The most haunted campgrounds of the Northeast and Southeast

By Cheri Sicard
Join the team from Holly’s Lore, a YouTube channel that explores paranormal phenomena, for their list of the most haunted campgrounds in the Northeast and Southeast United States.

So, which spooky haunted campgrounds made Holly’s list?

Camp Rutledge, Georgia

This campground is located in Hard Labor Creek State Park (now, that sounds fun), between the towns of Bostwick and Rutledge, Georgia. You’d never guess by the bucolic vistas in the two group campsites here that they come with a gruesome bloody history. Watch the video for a concise history of the Morgan County Massacre that occurred here in 1813.

The campground has many ghostly legends.

A phantom little boy named Ethan likes to roll a ghostly red ball around the camp. Supposedly, Ethan wandered away from his campsite here in 1973, never to be seen or heard from again, and his body has never been found. He reportedly haunts the campground.

Another little boy has been seen in the cemetery section of the park. A ghostly man has been seen wandering around the camp at night, knocking on the cabins and angrily slamming doors.

Antietam Creek Campground, Maryland

This campground is nestled between the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the Potomac River, just a few miles from the Antietam battlefield where the single bloodiest battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam aka the Battle of Sharpsburg, took place in 1862.

About 23,000 people were dead, wounded or missing from that battle, so is it any surprise this scenic campground is allegedly haunted?

Visitors have reported seeing ghost soldiers marching through the campground, as well as sounds of guns, cannons, and drumming.

Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky

This Kentucky park boasts over 300 miles of underdeveloped shoreline and over 500 miles of trails to explore, along with four developed campgrounds as well as dispersed camping areas.

Watch the video as each of the park’s areas has its own creepy legends associated with it. Some are tied to the Native Americans who used to live there, while others date to the Civil War.

Visitors have reported being followed by phantom headlights that suddenly disappear.

More legends tell of a phantom trucker, a vampire hotel, and the “Beast of LBL.”

To be sure, not all locals believe the beast exists. But the legends of a creature resembling Bigfoot crossed with a wolf persist.

North Bend State Park Campgrounds, West Virginia

Named for the horseshoe curve in the Hughes River and located between Cairo and Harrisville, West Virginia, this state park is known for its 72-mile rail trail and for its phantom visitors.

One legend involves a headless ghostly figure. At the turn of the century, before the land was turned into a park, it was an oil field dotted with oil rigs. Near the Jug Handle Campground, a horrible accident happened when one of the oil rigs exploded, killing and decapitating one of the nearby workers. While his body was recovered, his head was never found. Stories of the headless ghost started a few years later.

Another phantom said to haunt the park is Ed, a blind man who once lived in one of the cabins here, where the park entrance is today. Legend says Ed was married to a mean woman whose equally ill-tempered mother also lived with them. Ed’s solution was to hang himself from a nearby tree. To this day visitors report seeing the specter of a man hanging from the tree. Ed has also been seen on the road walking to the lodge.

Point Lookout Campground, Maryland

Located at the southernmost tip of the state in Scotland, Maryland, where the Potomac River flows in the Chesapeake Bay, this secluded area was home to many disasters and tragedies throughout the years.

At various times it was the site of a Civil War hospital, a prisoner of war camp, a refugee camp for runaway and freed slaves, shipwrecks, and even a hotel that burned to the ground. Before that, the area was used as hunting and fishing grounds for Native American tribes.

Leonard Calvert built a manor house and established a colony here in 1634, which became Maryland’s first capital. Watch the video to explore both the Civil War and the War of 1812 history that happened here. Between 3,000 to 8,000 prisoners died and were buried in a mass grave here, so Point Lookout’s haunted history comes as no surprise.

Witch Dance Campground, Mississippi

Part of the Natchez Trace National Historic Parkway, this beautiful piece of land holds a dark past. An early trade route, this area attracted traders, trappers, smugglers, and criminals alike. So common were robberies and murders, that the Natchez Trace was once known as “The Devil’s Backbone.”

Witches were said to conduct ritual dances at night near the campground. According to local legends, grass died never to grow again wherever the witches danced. To this day patches of scorched earth can be found in the park.

Going further back in history, two different Native American tribes buried their ancestors here. Legend says you can still hear chanting and beating drums on full moon nights. Legend also says if you hear screeching and wailing, head in the other direction. Fast!

The Colonies, Fort Monroe, Virginia

Built in the 1800s as a defense fortress for the Chesapeake Bay, it has seen conflict during the Civil War and both World Wars. Today the fort is a who’s who of celebrity historical figures, with Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Edgar Alan Poe all said to haunt here, along with the slaves that came here on their way to freedom. Watch the video to hear the history behind these tales.

4-Mile Creek Camp, Tennessee

Located in the Montgomery Bell State Park in Dickenson, Tennessee, you’ll find 111 sites here, most with electrical hookups. Ghost hunters will appreciate the 19th-century cemetery that sits on the hill just above the camp.

Visitors report that the ghosts from the cemetery can be seen on moonless nights when disembodied voices can also be heard coming from the trees.

But more than ghosts haunt this campground. There are also legends of the Wild Men of Borneo dating back to 1856, when a circus train derailed here. It’s a pretty wild story that, as far as I know, has no basis in fact.

Nonetheless, throughout the years, law enforcement has documented dozens of cases of disappearances in the area, as well as 20 mutilated human carcasses and over 500 mutilated animal carcasses. And people still report hearing primal howls in the area of Werewolf Springs.

Cape Henlopen Campground, Delaware

This beloved state park offers lots of recreational opportunities as well as a World War II fort you can tour.

Phantom soldiers supposedly haunt the campground (I am detecting a pattern here).

Allegedly, a ghostly soldier has even been captured on film, although the video fails to show it.

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