FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Grove Park Inn tops North Carolina's new evidence-ranked haunted index
Buncombe County holds three of the top ten in HauntBound's 2026 index of 161 documented haunted locations
September 30, 2026
North Carolina's most famous haunted site, The Biltmore Estate, does not make the top ten in HauntBound's 2026 index of the state's most haunted places, which ranks sites by published evidence rather than reputation. The Grove Park Inn in Asheville ranks #1. Buncombe County holds three of the top ten.
The top five:
- The Grove Park Inn, Asheville
- Devil's Tramping Ground, Bear Creek
- Wilmington Railroad Museum, Wilmington
- Bostian Bridge, Statesville
- USS Battleship North Carolina, Wilmington
The Grove Park Inn in Asheville has the most distinct published accounts of any North Carolina site, five. The oldest documented site is Old Fourth Creek Burying Ground in Statesville, dating to 1756. Thalian Hall in Wilmington is the index's most family-friendly pick in the state. Apparitions are the most commonly reported phenomenon, on record at 93 sites.
"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.
HauntBound ranks each state's places by the documented record of reported haunting phenomena: the quantity, independence, persistence and documentary quality of published reports. A story retold many times counts for less than independent accounts, and a source that only establishes a building's history never counts as evidence of a haunting. The index does not try to determine whether paranormal phenomena are real. The 2026 index reflects sources identified and classified as of September 15, 2026.
For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/north-carolina/The fact sheet, with city-by-city numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/north-carolina/Interviews by email and city-by-city data on request.
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