The scariest haunted houses in America, ranked

If you want to amp up your Halloween festivities this year, you could visit a seasonal “haunted house” attraction — or you could visit an actual haunted house. 

In fact, Time Out New York has recently ranked 21 of the most famously haunted places in the U.S., and the LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana, tops the list. The place is supposedly chock-a-block with spirits, some of whom have been heard screaming, crying and peeking through the windows. No wonder Nicolas Cage once owned the place. 

Second place belongs to Beauford, South Carolina’s The Castle, a mansion-turned-Civil War hospital and morgue, said to be home to a long-dead French dwarf jester and the ghost of a little girl.

The Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, ranked third on TONY‘s list; the home to the grisly 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother is reportedly “home” to the spirits of young Lizzie, her dead parents and two little children who lived next door until their drowning deaths. 

Believe it or not, New York City’s House of Death is said to be haunted as well: The fourth-place finisher is a brownstone off Fifth Avenue that not only is visited by former resident Mark Twain but also 20 others, including Lisa Steinberg, the little girl beaten to death by her adoptive criminal prosecutor father Joel in 1987. 

Rounding out the top five is the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown‘s house in Denver, Colorado. The wealthy woman may have survived the Titanic, but according to visitors, the Victorian home — now a museum — is still home to Molly and her husband’s spiritual forms. 

Check out the full list here.