This Is The Most Haunted Town In America
If you're looking to spend a long holiday weekend in the throes of supernaturally induced panic attacks as legions of the restless dead close in around you, then finding the most paranormal place possible is of paramount importance. You're not an armchair thrillseeker — rather than listen to Haley Joel Osment's classic "I see dead people" line in The Sixth Sense, you'd prefer to sightsee dead people with your sixpence.
But where do you go to find specters, phantasms, poltergeists, and possibly Golden Girls reunions? And more importantly, does Expedia offer deals that bundle a hotel, airfare, and communing with the great beyond?
We can't answer that last question, but we can point you in the right direction for a family road trip best described as... spirited.
Of course the most haunted town in America is in the midwest
The title of "Most Haunted Town in America" goes to Alton, Illinois. Also affectionately known as "one of the places you drive through to get from Missouri to Chicago," Alton has a storied history of reported paranormal experiences, along with the distinction of being the birthplace of jazz legend Miles Davis and the tallest man to have ever lived. With several different areas of suspected ghost-hauntery, there's something strange in just about any of the neighborhoods in this midwest town of 27,000 people (not counting the dead ones.)
Why Alton, though? It might have to do with former Confederate POW camp where over 1300 died in squalid conditions, but there's plenty more creepiness where that came from.
There's the McPike Mansion which, according to the city's tourism website, was a possible stop for the Underground Railroad, where folks have claimed to see "orbs, balls of light, even figures of people in the background of pictures taken at the mansion." There's the First Unitarian Church, or perhaps more appropriately the Third Unitarian Church, since the building has burned to the ground twice since its construction in 1830. Here, a reverend was said to have hanged himself, and since then, all manner of monster mashing has caught on in a flash: doors opening and closing on their own, the piano playing itself, and so on. There's even a haunted school, purportedly frequented by a little girl found there "battered in blood."
So there you have it. Alton, Illinois: stop in and pick up some night terrors.