America is littered with spooky, deserted places that will send a shiver up your spine. From frozen-in-time ghost towns and churches, to schools and prisons that have been left to decay, we reveal the most incredible abandoned places in each state. We’ll let you know which sites are open to visitors, but otherwise assume you shouldn’t enter for your own safety.

Click or scroll through the gallery to explore the most fascinating abandoned spot in each US state...

Steeped in faded grandeur and with a somber history that includes the use of slave labor, this overgrown pre-Civil War mansion near the town of Lowndesboro dates back to 1830. Also known as Turner-Dickson House, it was rebuilt in 1940 following a devastating fire. Yet the plantation house burned to the ground once again in 1964.

The owners were unable to pay for the extensive repairs and the house was abandoned, but not forgotten. Over the years, the exterior of the crumbling mansion has featured in movies (including Tim Burton's Big Fish) and fashion shoots. These days the grounds are also available to hire for weddings and other events.

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This imposing mining town in the south of the state was established in 1911. A hive of activity for a time, Kennecott produced millions of dollars' worth of copper ore – but these resources were soon depleted and the mine shut down for good in 1938.

The last train departed that same year, leaving Kennecott a ghost town – literally. Visitors and locals alike have reported many sightings of apparitions over the decades, especially since the 1980s when tourists began to flock here. This picture is from 1989 – can you spot any ghosts?

'A town so loved, it never died' – that's the strapline for this haunting former mining settlement in the Sonoran Desert. Vulture City mine was established in the 1860s, when gold was struck in the region – eventually, a town with a 5,000-strong population sprouted around it. However, the mine was closed during the 1940s and Vulture City was eventually abandoned.

Today, some of the ghost town's abandoned buildings have been restored by the Vulture City Preservation Inc. Now you can step back in time with self-guided tours of the site, which includes a cookhouse, post office and brothel.

Zinc ore was discovered in the Rush Creek area in the 1880s and it didn't take long for miners to make their home here. By the 1890s, the mining town of Rush was flourishing, with homes and businesses collected around the principal mine: Morning Star Mine.

Though the town still boomed through the First World War, by the Second World War several of the mines had closed and Rush had seen better days. In the 1960s the remaining inhabitants abandoned the settlement, leaving it to molder. Today you can see a handful of ruined old mills and rickety wooden buildings, which are looked after by the National Park Service as part of the Buffalo National River area.

Preston Castle Reform School in Ione was one of the most infamous penal institutions for wayward boys and young men in America. Constructed between 1890 and 1894, the school, which is allegedly haunted, was the scene of all sorts of grizzly incidents over the years, from brutal punishments to murder.

In 1960, the extra-tough reform school moved to a modern building nearby and the original Romanesque Revival-style 'castle' was left empty. There has been talk over the years about restoring the structure, but for now it remains in its evocative, moldering state, with guided tours and ghost hunts regularly offered to the public.

Perched precariously above the Crystal River, this ramshackle former mill is reportedly one of the most photographed structures in Colorado. Built in 1892 as a power plant for the Sheep Mountain Mine, the mill was shut down in 1917 when the mine was abandoned.

Luckily, over the years local residents and historical societies have worked to preserve the wooden structure. A trip to see the mill is no mean feat though. The site is only accessible in the warmer months of the year and you'll need to undertake a pretty strenuous hike.

This hulking sanatorium overlooking the Connecticut coast has had several functions over the years. It began life in the 1930s as a tuberculosis hospital, but when its treatments became obsolete, the sanatorium turned into a care center for the elderly. When it finally closed in 1996, it was a hospital for patients with learning difficulties.

Today the building still watches over the shore and is within the grounds of the public Seaside State Park. Development plans have circled around the abandoned hospital for years but, as yet, nothing has been decided, so the sanatorium remains eerie and deserted.

This country mansion was completed in 1844 for cotton merchant John Rodney Brinckle and was named after the Rock of Gibraltar, a nod to the rugged outcrop on which it was constructed. Abandoned almost three decades ago, the house has fallen into disrepair.

