245 'Haunted' Places In PA With Reported Paranormal Activity

Pennsylvania has no shortage of places with ghostly reputations, but only a handful can back up their spooky stories with reports of paranormal activity.

The 2026 HauntBound Index, a new national ranking of more than 6,000 supposedly haunted places, examines decades of published accounts rather than simply recycling the same old ghost stories. The list by HauntBound, a Michigan-based website specializing in haunted travel and historical ghost lore, includes historic homes, hotels, cemeteries and other places where visitors have reported seeing things that have no earthly explanation.

Some are open for tours, some offer overnight accommodations, and others are best admired from a safe distance. Whether any of them actually have ghosts is another matter entirely.

According to HauntBound's state-by-state index, Pennsylvania has 245 documented locations associated with paranormal activity.

The Baker Mansion in Altoona was ranked the state's top haunted location. The Greek Revial stone home was built in 1849 by Elias Baker, who owned the Allegheny Furnance ironworks.

"Accounts center on Baker's daughter Anna, whose father broke off her engagement to a steelworker," HauntBound's synopsis of the mansion's haunting past reads. "She kept the wedding dress she never wore until her death in 1914, and tour guides also recount a family patriarch who reportedly collapsed and died of a stroke while calling for tea. Visitors report the dress moving inside its display case, phantom screams from the basement, and a solo overnight visitor's account of an echoing sound near the piano."

Cambria County Jail, Gettysburg National Military Park, and the USS Olympia in Philadelphia are among other highly rated haunts.

A top family-friendly attraction, meanwhile, is the haunted Saint Vincent Archabbey, Basilica and College in Latrobe.

Why Is This List Different?

There are plenty of websites and apps to help people find a good Halloween scare. HauntBound digs into something different, exploring places with reputations for being haunted long before Halloween decorations became a multimillion-dollar industry.

Instead of ranking locations by popularity or how often a ghost story gets repeated, HauntBound examines the number of independently published accounts, how thoroughly the claims have been documented, and how far back the reports go.

The index doesn't attempt to prove ghosts exist. It measures the documentation behind claims that they do.

“We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building’s history as evidence of haunting claims,” the site says.

Haunted, But Can You Visit?

The index covers 6,041 locations across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., including 5,718 classified as family-friendly and 1,983 listed as bookable.

Each location includes a family-suitability rating and information about whether visitors can tour the property, book an experience or spend the night. A place may have a terrific ghost story but be privately owned, closed to the public or otherwise off-limits to curious visitors.

HauntBound also identifies each state's oldest documented haunted site, the location with the most published accounts, a recommended haunted overnight stay, and a particularly family-friendly destination.

The rankings are based on research through Sept. 15, and the national index was updated Sept. 29 to remove private homes, operating hospitals, and locations with nothing left to visit.