Haunted Iowa

80 haunted destinations cataloged across Iowa, spanning 44 counties. The collection features cemetery, museum, and other dark tourism site — every listing verified with family ratings, accessibility info, and practical visit logistics.

80 locations 44 counties 11 classifications 37 wheelchair accessible

Featured in Iowa

Top 6
Photo of Coe College
Other Dark Tourism Site

Coe College

Cedar Rapids, IA

Coe College, a private liberal arts college founded in 1851, sits in northeastern Cedar Rapids. Campus ghost lore centers on a student named Helen who died during the 1918 influenza pandemic, with her parents reportedly donating a grandfather clock to the college in her memory.

$ All Ages Family: High
Two-story brick former poor farm building in rural Jones County, Iowa, viewed from the gravel approach road
Asylum / Hospital

Edinburgh Manor

Scotch Grove, IA

Edinburgh Manor in Scotch Grove, Iowa, was constructed in 1910–1911 on land originally granted in 1840 for a Jones County courthouse. The 12,000-square-foot building replaced an 1850 poor farm and operated as a county home for the elderly, disabled, and mentally ill until November 2010, when residents were transferred to a new facility.

$$$ 18+ for paranormal investigations Family: Not Recommended
The bronze Black Angel monument towering over headstones at Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City, Iowa
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Oakland Cemetery

Iowa City, IA

Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City was incorporated in 1843 as the city's primary burial ground. Its most-photographed feature is the Black Angel, an 8.5-foot bronze monument commissioned in 1912 by Czech immigrant Teresa Feldevert, who hired Chicago sculptor Mario Korbel to memorialize her son and second husband.

$ All Ages Family: High
Historical 1915 postcard view of the Cherokee Mental Health Institute (Kirkbride asylum) in Cherokee, Iowa
Asylum / Hospital

Cherokee Mental Health Institute

Cherokee, IA

Cherokee Mental Health Institute opened on August 15, 1902, as the Cherokee Lunatic Asylum, the fourth state hospital in Iowa. Designed to the Kirkbride Plan, the original building once housed 1,810 windows, 1,030 doors, and 550 rooms across a single connected structure intended for 700 patients.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
The dark bronze Black Angel statue of the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial at the entrance to Fairview Cemetery in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Fairview Cemetery & the Black Angel (Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial)

Council Bluffs, IA

Fairview Cemetery is a 19th-century burial ground in Council Bluffs, Iowa, best known for the Black Angel at its entrance. The Black Angel is the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, an 8.5-foot bronze sculpted by Daniel Chester French and dedicated in 1918 in memory of Ruth Anne Dodge, wife of railroad engineer Grenville M. Dodge.

$ All Ages Family: High
Three Stars memorial marker at the Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper crash site near Clear Lake, Iowa
Outdoor / Natural Site

Buddy Holly Crash Site

Clear Lake, IA

Shortly after midnight on February 3, 1959, a chartered Beechcraft Bonanza carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson crashed into a cornfield outside Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all three musicians and pilot Roger Peterson. The event has been known since Don McLean's 1971 song as 'The Day the Music Died.'

$ All Ages Family: High

More in Iowa

Sioux City — 8

Haunted House / Historic Home

Briar Cliff University — Alverno Hall

Sioux City, IA

Briar Cliff University was co-founded in 1929 by the Sisters of Saint Francis of the Holy Family and opened in 1930. Alverno Hall, a residential building on the campus, takes its name from the Franciscan tradition of Mount Alverno.

$ All Ages Family: High
Aerial survey view of Calvary Cemetery (Sioux City)
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Calvary Cemetery (Sioux City)

Sioux City, IA

Calvary Cemetery is a Catholic burial ground at 28th and Cassleman on Sioux City's west side, and is the city's second-oldest cemetery. Its older, upper section — reached by a dirt cut-through — is the setting for a long-circulated 'hanging tree' headstone legend, though the claim is disputed by some visitors who say the marker is simply a tree-form stone.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
Aerial survey view of Graceland Park Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Graceland Park Cemetery

Sioux City, IA

Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City dates to the early 1900s and was significant enough at its founding that its mausoleum dedication drew visitors from neighboring states. It remains an active burial ground in Woodbury County.