Yet despite the ruinous repair of the property itself, the gardens have been restored to their former glory and are open to the public. Visitors can wander amid the leafy grounds and take a peek at Gibraltar Mansion's imposing facade. In January 2024, the city of Wilmington purchased the Gibraltar mansion for $900,000 to preserve it, so watch this space.

In the 1940s, dermatologist and dinosaur enthusiast Dr. Perry Sperber realized a dream: to open a theme park dedicated to the lumbering prehistoric creatures he was so fascinated by. He built his quirky jungle theme park on a plot of land containing the ruins of an old sugar mill and it included giant dinosaur statues sculpted from concrete.

However, the public sadly didn't muster the same enthusiasm as Sperber and low visitor numbers caused the park to close in 1952. Now the weathered relics of the abandoned park are scattered about Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens, which is open to the public. 

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Languishing on the Briarcliff Campus of Emory University, this boarded-up Georgian Revival mansion was built between 1920 and 1922 for eccentric Coca-Cola heir Asa Griggs 'Buddy' Candler Jr, who lived in the property until 1948.

The mansion was eventually repurposed as a psychiatric hospital and bought by Emory University in 1998, but was left to rot for years. Efforts have been made to stabilize the structure and, in 2016, plans were realized to convert Briarcliff into a luxury hotel and events venue. However, these were eventually scrapped and, for the foreseeable future, it seems the mansion will remain in an atmospheric state of ruin.

A blight on the tropical landscape for some and a key piece of Hawaiian history for others, the Old Sugar Mill of Koloa was Hawaii's first commercially viable sugar cane plantation. The mill was established in 1835 and thrived throughout the 19th century.

The mill changed hands a number of times during the 20th century, and eventually shut down in 1996. Today, though out of bounds to the public and covered in overgrowth, structures evoking the mill's heyday still stand.

America has no shortage of spooky abandoned jails and this one opened in Boise in 1872. The prison housed thousands of inmates during its long history and was in operation until the early 1970s.

Old Idaho State Penitentiary was eventually shut down following major riots over the appalling conditions. Now it's open daily to visitors, who can learn what life must have been like for the inmates on a guided tour.

This castle-like prison in northeastern Illinois was first opened in the late 1850s. The building was as formidable on the inside as it is on the outside and, having reached capacity, the prison offered cramped and unsanitary conditions for its inmates.

Nevertheless, the prison survived until 2002, when it was finally closed for financial reasons. Regular guided tours of the prison campus are offered to the public, and the building has also been used as a location for movie and television shoots, including popular TV series Prison Break. 

America's grandest abandoned place of worship, City Methodist Church in Gary was completed in 1926 to the tune of around $800,000 at the time. During the steel-boom years, the church was packed every Sunday. But as the industry declined, so did the number of attendees.

By the 1970s, the congregation had dwindled and with those in charge unable to afford the mammoth maintenance costs, the church was forced to close by 1975. The building sat decaying for decades, but now plans are afoot to turn the site into a 'ruin garden' in which the abandoned church's haunting remains will take center stage.

This little ghost town is tucked away in eastern Iowa, just off busy Highway 64. It's thought that the town leaked residents after much of the property here was bought up by a large commercial dairy in the 1960s.

Today a handful of arresting buildings remain, telling the story of a town that once was. These include a haunting white church, a deserted cemetery, and a decaying old creamery building (pictured).

This abandoned Lutheran church in the ghost town of Dubuque, near Dorrance, has to be the creepiest wreck in our round-up. The town of Dubuque flourished during the 19th century, but by the 1920s it was losing residents and was eventually completely abandoned.

Today all that remains is the deserted church and its requisite graveyard. Certainly not for the faint of heart, the wooden and brick buildings have a nightmarish quality about them – we reckon they'd make the perfect backdrop for a horror movie or edgy fashion shoot.

A grand building in the city of Louisville, Waverly Hills Sanatorium was established in the early 20th century as a treatment center for tuberculosis. By the 1960s, new treatments for the disease had been discovered and Waverly Hills' services were rendered obsolete.

