the hole. The supposed entity (still invisible), then gave the young explorers a lecture on reckless cave exploring.
The Pfister Hotel - Milwaukee, WI
The Pfister Hotel is one of Milwaukee’s most historic and luxurious places to stay. It’s been around for nearly 130 years and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s also supposedly haunted.
The Pfister opened in 1893 and was known as the ‘Grand Hotel of the West.’ It’s decorated throughout with gold trim and grand chandeliers.
Its been reported, a wide range of paranormal activity at the Pfister Hotel including object manipulation, electrical anomalies, as well as the holy grail of paranormal phenomena, apparitions. Some have admitted to their experiences publicly and some have confided in others, who later leaked details to the press.
Rolling Hills Asylum, East Bethany, NY
18th-century carriage house turned paranormal research center, now offering ghost-hunting tours.
Established in 1827, the Genesee County Poor House (originally a working farm) soon became a refuge for some of society’s less fortunate. Widows and orphans mingled with the mentally ill and the unclaimed dead were buried on the property. With over 1,700 documented deaths and hundreds not recorded, it’s no wonder Haunted North America rated it as the second most haunted site in the United States.
St. Augustine's Lighthouse - St. Augustine, FL
The St. Augustine Light Station is a privately maintained aid to navigation and an active, working lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida.[2] The current lighthouse stands at the north end of Anastasia Island and was built between 1871 and 1874
The current lighthouse tower, original first-order Fresnel Lens and the Light Station grounds are owned by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Inc., a not-for-profit maritime museum. The museum is open to the public 360 days a year. Admission fees support continued preservation of the lighthouse and five other historic structures.