$ All Ages Family: High
True Crime Site

KD Station (Former Swift & Co. Packing Plant)

Sioux City, IA

Built in 1918-19 as the Midland Packing Plant and acquired by Swift & Co. in 1924, this enormous Sioux City meatpacking facility operated until 1974. On December 14, 1949, an underground natural-gas leak triggered an explosion that killed 21 people and injured 91. In 1976 the building reopened as the KD Stockyards Station shopping mall before fire and water damage forced its closure in 2004 and demolition in 2010.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
Aerial survey view of Morningside University — Dimmitt Hall
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Other Dark Tourism Site

Morningside University — Dimmitt Hall

Sioux City, IA

Morningside University was founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church in Sioux City, Iowa. The Lillian E. Dimmitt Residence Hall, named for the Dean of Women who served for 26 years, was constructed in 1927 as the third-oldest building on campus. The building underwent renovation in 2015.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
Theater / Performance Venue

Orpheum Theatre

Sioux City, IA

The Orpheum Theatre at 528 Pierce Street in Sioux City opened in 1927 as part of the national Orpheum Circuit, one of the country's major vaudeville and early-cinema chains. The theater operated through the vaudeville era's decline into the sound-film period and beyond. It underwent a major restoration in 2001 and continues to operate as an active performance venue.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Asylum / Hospital

Prairie Hills Facility (Woodbury County Home)

Sioux City, IA

Built more than a century ago, the Woodbury County Home served first as a county poor farm housing residents unable to support themselves, then transitioned to housing mentally ill residents as county welfare programs evolved. By 2021 it was known as Prairie Hills Facility and remained under county ownership.

$ All Ages Family: High
Sioux City Municipal Auditorium (now Long Lines Family Rec Center) in Sioux City, Iowa, designed in 1938 and completed 1950
Theater / Performance Venue

Long Lines Family Rec Center (Sioux City Municipal Auditorium)

Sioux City, IA

The Sioux City Municipal Auditorium, now operating as the Long Lines Family Rec Center, was designed by Knute E. Westerlind in 1938 and completed in 1950 after a difficult construction history spanning a World War II material shortage and three separate municipal bond referendums. The building was Sioux City's primary indoor concert and sports venue until the 2003 opening of Gateway Arena.

$ All Ages Family: High

Davenport — 7

Photo of Alice French House
Haunted House / Historic Home

Alice French House

Davenport, IA

The mansion at 321 E 10th Street in Davenport is associated with Alice French, who wrote under the pen name Octave Thanet and became one of the most widely read American authors of the 1880s and 1890s. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Ambrose Hall — St. Ambrose University
Other Dark Tourism Site

Ambrose Hall — St. Ambrose University

Davenport, IA

Built in 1885 as the first structure on what would become St. Ambrose University's campus, Ambrose Hall has served the Catholic institution continuously since its founding. The building's fourth floor has accumulated campus ghost lore documented in the student newspaper since at least 1974.

$ All Ages Family: High
Eleven-story Italian Renaissance Hotel Blackhawk in downtown Davenport Iowa
Haunted Hotel / Inn

Blackhawk Hotel

Davenport, IA

The Hotel Blackhawk opened in 1915 as a luxurious eleven-story fireproof hotel on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, built at a cost of $1 million by businessman W.F. Miller. Designed by the architectural firm Temple & Burrows with Italian Renaissance and Art Deco elements, it originally featured 225 rooms with private bathrooms. Four additional floors were added in 1920, bringing capacity to 400 rooms. The hotel hosted presidents, celebrities, and big bands throughout the twentieth century.

$$$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of German American Heritage Center
Museum / Historical Site

German American Heritage Center

Davenport, IA

Constructed in 1862 as the Germania House, a gasthaus serving Davenport's growing German immigrant community, the building cycled through identities as the Miller Hotel and Arcade Hotel before being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 and restored as a museum.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
Museum / Historical Site

Palmer College of Chiropractic — Vickie Anne Palmer Hall

Davenport, IA

Built in 1922 as a Masonic Temple that also screened silent films and hosted lodge meetings, the structure stood vacant for decades before Palmer College acquired it in 1998 and opened the Palmer Family and Chiropractic History Museum inside.

