The places listed below are not haunted houses or attractions setup for the holiday. They are the "real" thing. The kind of place that makes one shiver and turn a light on in the dark. The kind of place that gives some nightmares for weeks to come. And definitely some of the greatest places to visit to get into the Halloween spirit!
History of Halloween
Halloween or All Hallows' Eve as it was originally known, first started out as an ancient Celtic Festival (known as Samhain). This festival celebrated the end of the harvest season and The Celts slaughtered livestock to get them through the winter.
They believed that on this day, October 31st, that the boundary between the living and the dead dissolved and that the dead could cause sickness and damage crops. They would build bonfires with animal bones to ward off evil spirits and dress in costumes to call upon their "deities" to bring protection to them and their crops.
Witches in Salem, Massachusetts
A little known fact is that the real town in which the famous witch trials of 1692 were held is actually Danvers, MA which is just a few miles down the road from what is now called Salem. Danvers split away from Salem in 1752. So steer clear of the marketing hype of Salem and head over to Danvers for some real ghosts.
It's reported that several ghostly images have been seen both at night and during the day in the Nurse family graveyard at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Rebecca Nurse was a frail, 71-year-old, bed-ridden woman that was accused of being a witch and was sent to the gallows. The graveyard in Danvers is where it's believed that her children re-buried Rebecca's body after taking it from Gallows Hill in Salem after her execution.
The Myrtles Plantation, St. Francisville, Lousiana
Considered one of America's "Most Haunted Homes, there are many reasons why the Myrtles Plantation is haunted. Most say it started with David Bradford who bought the land and started building a house in the late 1700s. While building the house, it was discovered that the land was actually an old Native American burial site. Bradford started an affair with one of the house slaves named Chloe who fed a poisoned cake to his wife and children. The other slaves, who feared that they too would be held accountable for the murders, lynched Chloe to death.
Other subsequent owners of the plantation suffered diseases, children dying at a young age and murder. Today the plantation offers visitors a chance to stay the night and many report seeing furniture moving on it's own, odd things appearing in photos, jewelry disappearing and then reappearing in the bed and strange noises on the staircases.
Winchester House, San Jose, California
Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune began building the Winchester House in 1884. Sarah had lost both a child and a husband and she believed (she was told by a medium) that she carried a terrible curse due to the weapons her family had created and that the spirits were mad at her. She continued building the house until her death thirty eight years later. She had stairs built that would lead to nowhere, chimneys that stopped short of the roof, doors that opened to steep drops and the number 13 was used in many things throughout the house. She believed that in this way she could control the evil spirits.
There have been many reports of ghosts by visitors and employees alike. There have been reports of cold spots, doorknobs that turn by themselves, windows banging so hard that they shatter and mysterious voices. The house is considered a California Historical Landmark and has been open to the public since the early 1970s. Many psychics have visited the house and most have had their own eerie experiences to tell.
Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Eastern State Penitentiary was built in 1829. It was built as a solitary prison, meaning prisoners were kept in solitary confinement. They never saw or heard another prisoner for their entire stay. They were confined to windowless cells and each cell even had it's own exercise yard surrounded by thick brick walls. They were to remain quiet at all times and the guards even wore socks over their shoes so they wouldn't be heard walking the hallways.
As a result of their solitude, most of the inmates went insane. The method of solitary confinement was considered a failure in the 1870s as it was too expensive to manage and didn't show any results. The prison was turned into a regular prison and remained that way until 1971 when it was shut down due to overcrowding and crumbling walls.
Ghost tales began several year before the shut down though when one of it's famous residents, Al Capone began to be haunted by the ghost of James Clark, one of the victim's of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Al would be heard begging for Jimmy to leave him in peace. Other inmates reported eerie wails, dark shadows and hearing footsteps in the corridors after the last guard had made their rounds.
The Penitentiary is now a National Historic Landmark and is a tourist attraction. It also still attracts dozens of teams of paranormal investigators carefully studying the building and logging their own eerie experiences.
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