Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, NY. The gravestone for 19th-century writer Washington Irving is surrounded by two US flags.

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

The Northeast is home to some of the nation's most feared graveyards, where centuries-old legends and mysterious headstones unsettle even the most skeptical visitors, according to a new survey.

Choice Mutual released a list of the scariest graveyards in the US on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The life insurance agency asked 3,004 Americans which graveyard they would be least prepared to visit alone at night.

The survey found the Northeast's older states had some of the "eeriest cemeteries," with Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania appearing several times in the top 30.

"It's not just age – it's atmosphere," Choice Mutual CEO Anthony Martin wrote. "These Northeast states are marked by colonial-era graveyards and old churches, making some of these haunted spots scarier than Hollywood fiction."

The infamous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in New York's Hudson Valley was named the scariest graveyard in the nation. It's the final resting place of author Washington Irving, who wrote "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." 

The short story from 1820 is a classic Halloween tale known for Ichabod Crane's encounter with the Headless Horseman.

"Some claim [Irving's] Headless Horseman still rides through on misty nights," wrote Martin. "Lantern light glints off the Hudson, hooves echo on the bridge, and every rustle in the trees feels a little too deliberate. The line between fiction and folklore is never quite settled."

An 1858 painting by John Quidor titled "The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane."

An 1858 painting by John Quidor titled "The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane."

Wikimedia Commons - Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania was No. 2 on the scariest graveyards list. The Civil War memorial honors the more than 50,000 soldiers who were killed in the deadliest battle in US military history.

Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg Address at the cemetery in November 1863, four months after the pivotal battle.

"Beautiful, solemn, and saturated with ghosts, Gettysburg's cemetery stands on ground that still feels alive with movement," Martin wrote. "Visitors have heard distant cannon fire, smelled gunpowder, and seen men in blue pacing through the fog. The line between battlefield and burial ground never really hardened here – it just blurred."

The Soldier's National Monument and New York State monument at the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA.

The Soldier's National Monument and New York State monument at the Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA.

Wikimedia Commons - P. Hughes

Old Hill Burying Ground in Concord, Massachusetts, rounded out the top 10. The cemetery has more than 500 graves, with the earliest burial site belonging to an English-born settler who died in 1677.

Here are the Northeast graveyards to make Choice Mutual's top 100:

  • 1. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery - Sleepy Hollow, NY
  • 2. Gettysburg National Cemetery - Gettysburg, PA
  • 10. Old Hill Burying Ground - Concord, MA
  • 11. Ancient Burying Ground - Hartford, CT
  • 22. Howard Street Cemetery - Salem, MA
  • 25. Green-Wood Cemetery - Brooklyn, NY
  • 30. Forest Lawn Cemetery - Buffalo, NY
  • 33. Allegheny Cemetery - Pittsburgh, PA
  • 36. Old City Cemetery - Lynchburg, VA
  • 45. North Burial Ground - Providence, RI
  • 49. Laurel Hill Cemetery - Philadelphia, PA
  • 50. Westminster Hall & Burying Ground - Baltimore, MD
  • 60. Gunntown Cemetery - Naugatuck, CT
  • 61. Point of Graves Burial Ground - Portsmouth, NH
  • 64. Old Tennent Cemetery - Manalapan, NJ
  • 70. Evergreen Cemetery - Portland, ME
  • 78. Hollywood Cemetery - Richmond, VA
  • 82. Loudon Park Cemetery - Baltimore, MD
  • 83. Finn's Point National Cemetery - Pennsville, NJ
  • 87. Granary Burying Ground - Boston, MA
  • 94. Swan Point Cemetery - Providence, RI
  • 95. Union Cemetery - Easton, CT
The Ancient Burying Ground in downtown Hartford, CT.

The Ancient Burying Ground in downtown Hartford, CT.

Wikimedia Commons - Doug Butchy

Martin said the survey doesn't prove whether hauntings are real, but explores how history, myth, and memory shape fear.

"You don't need to believe in ghosts to feel something in these places," he wrote. "Cemeteries are where stories outlive the people who told them – and that's what really makes them haunting. The fear is just the surface; underneath it is memory."

You can click here to see Choice Mutual's full survey.