The Collins Lane House

There's an interesting article at Phantoms and Monsters on the efforts to preserve a wildly-active haunted house in South Jersey.

"The Maple Shade nonprofit organization staked out the house and nearby silo twice in recent months after being solicited by the Maple Shade Historical Society. What they produced at the meeting were images of orbs floating in rooms and sounds of someone — or something — whispering.

“We caught a lot of stuff that blew our minds,” Pensyl said. “This is definitely an intelligent haunt.”

Admittedly creeped out but not afraid, Pensyl and his team also discovered a pentagram in the silo they believe was used, and still may be used, to summon demons, not ghosts."


Read the full article, and then start planning that ghost tour!

Island of the Dolls, Mexico

One of the creepiest things I've ever seen is Mexico's Island of the Dolls (La Isla de la Munecas). I had never heard of the place before seeing a piece about the Island on the SyFy Channel's Destination Truth. The trees on the Island are decorated with disturbing, mutilated dolls that seem to watch your every move. An old hermit by the name of Don Julian Santana placed the dolls around the Island as a shrine for a ghostly child that haunted him.

If you want an extremely scary ghost tour, then your haunted travels should take you to the Island of the Dolls.

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA

If you're a fan of ghost tours and haunted travel but you've never been to the Winchester Mystery House, you should remedy that as soon as possible.

Convinced that she was being haunted by the ghosts of all those who died on the blazing business end of her husband's famous rifles, Sarah Winchester visited a medium, who instructed her to build a great house for the spirits, and told her that as long as construction never ceased, Sarah's life would not be in danger. As a result, the Mystery House features bizarre rooms, secret passages, staircases to nowhere, and many other construction oddities. Visit the official website and plan your ghost tour today!

Haunted Churches

I'd bet that pretty much any town in America has a church that's rumored to be haunted. One great way to conduct your own ghost tour is simply to drive across the country, stopping in small towns and striking up conversations with the locals. Most folks are happy to talk about local legends and hauntings, plus you get a great road trip out of it.

Ghosts of Chicago

As you might imagine, Chicago -- with its history of gangsters and violence -- is rife with exciting opportunities for haunted travelers. Chicago Hauntings Tours offers some exciting ghost tour packages, where you'l learn about spooky subjects such as Resurrection Mary, The Limestone Ghosts, and serial murderer H.H. Holmes and his Murder Castle. Visit the website for more information.

More Ghost Photos

I've been spending some late nights surfing the Internet, checking out photos of ghosts. Like I've said before, it's pretty easy to fake a ghost image these days so you have to look at everything with a skeptical eye. Still, though, if you're about to embark on a ghost tour or go explore a haunted house, it's fun to get yourself in the mood with some spooky ghost pictures.

Houses of the Unholy

Come on, admit it. You know you've been driving along on your haunted travels and spotted a creepy, ramshackle old house in the middle of nowhere... And you pulled over, in the dark, and desperately wanted to conduct your own private ghost tour of that abandoned house...

But you were too scared.

Admit it.

Haunted Roswell, NM

Roswell New Mexico is famous worldwide as the legendary site of a flying saucer crash back in the 40s. However, Roswell also has her share of ghost stories, and while I'm not sure if any tours are offered of the haunted locations, you might want to add this small town to your list of haunted places to travel to.

For instance, there's the Chaves County Courthouse, where the voices of small children can be heard from the basement at all hours of the day and night. Or the New Mexico Military Institute, where the ghostly faces of boys who lost their lives in battle with Indians during the 1800s can be seen peering down from the stone tower. And creepiest of all are the pecan fields, where a legless boy weeps for eternity...

Wisconsin Dells Ghost Tour

A friend of mine who was born and raised in Wisconsin has told me many ghost stories associated with the state. And of course Wisconsin was home to Ed Gein, the inspiration for Psycho and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One interesting ghost tour is the Wisconsin Dells Ghost Tour, on which you'll visit haunted places, unmarked burial grounds, and other spooky locations. Tours run through October so make your plans now.

All New Ghost Hunters Episode

Here's a clip from "Uninvited Guests," the next episode of Ghost Hunters on the SyFy Channel.

