The city that never sleeps apparently has nothing keeping it up at night.
asserted
that → sleep → night
New York City finished 68th out of 74 destinations in a new ranking of America’s spookiest places, making it the seventh-least frightening city in the study.
The crown went to a Comstock-era boomtown that, with a population of roughly 855, could fit inside a single Manhattan high-rise.
uncertain
that → finish → rise
Virginia City, Nevada, topped the 2026 Spookiness Index from home security company Vivint, which scored cities on seven factors including reported ghost sightings, haunted places, haunted house attractions, psychic and spiritual businesses, funeral services and eerie Google searches.
asserted
which → top → sightings
Tombstone, Arizona, placed second and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, took third, followed by Galena, Illinois, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and Cape May, New Jersey.
uncertain
Springs → place → Galena
Most of those metrics are measured per 10,000 residents, a formula that gives tiny tourist towns a big edge.
asserted
that → measure → edge
Virginia City racked up roughly 10,870 spooky searches per 10,000 locals, the highest rate in the study, plus about 124 haunted house attraction listings for the same population.
asserted
City → rack → population
Vivint acknowledges its Yelp counts can sweep in businesses outside city limits, which helps explain how a town that size logs more than 1,100 funeral service listings per 10,000 people.
asserted
town → acknowledge → people
The raw tallies paint a different picture.
asserted
tallies → paint → picture
Austin, Texas, led the country in reported ghost sightings with 115, ahead of Dallas at 64 and Houston at 48.
asserted
Austin → lead → 48
Los Angeles claimed the most reported haunted places, with 61.
asserted
Angeles → claim → 61
Travelers are also increasingly looking to sleep with the dead.
asserted
Travelers → look → dead
Searches for haunted hotels soared 315% from 2023 to 2025, while interest in haunted houses nearby slipped about 11%.
asserted
interest → haunt → houses
Gotham’s ghost gap
NYC actually logged more reported ghost sightings than any other New York city studied, with 16, along with seven haunted places.
asserted
NYC → log → places
It still finished last in the state, trailing Poughkeepsie (44th) and Buffalo (49th).
asserted
It → finish → Poughkeepsie
New Yorkers ran about 104 spooky searches per 10,000 residents, the second-lowest rate in the nation, beating only Ipswich, Massachusetts.
asserted
Yorkers → run → Ipswich
The five boroughs also posted the third-lowest concentration of spiritual shops in the country and just 1.5 psychic and astrologer listings per 10,000 people.
asserted
boroughs → post → people
Amityville, meanwhile, landed 13th nationally to claim the state title despite a single reported ghost sighting, tied for the fewest in the study, and no reported haunted places at all.
uncertain
Amityville → land → study
The Long Island village rode its business density instead, posting about 78.6 haunted house attraction listings per 10,000 residents, second only to Virginia City, and roughly 176.6 psychics and astrologers.
asserted
village → ride → City
That was enough to outrank New Orleans (22nd), Savannah (28th) and Salem (41st).
asserted
That → outrank → Orleans
The house that made Amityville infamous
Amityville’s reputation rests largely on one Dutch Colonial on Ocean Avenue.
asserted
reputation → make → Avenue
Before the 1979 film made it famous, the house was where 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. killed his parents and four younger siblings in 1974.
asserted
Jr. → make → 1974
A year or so later, George and Kathleen Lutz bought the place and moved in with three kids and a dog, then fled in less than a month, and their account fueled the bestselling book and the franchise that followed.
asserted
that → buy → book
Owners have spent decades trying to shake the gawkers.
asserted
Owners → spend → gawkers
The original address, 112 Ocean Avenue, was switched to 108 to discourage onlookers, and the signature quarter-round windows were removed years ago.
asserted
windows → switch → onlookers
The stigma has shown up on the price tag.
asserted
stigma → show → tag
The home hit the market in May 2010 at $1.15 million and sold that September for $950,000.
uncertain
home → hit → 950,000
It came back in 2016 at $850,000, offering five bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a boathouse and a slip on the Amityville River, and it last traded in March 2017 for $605,000.
asserted
it → come → 605,000
Not every owner bought the hype.
asserted
owner → buy → hype
James Cromarty, who lived there for a decade after buying in 1977, told Newsday, “Nothing weird ever happened” beyond the parade of curious visitors.
asserted
Nothing → live → visitors
Virginia City’s bloody bar crawl
The nation’s top scare sits on Nevada’s Comstock Lode, where silver money, saloon brawls and frontier violence left plenty of material for ghost tours.
asserted
money → sit → tours
The Silver Queen Hotel, built in 1876, is the town’s oldest, and legend says a prostitute named Rosie worked there during the Comstock boom and took her own life in Room 11 in the late 1800s.
asserted
prostitute → build → 1800s
Her spirit is said to show up in that room and on the staircase.
asserted
spirit → say → staircase
Guests who book Room 11 have described tapping at the door, whispering and even growling, and the hotel has hosted paranormal TV crews, including Zak Bagans’ “Ghost Adventures.”
asserted
hotel → book → Adventures
Down the street sits the infamous Suicide Table, an 1860s Faro bank table blamed for the deaths of three owners.
asserted
Table → sit → owners
The first, a gambler known as “Black Jake,” supposedly shot himself after losing $70,000 in a single night of cards.
asserted
first → know → cards
The furniture has proven tougher than its owners.
asserted
furniture → prove → owners
The Delta Saloon, its longtime home, exploded on March 11, 2019, but the table came through nearly untouched and now resides at the Bonanza Saloon.
Then there’s the Bucket of Blood Saloon, raised in 1876 after the Great Fire of 1875 leveled most of the town.
asserted
Fire → explode → town
Lore holds that the name came from blood-soaked sawdust hauled off the floor after nightly shootings, stabbings and fistfights.
asserted
name → hold → shootings
In 1997, historians discovered it was built atop the remains of the Boston Saloon, the only Black-owned saloon in the West at the time.
asserted
it → discover → time
Tombstone, Eureka Springs and Cape May
Tombstone, which posted the study’s highest rate of psychics and astrologers at 625 per 10,000 residents, needs little introduction.
uncertain
which → post → introduction
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