The facility closed in 1961, and the building served the next couple of decades as a nursing home, before being deserted completely in the 1980s. Today it remains abandoned, though the public can explore the creepy building as part of guided ghost and historical tours and 'paranormal investigations'.

This once-glittering theme park crammed with thrill rides and family amusements was opened in 2000 and christened Jazzland. Just a few years after opening, the popular NOLA park was snapped up by theme park giant Six Flags, who proceeded to add even more adrenalin-pumping attractions.

The park's life was short, however. In 2005, devastating Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Six Flags site, ripping through roller coasters and leaving the park's attractions to rot in several feet of water. The park was abandoned and remains so today, its decrepit remnants a reminder of this natural disaster. Nevertheless, according to recent reports, a redevelopment deal has finally been struck.

Constructed between 1858-1864 the Civil War-era monument of Fort Gorges lies empty in the Casco Bay, guarding the entrance to Portland Harbor. Its official address is Hog Island Ledge and it was named for Sir Fernando Gorges, the colonial proprietor of Maine. It's been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1973, in recognition of its military and engineering significance, and was designated a local landmark in 1990.

Exploring Fort Gorges is at your own risk – you have to reach it by boat for a start. Its granite archways may not be entirely stable thanks to damage sustained in the Second World War, when the fort was last active. Greater Portland Landmarks is working on preserving the site, placing it on its 'places in peril' list. 

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America has its fair share of macabre abandoned hospitals and this former tuberculosis sanatorium in Glenn Dale is one of the most striking. The huge facility opened in 1934 but was eventually shut down in 1982 after failing to pass the necessary fire and safety inspections.

Since the 1980s, several organizations have proposed renovating or demolishing the buildings to no avail, and the property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. The most recent plans to redevelop the building as a 'continuing care retirement community' were dashed in a feasibility report so, for now, the red-brick building remains deserted and decrepit.

Famed for its many mills, Lowell is regarded as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America, and was the first real factory town in the US. Founded in the 1820s, it fast became the country's most important center for textile manufacturing.

Lowell began to decline in the 1920s, and by the 1960s most of the mills had closed. A number of urban renewal projects have successfully revamped much of the ex-industrial town, but some abandoned factories still remain. Lowell National Historical Park helps shed more light on the region and this portion of industrial history.

When Detroit's automotive industry collapsed in the mid 20th century, abandoned buildings became a common sight across its largest city. Decades on and many have been restored or renovated, but the occasional moldering structure still remains. Among them is Lee Plaza, a striking Art Deco apartment block that was built in 1928.

The Great Depression quickly took its toll on the once-opulent block and after its original owner was forced to sell up, it changed hands multiple times, before serving as a home for the elderly. After being shuttered in the Nineties, the building was left to crumble, with rubble-filled corridors and rooms, and broken windows – pictured here is the tattered ballroom. Recent reports suggest that the structure will soon be developed.

Throughout the 19th century this area on the banks of the Mississippi River thrived. It was packed with flour-producing mills, which greatly contributed to the development of Minneapolis at that time.

Later on in the 19th century, the mills eventually closed, but their abandoned remnants remain preserved as part of the Mill Ruins Park. Visitors can walk among the imposing factory walls and put their discoveries into context at the nearby Mill City Museum.

This mysterious locale was settled by the French in the 1760s and eventually named Rodney in 1828. The town, which included houses, churches, and other structures, was an important community during the middle of the 19th century and was at one time a contender for Mississippi's capital.

Rodney thrived between the 1820s and the 1860s, but after the Mississippi River changed course, the town went into severe decline and the population decreased to almost zero. These days, several buildings still stand, including the stirring Baptist and Presbyterian churches, and the town also boasts one of America's creepiest graveyards.

This romantic ruin may have a cheerful-sounding name, but its tragic history is anything but. In 1905, Kansas City businessman Robert McClure Snyder Sr bought this land near Camdenton. Construction began on a lavish European-style castle that same year, but Snyder Sr died in a car accident before its completion, making him one of America's first motoring fatalities.