$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Renwick Mansion
Haunted Hotel / Inn

Renwick Mansion

Davenport, IA

Constructed for Davenport businessman William Renwick in the 1860s-1880s in Italian Revival style, the mansion commanded panoramic views of the Mississippi River. It later served as St. Katherine's School and a nursing facility before a 1997 renovation converted it to a bed-and-breakfast.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Dubuque — 6

Dubuque County Jail Egyptian Revival limestone exterior at 36 East Eighth Street, Dubuque, Iowa
Prison / Reformatory

Dubuque County Jail (Old Jail Museum)

Dubuque, IA

Designed in 1857 by architect John Francis Rague in the Egyptian Revival style, the Dubuque County Jail is one of only three surviving Egyptian Revival buildings in the United States. Its 18-inch limestone walls and distinctive curved-ceiling basement served as a functioning county jail for over a century. During the Civil War, Confederate prisoners were held in the basement. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the building has operated as a museum since 1975.

$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Grand Opera House
Theater / Performance Venue

Grand Opera House

Dubuque, IA

Designed by Willoughby J. Edbrooke and completed in 1890, the Grand Opera House is Dubuque's only surviving opera house from the Victorian era. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Hotel Julien Dubuque
Haunted Hotel / Inn

Hotel Julien Dubuque

Dubuque, IA

The Hotel Julien's origins trace to 1839, making it Iowa's oldest continuously operating hotel. A fire in 1913 destroyed the earlier structure; the current building opened in 1915. Abraham Lincoln stayed here, and Al Capone is documented to have used the hotel during Prohibition.

$$$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Linwood Cemetery
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Linwood Cemetery

Dubuque, IA

Opened in 1870 on the bluffs above Dubuque and the Mississippi River, Linwood Cemetery covers 145 acres and serves as the final resting place for several of Iowa's most prominent 19th-century figures.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate
Haunted Hotel / Inn

Redstone Inn & Suites

Dubuque, IA

Industrialist Augustine A. Cooper built the Redstone as a 27-room Romanesque Revival duplex mansion in 1888 in Dubuque's Cathedral Historic District. The property narrowly escaped demolition in the 1980s before being converted to a bed-and-breakfast in 1985.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Mathias Ham House in Dubuque Iowa, historic 1857 Italianate Victorian mansion
Museum / Historical Site

Mathias Ham House Historic Site

Dubuque, IA

The Mathias Ham House at 2241 Lincoln Avenue in Dubuque, Iowa, was designed by architect John F. Rague — who also designed the original Illinois and Iowa state capitols — and built in 1857 for Mathias Ham, a lead miner and riverboat operator who had arrived in Dubuque in the 1830s. The Dubuque County Historical Society opened the house as a museum in 1964.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Ames — 5

Theater / Performance Venue

C.Y. Stephens Auditorium

Ames, IA

C.Y. Stephens Auditorium opened in 1969 as the centerpiece of the Iowa State Center complex at Iowa State University. Construction was made possible by a major donation from Clifford Y. Stephens, a 1907 ISU alumnus who made his fortune in the dairy industry.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Haunted House / Historic Home

Farm House Museum (Knapp–Wilson House)

Ames, IA

The Farm House at Iowa State University was built around 1860 and is the oldest surviving building on campus. It served as the home of Iowa State's early faculty and administrators, including Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson and his family. The building is a National Historic Landmark and now operates as a museum preserving the university's agricultural heritage.

$ All Ages Family: High
Theater / Performance Venue

Fisher Theater — Iowa State University

Ames, IA

Fisher Theater in ISU's Scheman Building opened in 1969 and became the new home of ISU Theatre after the original Shattuck Theatre was demolished in 1979. The venue is named in part through association with the Iowa State Center complex and hosts the university's main stage productions.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Aerial survey view of Friley Hall
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Other Dark Tourism Site

Friley Hall

Ames, IA

Friley Hall, opened in 1927, is Iowa State University's largest residence hall and one of the oldest on campus. It houses several thousand students across its multiple wings and has been a central piece of ISU residential life for nearly a century.

