HauntBound Press Fact Sheet · Updated September 2026
The Most Haunted Places in Maine
Maine has 51 documented haunted locations in the HauntBound index.
Top 10 identified after source-level analysis of the 19 strongest Maine candidates.
By the numbers
- Total documented
- 51
- Museum / Historical Site
- 12
- Cemetery / Burial Ground
- 8
- Haunted Hotel / Inn
- 6
- Family-friendly
- 50
- Bookable
- 20
- Oldest documented site
- Eastern Cemetery (1668)
- Most-reported phenomenon
- apparitions
Ranked
- 1. Fort Knox State Historic Site (Maine) Maine began building Fort Knox, its first all-granite fort, in 1844 to guard the Penobscot River against a feared British incursion, but the fort never saw combat. A workman died there that same year when a powder keg ignited during construction, and caretaker Sergeant Leopold Hegyi died at the fort in 1900. Visitors and staff report phantom footsteps, voices, and laughter in the casemates and officers' quarters, along with the sensation of being touched. 5 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1844-2022 · retold in 2 later publications
- 2. Owls Head Lighthouse HauntBound identified ten distinct published accounts at this museum site, across three kinds of published source. Five later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and objects moving. 10 original accounts · documented across 7 decades, 1920-2025 · retold in 5 later publications
- 3. Boothbay Opera House Built in 1894 as headquarters for the Knights of Pythias, the Boothbay Opera House has hosted plays, wrestling matches, and town meetings for over a century. Witnesses in 1949, 1957, and 1977 reported hearing the second-floor player piano, though it no longer works, and staff have nicknamed the presence Fingers after Earl Cliff, an early-1900s house pianist. Ushers also describe hearing their names called in empty hallways. 6 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1949-2013 · retold in 1 later publication
- 4. Seguin Island Lighthouse HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this museum site, across five kinds of published source. Four later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and phantom footsteps. 4 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1800-1985 · retold in 4 later publications
- 5. Boon Island Light In December 1710, fourteen survivors of the wrecked Nottingham Galley spent 24 days on this barren rock without shelter or food, and eventually ate the body of a dead crewmate to survive. The 133-foot lighthouse, completed in 1855, replaced earlier towers lost to storms. A later keeper reportedly died in a mid-1800s storm, and boat tour operators say his wife, who tended the light alone until rescue, explains the female figure reported on the rocks. 4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1790-2002 · retold in 2 later publications
- 6. Wood Island Lighthouse HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this documented crime site, across four kinds of published source. Six later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include a sensed presence and cold spots. 4 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1896-2006 · retold in 6 later publications
- 7. The Poland Spring Inn The Ricker family opened an inn on this Maine spring in 1794, and founder Hiram Ricker built it into a resort after his own recovery from illness led the family to bottle and sell the water nationally. Ricker died in 1893. Staff have described seeing a figure resembling him walking the older buildings in early morning hours, hearing his voice from rooms confirmed empty, and finding keys and paperwork moved between shifts. 3 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1856-2009 · retold in 2 later publications
- 8. Buck Cemetery (Colonel Buck's Cursed Tomb) Bucksport founder Colonel Jonathan Buck built the town's first sawmill and store before he died in 1795. Descendants raised a granite monument to him in 1870, and a natural iron stain shaped like a leg gave rise to a local legend of a witch's curse. Historians note Maine held no witch trials in his lifetime; the mark is attributed to oxidation in the stone. 3 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1870-2011 · retold in 4 later publications
- 9. The Kennebunk Inn Phineas Cole raised this Kennebunk building as a private home in 1799, and it has operated as an inn and tavern through the centuries since. Staff attribute its activity to Silas Perkins, a poet who once clerked there and died in the mid-twentieth century. Owners have described glassware falling from shelves, lights and music switching on unattended, and one incident in which three mugs came off a shelf and struck a bartender. 2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1952-2012 · retold in 3 later publications
- 10. City Theater (Biddeford) Biddeford's opera house first opened in 1860, burned in 1894, and reopened in 1896 in a new building designed by John Calvin Stevens. On Halloween Eve in 1904, soprano Eva Gray collapsed onstage during her third encore and died backstage of heart failure. Staff and audiences have since reported phantom applause between acts, whispering backstage, and lights swinging on their own during the theater's children's camps, which they attribute to Gray's continued presence. 2 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 1904-2016 · retold in 3 later publications
By city
- Portland: 7 documented sites
- York: 5 documented sites
- Brunswick: 3 documented sites
- Kennebunkport: 3 documented sites
- Wiscasset: 3 documented sites
- Bar Harbor: 2 documented sites
- Bangor: 2 documented sites
- Biddeford: 2 documented sites
- Cape Elizabeth: 2 documented sites
- Windham: 2 documented sites
- 19 more across the rest of Maine
Press images
- Fort Knox State Historic Site (Maine) Derek Ramsey, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort_Knox_Fortification.JPG hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/fort-knox/hero.jpg
- Owls Head Lighthouse Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Owls_Head_Light_Vertical_Left.JPG hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/owls-head-lighthouse/hero.jpg
- Boothbay Opera House Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BoothbayHarborME_PythianOperaHouse_2.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/boothbay-opera-house/hero.jpg
- Seguin Island Lighthouse Paul VanDerWerf, CC BY 2.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Friends_of_Seguin_Island_Light_Station_(10116872223).jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/seguin-island-lighthouse/hero.jpg
- Boon Island Light Detroit Publishing Co. hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/boon-island-light/hero.jpg
- Wood Island Lighthouse Hidden Fox Photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wood_Island_Lighthouse.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/wood-island-lighthouse/hero.jpg
- The Poland Spring Inn Magicpiano, CC BY-SA 3.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PolandME_PolandSpringResort_1.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/the-poland-spring-inn/hero.jpg
- Buck Cemetery (Colonel Buck's Cursed Tomb) DrStew82, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buck%27s_Tomb,_Bucksport_Maine_image_4.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/buck-cemetery/hero.jpg
- City Theater (Biddeford) Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biddeford_Maine_City_Hall.jpg hauntbound.com/images/locations/maine/bidderfords-city-theatre/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: Eastern Cemetery Documented since 1668.
- Most documented: Owls Head Lighthouse 10 distinct published accounts.
- Top haunted stay: The Poland Spring Inn Overnight stays bookable.
- Most family-friendly: Fort Knox State Historic Site (Maine) Family Comfort rating: High.
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.
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.