The hotel that scared Stephen King so badly it inspired The Shining. Built in 1909 and never short on documented activity, the Stanley has been investigated by every major paranormal show on television. Room 217 is the most famous, but the fourth-floor corridor, the staircase “Vortex,” and the concert hall—where Flora Stanley is still heard playing piano after midnight—are all on our checklist. Ghost Adventure packages are available. This one’s non-negotiable.

A 512-acre property in northeastern Utah described as the most scientifically studied paranormal hotspot on Earth. UFO sightings, cattle mutilations, electromagnetic anomalies, shapeshifting creatures, and over 200 years of documented unexplained activity across the entire Uintah Basin. Featured on History Channel’s The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. We may not be able to get onto the property itself—but we’re going to the basin. Reid’s been asking. We’re going.

The second-largest hand-cut masonry building in the world—and one of the most haunted. Designed for 250 patients, it was packing in 2,400 by its peak. Open as a hospital from 1864 to 1994, it holds 130 years of suffering in its stone walls. Eight confirmed resident spirits including Lily, a little girl born and died in the asylum; Ruth, an aggressive elder who hates men; and a dead nurse named Elizabeth still doing her rounds. Overnight ghost hunts run from 9pm to 5am. We want the full eight hours.

America’s unofficial capital of the supernatural, and the site of the 1692 Witch Trials that executed 19 innocent people and left a psychic wound on the town that has never fully healed. The Witch House, Old Burying Point Cemetery, the House of Seven Gables, the Hawthorne Hotel—every cobblestone has a story. Ghost tours run nightly year-round, and October is pure madness. Even George Washington reportedly fled after feeling something here in 1789.

Where American folklore was born. The Old Dutch Church has stood since 1685, and Washington Irving—buried in the cemetery next door—used this real village as the setting for the Headless Horseman. The ghost is said to be a Hessian soldier decapitated by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War, still riding at night in search of his head. Lantern cemetery tours, haunted hayrides, and over 7,000 hand-carved pumpkins in October. The whole town leans into it, and we are here for every bit of it.

The most famous classified military installation on Earth—one the U.S. government didn’t officially acknowledge until 2013. You can’t get past the gate, but you can drive Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway (State Route 375), stop at the legendary Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel, and stare at the restricted airspace where more UFO sightings are reported than anywhere else in the country. Decades of experimental aircraft, government secrecy, and whistleblower accounts make this a paranormal bucket list staple whether you believe in extraterrestrials or not.

One of the best-preserved Wild West towns in America and arguably the most haunted city in Nevada. Built on the Comstock Lode silver rush, Virginia City saw fortunes made, miners killed, fires that burned half the town, and enough violent deaths to keep its spirits restless for centuries. The Washoe Club—featured on Ghost Adventures multiple times—offers daily tours and overnight investigations. The Mackay Mansion, Silver Queen Hotel, Gold Hill Hotel, and Piper’s Opera House round out a town where practically every building has its own ghost. Mark Twain got his start here. The spirits never left.