$ All Ages Family: High
Museum / Historical Site

Iowa State University Memorial Union / Gold Star Hall

Ames, IA

The Iowa State University Memorial Union opened in 1928 as a living memorial to the 117 ISU students and alumni who died in World War I. Gold Star Hall, its central memorial space, features carved walls listing each of the fallen — including Hortense Elizabeth Wind, a dietitian who died of influenza in 1918 and is the only woman honored among the names.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cedar Rapids — 3

Queen Anne style Brucemore mansion exterior in Cedar Rapids Iowa
Museum / Historical Site

Brucemore

Cedar Rapids, IA

Brucemore is a 21-room Queen Anne mansion designed by Indianapolis architect Maximilian Allardt and constructed from 1884 to 1886 by Caroline Sinclair, widow of pioneer industrialist Thomas M. Sinclair. The structure stands on a 26-acre estate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is Iowa's only National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Significant renovations in 1905 by the Douglas family added architectural features and modernized the interior.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Museum / Historical Site

Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

Cedar Rapids, IA

Built in 1905 with Carnegie funding as the Cedar Rapids Public Library, the building served as the city's main library for 80 years before conversion to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in 1985. It was the site of one of Iowa's most carefully documented crisis apparition accounts.

$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Oak Hill Cemetery
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Oak Hill Cemetery

Cedar Rapids, IA

Oak Hill Cemetery on Mt. Vernon Road SE has served Cedar Rapids since the mid-1800s, receiving waves of Czech and Bohemian immigrants who settled the surrounding neighborhoods through the late nineteenth century.

$ All Ages Family: High

Council Bluffs — 3

Second Empire facade of the General Dodge House, Council Bluffs, Iowa, a National Historic Landmark
Haunted House / Historic Home

Historic General Dodge House

Council Bluffs, IA

The General Dodge House was built in 1869 for Grenville M. Dodge, the Union Civil War general who later served as chief engineer of the Union Pacific portion of the Transcontinental Railroad. The 14-room Second Empire mansion was designed by Chicago architect W.W. Boyington and cost $35,000 to construct. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

$ All Ages Family: High
Beaux-Arts façade of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum at 200 Pearl Street in Council Bluffs, Iowa, formerly the city's 1905 Andrew Carnegie public library building.
Museum / Historical Site

Union Pacific Railroad Museum (Former Carnegie Library)

Council Bluffs, IA

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum occupies the 1905 Carnegie Library building at 200 Pearl Street in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Built in the Beaux-Arts style and funded by Andrew Carnegie's bequest, the building served as the city's public library until a new library opened, after which Union Pacific Railroad partnered with Council Bluffs to convert the vacant Carnegie structure into the railroad's permanent museum, which opened on May 10, 2003.

$ All Ages Family: High
The Old Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail, an 1885 rotary jail on Pearl Street in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Prison / Reformatory

Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail

Council Bluffs, IA

The Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail was built in 1885 in Council Bluffs, Iowa, as a rotary jail with a central hand-cranked carousel of cells. It is the only three-story rotary jail ever built and one of just three surviving examples in the United States. Now a museum, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2023.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Iowa City — 3

Theater / Performance Venue

E. C. Mabie Theatre — University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

The Theatre Building at the University of Iowa was constructed in the early 1930s as the home of the UI Theatre Department. It was named for Edward Charles Mabie, who founded the department and chaired it for decades, building it into one of the country's most respected MFA programs.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Photo of Old Capitol Museum — University of Iowa
Museum / Historical Site

Old Capitol Museum — University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

Iowa's original territorial capitol began construction in 1842 under architect John Francis Rague and served as seat of both territorial and state government until the capital moved to Des Moines in 1857. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and underwent major renovation in the 1970s, during which a tragic accident produced one of the building's enduring legends.

$ All Ages Family: High
Haunted House / Historic Home

Plum Grove Historic Home

Iowa City, IA

Plum Grove was built in 1844 by Robert Lucas, who served as the first governor of the Territory of Iowa (1838–1841). Lucas lived at the property on 360 acres outside Iowa City until his death there in 1853. The home is now operated as a public historic site by the Iowa State Historical Society.

$ All Ages Family: High

Boone — 2

Photo of Boone County Historical Center
Museum / Historical Site

Boone County Historical Center

Boone, IA

The Champlin Memorial Masonic Temple at 602 Story Street was built in 1907, designed by the firm Proudfoot and Bird. It served as Masonic Lodge No. 42 until 1990, when the Boone County Historical Society acquired the building and converted it into a county history museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High
Kate Shelley High Bridge, currently owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The original steel trestle Boone Viaduct, a.k.a. Kate Shelley High Bridge, is on the left (south); the new officially named Kate Shelley High Bridge with reinforced concrete trestles is on the right (north). Photograph captured 08/
Outdoor / Natural Site

Kate Shelley High Bridge

Boone, IA

The Kate Shelley High Bridge — originally completed as the Boone Viaduct in 1901 — stands 185 feet above the Des Moines River near Boone, Iowa. The bridge bears the name of Kate Shelley, a 15-year-old who on July 6, 1881, crawled across a damaged bridge in a thunderstorm to warn a Chicago and North Western Railway station of a derailed locomotive, preventing a passenger train disaster. A replacement bridge built by Union Pacific opened on August 20, 2009.