The castle was finished by Snyder's sons, but they eventually ran into financial difficulties and were forced to move on. It served as a hotel for a time before it was destroyed by fire in 1942. Today visitors can spend time exploring the ruins during a trip to Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

One of America's most emblematic ghost towns, Bannack was founded in 1862. The mining town served as the Montana capital until 1864 and had a population of 10,000 at its peak in the latter half of the 19th century.

In the early 20th century, Bannack entered into decline and most residents had left by the 1950s. Today, some 60 brick, log, and frame buildings remain and the town is a popular tourist attraction.

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This pint-sized ghost town sits within the limits of Indian Cave State Park. It was once an important ferry crossing over the Missouri River, but large swathes of it were destroyed when the river eventually changed course, eating away at the banks the town was perched on.

By the 1920s, the town had been all but abandoned and now very little of it is left. Visitors can expect to see the historic cemetery, plus a restored schoolhouse and a general store. 

Nevada isn't short of ghost towns to explore and Rhyolite is one of the largest and most photogenic in the state. The gold mining town was established in 1905 and had amassed a population of 5,000 within a couple of years.

Rhyolite had all the trappings of a mining town, including hastily constructed schools, banks and even a railroad station (pictured). But the closure of the mine in 1911 spelled the end for Rhyolite and it was depopulated by 1920. Today visitors can wander among the atmospheric buildings at their leisure.

Quite the character, Madame Sherri was a vaudeville costume designer from New York who had her very own castle built deep in a forest in southwest New Hampshire. The country house was completed sometime during the 1920s and hosted glamorous party after glamorous party.

Eccentric Madame Sherri, who was often seen accompanied by her pet monkey, soon ran out of money. She abandoned her castle sometime during the 1940s and it was gutted by fire in 1962. Today, only the ruins remain, which include a grand stone staircase that leads to nowhere.

This abandoned hospital on New Jersey's Ellis Island has an absorbing history. During its heyday in the earlier half of the 20th century, it treated thousands of immigrants who had come to the USA hoping to start anew. It's estimated that about 10% of all arrivals passed through the hospital and were treated for diseases such as tuberculosis and diphtheria. Sadly, many didn't make it. 

Numbers passing through dwindled from the 1930s and the hospital was closed and deserted by 1954. The brooding building still stands today, its creepy wards and corridors tattered but intact. Visitors can now also explore the hospital with expert guides on a hard-hat tour.

This semi-ghost town is home to just 10-20 residents, down from 2,000 at its peak. Chloride was founded in 1880 when silver ore was discovered nearby. Within a few years, the town had everything from a general store to a school, as well as two hotels and a total of nine saloons.

However, the Silver Panic of 1893 drastically lowered the price of the commodity and the town entered into rapid decline. These days, an impressive 27 historic buildings remain, some of which have been sympathetically restored.

This turreted European-style castle was built for Scotsman Francis Bannerman VI in the early 20th century. Bannerman owned a weaponry business and intended to use the elaborate structure as a storage facility.

However, Bannerman passed away in 1918 and a series of tragic incidents ensued, including an explosion which destroyed part of the castle shortly after Bannerman's death. The property has been abandoned since the 1950s, though today tourists come to see the once glorious castle's crumbling remains.

The school was established in 1909 as a place to house young juveniles who committed crimes, but were not old enough to serve time in an adult prison. It was named for Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson, a Confederate general during the American Civil War. At its peak in the 1920s, the school housed 500 students. The young boys were taught not only academics, but labor as well.

By the 1970s, the student population began to dwindle due to other welfare programs and as social attitudes towards minors changed. It is now called the Stonewall Jackson Youth Development Center. The old Stonewall Jackson School site is in the National Register of Historical Places but nature is slowly reclaiming the buildings for itself.

