Halloween is creeping upon us, attracting the attention of Ghostbusters across the nation. But with ghost stories dating back centuries around the world, which U.S. states are the most haunted house-obsessed?
AirportParkingReservations.com took a deep dive into all things ghost-related to reveal the states that are most obsessed with haunted houses. They examined the number of searches for haunted houses, haunted house reports, and the number of ghost stories and Ghost Adventures episodes filmed in each state.
California Named the Most Ghost-Obsessed State
California takes the number one spot in the US for paranormal lovers. The data revealed that there are 431 searches for ‘haunted house’ per 10,000 residents, with 45 total episodes from Ghost Hunters & Ghost Adventures being filmed in the state. Ghost Quest, a ghost reporting site, found 1351 total haunted locations have been reported.
The Big Apple came in second, with New York having the second-highest number of episodes filmed within the state, and with a total of 1250.3 searches for ghosts for every 10,000 residents.
Nevada came in third across the nation – the state came in number one among haunted house searches per 10,000 residents with 1322 searches per 10,000. Pennsylvania and Ohio round out the top five among the most haunted house-obsessed states.
The full US ranking can be found below:
| Rank | States | Haunted Houses Searches per 10,000 | Ghost hunters or adventures filmed in each state | Haunted Locations reported by GhostQuest | Ghost Searches Per 10,000 | Haunted Obsessed (out of 40) |
| 1 | California | 431.6 | 45 | 1351 | 1263.3 | 30.4 |
| 2 | New York | 625.1 | 41 | 460 | 1250.3 | 23.1 |
| 3 | Nevada | 1322.2 | 17 | 93 | 1354.4 | 22.7 |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 432.3 | 40 | 709 | 1214.3 | 22.3 |
| 5 | Ohio | 627.9 | 23 | 630 | 1338.0 | 20.6 |
| 6 | Rhode Island | 870.4 | 24 | 215 | 1373.3 | 20.5 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 447.5 | 37 | 317 | 1274.6 | 19.3 |
| 8 | Illinois | 912.7 | 14 | 399 | 1262.0 | 18.1 |
| 9 | Texas | 717.9 | 8 | 922 | 1176.1 | 17.5 |
| 10 | Colorado | 818.5 | 5 | 289 | 1433.8 | 16.3 |
| 11 | Wyoming | 841.4 | 1 | 112 | 1578.0 | 15.8 |
| 12 | Connecticut | 420.3 | 31 | 215 | 1162.6 | 15.0 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 453.9 | 24 | 405 | 1143.7 | 14.7 |
| 14 | Utah | 599.6 | 10 | 153 | 1412.3 | 14.2 |
| 15 | Georgia | 717.9 | 13 | 392 | 1109.5 | 13.7 |
| 16 | Vermont | 730.6 | 0 | 89 | 1520.5 | 13.3 |
| 17 | Missouri | 496.2 | 14 | 334 | 1217.6 | 12.8 |
| 18 | Louisiana | 700.0 | 20 | 293 | 930.8 | 12.4 |
| 19 | Oregon | 604.8 | 3 | 252 | 1373.0 | 12.3 |
| 20 | Indiana | 494.7 | 10 | 344 | 1226.5 | 11.8 |
| 21 | Michigan | 648.6 | 3 | 425 | 1212.4 | 11.8 |
| 22 | Florida | 360.3 | 16 | 601 | 1040.8 | 11.7 |
| 23 | Alaska | 654.9 | 0 | 66 | 1440.7 | 11.3 |
| 24 | Washington | 489.5 | 4 | 305 | 1311.6 | 10.9 |
| 25 | North Dakota | 656.4 | 0 | 61 | 1412.8 | 10.9 |
| 26 | Nebraska | 571.3 | 1 | 114 | 1427.4 | 10.9 |
| 27 | Tennessee | 597.6 | 5 | 281 | 1205.7 | 10.8 |
| 28 | New Mexico | 528.9 | 6 | 122 | 1314.3 | 10.7 |
| 29 | Delaware | 723.3 | 2 | 54 | 1294.2 | 10.5 |
| 30 | Arizona | 428.7 | 10 | 231 | 1196.1 | 10.2 |
| 31 | West Virginia | 563.7 | 4 | 152 | 1285.8 | 10.1 |
| 32 | South Dakota | 696.5 | 1 | 86 | 1278.6 | 10.0 |
| 33 | Kansas | 470.8 | 3 | 181 | 1341.7 | 9.9 |
| 34 | Virginia | 389.8 | 7 | 348 | 1217.0 | 9.7 |
| 35 | New Jersey | 481.5 | 15 | 177 | 1005.9 | 8.7 |
| 36 | Wisconsin | 529.2 | 0 | 326 | 1176.2 | 8.5 |
| 37 | New Hampshire | 488.4 | 0 | 101 | 1324.9 | 8.3 |
| 38 | North Carolina | 385.2 | 3 | 365 | 1171.0 | 8.1 |
| 39 | Maine | 453.0 | 1 | 166 | 1270.2 | 8.0 |
| 40 | Oklahoma | 423.9 | 3 | 238 | 1193.1 | 7.9 |
| 41 | Montana | 479.2 | 4 | 131 | 1150.0 | 7.4 |
| 42 | Hawaii | 517.4 | 1 | 127 | 1194.8 | 7.3 |
| 43 | Maryland | 458.8 | 2 | 203 | 1171.0 | 7.3 |
| 44 | Minnesota | 374.1 | 2 | 196 | 1193.5 | 6.7 |
| 45 | Alabama | 448.6 | 1 | 364 | 1005.2 | 5.9 |
| 46 | Iowa | 431.2 | 2 | 204 | 1079.6 | 5.8 |
| 47 | Arkansas | 443.1 | 4 | 160 | 1054.6 | 5.8 |
| 48 | South Carolina | 431.8 | 2 | 372 | 950.7 | 5.3 |
| 49 | Idaho | 423.2 | 3 | 99 | 1078.6 | 5.2 |
| 50 | Mississippi | 440.6 | 0 | 112 | 833.7 | 1.3 |