8 Alluring, Spooky RV Road Trips for Halloween Camping

With the fall season in full swing, many thoughts have turned to Halloween camping and all things spooky. We have 8 creepy RV road trips you can take to get your scare on…

If you like the thrill of being creeped out or scared, you'll love these creepy RV road trips! You can visit most of these places throughout the year, but the best time to visit is around All Hallows' Eve!

It adds to the creep factor, especially when you see Halloween decorations throughout your trip. The following are some spooky RV road trips you can take this fall.

Before we jump into the road trips, let's start by showing you how much fun it is doing some Halloween Camping at a campground near you…

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Our Halloween Adventures

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Fall is just the best season for camping! Great weather for getting cozy around the campfire or bundling up in the RV.

In this podcast interview, we chat with Marley Behnke – Franchisor of Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts – about all the craze around Fall and Halloween in their campgrounds across the US.

CLICK HERE to see what we found a couple of years ago during Halloween Time at the Kentucky Horse Park

Kentucky Horse Park is one of 13 Great Halloween RV Destinations we recommend.

8 Best Halloween Road Trip Adventures

Thanks to the folks at TripSavvy.com, finding these spooky routes can be pretty easy. Though there is no guarantee you will see any of the reported ghosts and/or other supernatural phenomena. 

Now, check out the list below for the coast-to-coast spooky routes (and be sure to add your favorite haunted stops in the comments below)…

1. Salem to Boston

Probably the most well-known spooky destination in the U.S., Salem, Massachusetts, is where our first route begins. Immortalized by the witchcraft hysteria of the 1690s, history buffs and Halloween-lovers alike should consider a visit to the Salem Witch Museum to learn about the infamous events that took place there, as well as the Witch Trials Memorial, where visitors can remember the 20 young victims of the trials.

After that, head north to Dogtown in Gloucester, a mysterious ghost town that became a hotspot for vagabonds in the 1800s and after it was abandoned. Rumor is that the townspeople practiced witchcraft. To this day, you can find odd words and phrases — such as “Help Mother” — carved into area boulders.

From there, head southwest to Fall River to see the infamous Lizzie Borden house, where America’s most gruesome axe murders took place. Nearby, take a stroll through Freetown-Fall River State Forest, which is also known as the “The Cursed Forest of Massachusetts.”

Numerous legends surround this forest, such as UFO sightings, witchcraft, and human sacrifices, ghostly orbs, unexplained disappearances, and even stories of a race of troll-like creatures who call the forest home.

Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater is the perfect way to end your trip. Ghost sightings have been reported here, including former stagehands and theater patrons from centuries past still sitting in their seats, waiting for a show.  

2. Philadelphia to Evans City

The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia‎, one of the most infamous haunted sites in the U.S., is where this trip begins. This famous prison was known for its extreme approaches to isolation and solitary confinement, causing many prisoners to slowly lose it. Angry spirits are said to haunt the prison to this day, with many visitors reportedly experiencing the feeling of being pushed, shoved, and followed as they walk past the prison’s cells.

From there, head west to the Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City. Nicknamed “The Shame of Pennsylvania,” this former hospital was the site of horrific abuse towards its patients. Visitors claim they see visions of nurses and children and have reported leaving with unexplained marks and scratches across their arms.

The next stop on this route is Stewartstown. Head to Hex Hollow, where Nelson Rehmeyer was murdered by a local man named John Blymire, who believed Rehmeyer was a witch who had placed a hex on him.

Afterward, Blymire and two accomplices set Rehmeyer’s house on fire, but the house survived and still stands. Visitors who drive past the house report feeling a deeply sinister atmosphere surrounding the house.

From there, head to the legendary Gettysburg, the site of the notorious Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 resulted in more than 55,000 deaths. Spirits of Union and Confederate soldiers are still said to haunt the battlefield.

In Altoona, stop in at the Mishler Theatre, where the theater’s owner, Isaac Mishler, is often “seen” roaming the theater during productions, leaving a trail of cigar smoke behind him.

Finally, the trip wraps up at the Evans City Cemetery, where you can visit the graveyard where the legendary opening scene of “The Night of the Living Dead” was filmed.

