What’s Halloween without scary stories to tell in the dark? Sure, you’ll want to watch (or rewatch) your favorite Halloween movies and see all the witches and vampires, but you’ll also need a dose of creepy in these 11 scary ghost stories from around the country (just as scary as one of these spooky ghost towns—field trip anyone?). They’re sure to add a thrilling scare to your Halloween season for everyone from teens to adults, and they are all a short read too.
Venture to St. Francisville, Louisiana, and you just might sight a ghost named Chloe on Myrtles Plantation. Head north to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where the Crescent Hotel is alleged to be haunted by ghosts, and then over to Abbeville, Alabama, for the haunting of Huggin’ Molly. Up on the East Coast in New York City, the Crying Lady has been reported to have been seen in The Dakota.
Get ready to read these scary stories or save them for after dark to read dramatically with dim lighting and some eerie music in the background for full effect. They’re sure to spook any friends and family you invite to listen—beware!
1 Sloss Furnaces | Birmingham, Alabama scary ghost stories sloss furnaceBuyenlarge//Getty Images Five years after the Civil War, Birmingham, Alabama, was founded. With its birth in 1871 came the need for tons of pig iron to fix the U.S.’s crumbling infrastructure, so Colonel James Withers Sloss began to build Sloss Furnaces. A year later, the company opened its doors to hundreds of employees, according to its official website. Jobs on blast furnaces were advanced but also dangerous, and many workers started falling to their deaths in the furnaces.
By the early 1900s conditions had worsened with a cruel foreman, James “Slag” Wormwood, who took dangerous risks to increase production, according to Reader’s Digest. During his tenure at Sloss, nearly 50 employees died on-site, and many others were involved in terrible accidents. Allegedly, his workers threw him into the furnace in retaliation in 1906.
Today you can still walk the grounds of Sloss Furnaces, if you dare. You may even hear Slag’s voice yelling, “Get back to work!” and witness other paranormal experiences.
2 The Crying Lady in the Dakota | New York, New York scary ghost stories new yorkGetty Images Since its opening in 1884, The Dakota apartment building has been home to many rich and famous residents of New York City. Among them were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who moved in in 1973. John was also assassinated outside the building in 1980. Before that fateful day on December 8, though, John said he say a “crying lady ghost” walking the halls, and afterward Yoko, who still resides there, claimed she saw John’s ghost sitting at his piano and that he said to her: “Don’t be afraid. I am still with you.”
3 The Bell Witch | Adams, Tennessee shabby house with moon and clouds aboveGetty If you’re a scary-movie lover, you might actually know about the Bell Witch. The films An American Haunting and The Blair Witch Project are both based on the story. Way back in the early 1800s, a man named John Bell moved his family to an area in Tennessee called Red River, which is now known as Adams, Tennessee. After they had settled in the new home, some peculiar things started happening. The Bell family began hearing some bizarre noises, including dogs barking, chains rattling, rats chewing, and a woman whispering. Soon, that woman became known as the Bell Witch, and many people believe she’s the ghost of a former neighbor of the Bell’s, Kate Batts. Batts and the Bells had a dispute over land, and she had sworn vengeance on the Bell family before she died. Later on, Bell died from poisoning, and it’s rumored to be the work of the Bell Witch.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below 4 The Ghosts of the Crescent Hotel | Eureka Springs, Arkansas historic crescent hotel exteriorGetty Spend the night in the haunted Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which opened in 1886. (During construction, a worker named Michael was killed, and his ghost reportedly still haunts room 218.) The hotel came under the ownership of known medical fraud Norman Baker in 1937, who fancied himself a doctor. He turned the hotel into the Baker Cancer Hospital, claiming to have the cure for the disease (he did not, obviously). Patients who died under his care were buried right in the hotel’s basement, which served as a makeshift morgue. He was arrested in 1940, but his patients’ spirits are said to still remain. Because the hotel is still open, guests often say they see apparitions and hear noises during their stays. SyFy’s Ghost Hunters even has footage of something moving on the basement