Frightening Places in the US: Who Lives in Goblintown?

October in the United States is the month when communities make their greatest efforts to scare each other. With Halloween shortly upon us, we noticed at least 100 cities and towns across the US that won’t have to try very hard. For these, such as Fresh Kills, New York, and Red Devil, Alaska, the fright is right in the name.

View Scary Place Names for Halloween in a full screen map

Use the map above to explore these scary locations, or type your zip code or city name in the form below to find the spooky-named place nearest you.

No visit to one of these cities would be complete without a costume, at least when we’re so close to Halloween. We’ve taken the effort of choosing the best disguise to wear for each of the cities. A demon leads the way to accompany the many places with devil, hell, and satan in the name. Next comes a Jack-o-lantern costume—who knew there were so many places named Pumpkin Center? A ghost, a murderer, and Dracula round out the top five.

Naturally, you want to dress as a very specific candy bar in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You can be a little more creative in Chocolate Bayou, Texas, or Candy Town, Ohio. And if you’re looking for a treat, you’ll find a city with that name in Arkansas, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Some other common Halloween costumes only seem appropriate for specific cities. How you dress in Frankenstein, Missouri, is pretty well spelled out in the name. Bat Cave, North Carolina, gives you little choice beyond the caped crusader. And, of course, in Sleepy Hollow, New York, you must go headless.

New York state is home to the most Halloween-themed places in our list, which came from the Accuracy Project. New Yorkers have eight cities to choose from, followed closely by North Carolina with seven. Alabama, Louisiana , Michigan, and Tennessee each have five. But don’t fret, 40 states in all are represented, so unless you’re in Hawaii, you likely have one somewhat nearby.

The form to find your nearest place is a feature available with every BatchGeo map. You can use it to make a store locator map, or to find the nearest of any type of location on your map, spooky or not.