Ghosts of Hawaii

If you're planning a trip to Hawaii, there's no reason you can't enjoy a little haunted action on your travels. With its incredible history, there are plenty of ghost stories and hauntings on the islands, and Oahu Ghost Tours offers several packages that will keep your hair standing on end. There are walking tours of Honolulu, the "Orbs of Oahu" ghost tour that includes a visit to the very haunted site of Morgan's Corner, and the "Sacred Spirits" tour, which will take you the most sacred Native Hawaiian spots on Oahu. Check out the Oahu Ghost Tours websites for some spooky photos, too.

Casablanca Inn, St Augustine

Florida is knee-deep in hauntings, and there are some great ghost tours you can take on your haunted travels. Ghost Tours of St. Augustine offers some spooky tours any fan of ghostly goings-on would enjoy, including a visit to the Casablanca Inn.

This fabulous old hotel is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of the original innkeeper, a woman who kept her guests supplied with illegal rum during prohibition. Sounds like a good place to spend a couple nights, to me.

Ghost Photos

Nowadays it's easier than ever to fake a ghost photo, so I try to take everything out there on the Internet with a grain of salt. That said, though, I still enjoy looking at ghost photos before I head out on a ghost tour, just to get myself in the mood for some spooky haunting action.

The Haunting Next Door

Chances are, you won't have to go very far to enjoy some haunted travels or find some kind of a ghost tour.  Sometimes all you have to do is ask local kids what the creepiest house in the neighborhood is. I think every city and town across the US has some kind of haunted house in it. When I was a kid, there was an old house near the university, shrouded by trees, and no one was brave enough to go inside -- especially after dark. 

On night, my teenage babysitter and her friends decided to check the place out, and they took me along. We parked on the street and stared up at the house... and a human figure moved past an upstairs window. We got outta there fast.

It's easy to find local hauntings and ghost tours on the Internet, check around and see what's spooky in your neighborhood.

Night of Fear

I enjoy lying in bed at night with my MacBook, surfing the Internet for stories on ghost tours, hauntings, and spooky stuff in general. Sometimes, though, I suffer the after-effects of not being able to sleep thanks to those infamous things that go bump in the night. It doesn't help that our house is supposedly haunted, although I've never experienced anything out of the ordinary.

Does reading about ghost tours ever keep you awake at night?

Haunted Mental Hospital, Albuquerque

If you happen through Albuquerque, NM, on your ghost tour, there's an abandoned mental hospital in the north valley that's rumored to be haunted by the tortured souls of its former patients. It's the complex of buildings shaped like a "P" in this satellite photo from Google maps.

The caretakers of the property don't take kindly to ghost hunters, but some fearless folks have managed to sneak in and get some photos -- you can see a great slideshow right here. The place has an interesting history -- apparently it was a stagecoach stop back in the 1800s, then became a tuberculosis hospital before being converted into a mental hospital. I have some friends who stopped in there for a yard sale (!) just before it was shut down completely back in the late '90s or thereabouts, and they said it was unnaturally cold inside and extremely creepy. There are crazy rumors of a mad doctor performing twisted experiments on his patients and of a black shape that roams the buildings.

We here at Scary Haunted Travel Guide don't condone trespassing, we only report on the haunted sites.

Haunted Los Angeles

There are many ghost tours fans of haunted travel can enjoy in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. One such ghost tour is offered by Dearly Departed Tours, which takes ghost hunters on trips ranging from horror movie locations to crime scenes, including options like the Helter Skelter tour, the Tragical History tour, and Nasty Nellie's Hollywood tour, hosted by Alison Arngrim from Little House on the Prairie.

I lived in Los Angeles for awhile and there's definitely a lot of spooky history there.

La Posada de Albuquerque

A ghost tour can be a great vacation, but staying in a haunted hotel is even better. La Posada de Albuquerque is a famous haunted hotel, built by Conrad Hilton back in 1939. The hotel has long serviced downtown Albuquerque, NM and the nearby railroad, so you can imagine the sort of events that may have occurred there.

Most of the ghosts are reported between the 4th floor and the 7th floor, so book your room accordingly. Watch for a 1940s-era female apparition wearing a hat and dress, as well as a ghostly old woman. Both of these specters are said to haunt the 7th floor. The 2nd floor ballroom is said to be haunted, as well. Most of the ghostly activity is reported in the late afternoon and evening. Dinner and a ghost, anyone?