West Virginia Tops Ghost Ranking; New Jersey Finishes Last of 51

CHARLESTON, W.VA. — A ranking released ahead of Halloween places West Virginia first among the states for the likelihood of seeing a ghost, according to a report by Weird Darkness. The list was published October 28th by Action Network, a sports-betting media site, and gave the state 209 of a possible 255 points.

The state's lead rests chiefly on its graveyards. Find a Grave listed 19,902 cemeteries there in October, about 1,124 per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country. West Virginia also placed eighth for reported sightings and seventh for ghost towns. South Dakota took second place with 201 points, led the nation in ghost towns, and North Dakota came third.

The method is plain arithmetic. Five factors were scored per 100,000 residents: reported sightings, cemeteries, haunted locations, ghost towns and ghost-related Google searches. Each state and the District of Columbia earned between one and 51 points per category. Action Network's spokesperson said this allowed states of different sizes to be compared fairly.

New Jersey came last, 51st, landing in the bottom ten in four of the five categories. The report adds that a 2023 Fairleigh Dickinson University poll found 44 percent of 813 New Jersey adults thought it somewhat or very likely that some places are haunted. Texas, first in last year's edition, which counted several factors differently, fell to 34th.

The sightings come from a website called Ghosts of America, which says in its FAQ that it cannot verify the stories and that some are probably made up. West Virginia's State Historic Preservation Office, for its part, notes that the mountainous terrain led residents to bury loved ones on hilltops and donated ground, and that the total number of the state's cemeteries is unknown.