10 U.S. Towns with Documented History Anchor Halloween Tourism in 2026
Salem, Massachusetts, attracts Halloween enthusiasts due to its history with the 1692 witch trials, which led to 20 executions. Key attractions include the Witch House, associated with magistrate Jonathan Corwin, and the Peabody Essex Museum, established in 1799. The Salem Witch Trials Memorial honors the victims, while Proctor's Ledge received a memorial in 2017. In New York, Sleepy Hollow, renamed in 1996, is home to the Old Dutch Church and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. New Orleans boasts St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which opened in 1789. Savannah, Georgia, remembers yellow fever outbreaks and features Bonaventure Cemetery. St. Augustine, Florida, founded in 1565, houses Castillo de San Marcos. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, focuses on the 1863 battle, with additional sites like Eureka Springs, Jerome, Cripple Creek, and Mansfield.
Key facts
- Salem's 1692 witch trials ended with 20 executions, 19 by hanging and Giles Corey pressed to death.
- Sleepy Hollow was renamed from North Tarrytown in 1996 and is built on Washington Irving's 1820 story.
- St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in New Orleans opened in 1789 and holds Marie Laveau's tomb.
- Savannah's 22 squares were laid out under James Oglethorpe's 1733 plan.
- St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.
- The Battle of Gettysburg, July 1–3, 1863, resulted in roughly 50,000 casualties.
- The Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs was a cancer hospital run by Norman Baker in the 1930s.
- The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield operated from 1896 to 1990 and appeared in The Shawshank Redemption.
Entities
Artists
- Washington Irving
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Jonathan Corwin
- Giles Corey
- Marie Laveau
- Homer Plessy
- James Oglethorpe
- John Berendt
- Pedro Menéndez de Avilés
- Henry Flagler
- Abraham Lincoln
- Jennie Wade
- Norman Baker
- Bob Womack
- Mollie Kathleen Gortner
- Levi Scofield
- Arthur Glattke
- Helen Glattke
- Andrew Carnegie
- Walter Chrysler
- Elizabeth Arden
- Alexander Jackson Davis
Institutions
- Peabody Essex Museum
- Historic Hudson Valley
- Philipsburg Manor
- Van Cortlandt Manor
- Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
- Old Dutch Church
- Archdiocese of New Orleans
- New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum
- Telfair Museums
- Jepson Center
- Owens-Thomas House
- Mercer Williams House
- Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist
- National Park Service
- Gettysburg National Military Park
- Jennie Wade House
- Soldiers' National Cemetery
- Farnsworth House Inn
- Crescent Hotel
- Basin Park Hotel
- Jerome Historical Society
- Jerome State Historic Park
- Douglas Mansion
- Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine
- Cripple Creek & Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad
- Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society
- Kingwood Center Gardens
- Malabar Farm State Park
- Flagler College
- St. Augustine Lighthouse
- Castillo de San Marcos
- Old Jail
- Sorrel-Weed House
- Marshall House
- Colonial Park Cemetery
- Bonaventure Cemetery
- Salem Witch Museum
- Witch House
- Salem Witch Trials Memorial
- Proctor's Ledge
- House of the Seven Gables
- Sunnyside
- Lyndhurst
- Metro-North
- Grand Central Terminal
- Quartz
Locations
- Salem
- Massachusetts
- United States
- Sleepy Hollow
- New York
- Tarrytown
- North Tarrytown
- Manhattan
- Irvington
- Croton-on-Hudson
- Hudson Valley
- New Orleans
- Louisiana
- French Quarter
- Frenchmen Street
- Bourbon Street
- Dumaine Street
- Savannah
- Georgia
- Abercorn Street
- Madison Square
- Broughton Street
- Wilmington River
- St. Augustine
- Florida
- Anastasia Island
- San Marco Avenue
- St. George Street
- Gettysburg
- Pennsylvania
- Little Round Top
- Devil's Den
- Wheatfield
- Eureka Springs
- Arkansas
- Ozark Mountains
- Jerome
- Arizona
- Cleopatra Hill
- Sedona
- State Route 89A
- Cripple Creek
- Colorado
- Pikes Peak
- Colorado Springs
- Mansfield
- Ohio
- Richland County
- Boston
- Phoenix
Sources
- Quartz —