Located in the semi-abandoned town of Ardoch, the Mondry Grain Elevator was built in 1881 when the town was a thriving center of agriculture. The grain elevator was owned by the Mondry family farm and was at one time located on a rail line. When the railroad closed, the elevator and the village of Andoch were no longer needed.

The remote town was largely abandoned in the mid-20th century when many of the inhabitants left to seek work in larger towns and cities. Today, fewer than 70 people live in Ardoch, and this grain elevator is one of several abandoned 19th-century buildings.

This haunting prison complex dates back to 1886. Throughout the 20th century, thousands were incarcerated here. Over the years, the facility reportedly faced issues of overcrowding and prisoners suffered poor conditions. The prison was eventually deserted by 1990.

The reformatory has been spared the wrecking ball and was even the location for famous prison movie The Shawshank Redemption. Unsurprisingly, tales of ghosts and ghouls lurking within these walls abound. As well as regular guided tours, visitors can today explore the facility on a ghost hunt.

An abandoned place you really don't want to visit, Picher was once a major lead and zinc mining town. Incorporated in 1918, the town had a population of 14,252 by 1926. But by the time the mines had shut in 1967, Picher was an environmental disaster.

Years of mining had undermined the foundations of most of the buildings and the town had become heavily polluted with toxic lead. Efforts were made to clean up the town, but to no avail. The remaining families were eventually relocated.

The Pacific Northwestern state of Oregon has hundreds of ghost towns, and among them is atmospheric Golden. The small settlement sprang up in the 1840s. By the 1890s, it had a population in the hundreds and a number of houses and public buildings, including a general store.

A church and post office followed, but by the 1920s the population had dwindled, and the town was mostly abandoned. These days four of Golden's historic buildings still stand and the town is an Oregon State Heritage Site.

Perhaps the best-known abandoned building in America, the Eastern State Penitentiary was built in the 1820s and imprisoned some of the USA's most notorious criminals during its time. These included famous gangster Al Capone and Leo Callahan – the only inmate ever to successfully escape the penitentiary.

The prison eventually closed in 1971 and today the building remains much as it once was, its cell blocks crumbling and its corridors tattered. It's now popular with tourists who can explore the arresting building via an audio tour.

Pawtucket-Central Falls is a grand abandoned train station opened in 1916. After more than four decades of service, the Beaux-Arts station building was closed in 1959. Passengers could still access the platforms until the 1980s, when the last train served the station.

Though redevelopment plans have been floated over the years, the elegant building currently remains abandoned. However, a brand-new train station has recently opened nearby.

This stunning Moorish-style mansion in Murrells Inlet was once the winter residence of New York industrialist Archer M. Huntington and his wife, the sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington. The mansion was completed in the 1930s.

During the Second World War, the Huntingtons lent the mansion to the United States Army Air Corps for use as a barracks. They returned after the war but eventually left the property in 1947, with Anna returning just a couple of times after Archer's death in 1955. Today, public tours are available of the grounds and the deserted buildings.

This authentic-looking ghost town near Murdo was actually assembled around 1972 by Richard Hullinger after he bought 14 acres of land at Exit 170 in 1969. The buildings were intended for use in a Western movie, and local antiques dealer – and Richard's father – Clarence Hullinger lent a store of his precious relics to the film crew. However, when winter arrived, the film set was abandoned.

The film bosses ended up leaving the buildings from the main street set with Clarence Hullinger as a thank you for his help with the antiques. The father and son then chose to preserve the deserted film set, expand it, and open it up to the public. Today visitors can explore the nostalgic barn, schoolhouse, hotel, and more.

Hailed as Tennessee's first maximum-security prison, Brushy Mountain Penitentiary opened in 1896 – it followed the devastating Coal Creek War, which saw miners revolt against the then-common practice of convict leasing (in which prisoners were forced to provide free labor). After this system was ended, many of the convicts who had been working on the local railroad and in the mines became inmates at the prison.

