From crumbling colonial prisons to eerie taverns, the Northeast is a region steeped in history – and haunted by it. With centuries of battles, betrayal, and buried secrets, it’s no wonder this corner of the country is home to some of America’s most chilling stories.
Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, these haunted sites have terrified visitors for generations. In this article, we’ll explore three of the most spine-tingling places in the Northeast where history refuses to stay buried.
Philly
One of the most haunted places in Philadelphia is the Eastern State Penitentiary. This former jail, now shuttered, opened in 1829, when it received its first prisoner, Charles Williams.
Once he entered this repressive place, which was built at an astonishing cost, he ceased to be Charles Williams and was instead referred to as prisoner #1. All prisoners who walked through the doors of the Eastern State Penitentiary received a number. This new prison aimed to develop a new system of penitence, in line with Quaker beliefs.
Prisoners were reduced to a number to ensure anonymity. When taken to their cells and transferred from place to place within the prison walls, their heads were covered in a burlap sack. They were not allowed to talk or communicate with others. Each prisoner was confined to his own cell—solitary confinement was not a special punishment but the norm.
Similarly, prisoners were bound by silence. If a prisoner tried to communicate with another prisoner, either by tapping on the wall or by talking through heat ducts, they would be punished with cruel and severe torture. The guards had to wear socks over their shoes to maintain the utter silence in the prison, something that certainly drove the prisoners mad.
The methods of torture were brutal. A prisoner might be confined in a mad chair for hours on end, until their limbs would become blue for lack of circulation. Many needed to have their limbs amputated. Some prisoners would be dunked in cold water and left on the wall to dry. In the winter, icicles would form on their naked bodies.
Perhaps the iron gag was the most feared punishment of them all, and one that was used quite frequently. With their hands tied behind their neck, the prisoner’s tongue would be placed in a gag, which would then be chained to their hands. This would force the victim to stand still – any movement of the hand would pull at the tongue, causing severe pain and risking the tongue getting ripped out.
Famed author Charles Dickens visited the prison and wrote,
“I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers; and in guessing at it myself, and in reasoning from what I have seen written upon their faces, and what to my certain knowledge they feel within, I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance in which none but the sufferers themselves can fathom, and which no man has a right to inflict upon his fellow creature.
I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore the more I denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.”
Screams, creepy laughter, disembodied footsteps, and tales of feeling a strange hand gripping one’s shoulder have all been experienced by visitors to this horrific place, which has seen more anguish than the human mind can comprehend.
Both Ghost Hunters and Fear (from MTV) hosted episodes there. Over the years, the Eastern State Penitentiary has become known as one of the creepiest places in the US.
Salem
Salem is infamous for the Salem Witch Trials, which have left a lasting impression on the city. One of the spookiest spots in the town is the Salem Witch House, the former abode of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who sent accused witches to their deaths. While his exact role is somewhat hard to pinpoint, it is believed that he signed the arrest warrants that set it all in motion.
Some believed that he even interrogated the accused witches in his home. Either way, as the last standing building directly associated with the witch trials, it is haunted by the ghosts of those wrongfully accused and executed.
Visitors to the house report feeling cold spots, even on warm, sunny days in the middle of the summer. The disembodied voices of women and strange clacking noises are also sometimes reported in this building, which is now a museum.
Ghost Adventures filmed an episode in The Witch House in 2011, and it was featured in the opening of the movie Hocus Pocus 2. Another haunted house in Salem, Ropes Mansion, was featured in the original Hocus Pocus movie.
Other spooky spots in Salem include the House of the Seven Gables and the Pirate’s House. I recommend taking a Salem ghost tour to enjoy the full hauntedness of Salem.
Annapolis
Last on our list is Annapolis, which briefly served as the seat of government of the US. Its charming, quaint cobblestone streets obscure the dreadful history of this city.
Our journey in haunted Annapolis starts at the Middleton Tavern, one of the city’s oldest buildings, which you are bound to visit on an Annapolis ghost tour. Established in 1750, it’s one of the oldest continually operating taverns in the country. The upper bar area is known to be haunted, and waitresses and bartenders try to avoid going up there, especially alone.
Some of the things they’ve experienced include:
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- Glasses falling over
- The smell of cigarette smoke when nobody is around
- The electronic cash register would go haywire
One waitress even felt a hand on hers while pouring a drink. The next thing she knew, the drink had been knocked over!
Night manager Mike Conroy had long been a skeptic of such claims. One night, though, he saw a figure moving about after closing hours – and his stance has changed ever since.
According to CBS, owner Jerry Hardesty (now deceased) held a seance there with a medium in the 1990s. The medium revealed the mysterious identity of the man who’d been haunting the bar all those years—Roland Johnstone.
Roland, a man in a nice suit who was smoking a cigar, was a frequent visitor to the tavern in its heyday. It was his favorite hangout spot, so after he died, he naturally returned to where he felt most at home. When asked why he disturbed the visitors, he said he did it just because he could!
Another theory is that the bar is haunted by former owner George Schmidt, who was murdered in front of the bar in 1876 after an argument with a patron over a contested local election.
Either way, the Middleton Tavern has remained an Annapolis favorite. Back in the days, it was frequented by such luminaries as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin; nowadays, locals and tourists alike flock to the Middleton Inn to enjoy a night of booze (and boos).