3. Asheville, North Carolina, to Charleston, South Carolina

Both Carolinas are steeped in haunted history. Start your spooky journey at Asheville, North Carolina’s Omni Grove Park Inn, where a young woman in a pink dress fell to her death in the 1920s. Guests report that the friendly Pink Lady is said to appear when children are around, and reportedly is known to try and hold their hands or tickle their toes.

From there, head to Abbeville, where you can find South Carolina’s infamous Abbeville Opera House. Look up to the balcony, where you can find one chair that stands out from the rest of the building’s modern refurbishments. Supposedly, the chair is left there for the ghost of a young actress who died in the middle of a performance and is said to haunt the opera house.

Of course, the city of Charleston offers plenty of hauntings. A first stop could be the Old City Jail, where criminals deemed too dangerous for society were housed in the 1800s and are still said to wander.

Finally, wrap up your trip at White Point Gardens, where numerous pirates were executed and buried in a nearby marsh. Guests have reported seeing ghostly orbs, feeling cold spots throughout the park, and seeing apparitions of pirates waiting for their ship to return.

4. San Antonio to El Paso

This trek begins at Woman Hollering Creek off of Interstate 10. The creek is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a woman who drowned her children and continues to walk the riverbanks.

Your next stop will be the railroad track at the intersection of Shane and Villamin in San Antonio. In the 1930s, a school bus was hit by a speeding train, and 10 children and a bus driver were killed as a result.

It is said that those who park their car on or near the railroad tracks will start to feel their vehicle being pushed away, as the children make sure no one meets their same fate.

From there, head down Route 67 to Marfa where you can experience the country’s most famous ghost lights.

Visitors from all over Texas and beyond travel to see these glowing orbs often spotted floating over the town. Some attribute the lights to reflections of car headlights, but others say that the lights are the remnants of UFOs or a sign of paranormal activity.

Last, head to El Paso to experience the 16th century tale of La Llorona, a grief-stricken Mexican woman who drowned herself and her children in the Rio Grande. Visitors report horrific wailing in the dead of night and apparitions of a woman in a white gown with long dark hair.

5. San Jose to Bodie State Historic Park

This trip begins at San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House, one of the most infamous haunted houses in the U.S. And this year is its 100th Anniversary!

Constructed by Sarah Winchester, the widow of the rifle’s inventor, it is said that anyone killed by a Winchester rifle haunts the house as a plan to take revenge on the family.

Further north, no haunted road trip is complete without a visit to one of America’s most well-known prisons, Alcatraz Island. Nicknamed The Rock, the former military fortress confined some of history’s most dangerous criminals. The site is a hotbed of paranormal activity, with employees reporting apparitions, floating lights, and freezing cold temperatures in several cells, even in the heights of summer.

Next stop in this journey is the Donner Pass Train Tunnels in Truckee. These abandoned former train tunnels (originally built in the 1860s) were named after the Donner Party, a group of explorers en route to California who were stranded in this region due to heavy snow and notoriously resorted to cannibalism for survival. Today, visitors report experiencing a cold and sinister atmosphere.

This trip wraps up at Bodie State Historic Park, nestled in the Basin Range of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Once a bustling mining hub from the 1800s, it was completely abandoned in 1915, when it became a ghost town. Rumor is that anyone who takes anything from the town, even a tiny pebble, is cursed with bad luck until it’s returned.

6. Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Denver, Colorado

Start at the Atlas Theater in Cheyenne, Wyoming. This National Historic Landmark has gained a state-wide reputation as a ghost hunter’s paradise, with reports of several ghosts haunting the second floor, as well as observations of moving objects, floating orbs, and the sound of voices when no one is around.

Next stop is the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church bell tower, the site of a truly gruesome murder cover-up. The story is that two Swedish workers hired to construct the tower disappeared here without a trace in the early 1900s. It was later found that one worker had slipped and fell to his death and, fearing deportation, the other hid the man’s remains in the tower wall and fled. It’s reported that the church’s organ will play and bells will ring by themselves.

Of course, this route would not be complete without a stop at one of the best-known hotels in America due to its status as the inspiration behind the hotel in Stephen King’s “The Shining,” The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, has been a hot-bed of reports of paranormal activity since the 1970s.

