SPOOKY BOX / HAUNTED PLACES
PLACES WITH
A REPUTATION.
Twelve of the most visited reportedly haunted places in the United States. Each page tells the history straight, says what visitors and television crews have reported, and explains how to visit and run your own session there.
The places
- Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Louisville, Kentucky: a tuberculosis hospital from 1910 to 1961, now open for tours and overnight investigations.
- Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, Weston, West Virginia: a state hospital from 1864 to 1994, with daytime history tours and night hunts.
- Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: the prison that pioneered solitary confinement, a museum since 1994.
- The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado: the 1909 hotel whose stay inspired a famous novel, with nightly tours.
- Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio: the 1896 prison used as a film set, open for tours and ghost hunts.
- Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California: the mansion Sarah Winchester kept building for decades.
- The Queen Mary, Long Beach, California: the 1936 ocean liner, a hotel and museum since 1971.
- Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa: the house where eight people were killed in 1912, kept as it was.
- Lizzie Borden House, Fall River, Massachusetts: the scene of the 1892 murders, now a museum and inn.
- Bobby Mackey's Music World, Wilder, Kentucky: the country music club whose old building, once a slaughterhouse, came down in 2024; a new one is planned on the same spot.
- Alcatraz, San Francisco, California: the island prison, a national park site with day and night tours.
- The Sallie House, Atchison, Kansas: a small house that became known in the 1990s and can be rented overnight.
How the pages are written
Each page draws on public sources: the venue's own site, local newspapers, historical societies and encyclopedias, listed at the end of the page. The television shows that filmed at a place are named as a matter of record, with the season or year, and nothing more. Where a place is the scene of real deaths, the history is told plainly and without relish.
Accounts of hauntings are folklore and entertainment. The pages keep the documented history and the reports apart, so that you can read either on its own terms.
Taking Spooky Box along
Spooky Box reads your phone's sensors and speaks a word when they shift, with the reason shown under it. On a tour or an investigation night, set the phone down on something still, start a session, and let it learn the room for five seconds. Record the session as audio or as video with the words on screen, and replay it from any word afterwards. The guide to taking a phone on a ghost hunt explains what the sensors can and cannot measure.
Questions
Can I visit these places?
Yes. Every place on this list is open to the public in some form: daytime tours, overnight stays, or paid investigation nights. Each page says what is offered and links to the venue's own site, where hours and tickets change from season to season.
Why does the site say these places are reportedly haunted?
Because the accounts are folklore and entertainment, not verified events. Each page tells the place's documented history straight, then describes what visitors and crews have reported, and keeps the two apart. The pages are written from public sources, which are listed at the end of each one.
How do I use Spooky Box at one of them?
Book the visit first; most of these places only allow phones and recording on a tour or an investigation night. Then set the phone down somewhere still, start a session, and let it learn the room for five seconds. Words arrive when the phone's sensors shift, each with its reason, and you can record the whole session as audio or video to replay afterwards.
Spooky Box is paranormal entertainment. It uses device sensor activity and a word engine to create atmospheric sessions. Generated words and sensor readings do not establish the presence of spirits or verified communication.