Most Haunted House in America: 10 You Can Tour in 2026

Do not index

The most haunted house in America has no official winner, but the Whaley House in San Diego claims the title loudest. It markets itself as "America's Most Haunted House®," with a registered trademark on the phrase.

A trademark is branding, not proof, and nobody can measure a haunting. The Myrtles in Louisiana, the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis and the Villisca Axe Murder House in Iowa all have their own claim to the title, and their own loyal believers.

So instead of crowning one, this guide covers 10 reportedly haunted historic houses you can tour this year. For each one you get the legend, what history actually supports, how to visit in 2026, and a built haunted attraction nearby if you want a scare that is designed to make you scream.

Planning a whole October of frights? Browse haunted houses near you on Morty.

How we picked these houses

Every house here is a real historic home with a documented past, a long-running ghost story, and tours open to the public in 2026. We checked each one against its official website in October 2026. Morty ratings below are as of October 8, 2026.

We report the legends as legends. Where historians have pushed back on a famous story, we say so, because the real history is often stranger than the ghost tour version.

The 10 houses at a glance

House	Where	By day	After dark	Stay overnight?
Whaley House	San Diego, CA	Daily tours from $15	Evening tours from $20	No
Winchester Mystery House	San Jose, CA	65-min Mansion Tour	Festival Fright Nights in fall	No
Lemp Mansion	St. Louis, MO	Restaurant and museum	$44 ghost tour or ghost hunt	Yes, inn rooms
McPike Mansion	Alton, IL	Grounds only	October weekend tours, $20 donation	No
Villisca Axe Murder House	Villisca, IA	House and cemetery tours	Private tours	Yes, whole house or rooms
Sallie House	Atchison, KS	$20 self-guided tour	Overnight investigations	Yes
The Myrtles	St. Francisville, LA	Guided and self-guided tours	Mystery tours nightly	Yes, inn rooms
Sorrel-Weed House	Savannah, GA	$14 architecture tour	$35 ghost tour, ages 10+	No
Lizzie Borden House	Fall River, MA	90-min house tour	Ghost walks, basement hunts	Yes, inn rooms
Jennie Wade House	Gettysburg, PA	$16 museum tour, no ghost talk	Spirits of Jennie Wade tour	No

The West Coast contenders

1. Whaley House, San Diego, California

Thomas Whaley began building this Greek Revival house in 1856, on land where a man named James "Yankee Jim" Robinson had been hanged for grand larceny on September 18, 1852. Whaley himself wrote in his journal in 1860 about hearing footsteps upstairs, which he blamed on Yankee Jim.

The family's run of tragedy added more stories. Their daughter Violet died by suicide in the house in 1885, and staff and visitors still report footsteps on the stairs and figures at the windows.

How to visit: The house at 2476 San Diego Ave in Old Town is open daily, with daytime tours from 10 am to 4:30 pm. Day tours start at $15, evening tours at $20, and paranormal investigations at $109, per the official Whaley House site.

Tip: Book the evening tour if you want the ghost stories. Daytime is better if you care more about the courthouse and theater history the house also holds.

A clown scare actor at Howl-O-Scream, SeaWorld San Diego

Nearby on Morty: The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park is about 3 miles away and is rated Mostly Positive on Morty. Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld San Diego runs select nights through October 31. More options are on the San Diego haunted houses page.

2. Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California

Sarah Winchester, widow of the rifle maker's son, kept building this mansion for decades, starting in the 1880s. It ended up with 160 rooms, stairs that run into ceilings, and doors that open onto nothing.

The famous legend says a medium told her to build nonstop to confuse the ghosts of people killed by Winchester rifles. Historians dispute it. The medium story was published only after her death in 1922, and her staff said there was no record of séances in the house.

Many of the odd features came from damage in the 1906 earthquake.

The Winchester Mystery House mansion in San Jose, with its red roofs and turrets

How to visit: The guided Mansion Tour covers 110 of the 160 rooms and lasts about 65 minutes, with basement or attic add-ons. Book on the official Winchester Mystery House site. This fall, Festival Fright Nights adds haunted houses inside the mansion across four zones and 13 attractions.

On Morty: The Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour is listed on Morty, rated Mostly Positive.

The Midwest's haunted houses

3. Lemp Mansion, St. Louis, Missouri

The Lemp family built a beer empire in St. Louis, then lost several members to suicide between 1904 and 1949. Charles Lemp shot himself inside the mansion in 1949, and the house is said to be haunted by members of the family.

The Atlantic Paranormal Society investigated it for Ghost Hunters in 2010.

Today the mansion is a restaurant and inn, which means you can eat dinner and sleep where the stories happen.

