These Are The Scariest Graveyards In Virginia, Survey Says

Residents may shudder at the thought of being alone after dark at three Virginia cemeteries, according to a survey that revealed the scariest graveyards in the country.

Choice Mutual, a life insurance company that specializes in funeral and burial policies, asked just over 3,000 Americans to name the graveyards they would 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 Virginia are:

Old City Cemetery, Lynchburg

One of the oldest municipal cemeteries in the South, Old City mixes beauty and unease. Guests say voices drift from the Pest House Museum after midnight, and lamps turn on by themselves. It’s part graveyard, part museum — and both parts seem to breathe.

Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond

Perched above the James River, this sprawling cemetery holds presidents, poets and a local legend — the “Richmond Vampire.” Visitors have reported scratching sounds near the mausoleum said to house him, and the occasional flicker of red light within. It’s history draped in Spanish moss and rumor.

Cedar Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth

Walled off by ancient brick and thick oaks, Cedar Grove dates to the 1700s and feels almost underwater with humidity. Locals claim to see Revolutionary soldiers walking the perimeter and to hear footsteps on the gravel long after the gates have shut. Time just feels slower inside.

The 10 scariest graveyards in the country 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.

See the full ranking online.