11 Ghosts We're Thankful We Haven't Met

You’ll gladly spend time with your extended family on Thanksgiving if the alternative is running into one of these famous ghosts.

By: Beth Braden

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11 Ghosts We're Thankful We Haven't Met

The holidays wouldn't be complete without a few hauntings. Here are 11 cases of historic ghost sightings that keep us up at night.

Lizzie Borden

When she took an ax and gave her father 40 whacks, Lizzie Borden set off a very active haunting at the Borden family home in Fall River, Massachusetts. The home is now a hotel, and while there is some debate about who exactly haunts the property, believers in the paranormal agree there is definitely something sinister there.

James Dean

He was the epitome of a cool rebel who met his untimely demise in a car accident on the highway in Cholame, California. He’s buried in Fairmount, Indiana, where he reportedly smokes gifted cigarettes. Sometimes, he leans on the tombstone. Others say they’ve seen him hitchhiking near the site where he died.

Al Capone

The famed gangster wreaked havoc around Chicago during his six-year reign as a ruthless mob boss. Eventually, he was imprisoned for tax evasion and later died of untreated syphilis. It’s possible his ghost haunts the Melrose Park, Illinois, building that used to house a prohibition-era speakeasy he frequented.

Bonnie and Clyde

The romantically entangled depression-era bank robbers met their demise when they were ambushed by police outside Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1934. Their spirits are said to still lurk around the stolen vehicle they were driving that night, which is now on display at Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino in Jean, Nevada. Other times, their ghosts have been seen at the Baker Hotel in Texas, where the pair reportedly spent time while on the run.

Mark Twain

Born Samuel Clemens, the Missouri-born author spent much of his time in New York. He reportedly loved New York City, and his ghost still haunts the apartment building in Greenwich Village where he lived for a year between 1900 and 1901. He’s been spotted on the first floor near the stairs several times over the years.

John Wayne Gacy

The serial killer clown who preyed on men and young boys in the 1970s died by lethal injection in 1994, but he may not be gone. It’s possible his spirit is still haunting the cell he occupied for a time at the now-shuttered Joliet Prison outside Chicago.

H.H. Holmes

He holds the distinction of being one of the most prolific serial killers in American History, especially since he built an entire hotel of horrors in Englewood, a neighborhood in Chicago. The home was equipped with peep holes, gas chambers, and soundproof rooms, and chutes so he could send the bodies of his victims to the basement, where he had an entire laboratory equipped for dissection. A post office now sits on the site of his macabre hotel, but spirits remain.

Peter Stuyvesant

Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch director general responsible for what used to be New Amsterdam before it was the English colony of New York. Stuyvesant is buried at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery on what used to be his farmland. Legend has it he is still walking around the churchyard.

Anne Boleyn

Henry the VIII had Anne, his second wife, beheaded in 1536. Nearly 500 years later, she is still haunting the estate where she was born in Norfolk, England. Each year on the anniversary of her death, a coach driven by a headless horseman approaches the site where her family home was. Anne can be seen in the coach holding her own head in her lap.

Jack The Ripper

English serial killer Jack the Ripper may not haunt the London sites where he murdered his victims, but many witnesses say the women he killed haven’t moved on. His final victim was reportedly spotted walking the street just hours after her death, and the bricks in Mitre Square, where his fourth victim was killed, are said to turn red on the anniversary of her murder.

The Bell Witch

The Bell Witch terrified the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee, in the early 1800s. The family often heard knocking, choking, and dragging sounds around their home, The unhappy spirit seemed to target John Bell in particular, and apparently even haunted his funeral. Today, the Bell Witch appears confined to a cave on what used to be the Bell family property.

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11 Ghosts We're Thankful We Haven't Met

Shop This Look

11 Ghosts We're Thankful We Haven't Met

Lizzie Borden

James Dean

Al Capone

Bonnie and Clyde

Mark Twain

John Wayne Gacy

H.H. Holmes

Peter Stuyvesant

Anne Boleyn

Jack The Ripper

The Bell Witch

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