$ All Ages Family: High

Burlington — 2

Photo of Burlington State Armory
Other Dark Tourism Site

Burlington State Armory

Burlington, IA

The Burlington State Armory was built as a cavalry installation along the Des Moines River in Burlington, Iowa, and served the Iowa National Guard for decades. It is listed in historical records as a significant example of Iowa armory architecture. The building's current use is municipal — it houses Burlington's school bus fleet.

$ All Ages Family: High
Aerial survey view of Stony Hollow Road
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Outdoor / Natural Site

Stony Hollow Road

Burlington, IA

Stony Hollow Road is a rural route winding through wooded bluffs on the outskirts of Burlington in Des Moines County, southeast Iowa. It is best known not for built history but as the setting of one of the state's most widely repeated ghost legends, regularly named the 'most haunted road in Iowa' by regional outlets and tourism promoters.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Fort Dodge — 2

Aerial survey view of Bannwell Bridge (Terror Bridge)
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Outdoor / Natural Site

Bannwell Bridge (Terror Bridge)

Fort Dodge, IA

Bannwell Bridge, a rural railroad-area crossing west of Fort Dodge, Iowa, was originally known as Tara Bridge for a nearby town that no longer exists, spanning the North Lizard Creek. Its ghost tradition traces to an 1893 Fort Dodge Messenger report of railroad workers hearing phantom sounds. The bridge was taken down and rebuilt in 2004.

$ All Ages Family: Low
Photo of Vincent House
Haunted House / Historic Home

Vincent House

Fort Dodge, IA

The Vincent House was built in 1871 in Fort Dodge, Iowa by James and Adeline Swain, committed spiritualists who designed the property to facilitate contact with the dead. The house changed hands to the Vincent family, who shared the owners' beliefs; two members of the Vincent family — Helen and Charles Vincent — died in the house. The home was designated on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Marion — 2

Exterior of Carlos O'Kelly's Mexican Café in Marion, Iowa
Haunted Dining / Bar

Carlos O'Kelly's

Marion, IA

Carlos O'Kelly's at 3320 Armar Drive in Marion, Iowa, occupies a site that local accounts describe as the former location of an amusement park. The current restaurant opened as part of the Carlos O'Kelly's chain, now operated by Thrive Restaurant Group, which runs locations across the Midwest.

$$ All Ages Family: High
Exterior of the Granger House Victorian Museum, an 1848 Italianate home at 970 10th Street in Marion, Iowa
Museum / Historical Site

Granger House Victorian Museum

Marion, IA

The Granger House at 970 10th Street in Marion, Iowa, was built in 1848 in the Italianate Victorian style. Charles Myers constructed the original structure; Earl Granger, a cattle rancher, purchased the property in 1876. The house remained in the hands of a single family for nearly a century, preserving most of its original 19th-century furnishings.

$$ All Ages (children 3 and under free) Family: Moderate

Newton — 2

Theater / Performance Venue

Capitol II Theatre

Newton, IA

The Capitol Theatre opened in 1927 inside the Hotel Maytag block in Newton, Iowa, built by F.L. Maytag of the appliance manufacturing family. Newton is the home city of the Maytag Corporation, and the hotel represented the family's civic investment in the downtown. The theater has operated under various names and configurations since opening.

$ All Ages Family: High
Theater / Performance Venue

Newton Community Theatre

Newton, IA

Founded in 1963, the Newton Community Theatre relocated to its current building adjacent to the YMCA in 1976, where it has operated a 250-seat auditorium for six decades of community productions.

$ All Ages Family: High

Ackley — 1

Aerial survey view of Hazel Green Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Hazel Green Cemetery

Ackley, IA

Hazel Green Cemetery is a rural burial ground located approximately five miles south of Ackley in Hardin County, Iowa. The cemetery includes a gazebo structure that has become central to its paranormal reputation. The site reflects the pattern of small 19th-century Iowa country cemeteries established to serve dispersed farming communities.

