The Scariest Haunted Hiking Trails in the U.S.
Bloody Lane Trail, Maryland
This 1.5-mile trail in Antietam National Battlefield
was the site of one of the deadliest Civil War battles in 1862. As a
result, visitors report seeing ghostly soldiers both day and night. Many
soldiers are buried around Burnside’s Bridge, and phenomena include
witnessing balls of blue light, hearing drumming, gunfire and
battlefield songs and smelling gunpowder.
Chilnualna Falls Trail, California
Yosemite National Park
is home to some of the country’s most beautiful (and deadly) hiking
paths. The Mist Trail is more popular for its two gushing waterfalls,
but the Chilnualna Falls Trail
is more haunted (and boasts three waterfalls). The difficult 8.4-mile
loop passes Grouse Lake, where, according to Awahnechee tribal legend,
the cries of a young boy who drowned in the lake can still be heard, and
anyone who jumps into the lake looking for the boy will also drown.
Chilnualna Falls Trail, California
The
other American Indian legend awaits at the highest waterfall, where an
evil spirit named Pohono pushes those who get too close over the
240-foot edge. (It goes without saying, but never walk too close to the
edge of a waterfall in the first place for safety reasons.)
Long Path, New York
It’s not the easiest to find, but follow the Long Path to Thiells in Rockland County and it will eventually pass Letchworth Village Cemetery, a sprawling plot with hundreds of T-shaped markers instead of tombstones. The markers bear numbers, not names, and serves as the final resting place for residents of Letchworth Village, a nearby mental institution built in 1911 for the “epileptic and feeble-minded.” The asylum housed mostly children, who lived in overcrowded conditions and were subjected to clinical drug trials—most notoriously an experimental polio vaccine. Patients were also victims of abuse and extreme neglect, which was documented by ABC News in the ‘70s.
Long Path, New York
Letchworth
shut down in 1996 and has since fallen into ruin, although many
buildings, including the hospital wing, are still intact. Trespassing is
illegal, but Ghost Adventures was
able to film an episode here. The crew documented being pushed,
spotting an unexplained shadow, and hearing threatening voices, among
other eerie encounters.
Transept Trail, Utah
The three-mile Transept Trail
in the Grand Canyon’s North Rim is one of the best-known haunted paths,
since stories of the Wailing Woman are well documented by hikers. She’s
often seen at night wearing a white dress with blue flowers, bemoaning,
according to local lore, her husband and son who died in a hiking
accident.
Ghost House Trail, Tennessee
This
part of the remote Appalachians in Big Ridge State Park is known for a
witch hanging and a American Indian scalping. The former may or may not
have happened, but there’s a plaque commemorating the latter along
nearby Indian Rock Trail. However, the 1.2-mile Ghost House Trail is
even spookier and earned its name for the onetime house of the
Hutchinson family, where daughter Mary died of tuberculosis in the
1800s. Neighbors reported hearing cries and seeing ghosts in the house
even after the family no longer lived there. While Mary doesn’t show up
on the trail today, her dog does, and many people have reported hearing a
phantom dog running and panting
.
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Iron Goat Trail, Washington
The
Iron Goat Trail in Stevens Pass in the Cascades was the site of one of
the worst railroad accidents in U.S. history. In 1910 an avalanche
knocked two trains off the tracks while they were snowed in at the
Wellington depot, killing almost 100 people. After the accident the
Great Northern Railroad abandoned the tracks and built new routes and
tunnels. The abandoned tunnels and snow-sheds still exist on the trail,
and hikers share tales of hearing voices, screams and sounds around the
crash site of Tye Creek in the (now ghost town) of Wellington. However,
hikers aren’t allowed on the trail at night, and under no circumstances
should anyone enter the tunnels, which are all in danger of collapse—if
they haven’t already.
Violet City Lantern Tour and Heritage Walk, Kentucky
The Heritage Walk treks
to Old Guide Cemetery, now home to the patients who died in the cave,
as well as former slaves who served as cave guides in the 1800s, most
notably Stephen Bishop. Bishop is considered the best known guide due to
his extensive cavern knowledge and for discovering new sections. His
ghost is among the ones that are believed to haunt the underground
world, and stories of being grabbed or pushed are manifold, as are
plentiful accounts of spotting slave guide apparitions.
Violet City Lantern Tour and Heritage Walk, Kentucky
Mammoth Cave National Park offers numerous tours that touch upon its haunted past, including the three-mile Violet City Lantern
hike through some of the oldest parts of the cave. Be warned the tour
is a challenging one. Those up for it will discover a part of the cave
once used as a hospital for tuberculosis patients in the 1800s. Then
owner Dr. John Croghan believed in the cave’s healing powers, and built
11 huts for patients. Unfortunately, several patients died in the cave,
forcing Dr. Croghan to abandon the experiment. A few huts remain, along
with the Corpse Rock, a stone slab where bodies were temporarily placed
before being carried out of the caves. Guides and visitors have claimed
to hear ghostly coughing in that section.
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