Guests at the hotel report ghost sightings in almost every room, with closet doors opening and closing, lights flickering on and off, and apparitions following guests to their beds. If you spend the night, get your camera ready and be prepared for some possible surprise guests appearing in the background of your selfie.

As you complete your journey in Denver, stop by Cheesman Park, one of the city’s most beloved green spaces. The park was built over a cemetery for unclaimed bodies and visitors to the park have reported sudden overwhelming feelings of sadness and despair, and witnessing apparitions and shadows treading behind them during morning runs.

7. Los Angeles to Death Valley National Park

Your Southern California haunted road trip should begin in Los Angeles. Spooky spots include Pasadena’s Colorado Street Bridge, the unfortunate site of hundreds of suicides, the Rosenheim Mansion, best known as the “Murder House” from TV series “American Horror Story,” and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where the ghosts of Old Hollywood are said to still hang.

The Hollywood sign itself has a dark history. In 1932, aspiring actress Peg Entwistle jumped off the “H” and reportedly haunts the sign’s surroundings.

From L.A., drive out to The Padre Hotel in Bakersfield for more spookiness. For example, a fire in the 1950s killed several children who reportedly can occasionally be seen roaming. Be sure to check out the child-sized handprint in the hotel’s café that continues to reappear even after being painted over several times.

You can wrap up this trip at the beautiful Amargosa Opera House, located on the eastern outskirts of Death Valley National Park. Numerous reports of unexplained phenomena have been based here — strange smells, the sound of babies crying, and even a ghost cat. There’s also a hotel on the property, sections of which used to be a morgue for miners during the Gold Rush. Known as “Spooky Hollow,” visitors who explore its hallways report glowing orbs and a deeply eerie atmosphere.

8. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Omaha, Nebraska

Begin your midwestern journey at Shaker’s Cigar Bar, once operated by Al Capone as a speakeasy and brothel. Many mobsters suddenly “disappeared” here, and visitors have reported many run-ins with ghosts of those who lost their lives at the infamous bar.

Need proof? In 2001, human remains were found in the building’s walls.

From Milwaukee, head west to Cresco, Iowa, to the Cresco Theater & Opera House, where visitors have witnessed what appear to be apparitions of vaudeville performers on the stage. Further, another spooky figure has been spotted sitting in the theater while the lights are off, disappearing when anyone tries to approach.

Iowa’s Vilisca Axe Murder House was the site of the 1912 murder of eight people in their sleep — six of whom were children — by an unknown axe murderer. Today, visitors report a spooky vibe that includes hearing children laughing, doors opening and closing by themselves, and feelings of being pinched as they walk through the house.

The trip wraps up at Omaha’s Hummel Park, notoriously surrounded by spooky folklore and urban legends. The park has long been believed to be a hotbed of dark activity, with the bodies of several missing persons being discovered there. Others report a colony of albino cannibals being spotted in the park’s dense woods.

There’s also a rickety staircase in the park that is nicknamed the “Stairway to Hell,” and somehow always seems to have more steps to count going up than going down. The city closes the park early from October to April to discourage Halloween enthusiasts from hanging out too much.

More RV Halloween Fun

Look around your local community. Visit your local campground. Here's a video we did showing what we mean when we happened upon a fun Halloween activity in Florida a couple of years ago:

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Plan Your Next Adventure to Coastal Maine

By popular demand, we announce the publication of the latest in our library of RV travel guides – a 7-Day Adventure Guide to Coastal Maine.

With its dramatic rocky coastline, enchanting fishing towns, and windswept sandy beaches, Coastal Maine is a destination that should be on every RVers’ bucket list. 

We call these guides “7 days,” but they really are seven stops. They’re meant to be experienced at your own pace, a couple of days at one stop, a week at another, however long you want.

We have carefully curated this 66-page digital guide (not a printed book) so you can take in all Coastal Maine has to offer. We give you the routes to drive, the spot to stop, the places to eat, and the museums, excursions, hikes and adventures we think you will enjoy the most.

For an RVer, Coastal Maine has it all: stunning landscapes, short drives between stops, spacious campsites, that perfect small city and nature mixed with a seemingly endless variety of things to see and explore.

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