3 Unexpectedly Haunted US Cities

When people think of haunted cities, places like New Orleans and Salem usually steal the spotlight. But some of America’s most chilling ghost stories live in cities you might not expect. From Civil War battlefields to hidden underground tunnels, Gettysburg, Richmond, and Portland each offer their own brand of eerie history. Whether you’re a ghost tour enthusiast or a skeptic curious for a thrill, these haunted US cities will make you think twice about what lingers in the shadows.

Portland

Portland is a bustling city, alive with art, music, shopping, and culture. Its lively nature, however, obscures the hidden underground that literally lives beneath the city. Portland’s underground tunnels, now shuttered and sealed off, have seen some of the most gruesome, cruel, and heinous acts committed by man in this city. 

The tunnels under Portland, which were built by the back-breaking labor of Chinese immigrants in poor conditions, are 150 years old. They were constructed to connect the city’s business hub and Chinatown to the Willamette River. At the time, Portland was an important port city, and it received many shipments of goods a day. 

Originally designed to help transport goods from the port to the city’s merchants in a quick and efficient manner, bypassing the road network and traffic up above, the tunnels were soon enough used for nefarious purposes.

Shipmasters docking in Portland often had a problem: the ship’s crew, upon arriving in Portland, would abandon their duties and look for easier jobs on land. Facing a labor shortage and pressure to deliver shipments on time, they would hire unscrupulous individuals to kidnap local men from bars, pubs, and other areas. 

Drunkards would often be the target. Others would be plied with alcohol or drugs until they passed out. Once they were passed out, the men would be kidnapped, dragged through the tunnels, and loaded onto the ship. By the time they woke up from their slumber, the ship would have already sailed to sea, leaving them no option of escape. Facing beatings, els, you can join a Portland ghost tour to visit this port city’s most haunted spots. 

Richmond

Richmond, Virginia’s capital, is one of America’s oldest cities. It should come as no shock to you, therefore, that it has some seriously spooky spots. 

Pocahontas Parkway, also known as Route 895, connects State Route 150 and Interstate 95 with Interstate 295. Only 8.8 miles long, it would be easy to mistake Route 895 for just another tollway. 

However, this initially unassuming road has dark and mysterious undertones. Numerous sightings of Native Americans, their figures fuzzy, holding torches and standing on the roadway have been reported. State troopers have received dozens such calls, including from truckers and tollbooth workers, and the Richmond Times Dispatch has obtained a copy of one of those reports from the Virginia Department of Transportation. 

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, troopers have also reported hearing sounds like the banging of drums. The presence of these strange noises, as well as chanting, howling, whooping, and screaming, were confirmed by a state police spokeswoman. 

Before the tollway was constructed, archeologists at the College of William and Mary’s Center for Archeological Research did a dig at the site and discovered Native American artifacts dating back 6,000 years. Perhaps the construction of the tollway, which proceeded despite the plentiful artifacts in the area, angered the spirits of Native Americans who lived there? 

Perhaps that’s also why the project faced so many critical issues. In May 2006, after facing numerous financial issues, the city transferred ownership of the tollway to Transurban, an Australian company that manages toll roads, to manage the road for 99 years. In exchange for the 99-year concession, Transurban defeased the Pocahontas Parkway Association debt and agreed to pay an extension connecting the roadway to the airport. 

Just six years later, Transurban, considering bankruptcy, wrote off 75% of its stake in the roadway. In 2014, control was transferred to DBi Services. The road is currently managed by Globalvia, a Spanish company that manages public infrastructure; it is the only roadway in the US that the company manages. Globalvia purchased the concession in 2016. 

It’s worth exploring Richmond’s most haunted places, such as the abandoned C&O Church Hill Tunnel North and Lumpkin’s Slave Jail if you want a full understanding of Richmond’s long, rich, and often complex history. 

Gettysburg

Gettysburg is still reeling from the aftermath of the brutal Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. Scores of soldiers lay dead and wounded after the three-day battle, and many were quickly buried in impromptu mass graves. 

At the Welty House and Brickhouse Inn, which were in the epicenter of the battle, the aftereffects and shockwaves of the war are still evident. 

In the Welty House, the Welty family cowered in the basement while the battle raged outside. Sharpshooters took up position on the house, and it may have been due to these sharpshooters that Jennie Wade famously lost her life. 

Jennie Wade was baking bread in her house, a short distance from the Welty House, when soldiers opened fire on the house. One of the bullets hit her home and killed her on the spot. The floor was soaked in her blood, and to this day, some passersby hear the scream of a woman coming from her house at night. Today, the Jennie Wade House has been turned into a museum. 

In the Welty House and Brickhouse Inn, soldiers wearing Confederate or Union uniforms are often seen strolling the halls, walking through walls, or smoking cigars outside. It is believed that many of them were interred right underneath these grounds.