The Encyclopedia of Haunted Places in America & Canada

About This Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of Haunted Places in America & Canada visits 236 locations associated with ghost stories, reported encounters, and enduring local legends. Each location has its own chapter. The book brings the site's history together with the stories that gave it a haunted reputation, while treating supernatural claims as reports and traditions rather than established facts.

What You'll Discover

The contents move through hotels, historic houses, prisons, cemeteries, battlefields, theaters, ships, and other sites in the United States and Canada. Among the American entries are Alcatraz Island, the Winchester Mystery House, the Stanley Hotel, the Lizzie Borden House, Eastern State Penitentiary, and Gettysburg Battlefield. Canadian chapters include Fairmont Banff Springs, Craigdarroch Castle, the Fort Garry Hotel, Halifax Citadel National Historic Site, and the Plains of Abraham. These examples illustrate the geographical and historical spread of the collection.

The manuscript's introduction explains its approach: accounts of apparitions and unexplained events are attributed to witnesses, local folklore, institutions, or published reports. Historical details are researched using identifiable sources where available, but stories can differ between narrators and some claims remain disputed. That distinction matters especially where a real tragedy has become part of a later legend.

Places and Stories Covered

• Historic hotels, mansions, and houses with longstanding local traditions
• Former prisons, hospitals, and other institutions
• Battlefields, forts, cemeteries, and memorial settings
• Reported apparitions, unexplained sounds, mysterious lights, and regional folklore
• The documented events behind a location's reputation when sources allow

Who This Book Is For

Readers interested in North American folklore, historic places, ghost stories, and paranormal history can browse by location or follow the chapters as a journey across the two countries. It also suits travelers researching the stories connected with familiar landmarks. The book is a reading guide to place and tradition; visitor access can change, and many properties are active businesses, private homes, cemeteries, museums, or protected historic sites.