As we’re approaching the spookiest time of the year, we wanted to find out which state in America is well and truly the spookiest, creepiest, and all around most chilling…
From Maine to Alaska, each state has its own horror stories. ‘Scary’ also means different things to different people, so we’ve looked at the amount of ghost and UFO sightings, horror movie sets, haunted places, and even the number of serial killers to crown the scariest state in America.
Methodology
In order to work out the scariest states in America, we took a deep dive into each state, to find out how scary they really are.
We’ve looked at the data for all the known serial killers in the USA, to find out which US state they are from. We’ve also delved into the amount of haunted places in each American state, the number of UFO and ghost sightings per state, and even the amount of horror films set in each state. To ensure that varying state populations didn’t skew the numbers, we then broke down the data to show figures per 100,000 people in each state.
Take a bow, Vermont, you’re the scariest state in America…
We’ve crowned Vermont, located in Northeastern USA, the scariest state in America.
Despite being home to just 645,000 Americans, Vermont has the highest number of reported UFO sightings than any other state at 90 sightings per 100,000 people. The average number of UFO sightings across the states is 45 per 100,000 people, so Vermonters are reporting double the average number of sightings on the National UFO ReportingCenter website!
According to FrightFind, Vermont also has the highest number of haunted places per 100,000 people. Amongst them is Converse Hall at The University of Vermont, which is supposedly home to the ghost of a student who was accidentally electrocuted there in the 90s. His spirit is known to cause unexplainable electrical interference everywhere in the Hall… spooky!
As Vermont is home to over 2,000 cemeteries, it’s no wonder that 236 individual ghost sightings have been logged on GhostsofAmerica.com alone – that’s around 37 per 100,000 people in the state!
Which state has the highest number of serial killers?
Although it’s probably not something to shout about, Texas is home to the highest number of serial killers compared to any other state in America, largely due to its massive population.
890 known serial killers have hailed from Texas, including Charles Albright, the infamous ‘Eyeball Killer’ – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why he might have been given this moniker…
Although, with its smaller population, Delaware has the highest number of serial killers per 100,000 people (41 serial killers per 100,000 people), so could stake its claim as the most murderous state.
Which state has the highest number of haunted places?
California is the state with the highest number of haunted places, with 187 haunted places in total.
Some of the haunted places in California include the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Point Sur Lighthouse in Big Sur, and Hotel del Coronado in San Diego.
Which state has had the highest number of spooky sightings?
Have you spotted a ghost before? Well, it looks like many residents of Maine and North Dakota have, as our research suggests that there have been 58 ghost sightings per 100,000 people in both of these states. The average number of ghost sightings per 100,000 people is 26, so Mainers and North Dakotans are logging more than twice the average amount on GhostsofAmerica.com.
When it comes to UFO sightings, residents of Vermont claim to spot them the most. Despite being home to just 645,000 Americans, Vermont has the highest number of reported UFO sightings than any other state at 90 sightings per 100,000 people.
Close second for UFO spotting is Washington D.C., with 89 sightings per 100,000 people – 1,311 overall.
Where in America are the top 100 horror movies based?
We looked at IMDB’s Top 100 Horror Films of All Time list to find out where writers were choosing to base their scary stories the most.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, California places at the top of the rankings when it comes to the amount of horror films based in the state. Amongst the horror blockbusters set in the state are Saw and Poltergeist – both of which came to change the genre forever.
California is closely followed by New York, which is the setting for fan favorites Rosemary’s Baby, Jaws, Get Out, and Final Destination.
Sources
- https://www.ghostsofamerica.com/
- https://nuforc.org/webreports/ndxloc.html
- https://www.imdb.com/list/ls045017156/
- https://frightfind.com/state-frights/
- https://murderpedia.org/index-by-country.htm
- https://murderpedia.org/index-by-country-female.htm
- https://sos.vermont.gov/municipal-division/a-to-z-resource-index-search/burials-cemeteries/
