Top 5 scary cities in the U.S. for you Halloween travel consideration
By Brian Miller
Top 5 scariest cities in the United States for you Halloween travel consideration.
Halloween travel can be fun for some people, in fact, for many it is the one holiday they enjoy the most. So naturally, the spookier a city is, the happier they are.
On Tuesday, we talked about the ghostly chills you can get by going to Savannah, Georgia. I can honestly say that I have been there, in the daytime and it can be a little creepy with the sun shining in the middle of summer.
We are going to skip Savannah today and instead focus on five other places that can give you the creeps you seek this Halloween season but you better hurry, Halloween is only a couple of days away.
Charleston, SC
We don’t have to travel too far from Savannah to reach our first entry into this years crop of spooky cities. A trip that will take you about an hour and a half to two hours north will bring you to Charleston, SC.
Charleston has been dealing with reports of ghosts dating back some 200 years or more. The city was once a flourishing trade port during the days of pirates and it has been reported that nearly 700 pirates were hung in the port. They are still trying to get their revenge.
In the television series, Black Sails, we are introduced to some of what Charleston had to offer the pirates who were captured by the British. From voodoo rituals to a Native American history as well, Charleston has plenty to keep the hair on your arms standing up.
One of the “cooler” things to see, or is it feel? Many visitors have reported “cold” spots in the city during the middle of the summer and ghosts have appeared throughout the city both at night and during the day. Nothing screams haunting like a ghost on a sunny summer day standing underneath the Spanish moss.
New Orleans, La.
There may be a lot of fun to be had in New Orleans but there is also something about that city that simply scares the crap out of you and it doesn’t have to be at Halloween. If you are into all the supernatural, then New Orleans may be your place to go.
From haunting spirts that make their way through the above ground cemeteries to ghosts appearing out of nowhere, one of the biggest draws is the voodoo rituals that are still performed today by witches and witch doctors. There is no shortage of fortune tellers and it is pretty easy to get a curse laid down on someone.
New Orleans may be home to Mardi Gras but venture a bit outside of the city and really take in what makes this bayou city unnerving.
The city also is one of the few cities in America that can boast to possibly have vampires. New Orleans has plenty of haunted tours both walking and riding. With the cities history of strange murders and all of what was mentioned above, New Orleans has it all. Why wouldn’t they, they celebrate the dead in the party city.
San Francisco, California
Leave the city and head across the water to Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Alcatraz as we all know is one of the most famous prisons in the United States but it is also reportedly haunted.
From the sounds of music playing in the vast courtyard to voices echoing in the showers and jail cells, a nights stay on the island can be met with little sleep. Visitors to the island have reportedly seen ghosts but it is the clanging, singing, banjo sounds that fill the corridors that make it truly one of the creepiest places to visit.
Alcatraz was home to many famous criminals and murderers.
In the city, join a haunting tour that takes you through the cities darker history that includes murders, unsolved crimes, and yes, even vampires.
Portland, Oregon
Why not tkae a trip to the Pacific Northwest to the city of Portland. While now may not be the most ideal time to go given the current state in the city, Portland offers an interesting history of a hellish dark past thanks to the Shanghai Tunnels.
The Shanghai Tunnels had been used to keep cargo from the port dry but eventually they became a human trafficking trap. Cages littered the tunnels where men were forced into working on ships and women into prostitution. Drugs, alcohol, and more were ferried through the tunnels.
Today, the tunnels remain but stores and shops are built above them. A pizza joint located over one section of the tunnel reportedly has become a home for a ghost named Nina, a woman forced into prostitution that was thrown down an elevator shaft when she tried to report her captor.
Salem Massachusetts
Honestly, I have had several opportunities to visit Salem and while my wife wants to go so bad, I can’t bring myself to set foot in the town located north of Boston and south of Gloucester.
Yes, the Salem witch trials are a very popular history lesson in our countries early days of settling the East Coast. The Puritans who settled the north were very much afraid of their religion being tainted by the devil.
Salem offers many sites where the witch trials were held and on such place is now a playground but is said to be haunted at night. Of course it is, I would venture to guess everything is haunted in Salem.
The occult is alive and well in Salem and with satanic connections, the town is alive with enough spirits and hellish stories to keep you moving. Of course the draw still is the murdered men and women who were accused of being witches.