The prison was terribly overcrowded – at times holding 300 more than its maximum capacity – and diseases were rife, leading to the deaths of many inmates. A new and bigger facility was built (though conditions did not improve) and it went on to house some of America's most notorious criminals. James Earl Ray, convicted of assassinating Dr Martin Luther King Jr, is among the most famous inmates to walk through the gates. Despite its checkered history, the facility would not close until 2009 – now it's open for historical and paranormal tours. 

This is all that remains of Majors Stadium in Greenville, once home to high school football, followed by a minor league baseball team named the Majors starting in 1946. The stadium and team were named after Second World War hero Truett Majors. 

In 1949, the team played an exhibition game against the New York Yankees and won 4-3. Playing in center field was Joe DiMaggio, widely considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time and once married to Marilyn Monroe. A sign next to the gate tells the story of the field and commemorates sporting legend visitors.

This super-strange structure, which was built in the 1920s, is actually a former metals refinery. Tintic Mill was in operation for just five years, and was then abandoned when the technology was deemed obsolete.

The mill was simply left to crumble, but the foundations for the water tanks, crushers, roasters, iron boxes, leaching tanks and drain boxes survive. Covered in graffiti, they make for an arresting sight in the hilly landscape.

When this 30-megawatt power station on the Burlington waterfront was completed in the 1950s, it was praised for its innovation and distinctive design. However, by 1984, it had been rendered obsolete, and the station was eventually decommissioned in 1986.

Moran Municipal Generation Station has been vacant since the 1980s. Over the past decade, the striking structure has been both threatened with demolition and earmarked for ambitious redevelopment plans. Finally, in 2020, work began to turn the power station's metal skeleton into the 'Moran Frame', a park and cultural space.

When Mark 'Professor' Cline turned an old, abandoned mansion in Virginia into a haunted house, he also created one of the prime tourist attractions in the area. A talented artist, Cline filled his Haunted Monster Museum in Natural Bridge with his unusual creations, which included Foamhenge, a recreation of Stonehenge, except in Styrofoam (of course). He built a creative headquarters for the park known as Enchanted Castle Studios.

Sadly, it was all destroyed by a fire in 2012, the second to occur on the site. Today you can still visit the ruins but Mark is busy creating new creepy art pieces, especially around April Fool's Day. Each year, a large, creative sculpture appears in a public space, typically within 50 miles (80km) of his studio.

Not to be confused with the better-known Bodie in California, this ghost town (located between the tiny communities of Chesaw and Wauconda) was settled in the late 19th century, after prospectors discovered gold in the area.

The mining town declined after nearby gold reserves had been depleted, and Bodie was all but abandoned by the 1940s. These days, a few decrepit wooden structures remain as a haunting tribute to the town.

This venerable brewery in Wheeling dates from 1865, and was producing thousands of barrels of beer per year by the early 1900s. At that time, Wheeling was nicknamed the 'Beer Belly' of the state due to its brewery and 130 saloons.

Despite its booming business, the brewery was forced to close in 1914 when prohibition legislation banning the sale of alcohol was passed in the state. It was reportedly used as an air raid shelter during the First World War, but has remained vacant ever since.

What's left of the little mining town of Helena is protected within the bounds of Tower Hill State Park. Like many surrounding villages, Helena burgeoned through the 1830s and 1840s after lead was discovered in the area. The town was damaged in its very early days in the Black Hawk War in 1832, but it wasn't fully deserted until 1860.

Decreasing profits meant the lead shot tower here was closed. Remnants of the settlement today include a shot tunnel, used to transport lead, and a restored shot tower (its base pictured here). Look out for informative plaques that will bring the town's past to life. Also nearby is the eerie Old Helena Cemetery.

This remote ghost town near Thermopolis was founded in 1907. The coal mining town grew fast, and had a population of 20,000 at its peak. But the boom didn't last and Gebo was mostly abandoned in 1938, when mining in the area ceased for good.

The ghost town stayed standing until 1971 when most of the buildings were razed to the ground due to safety concerns. Only the ruins of the bulldozed town and its cemetery remain – they make for a particularly bleak sight on the prairie landscape.

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