State guide · 463 documented locations

Haunted Texas

Texas has 463 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index. 405 are rated family-friendly, 129 take bookings, and 37 ghost-tour operators work the state.

Texas spreads its hauntings across regions with almost nothing in common. Gulf Coast cemeteries hold more yellow fever and hurricane dead than any single ghost story can explain. East Texas river towns like Jefferson stalled out economically and kept their nineteenth-century downtowns standing as a result. Panhandle canyon country still carries the story of the 1874 campaign that ended organized resistance on the southern plains. Cattle-town saloons and German dance halls fill the middle of the state, between Austin and San Antonio, close enough together for one weekend, which is where the loop below begins. More than four hundred venues make up the wider statewide network.

Best season. Fall, October through early December, is this route's best window: Hill Country heat breaks into the 70s and 80s, the summer crowds that fill New Braunfels for river tubing thin out, and the Capitol's daily tours run without the extra security of an active legislative session, which meets only in the spring of odd-numbered years. Two scheduling notes: Gruene Hall's calendar runs on touring acts, so a quiet weeknight won't look like the historic photos, and San Pedro Playhouse's building is only open to the public during a scheduled performance.