How to visit: The Spirits with the Spirits Ghost Tour is $44 per person on Wednesday nights and runs about 90 minutes. The Lemp Experience ghost hunt is also $44 and runs about an hour, per the Lemp Mansion tour page. The mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place.

Tip: On Lemp Experience nights, overnight rooms are discounted to as low as $180 plus tax for two people, so you can stay after the hunt.

Zombie doctors in a scene at Creepyworld near St. Louis

Nearby on Morty: The Darkness is about 2 miles away near Soulard Market and is rated Very Positive on Morty. Its sister park Creepyworld opened for the 2026 season on September 25. See more on the Missouri haunted houses page.

4. McPike Mansion, Alton, Illinois

The McPike Mansion stands atop Mount Lookout Park, the highest point in Alton, a river town just north of St. Louis. Nobody has lived in it since the 1950s, and weather and vandals did heavy damage before the current owners began restoring it.

The owners bill the tour's cellar session as time with "Henry McPike and the resident spirits." Walk-up visitors can see the grounds, but only ticketed tours go inside.

How to visit: October weekend tours start at 7:30 pm and last about 90 minutes, with a minimum donation of $20 for adults. Each tour includes the history and gift shop on the first floor, dowsing rods on the grounds and a dark session in the cellar. The official page limits each tour to 40 people and some October 2026 dates have sold out, so check the McPike Mansion tour page before you drive.

Tip: Pair it with the Lemp Mansion and The Darkness for a full St. Louis haunted weekend.

5. Villisca Axe Murder House, Villisca, Iowa

On the night of June 9 to 10, 1912, someone killed eight people in this small house: Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two young girls staying over. The murders were never solved.

The house was restored in the 1990s to look as it did in 1912. The house's own site says visitors over the last 20-plus years have reported "all manner of unexplainable phenomena."

Go for the true-crime history, which is chilling on its own.

How to visit: The house is at 508 E 2nd St. It offers daytime tours, a cemetery tour and overnight stays through the official Villisca Axe Murder House site. Private guided tours for up to ten people are $300.

Tip: Villisca is a small town in southwest Iowa, so plan for a road trip and book overnight stays well ahead for October.

6. Sallie House, Atchison, Kansas

The legend says a young girl named Sallie died here during emergency surgery by a doctor who lived in the house. Later residents and visitors, mostly men, reported being scratched. The house has since appeared on Sightings, Ghost Adventures and Buzzfeed Unsolved.

No record supports the story of a child dying in surgery there, so treat the core tale as legend.

How to visit: The house at 508 N 2nd St offers a 1-hour self-guided day tour for $20 per person, booked through Visit Atchison. Visit Atchison also lists overnight stays.

The glowing entrance sign of The Beast haunted house in Kansas City at night

Nearby on Morty: The Beast in Kansas City's West Bottoms is about an hour's drive away and is rated Mostly Positive on Morty. This year it opens on October weekends, so check its calendar before you go. Browse the Kansas City haunted houses page for more.

Haunted houses in the South

7. The Myrtles, St. Francisville, Louisiana

David Bradford built the Myrtles in 1796, and enslaved people worked the property in its early years. It now runs as an inn and calls itself "one of America's most haunted homes."

The best-known legend is about an enslaved woman named Chloe who supposedly poisoned members of the Woodruff family. Historians have found no record of a Chloe, and the Woodruffs died of yellow fever. The only verified murder was William Winter, shot on the front porch in 1871.

How to visit: The house is at 7747 US Highway 61. It runs guided day tours, self-guided tours, Evening Mystery Tours seven nights a week, and private evening tours Sunday to Thursday at 8 pm. Book on the Myrtles tour page.

Tip: Take the day tour too. The evening tours focus on the folklore and ghost stories, while the daytime tour focuses on the history of the property.

Nearby on Morty: The 13th Gate in Baton Rouge is about 30 miles away and is rated Very Positive, one of the highest-rated haunts on Morty. It runs 6:30 pm to 11:30 pm on open nights. See more on the Louisiana haunted houses page.

8. Sorrel-Weed House, Savannah, Georgia

This Greek Revival house on Madison Square was built in the 1830s for merchant Francis Sorrel. It is one of the best-known stops on Savannah's ghost tour circuit.

The house calls itself one of the most active paranormal locations in the South. Its ghost tours cover deaths in the property's past, photos captured by earlier guests, and evidence recorded by the TAPS team from Syfy's Ghost Hunters.

How to visit: The Ghosts of Sorrel Weed tour runs nightly for 1.25 hours at $35 for ages 10 and up. Adults 16 and over can join the $80 paranormal investigation that starts at 11 pm. Book on the Sorrel-Weed House ghost tour page.