$ All Ages Family: High

Bentonsport — 1

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Mason House Inn

Bentonsport, IA

Built in 1846 by Mormon craftsmen in the Des Moines River village of Bentonsport, the Mason House Inn served steamboat travelers, sheltered freedom seekers on the Underground Railroad, and functioned as a Civil War makeshift hospital where a physician died on-site. Three subsequent owners also died in the building.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Bertram — 1

Campbell Cemetery
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Campbell Cemetery

Bertram, IA

Campbell Cemetery is a historic burial ground located in Bertram Township, Linn County, Iowa, serving the local community with graves spanning multiple generations. The cemetery features typical grave markers, landscape features including trees, and a gazebo structure providing shelter and gathering space for cemetery visitors.

$ All Ages Family: High

Bloomfield — 1

HABS photograph of the 1857 Mars Hill log church in rural southern Iowa near Bloomfield — one of the oldest log churches still in use west of the Mississippi.
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mars Hill Church and Cemetery

Bloomfield, IA

Mars Hill Church, located on 100th Avenue in Davis County near Bloomfield, Iowa, was built between 1850 and 1857 and is one of the oldest log churches still in use west of the Mississippi River. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. An arsonist nearly destroyed the building in 2006; after two years of community fundraising and reconstruction, it was rededicated on June 8, 2008.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cedar Falls — 1

Aerial survey view of Lawther Hall, University of Northern Iowa
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Other Dark Tourism Site

Lawther Hall, University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, IA

Lawther Hall is a women's residence hall at the University of Northern Iowa, with construction beginning in November 1938 and the building opening in the summer of 1940. It is named for Anna B. Lawther, the first woman appointed to Iowa's State Board of Education. During World War II it housed U.S. Navy WAVES personnel.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Cherokee — 1

Theater / Performance Venue

American Theatre

Cherokee, IA

The American Theatre was built in 1920 by Barry Sisk and Walter James as a movie palace on East Main Street in Cherokee, Iowa. After remaining empty due to financial constraints, Dale Goldie purchased it at a Sheriff's sale in 1923. The theatre was upgraded during the WPA era in the 1930s with dramatic murals and is now operated as the American 3 Theatre (a 3-screen multiplex) by Fridley Theatres. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$$ All Ages (varies by film rating) Family: High

Clinton — 1

Aerial survey view of Schick General Hospital Site
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Other Dark Tourism Site

Schick General Hospital Site

Clinton, IA

Built in 1942 on 150 acres in northern Clinton, Schick General Hospital was named for Lt. William Rhinehart Schick, the first U.S. Army Medical Corps officer killed at Pearl Harbor. At peak operation the facility processed roughly 1,600 battle casualties per week from Midwestern soldiers, closing in 1946 after the war's end.

$ All Ages Family: High

Dakota City — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Humboldt County Historical Museum

Dakota City, IA

The Humboldt County Historical Museum is operated by the Humboldt County Historical Association, founded in 1962. The centerpiece is an 1879 thirteen-room Mill Farm House decorated in Victorian style, located in Dakota City, Iowa on the east branch of the Des Moines River. The campus also includes an 1882 Methodist church, 1883 schoolhouse, log cabin, blacksmith shop, and a larger Clancy-Erickson building of military and Native American exhibits.

$ All Ages Family: High

Denison — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Main Street Mall (Former Hotel Denison Fire Site)

Denison, IA

The Hotel Denison stood on the main block of Denison, Iowa, until a New Year's Eve fire in the early 1900s destroyed the building. The site transitioned through commercial uses — including a J.C. Penney store — and now operates as an antique mall, while the Denison tourism office documents the site's fire history and paranormal reports.

$ All Ages Family: High

Fort Madison — 1

Historic Iowa State Penitentiary stone walls and guard towers in Fort Madison, Iowa
Prison / Reformatory

Historic Iowa State Penitentiary

Fort Madison, IA

The Iowa State Penitentiary was established by the Iowa Territorial Legislature on January 25, 1839 in Fort Madison and operated continuously for 176 years until its closure in 2015, making it the longest continually operating prison west of the Mississippi River.

