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Every year around this time, publications start releasing their picks for the most haunted of…well, everything, from cities to hotels. While “most haunted lists” are fun to look at —because, let’s face it, we’re hard-wired to rank things these days (thanks, Google)— they have a problem. They’re not actually what they say they are.
The Trouble with How the Majority of “Most Haunted” Lists Are Created
A lot of places follow the same approach as Travel + Leisure and Live Science and don’t disclose the method for their listing madness. They just list those storied places we’ve all grown up hearing are haunted.
If they’re voted on, like the USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for the best haunted hotel, destination, attraction, or ghost tour, then that’s really determining the most popular, not the most haunted. (Which to USA Today’s credit, they call their lists the “best” and not the “most.” Still, it’s tantamount to the same thing.)
In 2021, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported that Yelp ranked Savannah’s Olde Pink House the most haunted spot in the United States. Yelp’s methodology for creating their list wasn’t based on votes but did also involve popularity. They “identified businesses in the restaurant, food, travel and arts categories with a large concentration of reviews mentioning relevant keywords, then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews mentioning those keywords. Haunted houses and ghost tours were not considered.”
So what these lists are really ranking is the Most Popular Allegedly Haunted Places/Hotels/Etc. Which, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have an issue with what they’re ranking, just how their titled. Because how would you even rank anything as most haunted anyway?
What makes a place more haunted than another?
Is it based on the number of ghosts? The one with the most is the most haunted?
Does it have to do with which place has the most active ghosts? I’m not exactly sure how you’d determine that, though, either.
Or does age factor in, and “most haunted” is equivalent to the places with the oldest ghosts, or ghost stories? Would you even need annual lists then? Wouldn’t the same places retain their most haunted rank in perpetuity?
Unless, of course, one or more of the ghosts were “purged,” reducing a place’s “haunted-ness.”
For instance, take the seance that Dave Schrader, Chris Fleming, Sam Baltrusis, and Luann Joly conducted in the Lizzie Borden House during the “Shock Docs” special, The Curse of Lizzie Borden. They believe they made contact with Eliza Darling Borden and her children, as well as Lizzie, and urged them all to move on and find peace.
If they did, is the house even haunted anymore? And what if that was all it took to reduce a place’s haunted factor? Would that spawn competition? Would one haunted place perhaps hire someone to clear another haunted place’s spirits so they could claim their spot on a most haunted list?
I know. The ethics and dynamics of that sound ridiculous. But then again, no more ridiculous than lists trying to rank places as the most haunted.
Check-In
How do you think “most haunted” should be determined?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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I think expert ghost hunters ought to weigh in. That means many places will be left off the list one year, but they may bump someplace else off the list next year.
That’s a super interesting suggestion too, Priscilla. THANKS for sharing that!
Personally, I believe places should be evaluated on the intensity of their hauntings. At Franklin Castle, one of the owners heard a creepy child over a phone, at the Battery Carriage Inn, a guest saw a headless soldier hovering over the bed – Stuff like that –
That’s another super interesting suggestion for determining the “hauntedness” of a place. Thanks for sharing, William!