All the Haunted Places I Have Been To (So Far)

Happy October everyone! As promised, I’m going to deliver some spooky content this month. I’m going to start by delving into haunted places I’ve visited throughout the country.

I have always been fascinated by the paranormal and so, anywhere I travel to, I try to visit a known haunted place. Before I start, I want to say that although these places are allegedly quite haunted, I never had a paranormal experience here, or elsewhere.

Regardless, I enjoyed these places and want to share with you all what they are like. This is a small list but my goal in the future is to visit even more haunted locations.

I will make sure to link any corresponding website for more information and photos you can check out.

• The Queen Mary- Long Beach, CA

Let’s kick off this list with a local haunt! The Queen Mary is a former luxury ocean liner that is currently a hotel. Several untimely deaths have occurred on the Queen Mary, rendering it to be one of the most haunted places in the United States.

Of course, this is something they capitalize on. They have haunted tours, ghost hunts, and the yearly Dark Harbor Halloween Event. Due to COVID, the Queen Mary is currently closed. However, once they reopen, I highly recommend the Haunted Encounters tour.

On this tour, you go to various locations around the ship that have the most activity and along the way, the guide shares ghost stories, legends, and their own personal stories. When you’re on the Queen Mary, you truly feel like you have been transported back into time. I will say, that the energy here feels heavy. This is a ship that for lack of a better word, has seen some shit. If you love history and spooky places, then definitely visit the Queen Mary (when they reopen)

• The Whaley House- San Diego, CA

The Whaley House has been called one of the most haunted homes in America but I beg to differ. Built in 1857, this greek revival home is a museum located in Old Town San Diego. As the story goes, before a home was built on the land, it was the sight of the town’s gallows (yikes!).

However, this did not deter Thomas Whaley, a successful businessman, from purchasing the land and building what we now call the Whaley House for his wife and children. Throughout the years of the family living there, several tragedies occurred. Their baby son died and years later, one of their daughters committed suicide. Eventually, most of the Whaley family died inside the home, thus making it incredibly haunted.

Back in 2017, I took a tour of the home and of Old Town San Diego. In my personal opinion, this is probably the least exciting place on the list. I didn’t feel like it was haunted although the tour itself was pretty fun. That being said, I would definitely visit again!

• Eastern State Penitentiary- Philadelphia, PA

Eastern State Penitentiary is a former prison that opened its doors back in 1829. As you can probably guess, some horrific abuse went down behind these walls. One notable intimate who was locked up here is Al Capone (his cell is pictured below). I went to Philadelphia in 2018 and knew I had to visit Eastern State. This is a place I had seen on TV numerous times due to it being so haunted.

Did I experience anything? No, however, this is truly a sight to see. This place is eerie and magnificent. You can see for yourself how awful things must have been like for prisoners. Like the Queen Mary, the energy here is pretty heavy.

You can take a tour or roam the halls on your own. When I went, you had access to pretty much most of the prison. Very little was blocked off for the public. From the outside, Eastern State looks like a medieval castle, once you go inside you are surrounded by the reality of what life must have been like inside its walls. If you want to learn more about Eastern State, check out this episode from the Lights Out Podcast. If you’re ever in Philly, make sure to visit Eastern State Penitentiary

• New Orleans, LA

Notice how I didn’t specify a single place from New Orleans. That’s because this entire city is haunted. New Orleans is full of dark history; there’s slavery, voodoo, and natural disasters. There’s something incredibly magical about New Orleans. Instead of shying away from all this, New Orleans embraces its past, which is why it’s one of my favorite places.

The photo above was taken at Lafayette Cemetery No.1. The graves look like that because there is no solid ground to hold the bodies in. Hence, the cemeteries are visually stunning and a must if you are ever in town.

New Orleans has so much haunted history that I could go on and on about specific places. However, I’ll end my list by talking about the infamous LaLaurie Mansion (pictured below on film).

Located at 1138 Royal Street in the French Quarter, the LaLaurie Mansion was a house of horrors. Delphine LaLaurie was a wealthy woman who lived here back in the 1800s. As was the custom of the time, Delphine had slaves. What no one knew, however, was that Delphine was brutally torturing her slaves.

I won’t go into details due to the graphic nature, but if you want to learn more, you can listen to the episode the Lights Out Podcast did on the mansion here or read this article.

To make a long story short, a fire broke out at the home, and here, the townspeople found Delphine’s brutally tortured Slaves. The people wanted vengeance but Delphine skipped town, possibly to France, and was never seen again. Today, the home is a private residence (you can only view it from the outside) and is thought to be one of the most haunted homes in New Orleans. If you want to learn about the trip I took last year, check out my blog post.

Well you guys, there you have it! I don’t know when I will be able to travel again, but the next haunted location I want to visit is the Winchester Mystery House located about six hours away from me in San Jose, California. Have you visited any of these haunted places or had a paranormal experience? If you have, I’d love to hear about it! You can email me at lesliestefveliz@gmail.com or DM me on Instagram.

Bye for now!

XOXO

-Leslie V