$ All Ages (exterior viewing); tours when scheduled Family: Moderate

Guthrie Center — 1

Aerial survey view of Union Cemetery (The Devil's Chair)
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Union Cemetery (The Devil's Chair)

Guthrie Center, IA

Union Cemetery, east of Guthrie Center in Guthrie County, Iowa, was established as a private burial ground in 1885. It contains a cement-cast chair-shaped headstone, set between two graves and unmarked as belonging to either, which has become the focus of a regional 'Devil's Chair' legend.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Lake City — 1

The 1914 Marsh rainbow-arch bridge over the North Raccoon River near Lake City, Iowa
Outdoor / Natural Site

Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge (Rainbow Bridge)

Lake City, IA

The Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge, also called the Coon River Bridge or Lake City Bridge, is a 271-foot, three-span structure carrying Iberia Avenue over the North Raccoon River south of Lake City. Designed by Des Moines engineer James Barney Marsh in his patented rainbow-arch configuration and built by the Iowa Bridge Company in 1914 for $10,970, it was bypassed in 1985 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

$ All Ages Family: High

Larchwood — 1

Open Graph image from www.iowadnr.gov
Outdoor / Natural Site

Gitchie Manitou State Preserve

Larchwood, IA

Gitchie Manitou State Preserve occupies 91 acres in Lyon County, Iowa, at the extreme northwest corner of the state. Human occupation of the site spans at least 8,500 years, evidenced by projectile points, pottery shards, and 17 conical burial mounds along the Big Sioux River. The preserve was formally dedicated in 1969 and takes its name from Gichi-Manidoo, the Great Spirit of Anishinaabe tradition.

$ All Ages Family: High

Malvern — 1

Exterior of Malvern Manor, a former residential care facility turned paranormal investigation venue at 401 E 2nd Street in Malvern, Iowa
Haunted House / Historic Home

Malvern Manor

Malvern, IA

Malvern Manor in Malvern, Iowa was built in the 1870s as the private home of Isaac Ringland, elected mayor of Malvern. After his death in 1890 the property was expanded into the Cottage Hotel, then converted into a nursing home and residential care facility. It closed in 2005 after decades of operation and allegations of patient mistreatment.

$$ 13+ (under 18 with adult) Family: Low

Manilla — 1

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Historic Klondike Hotel (Manilla)

Manilla, IA

The Klondike Hotel was built in 1897 in Manilla, Iowa, to serve travelers on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of Crawford County's notable surviving examples of late-nineteenth-century commercial hotel architecture.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Marshalltown — 1

Aerial survey view of Riverside Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Riverside Cemetery

Marshalltown, IA

Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown, Iowa is a 19th-century burial ground serving the Marshall County seat. The cemetery contains notable monuments dating from the Civil War era through the early twentieth century. Charles M. Baker, buried here in 1881, has become a focal point of local legend due to the distinctive reflective properties of his tombstone.

$ All Ages Family: High

Maxwell — 1

Aerial survey view of Farrar Schoolhouse
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Other Dark Tourism Site

Farrar Schoolhouse

Maxwell, IA

The Washington Township Consolidated School in the hamlet of Farrar, Story County, Iowa was built in 1922 and operated as a rural elementary school for eighty years. The school closed in 2002 when the district consolidated, leaving the four-story building vacant. Subsequent owners converted it into a commercial paranormal investigation venue, and it has since become Iowa's most extensively investigated paranormal site.

$$ 18+ Family: Low

Mount Ayr — 1

Aerial survey view of Tedrow Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Tedrow Cemetery

Mount Ayr, IA

Tedrow Cemetery is a small pioneer cemetery in Athens Township, Ringgold County, Iowa, holding 96 documented memorials including Civil War veterans and founding members of Kellerton and Mount Ayr. The cemetery sits on private property and was severely vandalized, with 40 headstones damaged in an incident costing nearly $20,000 to repair.

