11 obscure US ghost towns with actual ghosts (maybe)

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I love to solo travel and there are two things that I especially love - places with interesting historical backgrounds and local lore. And places off the beaten path, where i can escape other tourists...

So abandoned ghost towns are the ideal kind of destination for me and if you like a bit of peace and quiet - as i do - then we're in luck! Because there are a LOT of ghost towns that are more or less undiscovered in the USA.

All of these towns have been ghosted, abandoned by the people who once lived there. But reports of ghostly sightings and unexplained events have also become ingrained in local folklore.

So here are 11 lesser-known North American ghost towns rumored to be haunted by actual ghosts (though I cannot officially confirm!).

Cahawba (apparently this is the old spelling and it's now Cahaba), was Alabama’s first state capital and the kind of place you’d never know had once been full of life.

Today, it’s part of a historic park (Old Cahawba Archaeological Park) with the odd crumbling brick structure here and there—but what makes it worth a visit is the creepy story locals tell about the “ghostly orb.”

Apparently, there’s this floating ball of light that drifts down by the old cemetery or over by the ruins of the slave quarters. They say it’s a lost Confederate soldier, or maybe the spirit of a Union POW who died there when Cahawba was used as a prison camp during the Civil War.

Either way, no one seems quite sure what—or who—it is, but it’s enough to keep people poking around at night, hoping for a glimpse of the mysterious light. And if you’re into ghost hunting, this is a solid spot to test your luck (just maybe bring a flashlight for when the “orb” doesn’t show up).

2. Ruby ghost town, Arizona

Ruby is one of those ghost towns with a reputation that reads like a B-horror movie plot. This old mining town got its name in the news back in the 1920s thanks to a string of brutal murders—yep, actual murders, not just spooky folklore.

First, two shopkeepers were killed in a robbery gone wrong and then a few years later, more bad guys rolled into town and murdered the sheriff. After that, you’d think the violence would stop—nope, another couple was murdered not long after.

The whole place just seemed cursed and after the mines dried up, the people who'd stuck around slowly abandoned it.

Today, it’s a privately-owned ghost town, but you can tour it if you’re really curious. Visitors talk about odd sights and weird noises around the old mine shafts.

And the superstitious say the murdered shopkeepers still linger around the general store. Haunted or not, it’s got that weird, forgotten energy that makes you feel like you’re being watched by something—or someone—long gone. So let's head on down to Ruby!

Panamint City is a ghost town that’s a little more out of reach—literally. It’s high up in the Panamint Range of Death Valley, which should give you an idea of the vibe (dangerously hot and oppressive?).

But get this - it was actually founded by outlaws who stole a shipment of silver, got rich and then decided to set up a mining town right there. The local tribe wasn’t thrilled (understandably) and supposedly put a curse on the land.

Fast forward and the town’s history has been one disaster after another. Cave-ins, floods, fires. By the time the mining dried up, Panamint was practically erased off the map. Some say the town’s curse kept it from ever being more than a flash in the pan.

The weird part is that hikers who trek out to the ruins (it’s a brutal hike, by the way) often talk about a heavy atmosphere, like the place is still holding onto its bad luck. Coincidence? Maybe. But then again, Panamint’s never been your average ghost town.

Sign me up.

Tucked way up in the Colorado mountains, Animas Forks feels like the quintessential ghost town—the kind of place that’s so far off the beaten path you might think it’s hiding something.

Established in the 1870s, this was once a buzzy mining town before it got hit by one of Colorado’s harshest winters in 1884. Snow drifts piled up to the second story of the buildings and most of the miners decided they’d had enough and never came back.

Today, there’s a local legend about the spirits of those who stayed, trapped in their snowbound homes and cabins.

Some visitors say they’ve seen shadowy figures through the windows or caught faint voices on the wind when the weather starts to turn.

So maybe it’s more creepy than outright haunted, but if you’re up for a hike and some solitude, it’s worth checking out—just don’t be surprised if it feels a bit chilly when you step inside the old wooden structures.

I thought for sure this was going to have something to do with St. Elmo's Fire - but it turns out it's completely unrelated.

Anyway, St. Elmo, the ghost town, isn’t just a story of abandonment - it comes with a side of haunted family drama (there's no escaping it).

This mining town hit its peak in the late 1800s, but when the boom went bust, so did St. Elmo. Almost everyone packed up and left, except for the Stark family.

They refused to abandon their home, becoming local recluses and Annie Stark, in particular, was known for her...we'd probably call it eccentric behavior. She’s rumored to have chased kids away with a shotgun and practically lived in isolation for decades.

