Imagine this scenario: you are with your camp members in the middle of the night at the campground, circling the campfire while telling personal stories.
The warmth of fire is embracing your skin; you like the cold breeze of air and the surrounding sound when suddenly everyone shuts up because of a rustling sound.
No, you never thought of bears or coyotes, but something that lurks in behind the bushes. You’re scared, and this is making you chill to the bones. Indeed, camping is a life-changing experience.
However, unexpected things do happen out of the blue. The haunted places will always be haunting. And what if the campground you’re planning to go to is allegedly haunted? Would you dare to embrace the eerie forest?
We’ve listed down the Most Haunted Campgrounds in the USA; read about them below.
Braley Pond, Virginia
Known to many campers as one of George Washington National Forest’s best fishing spots. It’s just 60 miles from Charlottesville. This campground is apparently haunted, since many people have experienced paranormal activities in the area.
In 2003, a gang murder news shocked the entire town wherein the said gruesome crime happened in the campground. Years after they had reopened the park again, many campers experienced creepy noises.
Sounds such as laughter, cries, spirits hovering over the creek, and other unexplained activities were all experienced. Paranormal investigator Shea Willis, once she heard the news, went to the campground and began to investigate.
Almost immediately she experienced nausea, as if she was about to vomit horridly.
She and her team proceeded to further investigate when they heard something moving towards their direction from the water. it was “splashing violently.” Willis told the Dyrt.
During the interview, she recounts something was crawling behind her back. Once they returned to their car she explained “It was like a communication with whatever this thing was.”
She had manifestation of nightmares and sleepless nights after her visit. She then explained that “Like little bits and pieces of it were still stuck with me.”
Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, Northern California
Most Haunted Campgrounds in USA
Locals claimed that there are paranormal activities in the schoolhouse in the area. In 1872, according to a legend, a schoolmaster killed a boy in front of his class and hung the body in the upstairs rafters.
This shook the school administration, and the schoolmaster was removed from his position right after the event happened. What’s more spooky was that the schoolmaster vanished apparently. People who personally knew him didn’t know his whereabouts.
A theory was formed that he committed suicide. However, there was no evidence of his body found anywhere in the area.
Visitors of the campground claimed that there were some paranormal activities in the schoolhouse and some historic buildings in the area.
The campground was a California Hydraulic Gold Mine before. Ghost stories are undoubtedly a staple word mouth within the locals as human sacrifices are made to mining sites for luck and prosperity.
Bannack State Park, Montana
Most Haunted Campgrounds in USA
Henry Plummer has a huge grudge in this state, for he was hanged by the townspeople of Bannack. He was accused of being the Montana Vigilantes leader who set out to the formerly known as The Montana Territory during the gold rush in the 1860s.
The said Vigilantes are civilian vigilantes who capture and kill innocents. This gang infamously targets shipments that carry gold passing through the territory.
Plummer was put in a pit and judged by the townspeople as they believed that he led the gang to their town. However, this wasn’t true and in 1993 in a posthumous trial investigated the case in Virginia, Montana. The jury’s decision on Plummer’s guilt was split six to six.
Campers who visited the campground had their personal testimonials of the ghost sightings in the area. Locals believed it was Plummer’s spirit that haunts the Bannack town.
Before it became a campground, Holcomb Valley Campground was a town with a thriving mining site in San Bernardino County during the 1800s. The town was once glorious for its lively saloons, brothels, and welcoming townspeople.
Some fancy the town to be the center of many crimes such as robbery, hanging, and killing. It had become a normal thing in the town that every week these crimes are committed.
Now, sitting as a campground in California, remnants of the town are still present. The hanging tree can be seen standstill. Many campers account for their eerie experiences.
Things such as hearing voices, murmurs, and screams at night. While some had bizarre encounters of orbs floating in the woods, many didn’t believe it, but it has become an occasional occurrence and attested to be real.
Humboldt State Park, California
Most Haunted Campgrounds in USA
California has become a scary place for campers for its many haunted campgrounds. This last one in the list will not be so friendly to its unwelcome visitors.
Humboldt State Park is one of the largest campgrounds in California, offering 250 campsites. This is quite huge for an area that has a forest and landscape dotted with redwood trees.
Apparently, there are “ghost trees” in the area. They look the same as redwood trees. However, they have white leaves, making them look like a skeleton tree at night.
The ghost trees are albino in nature. And due to their appearance, many campers mistake these trees to be haunted with embodied spirits that guard the woods.
However, scientifically speaking, these trees lack nutrients such as chlorophyll. Thus they are unable to produce their own sugar. So other normal redwood trees pass on their nutrients through their roots just for them to live.
The ghost trees are beautifully scary. From afar, they look haunted. However, these trees thrive on living and should not be cut nor damaged for their eerie appearance.
As an ordinary camper like me, I would rush to get away from these trees once I see one. That’s because who would want to encounter such scary looking and enormous ghost-like trees.
Conclusion
Most Haunted Campgrounds in USA
The experiences we share during camping are apart of our own history. These stories of ghosts and paranormal experiences are passed down to remind us that there’s a story behind certain places.
However, this doesn’t mean that these stories will make the the place less visited.
It could actually lead people to flock to these haunted places.
References
Gee, T. (2019 October 15). Visit the Most Haunted Campgrounds in the U.S.
Moss, M. (2018 October 16). We Spoke to a Paranormal Researcher About the Most Haunted Campground in Virginia. The Dyrt.
Campsite Photos. (n.d.). Most Haunted Campgrounds in America. Campsite Photos.
Author
Philip Aristoteles
Philip Aristoteles is a freelance Content Writer and a self-confessed bookworm. Apart from writing different content for businesses and creative outputs, he’s also fond of writing poetry that delves into topics such as love, self-discovery, and mental health. He likes classic films and loves to do reviews of them.