The Most Haunted Places in Iowa
Iowa has 80 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 21 strongest Iowa candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 80
- Cemetery / Burial Ground
- 19
- Museum / Historical Site
- 12
- Other Dark Tourism Site
- 11
- Family-friendly
- 74
- Bookable
- 17
- Oldest documented site
- Historic Iowa State Penitentiary (1839)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Stony Hollow Road HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this outdoor site. Six later publications retell those accounts. 4 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 2014-2025 · retold in 6 later publications
- 2. Mathias Ham House Historic Site Lead miner and steamboat operator Mathias Ham built this Italianate mansion above the Mississippi in 1857; after his death in 1889, his daughter Sarah reportedly shot an intruder in the house one night. Since the Dubuque County Historical Society opened it as a museum in 1964, staff and visitors have reported cold spots, objects displaced overnight, footsteps on the staircase Sarah used, and an organ playing though the instrument no longer works. 4 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1964-1998 · retold in 4 later publications Disputed by the venue. The historic site's own official visitor page states its ghost tales are debunked -- people have come forward as the real source of the reported screams and lights -- and that staff provide no ghost tours or investigator access.
- 3. Edinburgh Manor Built in 1910-11 to replace an 1850s Jones County poor farm that recorded some 150 deaths, this manor operated as a county home for the elderly, disabled, and mentally ill until its last residents were transferred out in 2010. Visitors and investigators, including a 2015 Ghost Adventures crew, describe a tall, slender figure nicknamed Joker near the basement boiler room, along with thrown dishes and physical contact on the upper floors. 5 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 2009-2024 · retold in 5 later publications
- 4. Oakland Cemetery Iowa City's Oakland Cemetery, established in 1843, holds the Black Angel, an 8.5-foot bronze monument commissioned in 1912 by midwife Teresa Feldevert to memorialize her son and second husband, its surface long since oxidized to black. Generations of students have claimed that touching or kissing the statue brings death and that pregnant women who walk beneath its wings will miscarry, though the discoloration has a documented chemical explanation and no incident has been verified. 3 original accounts · documented across 5 decades, 1967-2023 · retold in 6 later publications Contradicted by physical evidence. A University of Iowa student research blog attributes the Black Angel statue's dark color to ordinary weather-driven oxidation of its original bronze surface, rather than the death-curse origin the local legend assigns it.
- 5. Lawther Hall, University of Northern Iowa HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this documented site, across three kinds of published source. Two later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and objects moving. 4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1977-1999 · retold in 2 later publications
- 6. Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail Built in 1885 in Council Bluffs, this three-story rotary jail rotated a central carousel of cells by hand crank so only one inmate could reach the entryway at a time; it held prisoners until 1969 and is now a National Historic Landmark. Visitors and investigators report footsteps on the metal grating, cell doors closing or rotating in an empty building, and conversations heard from unoccupied corridors, though the museum discourages naming any single prisoner. Documented since 1885 · 7 independent sources Questioned by investigators. A self-described 20-year paranormal investigator, writing among this venue's own cited sources, states he does not personally believe the jail is haunted and stands by that assessment.
- 7. Farrar Schoolhouse This rural Story County school opened in 1922 and served students for eighty years before consolidation closed it in 2002, leaving the four-story building vacant until new owners converted it into a paranormal investigation site. An early weekend session logged more than 200 unexplained events, and TV crews from My Ghost Story, Ghost Stalkers, and Kindred Spirits have since documented apparitions and unexplained audio spread across the building's classrooms, stairwells, and basement. 8 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 2006-2024 · retold in 2 later publications
- 8. Pleasant Ridge Cemetery (13 Stairs Cemetery) HauntBound identified five distinct published accounts at this burial ground. One later publication retells those accounts. Reported phenomena include disembodied voices and orbs. 5 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 2005-2025 · retold in 1 later publication
- 9. Villisca Axe Murder House On the night of June 9-10, 1912, Josiah and Sarah Moore, their four children, and two young guests were killed in this Villisca farmhouse; the case remains unsolved despite two trials against a suspect acquitted both times. Restored to its 1912 condition, the house draws visitors who report a heaviness in the air and a figure glimpsed in the master bedroom doorway, along with unexplained sounds investigated by Ghost Adventures, Dead Files, and other television crews. 3 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1912-2017
- 10. Grand Opera House HauntBound identified two distinct published accounts at this working theater. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include disembodied voices and phantom footsteps. 2 original accounts · documented across 6 decades, 1920-2017 · retold in 3 later publications
Mathias Ham House Historic Site holds the strongest documented record here but does not take the top slot: the venue itself disputes the haunting.
By city
- Davenport: 7 documented sites
- Sioux City: 7 documented sites
- Dubuque: 6 documented sites
- Ames: 5 documented sites
- Cedar Rapids: 4 documented sites
- Iowa City: 4 documented sites
- Council Bluffs: 4 documented sites
- Cherokee: 2 documented sites
- Fort Dodge: 2 documented sites
- Boone: 2 documented sites
- 36 more across the rest of Iowa
Press images
- Mathias Ham House Historic Site Dirk Hansen, CC BY-SA, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mathias_Ham_House_01.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/iowa/the-ham-house/hero.jpg
- Oakland Cemetery Black Angel monument, Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_angel_iowa_city2.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/iowa/oakland-cemetery/hero.jpg
- Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail Smallbones hauntbound.com/images/locations/iowa/pottawattamie-squirrel-cage-jail/hero.jpg
- Villisca Axe Murder House Jason McLaren, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josiah_B._and_Sara_Moore_House_-_NRHP97001471_-_Villisca_-_Montgomery_County_-_Iowa_-10-23-2016.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/iowa/villisca-axe-murder-house/hero.jpg
- Grand Opera House Dirk Hansen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grand_Opera_House_01_Dubuque_Iowa.JPG hauntbound.com/images/locations/iowa/grand-opera-house-dubuque/hero.jpg
Images listed here may be republished with the credit shown; all other HauntBound images are not offered for press use.
Superlatives
- Oldest documented site: Historic Iowa State Penitentiary Documented since 1839.
- Most documented: Farrar Schoolhouse (Visits by guided tour only) 8 distinct published accounts.
- Top haunted stay: Mason House Inn Overnight stays bookable.
Methodology
For purposes of the HauntBound Index, "most haunted" means the location with the strongest documented record of reported haunting phenomena. We evaluate the quantity, independence, persistence, and documentary quality of published reports. We do not attempt to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real, and we never count a source that only establishes a building's history as evidence of haunting claims. Repetitive coverage is subject to diminishing returns, so a story retold many times does not outrank a story independently documented. Rankings never consider commercial relationships.
A site whose own operator or originator disputes its haunting, or whose documentary lineage we can only read at low confidence, may be ranked but does not hold the top position; we show the record without endorsing the claim.
The 2026 Index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
Updated September 29, 2026: documented totals now exclude the private homes, operating hospitals and venues with nothing left to visit that were withdrawn on September 25 and 26. The ranked ten are unchanged.
Updated October 19, 2026: listings that could not be sourced, or that are private or have no public access, were withdrawn after an October review, so some of the state's town counts are lower. The documented total stays as published until the November update.
This is a documentation ranking, not a visitation guide; sites not open to visitors are marked on their entries.