Old Tucson Studios ranks #6 among Arizona's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, Old Tucson Studios in Tucson ranks #6 among Arizona's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index. The index ranks 116 Arizona sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Old Tucson Studios ranks #6. Columbia Pictures built the Western film set in roughly 40 days in 1939 for the film Arizona, and the property's owners opened the backlot to tourists in 1960. Two separate published accounts describe activity there. Staff have described disembodied children's laughter in empty areas of the lot, and visitors have reported full-body apparitions in period Western clothing crossing the unlit streets.

A 1995 fire destroyed nearly 40 percent of the property, and the most persistent reports now cluster around the surviving 1939-era structures, including the older saloon interiors. Guides on the site's evening ghost tours, which include a paranormal investigation segment, draw from decades of accumulated staff and visitor accounts rather than a scripted legend.

Statewide, London Bridge in Lake Havasu City ranks #1, and the Bird Cage Theatre in Tombstone, the state's most famous haunted site, ranks #3.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:Old Tucson Studios, 201 S. Kinney Rd., Tucson, is a Western film-set park open for daytime visits, with evening ghost tours on select dates.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/arizona/The fact sheet, with Tucson numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/arizona/Venue contact: oldtucson.comA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

###