This Hudson Valley Graveyard Was Just Named The Scariest In The U.S.

SLEEPY HOLLOW, NY — It's one thing to relive the Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the printed page, but it's another thing entirely to stand among the gravestones that inspired a classic tale of terror.

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.

It turns out the place where the dearly departed are most likely to strike fear into the hearts of their descendants is a little too close for comfort.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Washington Irving himself is buried, is the scariest graveyard in the whole county.

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.

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.