Opened in 1896, the Ohio State Reformatory is famous for its Gothic facade and ominous six-story cell block. But its greatest claim to fame is when it served as the filming location for The Shawshank Redemption, though the prison was shrouded in terror long before Red and Andy holed up there. The reformatory closed in 1990…
With its 16 floors, 1,000+ rooms, and Gothic facade, the Masonic Temple is one of the most imposing additions to Detroit‘s skyline. According to rumors, there’s also more to it than meets the eye, like hidden passageways and staircases. The most famous urban myth associated with the Temple, however, is that of its architect, George D….
Without a doubt, the most famous haunted bed and breakfast in New England is the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River. For those unfamiliar with the story (or the macabre jump-rope rhyme), police accused Borden of brutally killing her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892; she was acquitted of the murders later that year. At…
The castle-like Eastern State Penitentiary took solitary confinement to new levels when it was built in 1829. Prisoners lived alone, exercised alone, and ate alone; when an inmate left his cell, a guard would cover his head with a hood so he couldn’t see or be seen. The prison had to abandon its solitary system…
Alabama’s first capital and famous ghost town takes its name from the state’s longest river, situated at the confluence of the Cahaba and the Alabama. It was abandoned after the Civil War, and its empty buildings, slave burial ground, and eerie cemeteries are now popular settings for ghost tours and stories of paranormal activity. The most famous tale is…
Those of you who remember the ’90s will recognize this cemetery as the one featured in the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Like the book, the Savannah cemetery itself has a Southern Gothic atmosphere, with Spanish moss giving shade to time-worn Victorian monuments. There are many notable figures buried here, like singer Johnny Mercer…
Once home to 10,000 people, Bodie boomed in the 1870s and ’80s, when gold was found in the hills surrounding Mono Lake. It’s now a State Historic Park, with some parts of the town preserved in a state of “arrested decay”—tables with place settings, and shops eerily stocked with supplies. It’s not surprising that there are…
The most famous of cemeteries in Arizona, and one of the most notorious in America, is Tombstone’s Boothill Graveyard. Established in 1878 with the whirlwind formation of the surrounding boomtown, it provided the city’s deceased with a final resting place for only six years before it was replaced by the current cemetery. Yet, it acquired…
Parkersburg, West Virginia is home to The Weeping Woman, a graveyard statue that is the focal point of dozens of local legends. The following are a few of the letters we’ve received detailing this impressive statue’s fantastic tales. In Parkersburg, West Virginia there is the legend of the statue of “The Weeping Woman.” The statue…
