Although we're about to check out of the Halloween season, it doesn't mean the time is over to check into some scary action. In fact, all across the country there are haunted houses (and hotels, and B&Bs) worth a visit for year-round paranormal tourism.
As a lover of ghost stories, and professional paranormal pop culture nerd, I am often on the hunt for haunts, with my tastes leaning more towards comfortable hotels with a ghosty rep and less creaky old drafty mansions. This used to be a more daunting task, when establishments were reluctant to embrace their spectral folklore for fear they might attract the wrong crowd, appear less reputable, or basically scare away guests.
Thankfully, things have changed in the past decade or so, with the popularity of paranormal reality TV, and successful movies like The Conjuring. Now ghost stories are a selling point for many locations, and with Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House, I would not anticipate a good haunted hot spot to have much difficulty filling its vacancy.
I currently have a running tally of more than 100 supposedly haunted hotels, and I've stayed at a large number of them. And many have become well known in the mainstream, and dubbed some of the "most haunted" destinations in America.
The Stanley Hotel, aka The Shining hotel, is a part of pop culture in its own right - and for good reason. Shown above, the Estes Park, Colo., location is luxurious and set in the scenic Rocky Mountains. Meanwhile, the RMS Queen Mary, moored at Long Beach, Calif., is an ocean liner that carried civilian passengers and then troops during World War II. Now it is a tourist attraction, party venue, and the focus of many ghost hunts.
But what of the less-famous locations, and how do you hunt down your haunts? To that end, I have a beginner's guide of 50 haunts for all 50 states (plus Washington D.C.). This is by no means a comprehensive list, but is just to kickstart a spooky stay. In my search, I relied on active listings using Booking.com's database, and tried to lean towards the lesser-known. Don't just take my suggestions, or only use these listings. Instead, begin your own ghost hotel hunt.