These Are The Scariest Graveyards In Minnesota, Survey Says

Minnesotans may shudder at the thought of being alone after dark at two cemeteries shrouded in lore and legend, according to a survey conducted in time for Halloween.

Choice Mutual, a life insurance company that specializes in funeral and burial policies, asked 3,004 Americans a single question: “Which graveyard would you be least prepared to visit alone at night?”

The survey found 150 graveyards around the country that people refuse to enter or even detour around at night, whether they believe or dismiss as myth the stories of ghostly figures, whispers between crypts, and other unexplained occurrences.

The scariest graveyards in Minnesota are:

Lakewood Cemetery — Minneapolis, MN

• Historic and sprawling, Lakewood was established in 1871 and modeled after the rural garden cemeteries of 19th-century Europe.
• Known for its ornate Byzantine-style chapel and serene landscaping, Lakewood has long been whispered about for eerie nighttime sightings and ghostly presences near its older mausoleums.

Forest Hill Cemetery — Madison Lake, MN

• This small-town cemetery dates back to the late 1800s and is reportedly haunted by apparitions linked to tragic drownings in nearby Lake Madison.
• Locals say phantom lights and faint crying have been seen or heard after dark.

Nationally, the 10 scariest graveyards are:

1. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York
2. Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles
3. Boothill Graveyard, Tombstone, Arizona
4. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans
5. Salem Cemetery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
6. Gettysburg National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
7. Pine Hill Cemetery, also known as Blood Cemetery, Hollis, New Hampshire
8. Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Cemetery, Weston, West Virginia
9. Old City Cemetery, also known as Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento, California
10. Old Hill Burying Ground, Concord, Massachusetts

The survey authors said the most-dreaded cemeteries tended to be Colonial-era and church graveyards in the Northeast, with New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania appearing multiple times in the top 30.

Among other observations by the authors of the survey:

– Mass burial grounds at crucial and exceptionally bloody Civil War battlefields such as Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, Shiloh in Tennessee, and Vicksburg in Mississippi also ranked high.

– There are a couple of graveyards in the Old West with a particularly desolate feel, according to the survey: Tombstone’s Boothill Graveyard in Arizona, where outlaws who died in the O.K. Corral gunfight are buried, and Tonopah Cemetery in Nevada, a monument to the resilience and tenacity of the pioneers and miners who settled in the harsh desert.

Choice Mutual said the survey sample was designed to reflect balance across age, gender and geography. National population benchmarks were established using internal data and a two-step process: stratified sampling and post-stratification weighting.