3. ARIZONA
The Flagstaff Hotel in Arizona.
Marine 69-71, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY SA 4.0
The Hotel Monte Vista in Flagstaff, opened along Route 66 in 1927, often lodged the casts of western films shot in nearby Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon—and reportedly houses a whole host of ghostly guests. In fact, John Wayne reported one of the hotel’s first ghost sightings in the late 1950s. Ever since, guests and staff have reported dozens of spirits stalking the halls, including a phantom bellboy who knocks on doors and disappears, the eccentric specter of a boarder who liked to hang raw meat from the chandelier, and a ’70s bank robber who succumbed to his gunshot wound over a celebratory post-heist drink at the hotel bar.
4. ARKANSAS
A portrait of Union General Frederick Steele.
Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain
During the Civil War, Union General Frederick Steele (above) commandeered the home of a mailman named John Chidester to use as his headquarters during the battle of Poison Spring. Chidester had been accused of espionage for turning over Union mail to Confederate troops. To this day, bullet holes remain in an upstairs wall of Chidester’s house, where Union soldiers fired at random, hoping to hit the alleged spy as he hid in a small closet. Paranormal investigators say his spirit remains, too, turning up in photographs and shouting “Get out!” to unwanted visitors. The home, which stands as a museum today, is open for tours so that you can see for yourself.
5. CALIFORNIA
An arial view of California's Alcatraz from the 1930s.
OFF/AFP/Getty Images
Alcatraz was the site of reputed hauntings long before hosting the famous prison (Native American spirits reportedly roamed it then and now), but today one of the most famous stories is of a prisoner from cell 14D. The story goes that the prisoner spent the night in solitary confinement, screaming that a creature with glowing eyes was trying to kill him and pleading for help. The guards ignored him, but the next morning, they found the prisoner strangled to death—with strange wounds doctors said could not have been self-inflicted.
