Colorado’s spookiest town makes America’s top 10 most haunted list

The elk aren’t the only ones wandering around Estes Park this October. A new study ranks the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park as the seventh most haunted town in America, which makes it Colorado’s official capital of spooky season.

Home security company Vivint released its 2026 Spookiness Index, which scored 74 destinations on factors like reported ghost sightings, haunted places, haunted house attractions, psychic and spiritual businesses, funeral services and spooky Google searches. Virginia City, Nevada, a former mining town of about 855 people, took the top spot. Tombstone, Arizona; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; Galena, Illinois; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, rounded out the top five, with Cape May, New Jersey, at No. 6. Estes Park landed at No. 7, ahead of Austin, Los Angeles and Weston, West Virginia. Famous haunts like Amityville, New York (No. 13), and New Orleans (No. 22) didn’t even crack the top 20.

Estes Park is used to this list. It was No. 1 in Vivint’s 2023 ranking and near the top again in 2024, so No. 7 is a small drop. Most of the credit goes to the Stanley Hotel, the grand white hotel on the hill that helped inspire Stephen King’s “The Shining” after he spent a night there in the 1970s. The hotel has leaned into its reputation for years with ghost tours, and guests have shared plenty of stories about strange noises and things that go bump in the night. Ghost hunters also talk about other local spots, like the Baldpate Inn and the Elkhorn Lodge.

The ranking measures most factors per capita, which helps small tourist towns like Estes Park, and Virginia City, for that matter, rack up big numbers. However you count it, Estes Park is a fun Halloween day trip, about 90 minutes from Denver. Grab some saltwater taffy, take a ghost tour, and maybe don’t wander the hotel hallways alone after midnight.