They say after she died, the ghost of “Dirty Annie” stuck around. People claim to have seen her looking out of the hotel windows, rearranging furniture, or just drifting through the abandoned streets of St. Elmo.

The town’s preserved enough to get a glimpse of its former life, but it’s that “are we really alone?” feeling that definitely makes it worth a trip.

Crystal City is what you’d call a hidden gem - if the gem in question was buried deep in the Rockies and you had to bounce down a jeep trail to find it.

It started out as a silver mining camp and like so many others, it faded into obscurity when the veins ran dry.

But there’s a folklore twist to its story. Old-timers in the area tell of a ghostly miner who appears at dusk around the Crystal Mill. They say he’s still working the mine, trying to finish a job he started over a century ago.

Some people have claimed to see his lantern bobbing along the ridge, or to hear the faint sound of a pickaxe.

Crystal City isn’t completely abandoned (a few summer cabins dot the area), but it’s isolated enough that when you’re there, it’s easy to believe the stories about a ghost miner who refuses to give up.

7. Auraria ghost town, Georgia

Auraria’s claim to fame is that it was almost the gold rush town that made it big. So close.

In the 1820s, gold was discovered here, setting off one of America’s first gold rushes. The town sprang up overnight, full of eager miners and all the businesses that cater to them.

But then the real gold rush hit in California and everyone just upped and left Auraria behind, in search of chasing dreams out West. What’s left today are just a few remnants, but there’s a legend that just won't go away, about the “lost Auraria gold.”

Old stories say there’s still a stash of gold somewhere around the ruins, guarded by the spirits of those who died trying to find it. Some locals might mention ghost lights flickering in the woods at night, supposedly miners searching for the elusive treasure.

It’s a weird mix of history and ghost stories, making it the perfect place for those of us who are drawn to places with more questions than answers.

Bayhorse was a silver-mining town that went from boom to bust in just a few short years.

Tucked away in Idaho’s remote Salmon River Mountains, it was established in the late 1800s and was a booming silver mining camp before it ran into the ground like so many others.

But locals talk about a haunting - the spirit of a miner who apparently went mad in the twisting, claustrophobic tunnels (and i can't say i blame him, this is literally top of my nightmare list).

So they say he’s still there, lurking in the ruins of the old mill or down in the shafts where light barely reaches. Some visitors claim they’ve heard strange, almost metallic shrieks echoing through the canyon, or caught glimpses of a shadow moving just out of view.

With its isolated location, creepy crumbling buildings and disturbing backstory, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild on this one. *shudder*.

Silver City is the forgotten ghost town that didn’t entirely fade away—if you visit during the summer months, you might even bump into a handful of locals who still maintain cabins there. But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s not haunted* (*still not confirmed).

This old mining town is practically overflowing with ghost stories. The most famous one revolves around the old Idaho Hotel, where visitors and staff reported seeing the apparition of a little boy running through the hallways.

Some think it’s the spirit of a miner’s son who died in a tragic accident, while others say he was simply a child left behind when the rush ended.

There's also talk about ghostly prospectors aimlessly wandering the cemetery at night, looking for lost claims. The supernatural legacy is strong with this one.

10. Flagstaff ghost town, Maine

Flagstaff is a ghost town that doesn’t look like one—because it’s underwater. The town was intentionally flooded in 1950 to create the Flagstaff Lake reservoir. So technically you can visit, but there's not a whole lot to see most of the time. Though i think this just makes it spectacularly intriguing.

Locals talk about how on some days the church steeple of Flagstaff’s old chapel peeks up above the waterline and if you listen carefully, you can still hear the faint chime of the town’s church bell echoing underwater, especially during foggy mornings.

There’s also a local legend that the spirits of Flagstaff’s former residents still roam the shoreline, forever displaced by the rising waters.

If you like this type of submerged-under-water ghost town story, check out the movie The Deep House and book, The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager, which are both thoroughly entertaining ways to pass time in the company of claustrophobic, under water dwellings.

Last up, we have Fayette, a formerly active iron-smelting town back in the late 1800s, churning out pig iron for the booming industries of the Great Lakes region. But when the demand for iron fell, Fayette was abandoned almost overnight.

The most famous spirit that supposedly hangs around here is that of a smelter worker who died in a tragic accident—burned alive by molten iron (seriously, that's no way to go).

Supposedly, his ghost wanders the crumbling furnaces and some visitors have reported hearing footsteps and feeling a sudden rush of heat even when the air is cool.

But Fayette’s spookiest tale involves a phantom ship seen drifting offshore, with no crew and no sound—just a silent, mist-covered vessel that vanishes as quickly as it appears. Probably just a trick of fog, but who really knows? Discover more Michigan folklore here.