$ All Ages Family: High

Muscatine — 1

The Richardsonian Romanesque brick chapel of Greenwood Cemetery in Muscatine, Iowa
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Greenwood Cemetery

Muscatine, IA

Greenwood Cemetery was established in 1843 by the Town of Bloomington — later renamed Muscatine — as a five-acre burial plot. Originally called Muscatine Cemetery, it was renamed Greenwood in 1849. The cemetery has expanded to 80 acres. The Musser-donated chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

$ All Ages Family: High

North Liberty — 1

Aerial survey view of Greencastle Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Greencastle Cemetery

North Liberty, IA

Greencastle Cemetery is an old rural cemetery near North Liberty in Johnson County, east-central Iowa, associated with the historical place of Green Castle. It has seen little recent use and is documented in genealogical records.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Ottumwa — 1

1887 High Victorian Gothic receiving vault at Ottumwa Cemetery in Ottumwa, Iowa
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Ottumwa Cemetery

Ottumwa, IA

Ottumwa Cemetery was established in 1857 as the city grew beyond its original downtown burial ground. Part of the nineteenth-century rural cemetery movement, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Its 1887 receiving vault — built of deep red brick and terra cotta panels in High Victorian Gothic style — served the practical purpose of storing bodies during Iowa winters when frozen ground prevented burial.

$ All Ages Family: High

Palo — 1

Aerial survey view of Pleasant Ridge Cemetery (13 Stairs Cemetery)
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Pleasant Ridge Cemetery (13 Stairs Cemetery)

Palo, IA

Pleasant Ridge Cemetery is a small 19th-century burial ground a few miles north of Palo in Linn County, eastern Iowa. It is reached by a flight of stone steps that gives rise to its popular nickname, '13 Stairs' or '13 Steps' Cemetery. Among its documented burials is Thankful Blackburn (1810-1862), whose weathered headstone became the anchor of the cemetery's folklore.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Russell — 1

Aerial survey view of Stoneking Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Stoneking Cemetery

Russell, IA

Stoneking Cemetery is a small family burial ground east of Williamson in Lucas County, Iowa, containing the graves of members of the Stoneking family. The cemetery is best known for the headstone of Joseph Stoneking, which carries a traditional memento mori epitaph common to American grave markers of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

$ All Ages Family: High

Sheldon — 1

Aerial survey view of 9th Street Graveyard
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

9th Street Graveyard

Sheldon, IA

East Lawn Cemetery in Sheldon, Iowa, was established in June 1881 when Mayor Wykoff purchased ten acres in the Hartenbower Addition for $400. The cemetery became the final resting place for generations of O'Brien County residents. An archway erected in 1893 by the Ladies Cemetery Association remains a distinctive landmark. The site is currently maintained by the City of Sheldon.

$ All Ages Family: High

Storm Lake — 1

Aerial view of the Buena Vista University campus seen across Storm Lake in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Other Dark Tourism Site

Buena Vista University

Storm Lake, IA

Buena Vista University is a private liberal arts institution in Storm Lake, Iowa, established in 1891. The campus occupies a prominent location in the town's center. McAllister Cottage, a student residential building on College Avenue, was demolished and replaced with a parking lot, though its location and the associated folklore remain part of campus history.

$ Academic Community Family: High

Story City — 1

Haunted House / Historic Home

Apartment Building

Story City, IA

The apartment building in Story City was formerly a funeral home before being converted into a three-unit residential building. The structure's funeral home heritage remains part of its architectural and local cultural history, though specific dates of original construction and conversion are not readily available through public records.

$ Residential - Private Family: Moderate

Stratford — 1

Aerial survey view of Vegors Cemetery
Aerial survey · USDA NAIP
Cemetery / Burial Ground

Vegors Cemetery

Stratford, IA

Vegors Cemetery sits on a ridge above the Boone River near Stratford in Webster County, Iowa. Founded in 1849, the cemetery contains the monument to Mrs. Henry Lott, the first known white woman to die in the area, and is situated atop a prehistoric site that includes five earthen mounds attributed to Woodland-period peoples.

$ All Ages Family: High

Waverly — 1

Open Graph image from www.winnebagocouncil.org
Outdoor / Natural Site

Camp Ingawanas

Waverly, IA

Camp Ingawanas (now Ingawanis Adventure Base) is a Boy Scout camp operated by the Winnebago Council, Boy Scouts of America, serving Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, and Venturing Crews in the Waverly, Iowa area. The camp provides outdoor education and Scout programming on its facilities near Waverly.

$ Scouts and Approved Programs Only Family: Low

West Union — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Hardee's

West Union, IA

The Hardee's at 117 Hwy 150 North in West Union, Iowa, is a commercial fast food location that has operated for decades in Fayette County. No independent historical sources document a cemetery beneath the site, though local lore makes this the persistent explanation for reported employee experiences.

$ All Ages Family: High

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