Tip: History buffs can take the $14 architecture tour in daylight, then come back after dark for the ghost tour.

Haunted houses in the Northeast

9. Lizzie Borden House, Fall River, Massachusetts

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were killed with a hatchet in this house. Andrew's daughter Lizzie was tried and acquitted, and the case is still argued over today.

The house now runs as an inn and museum, and it says it "has a haunted reputation for a reason." You can sleep in the rooms where it happened, or join a basement ghost hunt with equipment.

How to visit: 90-minute house tours run daily between 10 am and 4 pm and are the only tours that go through every room. Nightly ghost tours are outdoor walking tours of Fall River, and there are basement ghost hunts too. Book on the Lizzie Borden House site.

Tip: On Sundays this October at 6 pm, the house hosts "In Mourning: A Victorian Funeral," a themed evening event. Browse Massachusetts haunted houses on Morty to add a built haunt to the trip.

10. Jennie Wade House, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

On July 3, 1863, 20-year-old Jennie Wade was kneading bread in her sister's kitchen when a bullet came through the door and killed her. She was the only civilian killed directly by the fighting at Gettysburg.

Ghost stories followed, and the house at 548 Baltimore Street is now a museum with guides in period dress.

How to visit: Daytime admission is $16 for adults, per the Jennie Wade House page. Daytime tours do not discuss the paranormal at all. For ghosts, book the evening Spirits of Jennie Wade tour or the Midnight Investigation through Ghostly Images of Gettysburg.

Nearby on Morty: Field of Screams' Haunted Hayride in Mountville is about an hour east and is rated Very Positive on Morty. Its 2026 season runs into mid-November. More on the Pennsylvania haunted houses page.

Famous haunted houses you can't tour inside right now

A few houses show up on every "most haunted" list but are not open for interior tours. Save yourself the trip.

LaLaurie Mansion, New Orleans. In 1834 a kitchen fire at 1140 Royal Street revealed that Delphine LaLaurie had tortured enslaved people, and a mob attacked the house soon after. The building that stands today was rebuilt later and is a private home, so you can only see it from the street on a walking tour. See New Orleans haunted houses on Morty for places you can go inside.

The Conjuring House, Harrisville, Rhode Island. The farmhouse behind the film is not open for public tours while restoration is underway, according to its official site.

Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York City. Manhattan's oldest surviving house is temporarily closed for a roof replacement, with a reopening planned for fall 2026. It still runs some paranormal investigations, so check its website first.

Tips for touring a haunted historic house

Book October evenings early. Night tours are small, and the weekends before Halloween sell out first.

Check age limits. Many ghost tours set a minimum age, and late-night investigations are often adults only.

Pick day or night on purpose. Day tours give the history, night tours give the folklore. At the Jennie Wade House, daytime guides will not talk about ghosts at all.

Respect the real history. Several of these houses were sites of murder or slavery, so treat them like the memorials they are.

Want a scare that is built to scare?

A historic house tour is mostly storytelling. If your group wants actors, jump scares and a pounding heart, a built haunted attraction is the better night out.

A monster scare actor outside The Beast haunted house in Kansas City

As of October 2026, Morty lists more than 3,700 haunted houses, trails, mazes and hayrides marked open, and Morty users rate them after each visit. Find one near any house on this list in the Morty app, or start at the haunted houses hub.

FAQs

What is the most haunted house in America?

There is no official answer, since hauntings cannot be measured. The Whaley House in San Diego is the best-known claimant and markets itself as "America's Most Haunted House," though that is branding, not a ranking. The Myrtles, the Lemp Mansion and the Villisca Axe Murder House are the most common rivals.

Can you stay overnight in a haunted house?

Yes. The Lizzie Borden House, the Lemp Mansion and the Myrtles all rent rooms, and the Villisca Axe Murder House and Sallie House offer overnight stays. Book early for October, when these sell out first.

Which haunted houses you can tour are open year-round?

The Whaley House is open daily and the Winchester Mystery House runs daytime tours all year. The Lemp Mansion runs its ghost tours year-round, and the Lizzie Borden House is open daily. Seasonal hours change, so check each official site before you go.

Are haunted house tours scary?

Most historic house tours are more spooky than scary, with stories, dim rooms and ghost-hunting gadgets. If you want jump scares, a built haunted attraction is a better fit. Not sure how much fear you can handle? Our guide to whether escape rooms are scary breaks down scare levels for first-timers.

Final thoughts

The title of most haunted house in America will never be settled, and that is part of the fun. Pick the story that grips you most, book the night tour, and finish with a built haunt nearby.

Most Haunted House in America: 10 Haunted Houses You Can Actually Tour